Chapter 28
HADES
This all felt a little surreal.
If you had asked Hades a month ago where he saw himself now, his answer wouldn’t have been ‘Going to visit a lawyer with an omega I knocked up.’
And yet.
That was exactly what he was doing.
He reached over the center console, setting his hand on Aaren’s warm thigh. Aaren turned to him with a shy, eager smile, and Hades’ heart skipped. Aaren was still there, and still real.
He didn’t want to jinx himself, so he kept his thoughts carefully tucked away, parking behind Varian Lagerstrom’s law office.
“Ready?”
Aaren straightened his shoulders and nodded, determined. “Let’s fix this.”
“You’re sure you’ve thought carefully about this,” Hades couldn’t help saying. “Once we get my name on that contract, you’ll be mine for a year.” His voice dipped low with anticipation.
Aaren blushed bright pink. “Yes.”
Hades rumbled, pleased. “If I were a dragon, you would be the treasure at the very center of my hoard.”
The words had fallen out of his mouth before he could think. For a moment, he felt embarrassed. This was probably how Aaren felt a lot of the time.
“Me? Really?” Aaren’s blush deepened. “Not... a plate of really good lasagna?”
Hades laughed. “If you were a dragon, would lasagna be at the center of your hoard?”
Aaren wrinkled his nose. “Well, no. For one, a lasagna would disappear in minutes if I was hungry. Even if you had a machine that made lasagnas forever... It’s still just lasagna.”
“What do you suggest, then?” Hades asked, curious.
“... A portal to a grocery store,” Aaren said with a deep, considering frown. “Plus a kitchen, so I can cook whatever I bring home from the store. That would be the true definition of 24/7 good food.”
“I like it,” Hades rumbled, taking a moment to picture that setup, then another moment to wish portals were real. “Speaking of good things—you haven’t used your credit card.”
“Oh!” Aaren’s eyes grew wide. “You’re right. I haven’t.”
“Why not?”
“It’s just... I haven’t really needed anything lately,” Aaren said. “You’ve got everything I want, so I’ve just been wearing your clothes and eating your food. And when I did need something, like the Philly cheesesteak, you went out and bought the ingredients for me.”
Damn, if that wasn’t a good feeling.
“Well, if you think of anything, be sure to use the card.”
Aaren gave the most adorable wriggle. “Okay.”
Hades couldn’t help leaning in and kissing his nose.
Aaren grinned. “Why a nose kiss? Is that from a pickup line?”
“Oh boy,” Hades said, but he was grinning back. “Is there a pickup line that involves nose kisses?”
“Yeah! I think it said something about snot too. Let me look.” Aaren pulled out his phone.
“Only you,” Hades murmured, shaking his head fondly.
Snot. In a pickup line.
Then again, they were expecting. Snot was going to be in their near future. A lot of it.
Hades shoved aside his panic before it could grow, cutting the engine and getting out of the car. Aaren was so distracted in his pickup line hunt that Hades had time to open the passenger door and fish him out of the car.
“When Emmy finally gets his book printed, I won’t have to look through all these notes and pieces of paper anymore,” Aaren said. “It’ll all be in one place! That’s going to be so handy.”
“It will,” Hades agreed. He looked out for them both, guiding Aaren to the lawyer’s office while Aaren still had his nose buried in his phone.
The sheer amount of trust that Aaren placed in him... Hades’ insides swelled with pride.
Varian met them in a small meeting room in a neatly pressed suit.
“I received the statement from your evaluator. Everything checks out, so I’ve made the necessary adjustments to your contract, Aaren.
Here’s the revised version—with Hades’ name instead of Ballus’.
When this is filed with the court and approved, I’ll forward it to your contract lawyer. ”
Aaren nodded, flipping through the printed pages. Before Hades could brace himself, Aaren’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead.
“Peterson Scalding Jr.?” Aaren blurted, his eyes glued to the new name on the contract.
Hades winced. “That name did not age well, did it?”
“I see why you’d rather go with Hades,” Aaren said solemnly. “Especially since there’s nothing junior about you.” He glanced at Hades’ hips.
Hades coughed lightly. They had woken up together this morning, and Hades had spent some time knotting Aaren thoroughly. In fact, his ears might still be ringing from how loud Aaren had been.
Varian cleared his throat. “Sign here, please.”
Aaren signed. Varian left to make copies of the contract.
When he returned, he smiled. “It’s been submitted to the court; I’ll email you when they’ve accepted it. That shouldn’t take too long.”
His confidence settled the nerves in Hades’ stomach. Not that Hades showed any outward sign of it.
“And now I can dump Ballus?” Aaren said hopefully.
“I’d wait ‘til we have confirmation that your new contract has been accepted,” Varian said. “But if you make a move before then, it probably wouldn’t present much of an issue.”
Aaren nodded solemnly.
“Thanks for all your help,” Hades said.
“Anytime,” Varian said, walking them to the door.
Just before they stepped out, Aaren turned to Varian. “Hey! You actually know our evaluator, don’t you? Gable. He has the same tattoo that you and Fury have on your wrists.”
Hades raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t noticed it. Then again, he hadn’t been sitting across the restaurant table from Gable.
Varian smiled. “Yes, we know each other. I just didn’t want to seem too familiar with him, since you and I are meeting in a professional context.”
“Good to know. Anyway, it was great meeting you. Bye!” Aaren all but dragged Hades out of the office.
“Sharp eyes, sweetheart,” Hades praised.
Aaren blushed and shrugged. “Tattoos are interesting. I like looking at yours.”
That made Hades preen. “You can look at them whenever you like.”
“I have already lovingly rubbed my eyeballs all over you,” Aaren said. And winced.
Hades’ heart skipped. Did Aaren really mean the L-word? Best to discuss it some other time, because Aaren—
Aaren was now vibrating, clutching Hades’ forearm and looking as though he might shake out of his skin. “I’m almost free!”
“What do you want to do with the rest of your things at Ballus’ place?”
Aaren paused in his wriggle-dance. “What are the chances that we can sneak in and out without being caught?”
“You tell me.”
Aaren scrunched up his face. “I don’t know. Maybe I should get caught anyway. I need to break up with him.”
He lit up then. When Hades first met Aaren, the omega had seemed tired, weary and weighted down. But the more time Aaren spent with Hades, the more nights he slept over, the lighter Aaren had become.
Right now, Aaren was slowly turning incandescent. Like he was on the verge of losing the last things holding him back.
“I could go with you, if you’d like,” Hades said.
Aaren brightened further. “I would totally show you off to him, but I don’t think he would recognize a good thing even if it punched him in the face.”
Hades snorted. He wrapped Aaren in a quick hug and kissed his temple, his instincts purring when Aaren snuggled closer. “Let’s get this over with.”