Page 14 of Mating the Omega
Trying to help, Abel mouthed back. Then he turned back to his phone and started tapping at the screen.
The rest of the drive passed to the music of the local radio stations, going from pop, to country, to the pack radio as they got within range. They had only ten minutes to make the gate, and nerves made Mac put his foot down, but only slightly. He couldn’t afford to get stopped for speeding, and all the complications that came with the prejudice against shifters. Out of habit, he checked the tabs on his coat collar to make sure it was still there. He noticed Abel do the same, then reach into the inside pocket of his elegantly tailored coat.
Abel pulled out an envelope and took out a set of papers and a couple of pairs of tabs. “Here, I almost forgot. These are old, but they’ll have to do. I put new electronic signatures on them, so they’ll come up as from your pack.” He extracted a couple of pages from the pile, then passed everything else back. “Your permits to travel, too.”
Mac heard paper rustling in the back, then Jason spoke up. “Reason for travel: Marriage?”
“That’s what you offered, right?”
Jason made a muffled noise, but when Mac checked the rear view mirror, he was looking out the window again.
Their exit came up. Mac’s shoulders tightened, and he forced himself to relax. There were humans manning these gates that would notice something like that, and their fast-printed papers certainly weren’t going to hold up to a close inspection.
“You ready?” Abel asked.
Mac nodded and flicked a glance at the rear view.
Abel turned in his seat. “We’re coming up to the gate. Remember, you have every right to be here. You’re coming to stay for a while to see if you can find a mate. Your father is coming as chaperon.” His voice softened. “They’ll likely say some cruel things. Just keep your head down and don’t respond.”
And then they were slowing down for the gate. Mac rolled down his window as they came to a stop.
A human in the dark green uniform of the Bureau of Preternatural Beings stepped up Mac’s window, flashing a light around the inside of the car. Mac kept his eyes focused straight ahead, but he knew with the same certainty as if he were facing the back seat when the light landed on Jason and stayed there. “So this is the omega you were talking about.” He snorted and opened the back door. “Get out.” He shone the light on Jason’s father and added, “You too, gramps.”
Mac met Jason’s eyes in the mirror. “Just do what he says.” Jason nodded and climbed out of the car.
The officer spun him around, pushed him against the side of the trunk, and patted him down. Another one did the same to Jason’s father on the other side, though with a little more respect. A third, more senior officer, remained at the driver’s door. “Papers?”
Mac passed their travel permits out, inured to the frustration of showing them again to the man who’d okayed them two hours ago. “The dad has their papers, but they lost their wallets to a mugger.”
The officer grunted and gave their papers a cursory glance before handing them back. “They clean?” he called to his partners.
“Yeah.”
Jason’s dad was brought around the car to present his papers. When Jason tried to duck back inside the car, he was hauled roughly back out.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I thought we were done?” Jason wrapped his arms around him and even in the side mirror the tremble in his limbs was obvious. He was scared. Being an omega, he’d likely been sheltered from this sort of thing.
Mac cast a glance at Abel, then leaned out the window. “He’s just an omega. They don’t get out much.”
The senior officer smirked. “Marriage, huh?” He shot a glance at Mac.
Mac shrugged. “You know how it is. The young ones get tired of looking at each other.”
“What’s so special about an omega, anyway?” The one who’d patted Jason down—now that Mac could see him better, he was young. Probably new. It might be his first time meeting an omega, but he’d obviously bought into the power differential between humans and shifters. He dragged Jason over by the building, into the cone of one of the floodlights.
“Palmer, leave him alone. They’re as harmless as a lamb,” the first officer said in a bored voice. “They’re halfway to being bitches.” He walked over and pushed Jason back toward the car. “He’ll probably have a pup in him inside a month.”
The newbie looked sickened, and he hastily wiped his hand on his pants. “Fucking perverts.”
“Biology, you idiot. Go check the trunk.”
Palmer threw Jason an angry look and moved to the back of the car. “Pop it,” he snapped loudly.
Mac hit the button to open the trunk and tried not to think about the laptop.
It didn’t take long for young Officer Palmer to find it. “What’s this?” He brought it around into the light. “Thought you got mugged.” The other two officers put their hands on their weapons and took a step back.
