Page 45 of Mating the Omega
The guard shook his head. “He said it would only take a minute.”
“That’s all it had better take.” Laine tugged on his shirtsleeves and shrugged to settle his suit jacket on his shoulders. “I’ll gather my papers and we’ll be right there.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
I’d expected the judge’s chambers to look more like the ones I’d on TV—dark wood paneling, fancy antique-looking lights, big desk with a couple of trays in it for important papers. What we got was a tiny room with bare white walls, cheap fluorescent lighting, and every horizontal surface covered in folders overflowing with closely typed papers. It was a disaster.
I kind of wanted to clean up for him. Poor guy, he needed his own omega. Then I looked up at Mac, and decided that I had enough on my plate. Let the human find his own.
The judge stood up from behind his desk as we came in, and came around to pull out a chair for me. “I won’t keep you long. I know there aren’t any hospitals here that will take shifters, though I don’t understand why. You’re a large group.”
Mac helped me down into the chair. My womb was giving me a break, but I had to pee again. If we didn’t get to a bathroom soon, I’d end up lifting a leg against one of the ugly bookcases behind us. Still, I smiled sweetly and said, “I’d rather be home anyway. Thank you for not letting them take me.”
“It was a difficult decision. They were probably smart to bring it to civil court, instead of pressing charges in criminal.” Wilson sat down behind his desk again. “Part of the problem is that we in the courts are not well versed in shifter law, so determining precedence in these cases can be tricky.”
“We appreciate your attention to detail with respect to shifter tradition,” Laine said in his smooth, courtroom voice.
“I’d like some more detail.” Wilson pulled a couple of business cards out of his desk and handed them out, one to Laine and one to Abel. “I’ve only got a couple more years left on the bench, and I’ve had some interest from several law schools. Not big ones, no Yales or Harvards, but respectable. I’d like to learn more about how your legal system works, perhaps eventually teach a course in shifter law, as it works inside the packs, and how our laws affect you.”
I gaped at him, and looked up to see what Abel thought. He was turning the card over and over between his fingers, eying the judge like he was a rival Alpha. “You’d be setting yourself up for some trouble,” he finally said.
“I know,” Wilson said, and he pointed at Abel. “But less trouble for me than for you. All progress has to start somewhere. I can’t be the only one thinking this.”
Abel smiled. “I’d be glad to help, though Garrick here—” He passed the card along to Garrick. “—has a law degree. He just hasn’t been permitted to take the bar. He might be a better choice.”
Then Laine spoke up. “And perhaps I might help?” He gave a deprecating smile. “I found this entire process absolutely fascinating. And I hate to think they almost got away with it, simply because of my ignorance of the topic.” His smile stretched into a hunter’s grin—I could almost picture him running on full moon with us—and he said, “This could become a new specialty. And I do so love to be at the head of the pack.”
Little Mac took that moment to complain about how tight his quarters were and I nearly peed myself right in that chair. “Oomph!” I bent over and focused, counting backwards from ten until Little Mac got tired and my fears of embarrassing myself lessened.
“We’d better get him home,” Abel said.
Yippee!I stood up, probably faster than I should have, and toppled into Mac, which was kind of nice. My plan for the drive home was to be wrapped completely around him, once I had my chance to pee, so I took advantage of my inadvertent early start and kept my arms around his waist.
“I just have one last thing to say, if you can spare another thirty seconds.” The judge had stepped around his desk again.
I checked my bladder—I could handle another thirty seconds, no problem. “Yes, sir?”
He took my hand and I had to pinch Mac to keep his adorably alpha reactions in check. This was not the time to go wolf on someone just for touching your mate, even if your mate was feeling the start of another contraction in the near future.
“My wife wanted me to wish you well. She said some things yesterday evening that made me rethink how I wanted to handle this case, what precedents I wanted to set. You know what she told me?”
I shook my head dumbly. Who was his wife?
“She said the issues surrounding your case paralleled some of the issues we deal with in human law, even if you aren’t technically human. That the way we treat others who aren’t of our species can only bleed into the way we treat our own, and why should you not have the right to choose who you would spend your life with? And that if I didn’t do something to encourage the love she saw between you and your mate here,” he glanced up at Mac before looking back down at me again. “I’d be sleeping on the couch for a very long time.” He grinned and leaned in, as if to whisper a secret.
I pinched Mac again, and tilted my head to listen.
“Don’t tell anyone I told you that. We’re supposed to be impartial, but when dealing with issues around the very basis of humanity, sometimes impartial is the path to injustice, and allowing our hearts to have a say lets us see the truth of the matter. Take care of that pup. Now get going. I don’t want to be responsible for what the cleaning lady finds if you have it here on my floor.”
I hugged Mac closely and whispered back, “I will. And thank you again.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The mood in the car was one of triumph, and happiness, and excitement, despite the looming mill stone of my mating-price. I couldn’t wait to get home—and now I really could call it home. Montana Border had no more claim on me. Mac snuggled me close and Duke put my favorite music on the CD player. Laine would be driving Garrick and Dad home in a couple of hours, after they’d had a chance to finalize whatever legal things there were left to do.
I didn’t even mind when the next contraction hit, and the next one, lasting a little longer each time, coming closer together with every set of pains. The skin tingled and burned at the base of my belly, where my omega line lay like a geologic fault in my flesh. All I wanted was to get home and into our house and have our baby and be home with my mate and my family. Yes, I was getting a little giddy, but with so much excitement and stress, it was a wonder I wasn’t lying in Mac’s lap in a flood of tears.
Abel and Duke were talking about putting aside a small apartment if Laine was truly serious about getting involved in educating humans about shifters, and I had just lifted my head to suggest inviting him for next full moon, when I saw the car coming at us.
