Lucky watched him go, speechless, then turned to Chase for an explanation.
“Let’s sit while we wait.”He helped Lucky to the sofa, even though he wasn’t that frail.Chase waited until he was sitting comfortably then perched beside him to brush a strand of hair from Lucky’s eyes.“We’ll get your hair brushed after you’ve had a bath.Your papa packed some stuff from home.”
Lucky cocked his head, surprised by the tenderness in Chase.“Were youthatscared?”
Chase nodded, not denying it.“We both were,” he said, including Ford again.Was that a sign that he accepted this three-way bond, or was he afraid to exclude Ford in case Lucky walked away from their bond as true mates?
“It’s not because you’re not enough,” he promised, afraid he’d think Luckywantedanother alpha mate.“I don’t want you to feel like I’d force this on you.I won’t ask you to accept Ford into our bond if you don’t want him there.It will be hard, but I’m sure?”
“Don’t apologise, becauseyoudid nothing wrong,” Chase protested, sounding like he’d made peace with their bond while Lucky was sleeping.“This is new and confusing, but you were adamant that Omha was guiding you.Do you still believe that?”
It wasn’t a belief and Lucky opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when Chase’s meaning sank home.“I still believe in Her, in what I feel,” he promised, glad he didn’t doubt Omha.This wasn’t even about Omha, but about whether Lucky had changed his mind, whether he stood by what he’d said and trusted that Omha had given him two mates.
Chase gripped Lucky’s fingers tight.“When you kissed him, I should’ve been jealous, but there was nothing.I could see from how he looked at you that it was real.”
Lucky smiled, unable to find the words to express his relief.
“Did you think Ford just pounced on me, to hell with what I wanted?”Chase asked with a knowing smile.
He almost commented on how he’d found them, but thought better of it.“Let’s face it, he would.”
“Course I fuckin’ would.”Ford stood in the bedroom doorway, blatantly eye-fucking both of them.“I hit the jackpot with two hot mates.Now let’s get your ass in the bath.”
Sinking into the hot water, the weariness in Lucky’s bones faded away.He’d been right about his inability to get in, and had hated the vulnerability and rush of nerves that consumed him when Ford thoughtfully lifted him in.“Did Jesi explain everything?”
Ford lifted a cloth and crouched at the side of the bath.“Yeah.That kid knows what he’s doing.”
There was so much fondness there that Lucky couldn’t resist asking, “How did he become ORT?”
Ford dunked the cloth into the water and scrubbed a bar of soap across it.“He was sold into the Market by a family member when he was young,” he said while Lucky soaked in the water, letting the heat ease his aching muscles.“He was in the Market for years.”
Lucky remembered meeting him once.“Years ago, he came to the police academy to discuss the ORT from an omega’s perspective.My father took me, because I wanted to join.”
Ford’s smile made butterflies flit in his stomach.“You wanna be ORT?Sounds like a good plan.”He dipped the cloth into the water to lazily wipe over Lucky’s legs.“Dont’cha agree?”He looked back at Chase, who sat on a dining chair just behind him.
“Absolutely.”
“Jesi’s seen plenty shit over the years.Both in and out of the Market,” Ford continued, lathering Lucky’s legs from ankle to thigh as though he’d done this before.“Every ORT has a moment of awakening, when they realise how fucked-up this world is and that they’re willing to do anything, break any law, bend all the rules, just to get an omega the hell out of whatever shit hole they’re trapped in.
“Jesi was my awakening.We raided this mansion—crystal everywhere, marble ornaments in every corner, more money put into a single fucking vase than I’ve seen in my life.We swept the estate, found a dozen omegas trapped in the wine cellar, chilled to the bone, and made our way upstairs.In the office, there was Jesi.Naked as the day he was born, gun in hand, dead owner sitting in the chair across the desk.”Ford shook his head and lifted Lucky’s hand to sweep the cloth over his arms.“Never been so fucking proud in my life, until I seen you resisting a heat.I ain’t never seen anyone fight OX, but I sure as fuck never seen an omega call on Omha to protect them.”
“Not since Jesi?”Lucky guessed, and was glad that made Ford smile.
“Jesi was different.He’d gone full native, convinced his owner loved him,” he said, which was tragic but not surprising, if he’d been held captive for years.“He ain’t never believed in Omha until that day.He found out his owner were gonna sell him.He’d become complacent, too obedient, and the owner wanted a challenge.The idea of a new owner scared the shit outta Jesi and he prayed to Omha, asking for the strength and courage to survive.”
“He didn’t realise Omha would give him the strength to free himself.”
Ford sat back and rinsed the cloth.“There’s a reason why we don’t prosecute omegas who free themselves.I seen one guy dismembered, but we got our rules and number one is simple—omegas have the right to do whatever the fuck they need to escape a trader, a buyer or seller that’s got them trapped in the Market.We got fuck-all to say when we find the pieces left over.”
Chase snorted, drawing Ford’s attention.“I’m sure there were ORTa who did some damage and let an omega take credit, right?”
“I ain’t sayin’ nothin’.”Ford eyed Lucky from head to toe.“Wanna wash your hair?”
He nodded, pleased to get rid of the tangles, the sweat and whatever toxins the Fugue had been pushing from his system.
Ford stood and tossed the cloth aside.“I’mma let meda handle this one, cause I ain’t good with the delicate shit.”He turned away to grab a towel to dry his hands, while Lucky silently ruminated over that precious, unexpected pet name.
Clearly they’d been doing more than talking while he was sleeping.
