Page 156 of Dream Mates
“An asshole, obviously,” Wes snorted. “But yeah, I saw the video of what happened in the coffee shop. While that alpha grabbing her made me angry, the professor weirded me out. So did some of the kids. Jett’s doing background checks on them.”
“She’s unsure if she wants to press charges, but we did upload the video and file an incident report with campus police,” I told him. “While she says she’s physically fine, I worry, and have half a mind to have a doctor come to the hotel.”
I was so glad that not only did Grace have the foresight to ask Riley to get the footage, but that Riley had been able to do so quickly. Jett getting background checks wasn’t a bad thing either. I hope we got that genscan soon.
“I know you’re taking good care of her,” Wes assured. “Every time I hear from her she sounds so happy.”
“For the most part she has been quite happy–making friends and contacts, and learning new things.” This trip had been productive for me as well. Like the meeting at Strauss. One of their chemicals was just what we needed for a new quicktest. Not to mention my speaking engagements help raise money for my company’s after-school science programs.
Still, she’d been injured, and I hadn’t even known. Had Wes? Evan felt her strongly. But then omegas who were bonded to each other usually did.
That was the real reason why, once, packs were discouraged from taking multiple omegas. Not because of omega jealousy, or fairness given the ratio of omegas to alphas, as they wanted us to believe. It was because ofalphajealousy at how omegascould feel and love each other so deeply. Not everyone saw it as a beautiful thing.
Personally, I loved how Grace and Evan made each other happy.
If I’d been bonded to her today…
“She does miss you,” I told Wes.
“I know. I miss her, too. But I’ll see her soon enough–and I’m glad you get to have your romantic trip to the science fair.” He chuckled.
“We’re having a lovely time.” Those dinners, those walks on the beach, they were everything.
“I’ll let you go, have fun. If you’re planning on bonding with her, go for it. She’s already yours, you know. You’re doing fine, Spence.” Wes ended the call.
I rejoined Grace, wrapping my arm around her. Giving me a brilliant smile, she melted into me, fitting so perfectly.
“So, what are we getting? A case of everything?” I teased, accepting a new glass.
“Did you want a case of everything? Because we can do that, sir.” The young woman on the other side of the counter grinned.
“I got two cases of the stuff Bren likes, and a case of this.” Grace held up a bottle of peach bourbon.
The woman behind the counter poured some from an open bottle and gave me a glass. I took a sip and winced at the sweetness.
“Do we need an entire case?” I asked her. They probably only sold it by the case.
“Yes. I also made a custom case–two bottles for each of you based on what I think you’d like. Except for Riley. They had bottles from the year she was born, and we’ll save them for when she’s old enough to drink it.” Grace looked quite pleased with herself.
“You made a case for us, that sounds delightful.” I gave her a squeeze. If anything, it would be entertaining. “Why don’t we pay for the four cases you bought, arrange for them to be sent to the hotel, and go have our picnic.”
“This was such a great idea,” Grace sighed, laying against me, as the sun set, painting the sky with pinks and oranges.
“It really was.” We sat on a blue checkered blanket under a light-festooned tree by a creek, the remains of our picnic feast around us. The food was surprisingly good.
The company had been even better.
I leaned down and stole a kiss, warm and sweet.
“Mmmm, I want another.” She pressed her lips to mine.
Oh, I couldn’t wait to get her back to the hotel.
If I was certain that we had privacy here, I wouldn’t wait. But just because I couldn’t see anyone didn’t mean they weren’t there, ready to take pictures our pack didn’t need to be public. I was already certain other guests at the farm had taken photos of us. Though Grace making me feed baby goats wasn’t incriminating.
Yet it bothered me.
It never had before. It was part of being in the public eye. My father always tried to shield me from it. It was part of why he’d become an academic. But the moment two teenagers formed a pharmaceutical company and landed national and international contracts, Elaris and I became media targets.
