A few days later…
“Where in the hell have you been?” Gray asked Avery as his nephew rested against the door, winded. Gray had been pacing for hours. Avery had ignored his calls and texts and sent Gray into a total panic. It was nearly midnight and well past curfew for an omega. His mind had gone to the worst places.
A handsome omega, out alone at night—there had been stories of males being scooped up and sold on the black market. Breeding houses where alphas had their way with omegas in heat.
Avery lifted his stare to meet his uncle’s. Gray saw the glint of something in Avery’s eyes and sensed his nephew had been up to no good.
“I took the long way home… so I could test this.”
Gray let out a slow breath as he looked at the ID in his nephew’s hand. Bile rose up in his throat. “Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is.”
Avery drew down his hoodie, and Gray gasped. Gray crossed the foyer and ran a hand through his nephew’s shorn locks. Gone was the long, silky hair Avery had been growing since his birth. Gray’s knees grew weak as he stared at the ID. Abraham Norcross. “My gods. What have you done?”
“You knew it would have to happen.”
Gray lifted his stare to his nephew. “I told you this plan of yours is insane. You’re going to be caught.” Tears lined Gray’s eyes as he looked at Avery’s hair. “I told you I was going to meet with the solicitor about the surrogacy option. That you didn’t have to go through with this. Why couldn’t you listen?”
“I won’t have you carrying others’ children just for us. We aren’t legally your responsibility.”
“We’re family, Avery. Family takes care of one another. No matter what.”
“What if your alpha’s out there?” Avery asked. “I won’t let you throw away your future for us.”
“But you’ll risk your own?” Gray sighed, leaning up against the closet door across from him. “We’ve been through all this. I have no skills. I don’t have a head for numbers like you do. I do have a womb. I could make a fine surrogate and support the family. Legally.”
“I love you for being willing to make that sacrifice, but I just can’t let you do that,” Avery said. “My brothers are my responsibility.”
“Our responsibility,” Gray said. “One I don’t take lightly. I know I’ve never been the responsible type… but we’re a family… and we take care of one another.”
Heavy footfalls on the stairs above announced those younger brothers were storming down.
“Ave!” Auggie said as he made it to the bottom and wrapped his arms around Avery’s waist. The ten-year-old lifted his head… and then his eyes and mouth grew wide.
“Why aren’t you two in bed?” Gray cried.
Ignoring Gray, Lake took one last slow step. “What the fuck have you done?”
“Language!” Gray snapped.
“Whatever,” Lake snapped back, his normal broody self. He turned back to face Avery. “You look like shit.”
“Watch your mouth,” Avery cried.
“Why did you cut your hair?” Auggie asked, frowning. He reached back to pull his own braid around over his shoulder. “I don’t have to cut mine, do I?”
Gray realized he was absently pulling at his own long braid without noticing. He released the length and stood up straighter.
“No,” Avery answered. “I need you both to go sit in the family room. We have to have a discussion.”
“Pass,” Lake said before spinning to head back upstairs.
“Lake Anthony Stephens, get your ass downstairs and in the family room, or by the gods, I will make you,” Avery blasted.
Gray tried to hide his grin. They’d both likely been too lenient on Lake the last weeks, but given the situation, they’d done their best. Lake looked over his shoulder and glared. Gray could see the boy weighing his options from the look on his face. It could start World War V or Lake would sulk.
Finally, Lake turned and angrily marched down.
Sulking, it is. Thank the gods.
“This better be quick,” Lake said in passing.
Auggie followed Lake.
Once they were out of earshot, Gray quietly asked, “Are you really going to tell them?”
“Not about what I did. But they need to know about the money situation. They need to know the truth of that.”
“Make it fast. Just because you were out all night doesn’t mean they need to be up at all hours.”
“It’s Friday night,” Avery said, shrugging. “They can stay up.”
Yeah and they’ll be zombies in the morning. Gray sighed before following Avery into the living room. His nephew pulled out an envelope from his hoodie and slipped the new ID inside before gripping the lot of it between his hands.
“As you know, Papa and Father left us a little bit of money… and both this house and the family house,” he began. “I’ve crunched the numbers, and if we sell the family house, an—”
“Sell our house?” Lake demanded, frowning. “No!”
“We can’t live there anymore, Lake. And we need the money.”
“Auggie and I can live there,” Lake spat.
“Yes, neither of you have had your first heat yet, so technically you could remain in the Family Quad for a few more years… but under whose supervision? We have no other family members. It’s Gray and me… and as we’re both forced to live in the O Quad, this is now our home. Period.”
Avery paused, eyeing Gray before turning his gaze back to the boys.
“If we sell the family house, and with what’s left over from the life insurance policies… and the little bit our parents had in savings… we should have enough to live—frugally—for a few years. But after that… I don’t know what we’ll do.” He took a deep breath.
“What has that got to do with your hair?” Lake asked, an eyebrow rising.
Gray eyed the boy. The kid was too smart for his own good.
“I sold it,” Avery answered.
“Sold it?” Auggie asked. “You can sell hair?”
“There are omegas who have lost their hair… through old age or sickness… and they want to hide that loss. Wigmakers will pay for strong, long hair,” Gray answered, trying to strengthen Avery’s account. He sensed there was more to the story with that cutting, though. A story he planned to get once the boys were gone.
Auggie slid a hand down the braid lying over his shoulder. “I’ll sell mine, too.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Avery said, reaching out and drawing his baby brother into his arms. Avery settled Auggie beside him on the loveseat and gave him another squeeze. “One shorn head is enough in this house. But I love that you’re willing to contribute. There are other ways you can do that without giving up your hair.”
“How?” Auggie asked.
“No more music downloads… no more game downloads… no movies… no more new clothes… no more dinners out… no more anything,” Lake muttered. “It might as well be prison.”
“Stop being a spoiled brat,” Gray said to Lake.
“Stop telling me what to do,” Lake spat in response.
Gray turned to his middle nephew, his hands clenched. “I’ve had about enough of your mouth.”
Lake turned to argue, but Avery intervened. “Stop this!”
The teenager clenched his jaw, glaring at Gray.
Avery continued his speech. “Not none… we’ll just have to hold off on new things for special occasions. We’ll have to consider second-hand shops for clothing and items we need. And you both could help around the house… if we can find ways to save here, we might have a little more to spend on things that aren’t necessities.”
“Maybe you’ll find a rich alpha,” Auggie said, smiling up to Avery. That smile faded. “But will he want you with short hair?”
“If I find my alpha, I’m sure he’ll accept me, short hair and all. It’s not like it won’t grow back, Auggie,” Avery answered, though Gray wasn’t completely sure what an alpha would think of his nephew’s new style. “But we can’t rest on the hope I’ll find an alpha to support us. We need to take strides to do what we can now.” He looked at Lake and then to Auggie. “I’m going to get a job to help out. I need the two of you to listen to your uncle when I’m gone… do your homework without argument… and help with chores.”
“What kind of job?” Lake asked, his eyes narrowing.
“I don’t know yet,” Avery murmured.
“He’s going to pretend to be a beta so he can go work on the other side of the wall,” Lake said. “That’s why he cut his hair off.”
Auggie spun to face him. “You are?”
Avery sighed and met Gray’s stare.
Damn him. Lake was too close for comfort. There was no way Avery was going to be able to hide four years of college and a job in the Beta Quadrant from his brothers, particularly Lake.
“No,” Avery said, lying through his teeth. “I’m not doing that. I told you I sold my hair.”
Lake was silent, his narrowed gaze telling everyone that he wasn’t completely convinced.
“He couldn’t get away with passing as a beta. If he crossed paths with an alpha, he’d be scented in an instant,” Gray added, trying to help Avery’s lies. It had been all of five minutes and he was spouting them left and right. I won’t be able to keep up.
“I hope you get a fun job. Father always came home grumpy. I don’t think he liked his job,” Auggie said.
Avery leaned over and smiled at his baby brother. “I hope so, too.”
“It’s not easy to find a job as an omega,” Lake said, narrowing his eyes.
Avery gazed at the teen, a challenge in his stare. “I’ll make do.”
Lake rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He rose from the couch and headed for the stairs.
“You understand what’s expected of you, right?” Avery called down the hall.
“Yes!” Lake cried angrily before footsteps stomped up the stairs.
“Can I go play video games with him?” Auggie asked.
“You should be in bed,” Gray murmured.
“Is he actually letting you play?” Avery asked, ignoring Gray’s comment.
Auggie shrugged. “Not really. But I like watching.”
“Tell him I said he had to let you play, too.”
Auggie grinned before racing away. “Avery said you had to let me play!” he screamed up the stairs.
Avery chuckled before turning to Gray.
“He should be in bed.”
“It’s Friday night!”
Gray shook his head. “I thought I was the lackadaisical one?”
“I don’t know what’s happened to my laid-back uncle, but I want him back.”
Gray tilted his head and stared at Avery. Maybe he was trying too hard—but he wanted to do right by the boys. “I was reading something about schedules being important for children, especially ones his age. Staying up a little is fine, but it’s midnight. And he’s ten, not twenty.”
“He’ll be okay. The summer’s almost here.”
Gray shook his head, knowing Auggie’s bedtime was the least of his concerns now. “You’re letting them get away with too much.”
“I’m sorry if I don’t have the energy to be a disciplinarian right now,” Avery spat. “Especially when they have so little to be happy about right now. If staying up past his bedtime on the weekend puts a smile on his face, so be it.”
Gray nodded and leaned back against the couch. He stared at Avery’s hair, still shocked at the sight of it. “How are you going to hide four years of college and a part-time job as a beta from them?”
“I don’t want that strain on them,” Avery said. “A secret wears on people. They’re boys… let them be children as long as they can. They’ve already had enough stripped away.”
“And what about you?” Gray asked. “You’ve had the same things stripped away. I’m the grown-up here. I should be the one making concessions for you.”
Avery eyed him. They’d already had this same argument more than once, but Gray could see how well his nephew listened to him.
“I’m not a child. I’m nearly twenty. And I’ve been running this house for almost three years as it is. I can do this.”
Gray eyed his nephew. “Technically, this is your house. You’re legally an adult. I can’t force you to do anything.”
“You’re right. You can’t.”
The house had belonged to Gray and Silver’s papa. It had gone to Silver upon their parents’ deaths, and Gray had been allowed to live there, as he had nowhere else to go. Silver and Gilead had supported him, when they didn’t have to. He’d been fortunate to have a brother who cared so much about him. Then once Avery had gone into heat at seventeen, he could no longer live in the Family Quad, and Gray had been given new purpose, as guardian to his young charge.
But Avery had proven he was better at caring for himself than Gray had ever been of himself.
Now they had a houseful and Avery was making it clear he was in charge.
Gray felt unneeded.
Unwanted.
That’s all he’d felt for the last twenty years. Lake’s words from the funeral rang in his ears.
“Do you… do you wish me to leave?” Gray asked.
Avery frowned, his eyes widening. “Do you… do you want to go?” Before Gray could answer, Avery leapt to his feet. “I know suddenly having three boys in your house is a lot of change.”
“Your house.”
Avery paused at the correction. He turned and looked at Gray.
“It’s now your house. Not mine. I’ve been a leech on your family for many years. I don’t contribute anything. You three would be in better shape financially if it wasn’t for all your parents gave me over the years.”
Avery walked closer and placed his hands on Gray’s shoulders. “Listen to me and listen well. You belong here, with your family. Period. I can’t do this without you. I want you to stay. I need you.”
Gray held Avery’s stare a moment before looking away. “Okay.”
Avery took a step back. “Who’s going to watch the boys while I attend classes and work?”
Of course. He was to be a glorified babysitter. “College isn’t free. How do you plan on paying for that?” Gray asked.
“Loans… grants… a part-time job… whatever I can do,” Avery answered.
Gray shook his head. “So you’ll go into debt in an attempt to pay for everything?”
“I’ll do what I have to,” Avery said. He rose, stretching. “I’m tired, and my neck is itching like crazy. I’m going to grab a shower and go to bed.”
“You don’t want some dinner?”
“Not hungry.” Avery smiled before pulling a bag from his hoodie and heading for the kitchen.
“What’s that?”
His nephew turned and showed him the vials and syringes inside. “I might need your help with the injections.”
The illegal drugs inside that bag would supposedly hide Avery’s scent—and keep the alphas away. Gray hoped like hell they worked as they claimed because alphas were free to be in all quads except the omega one. “And truly make me your accomplice?”
Avery’s face fell.
Gray sighed. “You know I’ll help.”
Avery turned to hide the vials and syringes inside a container within the refrigerator. “We’ll have to think of something to hide these from the boys.”
“Mark the container vegetables. They’ll avoid it like the plague.”
Avery chuckled as he closed the fridge. “Night, uncle.”
“Goodnight.”
After cleaning a few dishes in the sink, Gray snuck over to the refrigerator and opened it up. He opened the container and looked at the series of vials inside. Lifting one, he released a sigh, knowing how much danger Avery could be in.
Omegas were born to reproduce. It was their sole purpose. At least, in the minds of those in charge. Most of whom were alphas. Omegas had few rights, and those they had only appeared once they were claimed by their alpha.
Those without an alpha lived in a limbo in the Omega Quadrant, using Heat Repress to survive the violence of an omega’s heat. It kept an omega from climbing the walls and begging to be bred when the time came.
Only, it wasn’t meant to be used for decades without end.
Like Gray had been using it.
He replaced the vial and covered it again before he shut off all the lights downstairs and wandered up. He paused at Lake’s bedroom door and watched his nephews playing a video game a moment. They were oblivious to his watchful stare.
Lake instructed Auggie in the game, a softer side to the teenager slipping out. Gray smiled, thankful to be reminded Lake wasn’t all anger and vitriol.
Maybe there’s hope for him yet.
“Time for bed.”
They both eyed him, Lake’s more a glare. After sending the boys to separate bathrooms, he wandered down the hall and slipped into his own sanctuary. He pulled out a book and read as he listened to the water streaming. Once they were both in bed and he’d taken his own shower, he slipped in between clean sheets and struggled to find sleep.
Worry for Avery.
Worry for them all.
And nervousness for the meeting he had in the morning.