Page 109 of Bully for Sale

“He came to talk to George about his brothers,” Pete said quietly, arms crossed protectively over his chest. “He wanted to stop George from doing to them what he’s done to Ezer.”

George scoffed. “What I didforEzer, you mean?”

“What you did for yourself,” Pete said tightly. “Please don’t be angry, George. I’m proud to be your omega, and I love you, but when I see how you’re handling your omega sons, it scares me. What if our next son is an omega? Will you do the same to him? I chose you, didn’t I? Of my own free will, I chose to be with you. Ezer here—” Pete shook his head. “I was in the car. He was out of his mind in heat before he ever saw this boy.”

“Pete,” George said warningly. “Love, do keep your mouth shut.”

“No, I’m rather interested in what he has to say,” Heath said. “Go on. I’d like to know more.”

Pete’s eyes lingered on George’s angry face, seeming to reconsider saying more, but then his gaze flitted to Ezer in the bed, swollen with children, sick and unconscious. “He’s so young…”

“My other boys are older. They’ve waited long enough. Omegas are meant to be bred,” George said. “Everyone will agree to that.”

Pete and Adrien met each other’s eyes, and Ned saw the complicated look exchanged between them.

“I chose you,” Pete whispered.

“I chose Heath,” Adrien said.

“No, you didn’t, “Heath corrected. “I bought your heat and a breeding on auction.”

“But Ichoseto sell those things to you. I could have made a different choice.”

“You were broke,” Heath argued. “You—”

“Heath, Ichoseyou!” Adrien whisper-shouted, throwing his hands up. “Would you rather I hadn’t?”

Heath stopped talking after that, and turned back to Pete, lifting his thick eyebrows to urge him to go on.

“Ezer didn’t reallychoose, George. I heard you say that you were aware he didn’t even know who he was contracting with when he signed the contract, that he couldn’t read it, and you didn’t insist on reading it to him. You knew he felt coerced. I heard you admit it.”

George’s jaw ticced, but he nodded once.

“Ezer doesn’t want this for his brothers,” Pete motioned at the bed. “He wants them to have a choice. Shan was hysterical today. He hurt himself trying to get away. You forced him to go with that man.” Pete was shaking now, and George’s face grew a livid purple. “He begged. He beggedmefor help. Me. And I let you do that to him.”

“Pete,” George said, frowning. “You have too soft a heart. Shan needed to learn that he and Flo can’t be together forever. Harrison will take care of him. He’s a strong, no-nonsense alpha. He’ll tame him in no time.”

“Not all omegas can be tamed,” Ned said. Ezer’s fragile eyelids looked bruised in the fluorescent light of the hospital. “Some of them have minds of their own.”

“All of them,” Adrien corrected.

“Right, all of them,” Ned agreed, absently, unable to take his gaze from Ezer’s pale face. It seemed to grow paler by the minute. “He’s a fighter. He can do this. He will do this.”

“I say take the babes now,” George said after a moment of silence filled the room. “I watched Amos go through it, and he was a bigger, stronger omega than Ezer. Take the babes. If they live, they live. If they don’t, then this wasn’t meant to be.”

The silence in the room was suffocating. No one even moved as George’s words blanketed the room with the weight of a thick snow.

Ned bowed his head, pressing his temple against Ezer’s hand, breathing brokenly. He tried to find the courage to agree, to tell the doctor to cut his Ezer open, take the babies they’d made together. It would save Ezer’s life, so it’d be worth it. They’d made these lives before they’d wise enough. Before they’d known what they were doing.

“Okay,” Ned said finally. “We should do that.”

“No—” Ezer sounded exhausted, but his eyes peeled open halfway. “Ned, you aresucha coward. You aren’t taking the babies just because you’re afraid I’ll die.”

Ned stood up, adrenalin pumping through him. “Ezer? You’re awake.”

“Yes.” His dazzling eyes were shaded by his lashes, but he licked his lips and said again, “Don’t be a coward, Ned. Be brave.”

“Being brave doesn’thave to mean letting him risk his life,” Heath said in the corridor half an hour later after Ezer had gone back to sleep. “You’re his alpha. You can say what happens next.”