Family matters…
Jamie sat beside his alpha at the family table as the servants moved about the outskirts of the dining room.
“Are you going to attend the ball slated for next Friday evening?” Jamie’s papa asked his brother Wilder, making small talk as dinner was served.
His papa looked as elegant as always. An omega band of diamonds graced one middle finger, along with another band for each decade he was with his alpha. The trio could blind someone when they caught the light. That, along with his designer Áo dài—a long Asian inspired silk tunic over soft trousers—with gemstone clasp and the extensive up-do twisted stylishly, his papa was the epitome of how a rich, claimed mate was expected to present himself.
Wynter Jaymes always showed that perfect face to the world.
“I hadn’t planned on it,” Wilder admitted.
Papa gasped. “You haven’t been to a ball in ages. How are you supposed to find your omega?”
“I don’t.”
Jamie chuckled and met his brother’s gaze.
Wilder seemed to notice the look of horror on their papa’s face and quickly added a caveat. “At least not just now. I’ve got a lot to learn in the coming weeks thanks to that promotion. Father entrusted me, and I want to do the job well.”
“Of course you’re going to do it well,” their father said from the other end of the table.
Jamie glanced down the table. His father’s hair was nearly black opposed to his papa’s blond, except for the thin layer of white over each ear. Warden Jaymes cut through his last bit of roast before looking up. He pointed the stabbed meat at Wilder. “I wouldn’t have promoted you if I didn’t think you had it in you. You’ve proven yourself time and time again.” Father turned to look at Rohan. “Hasn’t he?”
As the head of Jaymes & Associates Legal Department, Rohan was privy to much that went on inside the building. “From what I’ve seen and heard, he’s a very hard worker.”
Father popped the fork into his mouth and grinned as he chewed.
“He pays you to say things like that,” Vaughn said to Rohan. “So you’re biased.”
Rohan forced a smile, glancing at Jamie from the corner of his eye. “I’ve always spoke my mind—even if it isn’t what your father wants to hear.”
“You’d get farther if you kissed his ass,” Jamie’s youngest brother said with a grin.
“Stop it, Vaughn,” Jamie insisted before taking another bite.
“I have no doubts I can do the job,” Wilder said. “I just want time to devote to learning my new responsibilities before I worry about searching for an omega. That’s all I meant.”
“Excuses, excuses,” their papa said. “Last time, you had too much work preparing for the promotion. The time before that, you were feeling under the weather. The time before that? I think I’ve forgotten the lies you told me.”
“Wynter, he still has time,” father said.
“He’s over thirty and unmated,” his papa argued. “Don’t you want to see another generation of Jaymeses on the way?”
Jamie tensed. His papa knew they were seeking a surrogate—that the next generation would be coming sooner than later, if he had his say.
Wilder sighed. “I’m not ready to see that. At least not from me.” His brother turned and offered him a wink.
Papa shot him a wounded look.
“If you keep pressuring him, Wilder’s never going to go,” his father said before popping a last piece of meat in his mouth before a servant cleared his plate.
Wilder rolled his eyes and looked to Vaughn, smiling. “I’m sure my little brother is ready to hit a ball. He hasn’t been in forever, either.”
Vaughn met Wilder’s stare and narrowed his eyes, shooting venom across the table. Jamie stared between the two, trying not to smile.
“Do you know how it would look for Vaughn to mate before you? To have children before you even found your omega?” Papa asked. He threw up his hands in aggravation. “I don’t even want to imagine it.”
“Oh, gee, papa…” Vaughn said, tilting his head to the left. “Once again put my brother first. Please.”
“You know I don’t mean it like that, Vaughn. It’s just… your brother should’ve been mated by now. People will talk if he doesn’t find his match soon… and they’d talk even more if you found one first.”
“Let them talk,” Wilder said. “I really don’t care. If Vaughn wants an omega in his life, let him go seek one out. What does it matter who comes first?”
“For the record, I don’t,” Vaughn added. “I’m quite happy with my life the way it is, not that anyone cares.”
“I wasn’t much older than Wilder was when I met you,” his father said across the table. “And we worked out just fine. It’ll come when it comes.”
“I don’t want to be a grandfather at seventy,” papa spat at Wilder. “I want to be a grandfather when I’m still young enough to dote on your pups. I haven’t held a babe in too long.”
“You’re nowhere close to seventy,” Wilder said. “You only turned fifty a few years ago.”
“I’m not a day over forty-nine,” his papa sighed. “Thank you.”
“If you have kids, I’ll fade into nothing,” Vaughn said. “E-vap-or-ate. I won’t exist anymore.”
“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” papa said to Vaughn. “You’re so needy.”
Vaughn sighed. “Takes a drama queen to know a drama queen, papa.”
“If anyone cares,” Jamie interrupted, placing his fork and knife down. “But the next generation is coming sooner than later, I hope.”
Papa sat back, his head whipping to Jamie. “What?”
“We’ve contracted with an omega surrogate,” Jamie announced, pride filling him. He turned and slipped his fingers in through Rohan’s, and basked in his alpha’s smile. He turned back to the silent table and looked around at their shocked faces.
“I’d told you all what we planned to do. Why it’s such a surprise, I don’t know.”
“I knew you were searching… and had met a prospect… but not that you were this close to an agreement,” Wilder murmured.
Wilder had been privy to that piece of news. The rest of the family hadn’t. They knew Jamie and Rohan had been discussing a surrogate—not that they’d found one. The looks on their faces spoke volumes, particularly papa’s.
And papa was, of course, the next to speak up. “Are you sure you’re ready for this… so soon after your recovery?”
“It takes ten months for a baby to grow. And it might take a few months before we’re pregnant. I’m already feeling stronger, and more so every single day. By the time the baby comes, I’ll be ready.”
“We’re pregnant?” papa asked. “You won’t be pregnant. Someone else will. Meaning… it won’t be a Jaymes.”
Silence filled the table again, and Jamie felt his stomach flip.
“You all could show a little more support for Jamie,” Rohan spat.
Jamie rose from the table and tossed his napkin down. He fled the room, hot tears flowing down his cheeks. Rohan was fast on his heels and slammed the front door behind them as they left. He climbed into the passenger seat of their car and waited for Rohan to round the rear and slide behind the wheel.
Neither spoke until they were a few miles away.
“I won’t have them speaking to you like that again,” Rohan growled. “If they can’t support you, they’re banned from our home.”
Jamie nodded, wiping away the wetness from his cheeks. He’d stopped crying. The initial shock of their reaction had hit him hard—but now that he’d had a few minutes—he knew they were the ones standing to lose. A new life would come, with all the joy and happiness a babe can bring. If they weren’t there to see it—that was their own fault.
“Agreed,” he said.
Rohan grew silent. They drove along a few more miles before he sensed his alpha sneaking glances at him.
“My parents have never treated me well,” Jamie admitted. “I’m accustomed to this.”
“I expected more from Wilder,” Rohan said. “The rest? Not so much.”
“I think Wilder was surprised, is all.” Jamie glanced out of the window, his mind churning. “I don’t know… maybe I hoped I’d finally make my family happy with this.”
“Please tell me you don’t want this child to make your papa happy.”
“No… but it would’ve been icing on a big, beautiful cake,” Jamie answered before sliding the fingers of one hand through Rohan’s. He leaned over the console and rested his head on Rohan’s strong shoulder. “You’re all I need, baby. All I’ve ever needed.”
“And soon we might be three,” Rohan said, but there was a tenseness to his words.
Jamie squeezed his alpha’s hand and smiled. “Yes, we just might. And it’ll be worth all the chaos to get that babe in our arms. To be a family… to be better than the one I have now.”
Rohan pressed a kiss to the top of his head as they roared down the back-country road, eating the miles and putting more distance between him and the ugliness of his papa.
* * * *
A couple of hours later…
“I tried calling Jamie, but it went straight to voicemail.”
Rohan leaned back in the oversized chair and rested his head on the back. “He’s in bed. He was tired after what you all put him through tonight. Can you blame him?”
“I should’ve spoken up before you left,” Wilder said on the other end of the line. “Hearing that it’s apparently a done deal was a bit of a shock.”
“I was there signing the papers, and it’s still a shock to me,” Rohan admitted as he stared up at the ceiling, wondering how they’d gotten where they were.
“It took a moment for my brain to catch up. I’m sorry. Let Jamie know I gave papa a piece of my mind after you both left. What he said was uncalled for. Any baby you two have will be a part of this family.”
Rohan winced. “I don’t even know that I want to be a part of your family.”
Wilder sighed. “Papa can be a handful. I know. But once there is a baby—I think his tune will change.”
“I hope you’re right. For Jamie’s sake.”
Silence fell on the other end for a moment. “I know Jamie’s excited… but what about you? Your family?”
“My papa is excited,” Rohan said. “On whatever tropical island he’s currently sailing around with my step-father.” The rich, powerful oil tycoon, Marcullis Oberton, had swept into his widowed papa’s life and quickly sent Rohan off to boarding school. College and marriage had soon come after, and he’d built a life of his own between the moments his papa strolled in for a day or two here and there for a visit.
Now, his family was Jamie.
“And you?” Wilder asked. “How are you feeling?”
“My feelings don’t really matter. I just want to keep your brother happy.” Any way possible.
My gods… what am I doing?
He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. How could he be unfaithful to the one great thing he had in his life? Even if it was what Jamie had demanded…
Wilder was silent again. “You shouldn’t be doing it for just him. It should be for you both.”
“It is… it is,” Rohan answered, not completely sure anymore.
“Okay,” Wilder said. “If you guys need anything, just ask. I’ll be there. Just give me a second to recover after you drop some news next time.”
“Will do,” Rohan said before he ended the call. He rose and climbed the winding foyer stairs toward the bedroom he shared with his omega.
After lowering his cell to the nightstand and disrobing, he slid in between the sheets. Rohan drew his sleeping mate closer and inhaled the man’s scent. Need slammed into him, but he shoved it aside and simply lay, holding his mate.
Until Jamie pushed him away in sleep.
Rohan lay there for hours, lost and alone.
Loved yet unwanted.