Page 41 of Bully for Sale
Until he considered Amos’s reply and his father’s words, too, and then it felt like a moral imperative to sign the forms. A force for the greater good.
He couldn’t let another alpha—especially not Finch fucking Maddox—touch Ezer.
He stalked over to the desk, lifted the pen, and signed his name. Vomit rose in his mouth, and his stomach flipped wildly. But it was done. The contract was signed by both parties. It was legal, and now he was beholden.
In a week’s time he’d be alone with Ezer, servicing his heat, and if things went to plan, he’d be a father four months after that.
He met his own father’s gaze and winced at the elation he found there. That was never a good look on Lidell and had only ever foretold disaster in the past. But then he glanced at the message from Amos again, and his resolve solidified. He’d done the right thing. He had.
Please let me have done the right thing.
Hours later, after spending all of dinner listening to his father’s various plans for where Ned would service the heat, and how the servants should be instructed to prepare the nest, Ned climbed into bed with a whirring mind.
He brought up his phone and read Amos’s reply again.
“What have I done?” Ned murmured to himself, tossing and turning in his bed. He couldn’t get comfortable no matter how hard he tried. Scraping his nails over his scalp, he took a slow, deep breath, and spoke aloud into the darkness. “I did the right thing.”
God, he really hoped he had.
PART TWO
Heat
Chapter Fourteen
Ned stood outsidethe small house set on the edge of his father’s beach property, far from any town, and isolated aside from a single road back to civilization. Dunes came right up to the fence, and a trail led to the beach. He’d walked down there already, some primitive part of him satisfied to see the cove was protected by large cliffs on either side.
Heat houses were always remote. Ned didn’t like to think about all the reasons why. Certainly some of it was to protect the omega during a time of extreme vulnerability, and the alpha during a time of extreme distraction. But that wasn’t the only implication of isolation and Ned knew it. Consent was a legal requirement, but once given it couldn’t be revoked mid-heat. He didn’t know how he felt about that, and the part of him that dreamed of a happy, joyfully consenting omega didn’t want to examine it too closely.
Lidell stood by the front gate, giving him room to claim the place as his own. Ned had refused his offer of the mountain house where he’d been conceived, and the apartment inside the main house, the one where his father handled purchased heats, was being prepared as a nest in case it was needed.
This small, one-room oceanside house had belonged to his omega grandparent on his father’s side. Uncle Heath had gifted it to Lidell as a peace offering years ago after one of their many rows. But it’d sat empty until Lidell had sent servants out earlier in the week to fix it up in preparation for Ned and Ezer.
Thinking of Heath made Ned’s stomach flip. Heath’s omega, Adrien, had given birth to a sickly, early baby—a beta—and they’d both been devastated by the news that it was unlikely to live. There was still a chance, but it was slim, and so while this news had been sent on to Lidell and Ned in messages from Earl, they hadn’t heard from Heath about it.
Given all that was happening at Heath’s home, they’d given leave for Earl to remain there helping out with Michael. They also hadn’t burdened him with the choices made in his absence to share a heat with and breed Ezer. Lidell seemed opposed to telling Earl, lest it get back to Heath. “We don’t want to disturb him during this difficult time.”
But Ned selfishly wished they had.
Even now he wondered what his uncle would say about his choice to sign the contract with Ezer. He had a feeling Heath would disapprove, but he also knew Heath would be willing to sacrifice Ezer’s well-being for Ned’s, and that wasn’t something Ned was willing to do.
Which was why he was now waiting for Ezer to come to him, to arrive at the heat house of his own volition, and to share in one of life’s greatest intimacies with him.
Ned shivered in anticipation. He couldn’t believe that Ezer-with-the-blue-eyes had agreed to be his omega. It was true he didn’t know much about Ezer, not really. But he knew Ezer had always made Ned’s body sing with expectation and caused his heart to yearn for emotional connection. They’d hardly ever spoken to each other, and still hadn’t exchanged a word since that brief discussion outside the burning apartment building. But he’d watched Ezer close enough over the last many months to recognize that Ezer agreeing to this, consenting to all that he’d consented to, went against what Ned knew of Ezer’s personality.
That knowledge was what disturbed his peace as he staked out the heat house in anxious anticipation. Part of him was thrilled at the thought of Ezer acting out of character because of him,forhim. But, deep down, he suspected Ezer had his own reasons for signing, reasons closer to Lidell’s than to Ned’s own. Still, whatever Ezer’s motivation, he felt a breathless, rising, roaring honor that he was the one Ezer had agreed to do this with.
Though Ned wished they’d been allowed to talk on the phone before they met in person. It would have been a relief to hear Ezer say he’d chosen this of his own free will, and for Ned to be allowed to give his apologies for all that had passed between them. But at least they’d have a few days alone in the cabin before Ezer’s heat kicked in to get to know each other and clear the air.
Ned wanted to explaineverything. Before he put a hand on Ezer, he wanted him to know the truth about Braden and Finch. Ned wanted, more than anything, to go into this heat with an understanding for each other in their hearts.
If they were going to be parents together, then that would be an important place to start.
After pacing by the sea oats, he headed back toward the house, his heart hammering and his pulse thrumming. Dust kicking up in the distance alerted Ned to the arrival of a car. His stomach flipped over with nerves. What should he say to Ezer first? He cleared his throat and practiced.
“Hi,” he said aloud. “Hi,” he tried again, stronger this time. He frowned, trying to sound more like a grown alpha, putting a deeper tone toward his next attempt. “Hi.”
“They’re here!” his father called.
