Page 17 of His Bonded Omega Mate
They led us into a large room, a massive desk the focus of the space, though there was a plush looking couch and chairs grouped together.
Logan sat on one of the comfortable-looking armchairs next to what could only be Alpha Blake. I’d forgotten just how young the alpha was. We all looked younger than our actual ages. Asher was fifty-five, I was thirty-eight. Hiroshi looked like he was in his early twenties but was forty-one! Blake, though, was in age and appearance, only twenty-two.
There were guards in the room with us. Two looked like Blake. I’d heard that his cousin was the head enforcer, so that was probably one of them. The other could only be his brother. They looked too alike. Logan had brought a couple of alphas from the pride but their names escaped me.
I’d only been in the pride for a couple of years after leaving the aviary when I bonded with Asher. I was told to leave the aviary or face punishment and exile… they had old views on matings. Unlike the aviary, the pride was okay with mixed matings, especially beta pairings, since we couldn’t have children.
The alphas were chatting comfortably as we walked in. “Jason and Eva picked a hell of a time to visit family and take a vacation. They got stuck in quarantine and couldn’t come back at the height of the sickness here.” Alpha Blake spoke with a quiet confidence and some affection for the missing former alpha of the bears. I’d heard that the Sweetwater sleuth had returned to the Sweetwater pack at the time Kade consented to bonding with his fated.
“I’d heard it horribly afflicted your pack, the condition, I mean. It makes me wonder about the reasoning for it.” Alpha Logan mused. “The Luna has blessed you in so many other ways. Perhaps this was the price?”
“I’ve spent far too many nights wondering this same thing.”
Sam announced our arrival, ushering us properly into the room. My nerves jangled at being in front of two strong alpha males. My raven wanted to bow down, grovel before them. Instead, I bared my throat in the polite show of submission.
With a brief nod of acknowledgement to end our display, Alpha Blake stood to greet us. “Sorry for not coming to say hello before. There’s been a lot to sort out.” He gestured to the sofa, and we all sat.
“That’s okay,” Hiroshi assured him. “We understand there’s a lot going on here.”
“Thank you. We want to reassure you that anything said here today goes no further without permission. Alpha Logan is not here to take you back to the pack, but to formally disconnect you from the pride.”
“So we are still members?” Asher asked, leaning forward, his arms on his knees.
“Yes.” Logan finally spoke. “I needed to ensure that we were clear, that there was no issue, before taking that bond away. They also advised waiting to allow you to finish healing before we attempted it, as it can be painful.”
As he spoke, I searched for the bond to the pride and found it withered and stretched. The distance must have silenced it. I didn’t know that it could do that.
“So are we? Clear, that is?” Hiroshi asked. His voice was filled with tension. There was fear in his expression.
Logan sat forward, reaching for Hiroshi’s hands. “I will never keep you where you don’t want to be. My son... Goddess, I’m so sorry, Hiroshi. It shouldn’t have happened.”
Hiroshi withdrew his hands and sat back, shutting down. “I’d rather not talk about that.”
Logan bit back whatever he wanted to say. His face filled with regret. “As far as things go with the pride, we are in the clear. I’ve packed some of your things. I’ll arrange for the rest to be brought here since it’s clear you are safe and settling here. Your birth clan is taking no action against us. They feel satisfied that you upheld your part and that the actions of my son were out of my control.” It felt like he was hiding something, but the pride was no longer our business.
“I’m glad. I don’t blame you, Logan. What he did —“ Hiroshi broke off and seemed to deal with whatever emotion rose by squashing it down. “I can’t hold you to account for that. I just can’t come back to the pride knowing he had help to hurt me, to hurt Tate and Asher.”
Logan’s expression shuttered, though there was a brief flash of disappointment. “I hoped that we could come to some sort of arrangement with the pack here, so that you could come to the pride to perform your healing duties a couple of days a week.”
Blake sat forward. “As much as I’d love to help you with that, I cannot allow Hiroshi to go back to a place he could be in danger.”
“Jared is no longer in the pride. He’s fled to his mother’s people.”
I blinked in shock. He was just out there? “Are they going to hand him over to the council?”
Logan’s lips thinned. “No. They say they don’t know where he is. He got to his mother and vanished.”
“So they’re hiding him?” Blake surmised.
“Yes.”
“Well, you can appreciate that the only place Hiroshi is safe currently is here on the pack lands. Since he is a healer, I have a job for him at our clinic.” He smiled at Hiroshi, who immediately sat up straighter. “Tate and Asher, there is plenty of work, from security to the factory. Please play to your strengths.”
The relief was staggering. Blake was willing to take us in and make a place for us. There were opportunities for employment.
“I, uh, I’m a raven. I’d like to do security if I could. Flying around the compound would be great.”
“We have another raven shifter, Jake. He and his mate, Sebastian, are enforcers. I’d love for you to help them with monitoring the skies.”
