Keir lets out a dramatic sigh. “I’ll live, I suppose.” He winks at me, then slides off Julien’s lap, moving to sit beside him instead. “So, you met your fated mate and instead of taking him back home, you brought him here… I take it things haven’t changed much in Sweet Water then? Or not enough?”
Luke frowns and shakes his head. “Randall might be gone but…”
“There are still plenty of homophobic assholes?” Keir chuckles, the sound more derisive than actually amused. “Not to mention the whole male omega thing.”
Luke’s shoulder slump. “Yeah,” he says, staring down at the floor. He brings his gaze up to meet Keir’s. “After what they did to you, how can I possibly bring Ollie into that? What if…?”
“You won’t let that happen,” says Julien, his voice confident. “You’re the Alpha now. You make the rules.”
“That’s true enough, I guess, but that doesn’t mean the old superstitions aren’t lingering. That doesn’t mean John and his cronies won’t try something,” says Luke, his hand tightening on my waist and tugging me closer. “What if they get him alone? What if they hurt him?”
“You won’t let that happen,” repeats Julien, more firmly this time, his gaze soft and understanding.
Keir watches Luke’s face, eyes narrowing. “But that’s not the only problem, is it?”
“Nope,” says Luke, sighing. He gives our audience a brief rundown of the past twenty-four hours or so, thankfully leaving out the more intimate details. As he speaks both Keir and Julien go still, their expressions growing uneasy.
Once Luke is done, Keir turns to me, brow furrowed. “So, you don’t rememberanythingfrom before the lab?”
“Bits and pieces have come back—like my name and the fact that my mom died, but nothing really concrete,” I say. “We were going to figure out our next steps this morning, but then the humans showed up at Doc’s house, and… here we are.”
“There was no way I could avoid making a report to the triumvirate,” says Luke. “And I wasn’t sure what they might do about Ollie, so I wanted to get him somewhere safe while we decided the best course of action.”
“You two are more than welcome to stay as long as you need,” says Julien.
“Any idea on what you’re going to do?” asks Keir. “I know how sticky these fated mate, male omega situations can be, especially if you don’t know anything about his pack.”
“One idea was to find Ollie’s pack,” says Luke.
“And hope they’re not complete assholes,” I add.
Keir laughs, then glances toward Julien. “Do you think Remy could help with finding Ollie’s pack?” His attention returns to me. “That’s Julien’s brother. He’s the best researcher I know.”
“I’m sure he’d be happy to help,” says Julien. “I’ll give him a call and ask him to come over in the morning.” Keir makes a kissy face at his mate and Julien rolls his eyes before turning to me. “Would you be comfortable having our pack doctor examine you? Since you don’t know exactly what was going on in that lab, it might not be a bad idea to get checked out.”
“That’d be great,” I say.
“I’ll give Doctor Benton a call as well then,” says Julien.
“Thanks,” I say softly. My mouth stretches into an involuntary yawn that I hide with the back of my hand.
“Either way, nothing is going to be resolved tonight,” says Keir. “Why don’t we feed you guys—there’s some leftovers of Rachel’s lasagna—and then we’ll revisit all this in the morning?”
“Sounds perfect,” says Luke, rubbing his hand over my lower back.
After we scarf down a couple plates of reheated lasagna, Keir leads Luke and I to a bedroom upstairs. He pauses before opening the door, glancing at me. “I assumed you guys would share a room, but, uh, if that’s not…”
“Yes,” I say.
“Great,” he says, smiling. He points at a door across the hallway. “The guest room has an en suite, but if you need any towels or whatever, you can find them in there.” He jerks his thumb toward the other end of the hall. “Julien and I are just down the hall if there’s anything else you need tonight.”
Luke nods, tucking me into his side. “Thanks again, Keir.”
“No problem,” says Keir. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
Seventeen
Ollie
