“Call me whatever you want, darlin’,” Chase retaliated, leaning into a lingering kiss that had Ford humming his approval.As his hand slid over Chase’s thigh, Ford broke the kiss.
“Guess now’s the time to admit your mam gave me a promotion.Said if we were gonna take Pip, I weren’t allowed to stay active.”Lifting his arm around Lucky’s neck, Ford gently tilted Lucky’s head up to make eye contact.“I never wanna leave you not knowing if I’m gonna come home.”
Lucky curled against him.He appreciated that Ford understood the fear lurking below the surface, that he might spend the rest of his life, or the next ten years, never knowing if sending Ford to work would be the last he saw of him, with a mountain of words unspoken, experiences not shared, having to explain to Pip that Tauri would never come home.
“I guess we haven’t been as open as we should have been.”Chase sounded worried, like this was his fault.
Lucky didn’t care.He loved that they’d both done everything to make their bond, their family, and this situation as simple and stress-free as possible.“You were taking care of me and planning ahead.I don’t mind, but I have something to tell you too.”
Chase laughed in disbelief and Ford raised an eyebrow, like he didn’t believe Lucky could keep a secret.
They had no idea.Lucky had a feeling his secret would blow their world wide open.
Chase
Lucky left them in the living room while he gathered his surprise, leaving Chase to slide into his place on the sofa.
“What d’ya think?”Ford grabbed a packet of cigarettes off the table.He tapped one out and used his lips to remove the cigarette from the packet, though Chase refused the offer of one and planted his elbow on the sofa.
“No idea, but he sounded serious.”
Lucky returned before he had a chance to say more, and perched on the coffee table.“Since I first felt this pull towards you both, I’ve been searching for a legal way for us to be together.”He sat with a pile of papers on his knees.Clearing his throat, he freed a book from the bottom of the pile.“This is the book my papa wrote.After digging and reinterpreting the translations, Professor Milliner was right,” he explained, using a bookmark to open to a page halfway through.“This is a passage about matings and what an omega should expect, written in the old language from centuries ago.Long after Omha.This is the foundation to our current laws.”
As an omega, Omha claimed dominion over all omegas.Only the hand of Omha may guide an omega to their rightful mate, and true mates must never be denied, no matter the family, status or belief of the alpha or omega.
The bond is decided by the will of the Gods.No law, opinion or violence shall undo this union and there will be no tolerance for those linked by a bond to be separated.Those who attempt to will face the wrath of Azrah.
In Omha’s name there shall be no limit or prejudice against true bonds, as proven by the Bonding Guide.As long as a true bond can be detected, a bonding will not be denied, no matter the number of omega or alpha, or the inclusion of betas, in the mating.
Lucky nibbled his bottom lip, removing a slip of paper from the pile on his lap.
Chase accepted the photograph of an ancient wall mural.“There are four women in this picture.”
“Omha’s first born, an omega daughter Lera, was the first to feel the bond with more than one person.The Bonding Guide proved that all four shared the same bond, and they were legally united.”Lucky blushed and his fingers grazed the flower pendant.“Our government suppressed this, but couldn’t remove the law even if they did bury it in ambiguous wording and subsections of small print.”Handing over another piece of paper, he waited patiently as Chase scanned the writing.“Legally, no one has any right to stop us bonding.”
Omha bless his heart.
Ford turned the paper to read the other side.
Lucky clasped the papers like a lifeline.“When the bond is split?whether two alphas, two omegas, or more?those outside the true mate bonding feel an echo of the true mate bond.It’s just as real as any other bond.Two alphas sharing an omega is more common, rather than two omegas to have one alpha, but both are possible.
“In the case of two alphas, they develop an emotional attachment based on their desire to protect the omega, then a strong physical connection, which forms a bond much faster than a true mated alpha-omega pairing.”
Ford studied Lucky intently, a smile painting his lips.Turning his attention to the new piece of paper, Chase frowned at the official government document, most likely a scan, crisp and with a stamp in the top corner.The header statedRegistration of AOA.
Chase flipped the page of the stapled document and kept reading multiple addendums and sections, each with small print and fancy wording.
“Didn’t know you could read this much.”Ford tossed his copy onto the coffee table.
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he flipped to the last page and used his free hand to give Ford the finger.“This says we can legally get bonded, mated and recognised as an AOA partnership.Short for alpha-omega-alpha, which confirms what Ross and the professor said.”Buried within the legalese, he found what he wanted.“Did you read this?”
Ford snorted and took a drag of his cigarette.“I stopped reading when they said ‘legal’.”
Chase twisted to sit side on.“Any child produced by an omega registered as AOA will belegallyrecognised as the child tobothalphas,” he said, paraphrasing the illogical wording to make sure Ford followed.He held eye contact, barely containing the excitement making his heart beat erratically.“The law won’t differentiate.”
“Why haven’t I been told about this?”Lucky objected, flipping through his papers.“There were so many clauses and subsections.I didn’t have time to read them all, but I’m sure I would have noticed that.”
“You wouldn’t, because a bunch of arrogant alphas class this as alpha territory.”Chase caught Ford’s hand to gain his attention, slipping the cigarette from his fingers.“Did you read Addendum B6?”
