Austin grinned, deliberately wicked. “I’ll see what he can come up with.”
Bradley snorted, not missing the fact that Austin hadn’t promised to keep it legal. Austin must have realized that because he turned his wicked smile in my direction.
“As fascinating as this discussion is, I think it was designed for one reason only.” Austin leaned forward in his chair accusingly. “To distract us from asking about his relationship with Shane. It’s been almost a month and he’s still trying to pretend they’re taking things slow.”
Nods from every corner of the room had me fighting the urge to fidget. I’d been honest about how great it was going, but I’d been a bit vague on the details. I wasn’t even sure why it was so hard to tell them how things were going. Every time I thought about Shane, I knew we were both in it for the long haul.
“I didn’t say we were taking things slow.” I rolled my eyes and tried to play it off.
Wade chuckled but looked more understanding than the rest. “It’s serious, then? I know you’ve hinted at it, but every time you say his name you smile.”
I knew what we were all thinking. I looked at Shane like Wade used to look at Matthew.
“Yeah, it’s serious. His family liked me. I think that was one of my biggest concerns aside from the submission. Now, his mother is going to lose her shit if she realizes I like submitting and he likes dominating me, but that’s a problem we’ll have to tackle later.” Shane didn’t seem scared of the possibility that his family might find out someday, so I refused to let it influence me.
“With your position and the club coming up, it’s a possibility that we have to consider.” Wade took a deep breath. “How does he feel about the chance that they might find out?”
Austin snorted. “I’m more interested in how he feels about the club.”
I chuckled but focused on Wade. “He seems to have accepted it. Their whole family is really close, but not in a smothering way. It’s hard to describe, but she’ll love him even if it drives her nuts. Maybe that’s why he’s not really worried.”
He had a lot of faith in his family.
“What if your father finds out?” Jonah looked like the situation left him more stressed than it did me. But considering how insane his family was, I couldn’t blame him.
I shrugged. “He tried to buy me an alpha. The man has no room to talk. He doesn’t have any say in how I live my life and he has no desire to run the day-to-day side of the company, so I’m not worried.”
He was enjoying his playboy lifestyle too much.
“You keep distracting him.” Austin huffed dramatically. “The important question was, what does Shane think about the club?”
Laughter rolled through the room before they all started nodding. I loved being able to answer honestly without worrying about it. “He’s fine with it.”
Austin snorted and waved his hands. “That’s so vague. I need details. What does he think about you going to the club and the idea that it’s more than a business venture for you?”
Before I spoke up, Jonah broke in. “Have you guys talked about that? I mean, it’s one thing to want to dominate an omega, but it’s another to want to dominate them in public.”
“I don’t see you guys or the club as public.” I looked around at each of them. We were a diverse group, but they were closer than family to me. “I love you guys and he knows that.”
Jonah gave me a serious look. “You’re sure?”
Wade stood and went over to sit beside him, cramming himself next to Jonah and wrapping an arm around him. “What’s wrong? You’ve been stressed lately.”
Jonah shrugged but leaned into Wade. “Nothing and everything. It just feels like even when we find an alpha like Tanner has, there’s still so much that can go wrong. What if I find an alpha who understands I want to submit but doesn’t get the rest? What if he hates the idea of the club or doesn’t like my exhibitionist side? I met a guy a few weeks ago that seemed nice and wasn’t so obsessive about equality. But then he started talking about an omega’s place, and it didn’t take long to realize that to him, submission meant hiding an omega away. That’s not what I want.”
He was clearly more stressed than we’d realized—and really needed to find rational guys to date.
Wade kissed his cheek and hugged him tighter. “If he’s the right person for you, then it won’t be an issue. My grandmother used to say that in the old days we were told to wait for our mates. She was convinced fated mates weren’t just an old omega’s tale, but it was true.”
Wade pulled Jonah closer and looked around at us. “She said pushing away our instincts only made it harder to find the one we were meant for. When I was a kid, I thought she was crazy, but now, I’m starting to think we lost something by fighting who we really are.”
Turning back to Jonah, he smiled, but the look on his face said he was going to be keeping a closer eye on Jonah. “You’re going to find your alpha. You’ll know him when you see him and he’s going to love you. No more settling and no more worrying. It will happen when it’s supposed to.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed in fated mates, but I knew something had pulled the six of us together, so maybe it wasn’t such a far-off concept.
20
Shane
