Page 16 of The Feisty Omega

His brow scrunched as he looked up at me, a pained expression on his face. He looked devastated.

“But I’m underage. By years!”

“I know.” I cocked my head. “So, you didn’t know about it?”

“No! I swear. You… you think my parents have made an arrangement for me? Behind my back?”

I let my shoulders lift and fall, in a gesture of uncertainty. “I don’t know. Unless Mar came up with the idea himself, but he was definitely trying to stake a claim on you. I’m not the only one that thought so.”

“F-u-c-k.”

“C’mon, don’t worry about it. Let’s go back to my house and eat. We don’t have to worry about it now.”

Irian was uncharacteristically quiet as we walked to my packhouse. I wanted to put my arm around him and console him, but given how he was reacting to hearing Mar was trying to claim him, I worried that he might not take the gesture well. He was averyindependent omega.

Maybe it had never occurred to him that as an omega, he was political currency. A mating could be used to bind two families together to gain influence, social or political standing, even to acquire property. I didn’t know enough about his family to say what they would bring to such an arrangement, but our pack leader came from an established family that had been on the Council for generations and was highly influential. Their alpha children could probably have their pick of available omegas.

Irian had previously told me that his mother was a member of the Paranormal Council. A politically favorable alliance with a wealthy and influential Pack Alpha like ours would be something that would solidify her position on the Council. Depending on how traditional they were, as alphas, his parents might not think to ask their omega son what he thought of such an arrangement.

I had met Irian less than 24 hours ago, so in truth I didn’t really know him that well, but from what he’d shown of himself so far, I doubted he’d be thrilled with a forced union. He was an omega that seemed to know what he wanted. I couldn’t imagine him being a pawn in anyone’s game.

The low hum of murmuring voices interspersed with a child’s high-pitched giggle and some grumbling greeted us as we entered the packhouse.

My omega dad and younger brother and sister were seated at the table, a board game with tokens in various places around the board in front of them. The dirty dishes stacked on the table beside them were clearly less important than the game.

If he was surprised to see me bring Irian home, Pa didn’t show it.

“The food’s laid out in the kitchen. Help yourselves, boys.”

“Thanks, Pa. Where’s everyone?”

“Your sister and her family have already gone to bed… the little kids were tired after staying up late last night and all the excitement today. Dad and your uncle are over at Cousin Patty’s house, with the teens. Not sure where the others are… there was a rush on food a while back, but everyone’s gone now, except us, as you can see.”

I turned to Irian.

“Wanna grab plates and watch movies in my room while we eat?” I hesitated, “or are you expected to join your parents tonight?”

“Nah, they won’t care. They’ll be with their friends, so they won’t be paying attention to me anyway. And I’d rather stay away from Mel.”

“Mar,” I corrected him.

He shrugged.

The air hissed out of me in a long, slow hiss. I wasn’t going to argue. It looked to me as if his parents brought him here so he could get acquainted with Mar, but the facts were, he’d been undermyChristmas tree when I’d found him.

He wasmyChristmas present.

He was mine.

I just hoped he agreed with me on that.

Chapter 08

IRIAN

I was in shock.

A thousand questions ran through my head. But the one that worried me most was this: would Tal walk away from me, now that he believed his Alpha and my parents had made plans for me?

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