Page 78 of Dream Mates
“I suppose.” She sighed. “I’ll ask at my next appointment.”
We went out to the driveway, and I closed the garage behind us. She was fiddling with her helmet.
“Here, I can turn it on for you.” I grabbed it and enabled the com-system and handed it back to her.
“On?” She blinked and put it on.
I put mine on. “Can you hear me?”
“I didn’t know it did that.” Her voice was soft over the coms.
I guess she and Jett hadn’t talked during their ride.
“In case you want to talk–or just tell me something. Would you like a short ride or a long one?” I helped her on.
“It doesn’t matter. It would be nice just to get out. This is a big seat.”
“Evan sometimes rides with me.” I got on in front of her. “I should look at some stuff at the estate before Terrance gets pissed at me. It’s a nice long drive and then you can see where Evan wants to marry you. Or we could just ride around town a bit, then go bug Jett.”
Either one would be fine. Jett had mentioned wanting to take her to the outdoor market.
“You’d take me to see the estate?” She put her arms around me, holding on tight.
“I could use your opinions on stuff anyway.” Why the fuck did that feel nice? She was tiny and boney, and not someone I could fall in love with.
Care about. Take care of. But never love.
We set off for the estate.
“Is it okay that Evan marries me? He didn’t marry you and Jett, right?” her voice finally said over the coms.
“Please, marry him. Legally, a mate bond between two omegas doesn’t count like it does between an alpha and an omega. It would be good protection for you, since you fall under omega law,” I explained as we merged onto the freeway.
Omegas could bond with each other, creating a connection, just like an alpha did. Their bites just didn’t leave a permanent mark. Apparently, she was close enough to an omega that she could bond Evan and Wes back.
“Jett and Evan have a civil partnership, and Jett and I are married for the same reasons. I did bond Jett, but alpha-betabonds also don’t have legal standing, and he can’t bond me back. Evan and I have a registered mate bond, which for an alpha-omega pair legally means the same thing as being married,” I added.
She and Wes were registered, but I wasn’t sure if she understood what everything meant.
“Oh. Okay. So that’s why no one’s married Evan? I… I’m just trying to understand. Where I’m from, your options are marriage or living in sin.” She laughed.
Yeah, I didn’t want to touch that.
“Jett and I had been through a lot together, so it felt appropriate to have a ridiculous wedding, and I’d recently acquired that resort,” I said, keeping an eye out for cars, since it was busy this morning.
“Which is where you met Evan,” she added.
“Yes. And part of why we didn’t have an actual wedding with Evan. Don’t get me wrong, we had a giant mating party with all the things a wedding does, except for the legal officiant. We brought out his sisters, grandparents, and family. A great time was had by all,” I explained. “I have a great picture of little Riley in a ruffled dress. The three of us do wear rings. When we went to have a party for Evan with Jett’s family out on the West Coast, he dressed us up and hauled our asses off for some ceremony in a temple, that was just us, some old temple guys, and the ancient omega matriarch of his family. I’ll show you pictures because those two looked so hot in his traditional clothes.”
It was very beautiful.
“That sounds nice. Wes and Evan just never got around to it, because it’s not legally necessary for them, right?” she added.
“Exactly. They mated and registered their bond, which is all you really need to do. Wes’ dad threw them a party. Jett and I attended, and Spencer brought in Evan’s family. Between you and me, I think Evan wasn’t ready for a wedding, because itmeant facing the death of his parents. Weddings are a huge part of beta culture, and he grew up in a beta family in a mostly beta neighborhood,” I added. “To me, him wanting to marry you means that he’s ready to face things–like having a wedding without his parents there to see it.”
“Oh. That makes sense. It’s also really sweet when you put it that way. I figured he just wanted to see me in a pretty dress and have a party,” she said softly.
He didn’t need a wedding for that.
