They’d almost escaped when Zayne asked, “Garin, why did you tell that man you were the mean little boy from the pool?”
Jax groaned.
“I knew it!” The smaller alpha barreled after them. At least they weren’t trapped in the tunnel.
Niall turned to face the men. “Back off.”
“These are Ronan and Teal McGinn’s kids,” the big one said. He looked at Garin. “You tell your cunt of a daddy that he better watch his back. Alphas don’t appreciate being told what to do by omegas.”
If the man hadn’t been so vulgar and belligerent, Jax could have found humor in the absurdity of him getting upset with a six-year-old who was literally one-tenth his size.
Not that Garin was backing down. “Don’t talk about my daddy,” he said with the conviction of a much-older child. “He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
The alpha’s face reddened. He stepped toward Garin.
Jax moved in between them. “If you touch one hair on this child’s head, or utter one more inappropriate word to him, I swear you will regret it. What is wrong with you? Yelling obscenities at a little boy who has nothing to do with his father or his father’s career?”
“I’m just saying growing alphas ought to be taught right. And these boys are being raised to be omega-lovers.”
“No,” Kino interjected. “We’re being raised to treat everyone with respect. Except for alpha trash like you.”
“You can’t call us that!” the other alpha blustered.
“Pretty sure he just did,” Jax retorted. “And although I normally wouldn’t condone children speaking to adults this way, I’m willing to make an exception here.”
“Soon enough, this won’t matter,” the big alpha said. “I came here with my brother and our boys today to see the aquarium. But I'm not missing an opportunity to tell a McGinn—any McGinn, I don’t care if he’s six or thirty-six—that Teal and those who think like him are the problem in our society. But there are right-thinking alphas out there who plan to make sure the problem is handled.” He glared at Garin again and waved his finger. “You tell your daddy that. He should be ashamed of himself.”
“Yes, of course,” Niall said, adopting a bored tone. “One of the state’s most accomplished and respected lawyers is definitely the one here who should be ashamed of himself.”
The big alpha glanced around, and Jax noticed that several aquarium-goers had their phones out, filming the interaction. Great. They’d made a scene. He hoped this didn’t upset Ronan and Teal.
Two beta security guards rushed over. “Gentlemen, I am so sorry,” one of them said to Jax and Niall. “I am happy to stay with you for the remainder of your visit to ensure you remain unbothered.”
The other guard spoke in a low tone to the angry alphas before escorting them and their wailing toddlers out of the building. Jax shook his head. Ruining your children’s day so you could shout at a six-year-old. These pro-alpha idiots were out of control.
Jax wanted to leave and return to the relative safety of their apartment, but he knew it would be beneficial to salvage whatever sense of normalcy he could for the kids. They stayed another hour before allowing the security guard to walk them to their car. The boys asked to stop for ice cream, but both betas were eager to get behind a locked door. They compromised by going through a drive-thru for soft serve.
From the passenger seat, Niall turned his head around to the boys, calmly eating in their boosters. He asked Garin and Kino, “What made you think of calling us ‘Dad?’ That was a very clever thing to do.”
Garin took a lick of his cone before answering. “When I saw those guys come into the tunnel, they seemed fine at first, normal. But then I could tell by their faces that they recognized us. It doesn’t happen a lot, but there was one other time in the grocery store—”
“Except that time, the man was nice,” Kino picked up the story. “That time, it was a beta, and he saw us, and we were with Daddy, and the man shook Daddy’s hand and said ‘nice to meetyou’ and ‘thank you.’ But just now, those alphas got mean looks on their faces and we knew it wouldn’t be good.”
“Well, that was some quick thinking,” Niall said. “And it got us out of the tunnel.”
“I still don’t understand,” Zayne said, sticking his tongue out to catch a dribble of soft serve.
“You don’t need to.” Garin handed his brother a napkin. “Your big brothers will keep you safe. Always.”
“I know,” Zayne answered solemnly.
“Still,” Jax said from the driver’s seat. “I think it’s a good reminder for all of us to be more careful, at least for a little while. Especially you three.”
“Yes, Garin,” Niall spoke directly to the boy. “I know you’re always going to protect Zayne, but he needs to understand that there are people in the world who are upset with your parents right now. Those men back there were obviously inappropriate, but they seemed to be mostly bluster, like Landry’s father. But there are some folks who are genuinely dangerous. We need to make sure we are extra vigilant.”
“Okay,” Garin said seriously.
“We understand,” Kino agreed. “Also, I didn’t like having to pretend, either. I’m proud to be Daddy’s son.”
