Page 2 of His Surrogate Omega

Gone.

Gray’s vision blurred, eyes stinging, as he stared at those two long boxes, willing his mind to not see Silver and Gilead as he had on those cold metal slabs in the morgue when he’d had to identify the bodies days before. He had seen… yet not seen. His mind wouldn’t allow him to.

But now…

Now that the planning was over and the funeral was nearly done…

There was little else he could think of but those bodies, cold and pale and broken. Gray wanted to cry and scream and blame the gods above for stealing the one person he could count on in their world. But he had a reason to stay strong…

Three reasons…

Gray’s stare washed over his nephews. All three omegas. All three strong and somehow holding it together as they stood in the rain watching as their father and papa were committed to the earth, their final resting place.

Resting? As if they sleep. If only they would wake up and end this madness.

He hadn’t expected the boys to hold it together so well, but then his brother had always been stronger than he. Silver had imparted that strength to his boys. Gray felt as if he was falling apart inside and here they stood, their chins up, their red-rimmed eyes dry.Theymade him want to hold it together, more so because he feared he was the weak link in the chain and would bring them all crashing down with him.

Gray turned back to look at the coffins as the reverend spoke eloquently about loss as if those words meant anything to any of them in those moments.

I must be the one asleep. Dreaming. A nightmare that won’t end.

The rain began to lessen as the funeral progressed. The clouds slowly parted. Eventually, Gray could see the reflection of the sky along the surface of the shining metal, the world almost appearing upside down.

But then again… itwas.

The ceremony ended, and there was a blur of people… and then the same big, black car to escort them back to the small cottage they all now called home. Later, at the small gathering of mourners in that cottage, Gray watched the people eating the food, drinking the drinks, and offering their condolences to the boys. Apparently, he was invisible—just that unmated omega brother of Silver’s who barely existed.

A part of Gray welcomed that silence of his part in this funeral yet he railed against it, too. Always the outsider, imprisoned in the O Quad most of his life.

“What will you do now?” someone asked Avery when Gray was within earshot, clearing a left behind plate.

Curious, Gray paused, wondering what his nephew would say.

“I’d already been living here with my uncle for the last couple of years. Now Auggie and Lake have come here, too.” There was no explanation needed as to why Avery had been living with Gray. At seventeen, Avery had finally gone into his first heat. He’d immediately been packed up and sent to the Omega Quadrant for his own protection.

Where Gray had lived most of his life in the old family cottage. Unmated and alone… forgotten.

“Well, hopefully you’ll find your alpha soon and he can take care of all three of you,” the beta said, a soft smile on his face.

Gray saw the blank expression overtake Avery. The boy didn’t know what to say to the man. Anger roiled within Gray… all the emotions he’d been stuffing down deep came out in in a flash of anger that surprised even him. He marched up to them both, pinning the beta with a glare—a stranger he’d never even met—and dumped all that anger on the man.

“How dare you?”

The beta frowned before looking around a bit.

“Do you imagine Avery sitting here, mourning his parents and thinkingif only my alpha would come save us? We aremorethan wombs with legs, you know?”

Everyone in attendance turned to look at the three of them, silenced.

The beta looked stunned, searching between Avery and Gray’s faces. “I only meant… that he and his brothers… could have some…security. I meant no disrespect. Thatisthe way of things…”

“Itwasdisrespectful,” Gray said. “Regardlessof what you meant.”

“Why? Because you never found your alpha and now we’re stuck here with you?” his nephew, Lake, asked before storming upstairs.

Gray gasped inwardly at the strike of the words, feeling the stares of everyone in the room. Heat filled his face, and he looked down at the floor, wishing a hole would open up and swallow him.Why did I bother opening my mouth?

“We’re not stuckanywhere,” Avery said, his voice loud and clear before turning to his uncle. He lifted a hand to take Gray’s hand. “We’re family… and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here. I’m grateful we have him to lean on in our time of need.”

---