“I’ll let my landlord know today.”
Niall’s quick response did a lot to ease any underlying fears Jax still harbored.
Niall stood and wrapped his arms around Jax, pressing his lean torso into Jax’s furry chest. “I can’t apologize for being wired differently, but I am sorry it’s caused you this hurt. I love you so much.”
“Good thing for you, my wiring seems to have a favorable default setting.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“Make Niall happy.”
Chapter Ten
Teal
Teal arrived home from the office one evening in late June to find the house empty. As usual, he was exhausted. In the two months since they’d taken Sorcha to the hospital, every day felt more and more like he was running on fumes.
He loosened his tie and opened the fridge to grab a soda, welcoming the cool air on his face. The balmy night refused to let go of the day’s heat and his shirt stuck to his back. Ronan had texted earlier, saying he’d be staying late at the job site, and Niall had taken the boys to the pool. Teal couldn’t recall the last time he’d been in the house by himself.
Strain from the busy workday stiffened his shoulders. He rolled them slowly to release the tension, and the sound of his neck cracking echoed across the quiet room. It unnerved him.
He’d anticipated the stress at work. But expecting something and experiencing it were two different things. Thankfully, the end was in sight. The initial date for the Bannon case had finallybeen set, and he’d be arguing in front of High Court within the month.
Pre-tribunal evidence preparation was going well, even if the process drained Teal to the marrow of his bones. He’d spent countless hours interviewing omegas, listening to their heat services horror stories—being given to violent alphas, unintended pregnancies, forced pregnancies, a pay-for-pleasure scheme where omegas had been made to service dozens of alphas. It shocked him how much abuse had occurred, and how few options there were for justice.
But if Teal’s firm won this case, it would be an important step toward change. He just had to make it to the end.
As he walked from the kitchen into the living room, picking up toys and loose shoes along the way, the silence enveloped him like a false reality. Their family life was anything but calm these days.
Ronan spent long hours at his job site, often dealing with the anti-omega faction in his industry that had grown more hostile lately, as the Bannon case dominated media coverage. Ronan had come home a few nights ago with AINO, Alpha In Name Only, painted on his truck. He and Teal had removed the slur, but it took an hour of hard scrubbing.
Adding to Teal’s distress was that Sorcha had been avoiding them since the night of his hospital visit. As he’d predicted, the bill had incensed his uncles. Even after Ronan volunteered to pay the entire amount—fair in Dale and Abe’s minds since Ronan had forced their nephew to take a “pointless” trip to the ER—they were still upset Sorcha had fallen behind on his tasks that weekend.
When Dale had raged about all the money his “idiot omega relative” cost them, Teal had barely held Ronan back.
“Don’t,” Teal said. “He might take it out on Sorcha.”
“We need to do something!”
“I know. But they’re his legal guardians until he gets married or turns twenty-five.” Yet another decree Teal could see himself tackling down the road. Sometimes, the fight to have omegas treated as human beings seemed endless.
Ronan had emitted a low growl, but ultimately let the matter lie.
Since then, neither Ronan nor Teal had had a meaningful conversation with Sorcha. The younger omega had seemed okay the few times Teal had gotten a glimpse of him, but who knew?
Teal sat down and pressed the cool soda can to his overheated neck. He stared at the unit’s central wall, wondering if Sorcha was on the other side.
Wondering if he was in danger.
Teal recalled Sorcha’s alarmed response to Teal figuring out the cause of Sorcha’sweakness, the reason he’d fallen from the ladder. He guessed that was partly reason Sorcha was avoiding them. Because he didn’t want to answer Teal’s questions.
But Sorcha didn’t understand that Teal had spent the last year pouring over testimony about mistreated omegas. Sorcha could dodge him for a little while, but eventually Teal was going to push the issue. The protective pull he’d felt toward his beautiful young neighbor hadn’t gone away. If anything, it had grown stronger, and he knew Ronan felt the same way. There was no chance either of them would allow Sorcha to be harmed.
Teal sighed as he turned on the TV and opened one of the streaming services, scrolling mindlessly for a few minutes before turning it off and tossing the remote onto the couch. He rose and paced around the room. On the dining table, he saw the thousand-piece puzzle Niall was working on with the boys. The scene coming together was a tropical landscape, with a turquoise beach in the foreground and tall palm trees in the back. Teal picked up a blue piece and fitted it into the ocean.
The picture reminded him they hadn’t taken a real vacation in years. Maybe when High Court ended, he and Ronan could take the boys to the beach. Perhaps Niall would come.
As though he’d willed it, his phone pinged with a text.
