Page 24 of Bully for Sale
“Being rid of you is worth more than you can possibly know,” George said, his jaw tightening. Then, as if making himself relax, he rolled his shoulders and eased his mouth into a pleasant smile. “And, as a bonus, I’ll have one out of the four of you omegas settled early and well. The other three will be easy to place anyway—they’re handsome, intelligent, charming, and mine.”
“So you’re disowning me?”
George huffed a small laugh. “I’m going to spend more on placing you, Ezer, than I’ll ever have to spend on any of them. All of them will bringmemoney in heat payments and marriage contracts. You, however, I have to buy a placement for.”
Ezer’s mouth clamped shut. Tears stung his eyes.
“No one wants you. I was lucky to find a young alpha of a peerage family in dire enough straits to be willing to take you on in exchange for the right amount of money. But I promise he’s a good young man, high-quality with strong priorities. He wants to make a family with a devoted omega, and he has the right family connections, if not the money, to make him a good match. Plus, I’m assured he can keep you at heel, even through a hard post-partum drop, if necessary. If you only knew how much effort I’m putting into you. Effort I’ll never have to make for your brothers. Don’t accuse me of lack of caring. If anything, I care too much.”
“‘Too much’? You’ve never even liked me.”
“There are all sorts of ways to care, son. I might not want you in my home, or desire to have you or your offspring in my life, but I don’t want you to suffer. I want you to be content in your new life. Pregnant omegas are happy omegas.”
“Content in the prison you’re sending me to?”
“Amos always liked the house by the beach. One heat and birth from you, and he can have his lake apartment, two and he can winter by the lake, and summer at the beach. He could stop working at that trash line and go back to living a life of ease. He could even, perhaps, meet some hapless widowed alpha and make a putz of the man just the way he did me. It’s up to you, Ezer. The rats can keep chewing on his hair at night, if you prefer.”
Ezer gritted his teeth. “This is blackmail. If I don’t do it, you’re going to leave Da to suffer. And what will you do tomeif I don’t agree?”
George shrugged. “Like I said, it’s incentive. There’s no law against incentive.”
Ezer’s stomach rolled. “Who? Who have you sold me to?”
His father shrugged. “It isn’t a done deal yet. First you have to sign the contract. I had my attorney draw it up today.” He shoved it Ezer’s way, a sheaf of papers outlining the agreement between him and whatever alpha his father had chosen, indicating his consent to be taken and bred. Every omega signed one eventually, whether it was an independently negotiated trade of nothing more than a heat, or a full-on university-sponsored online auction of a breeding, or a family arrangement like this one for a full life commitment. Ezer’s eyes glazed with furious tears as he tried to read it. The letters spun and moved around, something numbers never did, no matter how upset he got. Even squinting, he couldn’t make out any words.
“Sign it.” George ordered. “What does it matter who’s bought your heat? He’s a young man of good name and his father says he’ll be a good stud for breeding. Plus, he’s a romantic type, determined to be faithful. You can’t ask for more.”
He could ask to be loved, couldn’t he? But his father didn’t love him, so why would his father think he deserved that? Ezer’s throat hurt, his eyes burned, and he tried to read the contract again, but it was useless.
“I don’t need faithfulness. I don’t even want it,” Ezer bit out, wiping his tears with the back of his hand.
“Oh, but I do,” George said. Goosebumps rose on the back of Ezer’s neck. “I want you popping out babies until you’re so blissed out on all the pregnancy and chest feeding hormones that you can’t see straight. Until you’re out of my hair for good. Understand?”
“Why?”
“If you’re so smart, figure it out.”
Ezer rubbed his face and pressed his lips together. He heard his brothers’ voices lift and fall in the hallway, a spill of laughter, and an excited yell from Rodan. “You want me out of your lives.”
“Yes. And that won’t happen if the boy’s a one-and-done sort of man. But his father assures me otherwise. This one’s a real romantic. He’ll want to keep you barefoot and pregnant, high on alpha semen and hormones. And that’s the best outcome for all of us. Akindoutcome for you and for your da. Don’t be stupid Ezer.”
Ezer thought of Pete, naked and happy, pregnancy-round, and relaxed, walking around the mansion like a man in a glorious dream, and he shuddered. If that was what pregnancy did to a man…wait, had his own da been that way? He didn’t remember much about life before Rodan’s birth, but he remembered it being happy. He remembered his da laughing and relaxed, and naked. Yes. He’d been naked and happy, too. Just like Pete.
“Fuck you.I’mnot like Pete.”
“Indeed, you’re not,” George snapped. “And I suspect your post-partum drops will be hell for everyone, but this boy has a reputation for being willing to do what’s necessary to get a job done. So, I think he will be able to handle you.” He held a pen out to Ezer. “Sign.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I won’t.”
“Then go pack your things. Head to your beloved da’s apartment. Don’t come back until you’re ready to put pen to paper.”
Ezer stared at him. He couldn’t be serious. “Can’t you give me time to think? This is coercion.”
“Sign.”
