The Friends’ Support

1

Wes

I’ve barely slept last night, everything was just too much. There was just too much going on in my head and I couldn’t relax. I’m pretty sure that Nathan and Zeke haven’t slept either.

We’re all sitting at a table in the restaurant of the hotel, staring at our breakfasts. Quiet, not saying anything, because I’m not sure we’ve got the energy to even think up something to talk about right now.

All the things that happened yesterday, last night, are still going through my head. Zeke’s parents’ threat, the TV interview, Zeke’s pregnancy. Bad things, good things…

“Wes?” Zeke’s fingers slide over my hand. “You have to eat something. Please.”

“You too.” I look at him, and the exhaustion in his eyes breaks my heart. I wrap my hand around his. “You have to eat too. Especially now.”

He nods, but doesn’t let go of my hand.

“Zeke?” A voice behind us makes us all look up.

Zeke stands up, turning around. Behind us is a man, dressed impeccably, and I immediately recognise him. Emil Harper, a pretty popular TV personality, he was voted ‘most handsome Beta on TV’ last year.

Zeke goes over to the man, wrapping his arms around him, grinning widely. “Emil, you came. You look great.”

“And you look like crap.” Emil lets out a laugh, flashing one of his famous smiles. “Of course, I’d be here for you. You know that.”

Zeke nods, and then he lets the other man go, pulling him along to the table. “Everyone, this is someone I want you to meet. Though, it’s better if he introduces himself.”

Emil leans his head our way. “Hey. I’m Emil, I went to high school with Zeke. I’m also the one who messaged Clay last night.” He looks over to Clay. “Sorry for giving you a different name, I wasn’t sure anyone was going to trust me if I gave this name. Not after what had just happened, anyway.”

“Wait. You’re Elly?” I look him up and down, confused for a moment.

Emil smiles at me, his eyes kind. “I was Elly when I went to high school with Zeke. We were in the same classes. I was still trying to fit in as a female Omega back then. Which didn’t work out so well.”

His smile turns sad now. “When I saw the interview and everything that happened after… I knew that I had to help. I knew that I couldn’t let one of my best friends get treated like that. Not… Not if I could do something about it.”

“Sit down. Sit down.” Zeke pulls an extra chair to our table. “I’m glad you’re here. You can’t imagine how relieved I am.”

Emil nods. “I can sort of imagine, though. I know how important friends are when you’re fighting situations like that, when you know you’re going to anger a lot of people.”

He sighs. “I watched last night’s interview multiple times. So, there isn’t much I really want to ask about that. Unless you need to add something? And Zeke’s parents’ performance… Yeah, pretty standard for where we come from. I wish it wasn’t this predictable, but our parents did all send us to the same schools and such.” He shrugs a little, looking sad.

“You said that you could help?” Nathan leans over.

“Yeah. I know exactly where we need to go. Preferably as soon as possible, to make sure this whole situation ends quickly. You’ve probably got a lot of proof on Zeke being mistreated and things like that?” Emil looks around the table.

Sarah nods. “Yeah. I’ve got copies with me, but we’ve got backups in different places, just to be safe.”

“Good. That was smart thinking.” Emil nods. “We’re going to need them.” Emil reaches up and pulls on the collar of Zeke’s shirt like he does it every day, far too familiar, anger flashes in my chest.

He lets the collar go. “Like I thought, two marks.” Then he looks at me, though he doesn’t reach out.

Which is good, because he’s getting on my nerves, the way he’s so friendly with Zeke.

“I’ve also got two marks.” Though, Zeke’s is over the old one… Like he was trying to erase my past, claim me for himself.

“Your ex and Zeke’s, right? I thought so.” Emil looks thoughtful.

I eye Nathan, but then nod. “How did you…?”

“Nothing to do with Nathan. Okay, well, a little bit. Nathan doesn’t seem like an Alpha who would just force his mark onto you. So, I expected that he wouldn’t have marked you yet. But I knew that Zeke would have marked you. Zeke…”

Emil looks at Zeke, something soft in his gaze. “Zeke has got that in him. He wants to protect you at all costs. He marked you over your ex’ mark, right?”

I nod, my hand going up, covering the marks, the place hot on my skin even though it’s all healed up now. “Yeah.” My voice is suddenly rough and I clear my throat. “Yeah.”

“Do I have to mark him? Wes? Will I have to mark him?” Nathan’s voice is unsure. Emil is right, Nathan isn’t like that.

“No. That hasn’t got anything to do with this issue with Zeke’s parents right now. I just had to be sure. I just had to be sure that the three of you were linked, all mated together. Zeke’s marks are enough proof of that.”

Emil takes a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket, putting it on the table. “This isn’t going to be easy. But I know a way to get you all out of this. I know a way to get Zeke’s parents off your backs, and to dissolve this ‘promised mates’ contract once and for all. But I need to know that you’re all willing to do whatever it takes.” He looks around the table.

“Yes.” Zeke’s voice is a little rough too. “We have no other choice. I’m not leaving them.”

“Good.” Emil sounds satisfied. “I’d hoped you’d say that.” He opens the piece of paper and it’s a printout of some law book or something.

Sarah lets out a laugh, her whole stance relaxing. “Of course. Yes. Of course. We should have done that from the start.”

I can’t make much sense of the page, it’s too much complicated language for me, but if Sarah thinks it’s a good idea, then I guess it’ll be fine.

I have to believe that, I have to believe that everything will work out.

***

After we got our last items from the hotel rooms, we’re now on our way to our home city. Though, I wish we could actually go home. Instead, we’re going to the courthouse.

Of all the places, this isn’t one I expected us to go immediately, or that I really wanted to go visit.

Sterling will be meeting us there, he was able to get out of the apartment safely, since nobody knows who he is. A random guy coming out of the apartment building didn’t really raise any eyebrows. He’s got the papers that the lawyer brought over for Clay with him.

It turns out that there are more ways to break a promised mating. One of them is a little obscure, and Sarah didn’t even think about it at first because it’s really unpleasant and really rough on an Omega.

To break a promised mating like we’re hoping to do, you need people from the Omega’s past who can testify that the Omega in question would actually be a poor choice to be promised to the Alpha.

Zeke’s poor reaction to the mating and heat drugs and his parents pressuring him and threatening the rest of us are great proof of why Zeke’s safety and health would be in immediate danger if he returned to his Alpha. Which can be used as part of the argument of getting him out of this promised mating.

But it’s not enough, just that alone isn’t enough to break it. But with Emil here, and they’re now trying to reach other people from their past, they could make the argument that Zeke would be a poor match for Jonah.

I think I heard something about poor grades on Omega-specific classes, but also his history with problems with his parents, him being too defiant, and not conforming to the rules that a society like his parents and Jonah’s would put on him.

It’s an unusual choice, especially since the ruling is usually used the other way around by Alphas trying to get rid of their promised Omegas because of perceived flaws in character and ability.

While in reality they just tried to get rid of them because they weren’t beautiful enough and shit like that. It’s not a guaranteed ruling and it means that Zeke has to sit through a lot of crap from a lot of people to get to the end of all of this, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t work.

Emil even seems pretty convinced that it will work out in this case, because we’re making our argument from two sides at the same time, and that may work to our advantage.

Also, the things that Zeke’s parents said about Zeke and being disappointed in him and such can work in our favour now.

Before, their words were meant to make Zeke appear to be an unreliable character, but we can use their words to our advantage by saying that Zeke’s image is now tainted. Something an Alpha in Jonah’s position shouldn’t be associated with.

It feels stupid, it feels like a dumb idea, but it may actually work. Because if we’ve got one thing, it’s enough negative and degrading statements about Zeke from his own parents.

Zeke holds my hand tightly, his palm sweaty. I run my thumb over his hand, trying to soothe him.

“Oh.” Nathan looks up in surprise, then he looks behind him at Zeke. “You know that thing we talked about yesterday morning?”

“Yes?” Zeke frowns now.

“It seems that it may actually happen.” Nathan starts to grin. “I just got the email.”

“Really?” Zeke blinks. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m surprised too.” Nathan grins.

“What are you two talking about?” I look from my one mate to the other.

“Nathan put an offer on a house yesterday. It seems the offer just got accepted.” Zeke grins. He’s not looked this happy in days.

“A house? Why?” What’s going on?

“I can’t move in with your brother.” Nathan nods to Clay, who is driving. “Sorry.”

“No, I get that. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable either.” Clay smiles.

“But, why? You’ve got an apartment.”

“Zeke asked the same thing yesterday.” Nathan keeps smiling, then he takes a breath. “I want a place for our family. I want to live with you, all of you, in a house. I want us to be a family in more than just name. And I can’t do that at the apartment, and I’m not moving in with Clay and his family.”

Nathan reaches behind him to me and I take his hand. “I just thought it would be a better idea. The house is big enough for all of us. It’s smaller than Clay’s place, sure, but it’s ours and I get to share it with you, my family.”

I swallow hard. Moving out of Clay’s place, the one place I’ve felt really safe. It’s scary. Could I really do it? I squeeze Nathan’s hand and Zeke squeezes mine.

“You don’t have to decide immediately.” Nathan’s voice is soothing. “It’s not about doing something right now. The house will still be there next week, next month, next year. I just want a place for us, a place where we can all live together, even if it isn’t full-time.”

He’s so calm, how can he be so calm about this? Is he not sure?

“You don’t really want it?” I meet his eyes in the rearview mirror.

Nathan smiles a little. “I want it more than you can imagine. But I know that I’m just on my own, for me, these things are easy to decide. But you’ve got your own children, the rest of your family, to think of too. And I know that living at Clay’s has many advantages, like safety. And I also know that moving kids from place to place all the time isn’t a good idea either.”

He softly squeezes my hand again. “It’s not that I don’t want it. I want it so much that I’m willing to let you do things at the pace that’s right for you and your family.”

I nod, a lump in my throat. I don’t know what to think right now. This is so overwhelming.

Nathan is so much more than I ever expected from my Alpha, more than I ever expected from a mate. It’s like I’m not just his Omega, I’m his partner, his equal, and he respects that.

Wait. But did he get a house without our input? “Where is the house? What does it look like?”

“It’s near the edge of the city, so it’s a little away from Clay, but the location is beautiful.” He looks so happy.

I raise my eyebrow at him, that’s not really a description.

Zeke tugs on my shirt, showing his phone. “It’s the one at the end of the row.”

The picture he’s showing is breathtaking, it takes me a while to realise what neighbourhood I’m looking at. Then it clicks in place. I’ve seen pictures of it before. The area is really new and it’s really pretty, though also expensive. Nathan got us a house there?

I look up again, meeting Nathan’s eyes, but he just smiles. I can’t believe he’d do that. I can’t believe he’d just do that.

I sigh. I guess that’s one of those things that I’ll have to get used to. To Nathan, money isn’t really an issue, which is severely different from how I used to live, how I still think.