Page 25 of Abel's Omega
Abel snorted and crossed his arms, leaning casually against the wall. He looked good like that, and I bent my head to my papers again to hide the color in my cheeks.
“They don’t know what we give up. But it bothers me that they were willing to risk killing him to get him back.”
I raised my head again at that. This part of the story was news to me.
Abel noticed me watching him. “On the way home, they rammed our car and tried to kidnap him. The police investigated, but nothing’s come of it yet.”
Strange. What would be so important about an omega that a pack would try to kidnap one? I turned back to the last of my paperwork, but my brain wouldn’t leave the problem alone. Maybe it was bad blood between Mercy Hills and Jason’s birth pack? Had Jason or his family done something before they ran? The mystery created a line of unease in my thoughts, and I vowed to watch everything more carefully from now on.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Abel walked Bax back to Jason and the pups. Teca came running up to them and jumped into Bax’s arms. He hugged her with a joy so transparent it made Abel happy just to watch it. If he hadn’t already decided to help Bax before, this little scene, so innocent on the surface, would have done it.
Bax swung Teca around and set her down, then went to check on the other pups.
“Dabi, look!” Fan held up a tiny bucket and shovel, and proceeded to use them to make a small mountain of sand in the corner of the sand box. “See? It’s home. And this is Central. And this is Evan’s house,” he said, pointing to the different piles of sand around him.
“They’re wonderful,” Bax told him. “Look, here’s some rocks. You can make doors and windows.”
Fan took the offered pebbles with the most serious expression Abel had ever seen and began shoving them into the piles of sand according to a plan that only seemed to exist to him. He watched the little family with a tinge of wistfulness and checked his phone to see if he could pry a few more minutes out of his day. Maybe… But he had the government’s monthly report to go over in case of errors. Hmm, maybe Bax could look at those too? No, they needed to go on Monday, so the Department could send them back to him and bitch about the mistakes he made. And then he planned to be head down in Alpha Hunt for the rest of the weekend—except that they needed to move Bax tonight.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He touched Bax’s shoulder. “I have to go. More of that paperwork I’m hoping you can take off my shoulders on Monday.”
Bax stood up immediately, Beatrice on his hip. “Should I start today?” he asked in a low voice, obviously intended just for Abel.
“No. Take the day and rest. Spend time with the pups and get used to the place. I’ll come by this evening with your keys and we’ll get you set up.” He wanted to say something else to the young omega with the huge apprehensive eyes, but he couldn’t think what. So, rather than make a bigger deal out of it than it needed to be, he smiled at Bax, and waved a quick good-bye to Jason.
Back in his office, he checked his messages. It was Saturday, so nothing from the government, but there were other issues that probably didn’t need to be handled at his level and still ended up in front of him because of simple lack of manpower. When did ‘just another half an hour’ turn into sixteen hour days? And with the money owed to Montana Border, plus whatever the lawyer’s bill would be when it arrived, he couldn’t afford to take anyone off any of the jobs necessary to keeping them fed and housed and non-pack income coming in just to shorten up his day.
He found a phone number he didn’t recognize, and checked it on the internet to see where it had come from.
Edwards, Montague, and Hess. Attorneys-at-Law.
Laine.
He hit the button to return the call. It rang through, then went to voicemail. Gritting his teeth, he left his name and number and hung up. Not thirty seconds later, his phone rang again from the same number.
“Good morning, Laine.”
“Good morning, Alpha. How are things at Mercy Hills?”
“Same as ever. A bit more food—Jason really does have a touch with the gardens. Can I help you with something?”
“Well, yes, as a matter of fact, you can. And I may be able to help you as well. I’d like to propose a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“I would like to borrow Mr. Garrick Mercy Hills, to help me prepare for a trial. There are some contract law involvements in this case, and he seems to have a better grasp of contract law than my current junior associate. In return, I would like to help you prosecute your case against Montana Border.”
“We don’t have a case against Montana Border.”
“No? Did you decide not to press charges? That seems a strange thing to do. I would push to have the last judgment overturned, simply because they obviously are not a particularly civilized group. Or perhaps you’ve already paid them? I hadn’t heard, but it wouldn’t exactly come across my desk either.”
“No, we haven’t paid. Which reminds me—your bill. When can I expect it?”
He could almost see Laine leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head and his vulpine grin spreading across his face. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Let’s call it a pro bono case. Really, it was entirely too fascinating. I never realized there could be anything more complicated than criminal law.”
