Paxton said something, and then another man was crowding into view, hugging Jeuel tight. Slender, with curly blond hair,face obscured. Likely his brother-in-law Trei. Branson cast a helpless look at Tarius, who strode over, knelt, and wrapped his arms around Branson. He hated seeing this, knowing his questions had caused it, but grief was a living, amorphous thing that could not be predicted or contained. It appeared whenever it wished and had to be dealt with in the moment.
After a time, Jeuel quieted and settled in the chair that now seemed far too large for him. Trei hovered nearby, a hand on Jeuel’s shoulder, his face out of view. “Sorry,” Jeuel rasped.
“Don’t apologize for your grief,” Branson said in a husky voice. “But when you’re ready to continue, you said your sire knew he’d never be able to take care of you…”
“Yeah. He, um, told me he’d been keeping a secret from everyone except our late omegin. None of us kids knew, no one in Sonora knew, or so he thought. He told me he was born in Sansbury Province, his name was Chip Anderson Uty, and he lived there until he was twenty-three, and then he and Omegin moved to avoid a scandal.”
Scandal is certainly one word for raping and impregnating another man’s mate.
Branson swore he heard Papa growl.
“When I asked what scandal,” Jeuel continued, “he said he had cheated on Omegin and impregnated another omega. Someone else’s mate.”
Papa did growl that time, but Jeuel didn’t react. Branson hazarded a glance, and Papa’s face was bright red, but he stayed silent. His furious eyes said it all.
“Father said he signed an NDA with that omegin to never reveal that Father was the boy’s sire, in exchange for Father’s own reputation not being dragged through the mud. So, he signed it, took Omegin, and they left the province.”
Branson wanted to fly out of his chair, knock the computer monitor over, do something to dispel the rage coursing throughhim at the way Uty had completely downplayed his part in Dad’s torture and abuse. Cheated? Fuck all the way off. But Jeuel was already upset and fragile, and Branson didn’t want to destroy all Jeuel’s personal perceptions of his sire right away.
Jeuel had plenty of time to learn the truth about Charles Alder/Chip Uty.
“But he told you my name?” Branson ground out.
“Yes. Looking your family up on the internet was pretty easy.” Jeuel’s lips twitched into an almost-believable smile before drooping again. “Later that day, Father slipped into a coma. I told Trei about our conversation, and I wanted to find a way to call or email you myself. But he suggested going through a lawyer. That you might not believe me, but you’d believe something official.”
“Well, the papers certainly got my attention. Trei?”
The other omega squatted next to Jeuel, and Branson got a better look at him. A wan expression, eyes that betrayed exhaustion and grief, much like Jeuel, but he didn’t look very much older. “Hello, Branson. I’m Trei Alder.”
“Nice to meet you, under the circumstances.” Trei gave a pointed look to Branson’s left, so he added, “This is my boyfriend, Tarius Higgs.”
“Oh. I was hoping you were married.”
Branson quirked an eyebrow. “That information would have come up when you cyber-stalked me.”
“I know, I just…you being married would have helped our case. But it’s still strong, I think. You have a huge support system in Sansbury. We don’t have anyone here except each other.”
“Your parents aren’t around?”
Trei shook his head, blond curls flying. “They died when I was fifteen, within months of each other. I was seventeen when Paul found me in the Omega Classifieds, and after four dates, we agreed to mate. And before you jump to conclusions, Paul was agood mate. He was distant sometimes, but he was never abusive. I loved him.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Because Branson’s mind had immediately gone there. He knew too many omegas who’d been chosen from those classifieds for nefarious purposes, including his friend Khory, so he didn’t trust the pairings. But he had no reason to doubt what Trei said was true; the young man had just lost his mate, as well as his in-laws. “And I’m glad you and Jeuel have each other.”
“He’s been a lifesaver,” Jeuel said. “We aren’t blood, but he’s my brother in every way.”
“Then what’s your plan, Trei?” Tarius asked, speaking for the first time in the conversation.
Trei blinked at him. “My plan?”
“If Branson does win custody of Jeuel, and Jeuel moves here to Sansbury, what are you going to do? I can’t imagine you’ll abandon your brother to people he doesn’t know and a province he’s never been to.”
“I’ll go with him. Mr. Paxton has already filed my emancipation papers. I’m twenty-one, I’ve previously been mated, and I’ve held employment. It’s rare here in Sonora, but it does happen. I want to go to Sansbury with Jeuel.”
Branson glanced at Papa, whose fury had abated and shifted into contemplation. That lawyer look when he saw a potentially intriguing challenge ahead. Fine, Branson would leave that one to Papa to orchestrate. “So you definitely want to pursue this?” he asked Jeuel. “Moving here to live with me?”
Jeuel finally wrangled up a real, staying smile. “I do. I don’t have anything but bad memories here, and the constabulary isn’t keeping me close by as a witness. I’ve given them hours-worth of statements about the incident, and about my family. What little I knew about Father’s business was nothing beyond rumors atschool and articles in the newspapers. Public stuff. I need a fresh start, Branson.”
“I understand.” Sort of. Not really. Branson understood needing space from the conflicts in his life, especially when the media circled his family. But he could not fathom a time in which he’d want to move across the territory—nothing short of a man-made disaster that killed his entire family in one fell swoop. And if something like that ever happened…
