Page 52 of Legally Mated
“He wants us.” They both looked at me in surprise. “I mean,” I continued. “I think—Eva and I talked a lot in Washington. It’s a big thing in the family. The family secret, sort of, except that they don’t see it as something to be ashamed of, but like—” I broke off to consider my words. “More like a solemn trust. A trust you didn’t talk about, like being given some religious relic to care for and keep safe.” I looked back down at the books. “Maybe they kindofare.”
Holland gave me a strange, considering look. “Does that make uspriests?”
“I hope not,” Abel said lightly and leaned against the wall beside us. “I have no interest in celibacy.” He draped an arm around Bax’s shoulders andgrinned.
“Like you’d get a choice,” Bax told him, and kissed himsoundly.
Holland settled himself by the open trunk with the book spread out on his lap for us all to see. “It looks like a birth and death register.” His index finger hovered over the paper, slowly moving down the rows of names. “They made a mark beside some of them, a dark circle.” He turned his face up to look directly at Bax. “Dark side ofthemoon?”
It was that thing from Cosimo’s journal, the way they described the omegas. “You think that shows an omega boy’s birth?” Bax asked and slipped out from under Abel’s arm to come sit byHolland.
“They’re all boy names,” Holland pointed out. “Oh, look, here’s a November birth.” They bent their heads together over the book and the rest of us wereforgotten.
I caught Quin’s eye and stepped away from the engrossed omegas. “I’ll take the contracts home with me and go over them with a fine toothed comb tonight,” Ipromisedhim.
He nodded. “What’s on thepaper?”
The paper? I stared at him a moment, then looked dumbly down at the wrinkled sheet still in my hand; I’d forgotten about it. “I don’t know,” I said, honestly enough, and handed it overtohim.
It didn’t take him long to read it—even the quick glance I’d given it had been enough to know there was only a few lines neatly printed at the top. “Mutch is apologizing,” he said in a raised voice. “He wants to do this right, he’s wondering if he can come back and talk again. And he says the trunks are our to do with aswewill.”
Holland paused in his perusal of the record-book, glancing back and forth between Quin and Abel. “How long do we have to get backtohim?”
Quin shrugged. “Doesn’t say.” His tone left the choice of how long to make Mutch wait up toHolland.
Holland turned to me. “What do youthink?”
I considered the contracts, the amount of time it would take me to go through all of them, and the psychological effect of having to wait for an answer. “Two days? That’s probably optimal.” Enough time to make Mutch uncertain of his welcome, not so much that he’d have time to give up on us. “Should I call the other omegas and tell them to come backtomorrow?”
“I can do that,”Baxsaid.
Holland nodded thoughtfully, but I could tell his mind was already turning back to the contents of the trunk. “I don’t think I could concentrate on anything else right nowanyway.”
Quin chuckled. “I’ll look after the pup tonight.” He leaned down, cradling the baby’s head against the pull of gravity. “Wouldn’t want them dressed backwards andupsidedown.”
Holland gave him a gentle push and a grin, and put the birth ledger back into the trunk, picking another book out at random. “Wouldn’t be any worse than how they dress themselves.” He looked up and met my eyes and Bax’s. “Do you want to look through the trunkswithme?”
Bax immediately sat down beside him, drawing a laugh from his mate, but I shook my head. “I’m going to go over the contracts. And have a nap,” I said judiciously. I wasn’t exhausted, but I was starting to feel heavy, like weights had been attached to all my limbs. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve readthroughthem.”
Quin nodded and came over to put a hand on my shoulder. “Thank you for everything,” he said. “I’ll be sure to make it uptoyou.”
I shook my head. “Mercy Hills gave me a home, sent me to school, and gave me more freedom than I’d ever hoped for. We’re pack.” I let him walk me to the door. “I’ll call youtomorrow?”
“Please,” he said, and let me out of theapartment.
Chapter43
The next morning,I headed back over to Holland’s and Quin’s with the energy of a teenager in the springtime. The contracts were good. Really good. Plus, Eva and I had talked for hours last night, and while I knew I couldn’t take everything she said at face value, I was accustomed enough to ferreting out information and verifying it that I was confident in what I was going to recommend to HollandandQuin.
Holland opened the door, tense wariness lining his face. “Oh, it’s you.” His expression cleared and a warm smile lit up his face. “Come in. The pups are already off to school and Zane’salreadyfed.”
“I had a chance to go over the contracts last night.” I grinned. “It’s good. We shouldaccept.”
He closed the door behind me and gestured to a chair at the kitchen table. “Do you want a coffee oranything?”
“No, that’s okay.” I laid out the contracts, the four pack trusts together, the one for the omegas set a little to one side. “A quick overview. I’m happy with them, surprisingly so. The only issue I might have is that all the money and payments go through the trust organization. It takes some of the financial and organizational stress off projects, but it puts that control in the hands of the oversight committee. Other than that, it’s designed to open as many doors as possible for us. Access to advisors on projects, legal counsel. The only human requirement is on the oversight board, the people who would decide which projects got funded and which had to wait. He wants two humans and three of us on each, which I think is reasonable, if we get the right people inplace.”
“You think he’ll want to put his own people on the board?” Holland picked up one of the trust documents and stared blankly at it for a moment before putting it downagain.
