43. Blaze
Chapter 43
Blaze
“ H ey, Ma,” I greeted warmly as I opened the front door.
Marion Holden was a force of nature, one who I loved dearly. When I had told her over the phone that we bought a pack house because we had an omega, she’d simply insisted on coming to visit.
“Blaze, my boy! How are you?” she asked, pulling me in for a bone-crushing hug.
“I’m good. Come in, see the place. Sunny and Rune just adopted another bunny the other day.” I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about my mother's visit, because she didn't quite know the full situation that I’d found myself in.
“From what I've seen already, this place is beautiful. Did your omega pick this out? Speaking of, is she here?” My mother's eyes widened as she looked around the foyer.
I chuckled. “You really aren't subtle, are you?”
“Why should I be subtle? I'm here to meet my son’s omega! Honestly, Blaze, I love you dearly, but I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to settle down. I mean, it's your life, and you can do whatever you want with it, but I wanted to see you happy with a family.”
As she spoke, we walked into the kitchen, where the baby monitor screen was standing on the counter.
“Sunny is at the grocery store with Rune. They should be back any minute.”
“Tell me everything!” my mother said as she moved around the kitchen, grabbing herself a drink.
“It's a long story….”
My mother snorted and rolled her eyes. “Blaze, my dear, you used the family lawyer. I know what's going on, but I want to hear from you .”
I nodded, taking a seat at the kitchen island. “Well, you know we recently bonded with an omega, and we pushed to make it legally official as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, why on earth would you do that? It seemed rather bizarre. Then again, it's your life, and I don't want to question your choices.”
“Nearly three months ago, we got called to a house fire where Rune rescued a mother and baby out of the building. Once we got outside, we realized she was a single omega without a pack in sight.”
My mother gasped, her hand flying to her chest. “All on her own?”
I nodded again. “Usually in this situation, when they can't go back to their own place, we would send them to one of the shelters in the city, but we couldn't send a single omega with a young child there, so we offered to let her stay at the fire station.”
“As you should have. Those shelters are no place for an omega or a child.”
“She had been staying with us for about a week, and we were all being really respectful and keeping our distance, even though we were pretty much obsessed with her. I swear, Mom, she is amazing. She is beautiful and kind and loving to a fault. I honestly couldn't wrap my head around someone leaving her alone.”
My mother's face broke out into a serene smile. “She sounds lovely.”
“She is,” I agreed. “Her son is also the best. He’s twenty months now, and my god, we fell just as hard for him as we did her. Anyway, after she'd been at the station for a while, she went through a heat spike or something like that. We don't know what exactly happened, but she and Walker accidentally bonded. She was completely freaking out, thinking she'd ruined our lives, and there I was, thinking the best thing in the world had just happened to me.”
She broke into laughter. “Walker was the one who cracked?”
I nodded. “A few hours before then, he was telling us that we needed to give her space and we could court her once she was no longer living in the firehouse, because we would be seen as taking advantage if we were courting her while she was there.”
My mother broke into peels of laughter. “It's always the most serious ones that fall the hardest. Is this…” She pointed to the baby monitor, picking it up gingerly.
“Luka. He’s finally gone down for his nap.”
“Oh, he’s precious. I remember the fight it was getting you down for your naps. I can’t believe I have a grandbaby! So, why the legal paperwork?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
I cleared my throat. “I wanted to talk to you about it. Turns out that Luka's father never bonded with Sunny, and she never put his name on the birth certificate. He was one of those traditionalists that believes omegas can't have anything for themselves. It's not really my place to go into the details, but let's just say that he took several choices away from Sunny, which led to the conception of Luka.”
My mother's face went from concerned to furious in a split second. “I hope she pressed charges against this asshole!”
I shook my head. “He’s a Frankbert. He threatened to take Luka away from her if she did anything against him. She ran off in the night before she gave birth. From what I can tell, he left them alone for a long time, but recently, he's decided he wants his son. Only now, with the legal paperwork, his lack of birth certificate, and our bonding…”
“He doesn't have the slightest claim to your son. I wonder if Frances knows how abhorrently her son is behaving? You know, I'm on several charity boards with her.”
I nodded. “I do, and I also know that our family is far more influential than theirs.”
While I'd never been one to use my family status or money, if it helped protect my omega and my son, I was going to use every resource I had.
“Oh yes, well, that goes without saying. Is the sperm donor still hanging around?”
I bit my lip, resisting the urge to laugh at my mother's use of the term sperm donor . She was always so prim and proper that hearing those words out of her mouth felt weird.
“He hasn't been around since our lawyers threw the legal paperwork at him to prove he had no claim over Luka, but I don't trust it. You know alphas like that.”
My mother hummed in agreement. “Those sorts don't like hearing the word no.”
“Exactly. Bonding with Sunny wasn't planned, but it is the best thing that's happened to me, hands-down. I wanted you to meet them, but I also wanted you to know what was going on. I don’t want to have to use your influence or your social standing to help us, but ? —”
“—Our name has power, and you should use it to protect your family. Does the sperm donor have any idea what family you come from?”
I shook my head. “I thought it best to keep him in the dark for now.”
The door opened and closed, and Sunny appeared in the doorway, looking at an item in her hands. “Blaze, I found butterscotch chips at that fancy grocery store. I’m thinking I might make—oh, hello,” she said as she spotted my mother.
“Sunshine! This is my mother.”
My mother beamed, pulling Sunny in for a hug. “Oh darling, you are beautiful! It’s so nice to meet you.”
Sunny returned her smile. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Come, take a seat. We are just chatting about the best way to fix this situation.”
Sunny’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”
My mother waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, hush, child, you are family. Anyway, what were we saying?” she asked, turning back to me as she pulled Sunny onto the sofa next to her.
“That Gregory’s family knows nothing about what’s going on at the moment,” I reminded her.
She nodded thoughtfully. “That is smart, actually. You know his father wants to buy a considerable amount of land off your father? They've been proposing a business deal between us for a while. Though it really wouldn't benefit us that much, it would benefit them greatly.”
My jaw clenched. “If you want my honest opinion, you should have nothing to do with that family. I've heard the way he talks about Sunny, and I don't think it’s just him. The whole family sounds terrible.”
“Oh, they are,” my mother agreed. “They are shameless social climbers who like to pretend they are old money, when in fact, they are trashy. They place a lot of emphasis on family legacy, so my guess is, once Gregory learned he had a son, he wanted to cash in.”
Sunny scrunched her nose. “That’s not the life I want for Luka.”
My mother nodded. “That’s because you’re a good girl with a good head on your shoulders. Leave it to me. I’ll make some subtle inquiries, and he should get the message to back off. If you need anything from me, Sunny, please don’t hesitate to reach out.” She took Sunny’s hand in her own. “You’re family now, and family protects family.”