Page 56 of His Snowbound Omega

“Am not. If you didn’t have to worry about taking care of me, you could have continued school. Dad never would have taken out that loan with the White Frost in the first place, and—”

“Stop it, Aster,” Thorn snapped. “None of that was your fault. Dad could have stopped drinking and gotten another job, but instead, he chose to drown his sorrows and get in bed with the most dangerous mafia in the city. That was a choicehemade, just like I chose to take that on so you could keep getting treatment. I don’t regret that for a second, so neither should you.”

“What about this?” he asked. “Are you saying you regret the alpha?”

He exhaled, trying to calm himself after that outburst. Getting heated never did him any good, and these calls were only allowed to go on for sixty minutes before the nurse would tell Aster to hang up.

“Thanks to him, our debts are cleared, and we’ll be set for life.” He’d finally gotten around to counting the bag of money he’d placed in the safety deposit box at the bank. It was enough for them to keep the house and send Aster to college for four years, as long as they didn’t spend on luxury items or go on a bunch of overseas vacations. He wasn’t expecting Baal to be pleased with his decision, but he didn’t think the alpha would try taking back the money.

He’d cut him off from any future funding, of course, as he should, but he’d sworn whatever was in that bag belonged to Thorn, and he believed him.

“It was fortunate that I met him when I did,” Thorn continued. “But that doesn’t mean I have to keep seeing him.”

“Brother…I’ve literally never seen you happier than when you’re with him.”

“Maybe,” he sighed. “Maybe that’s part of the problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve got a breeding contract, Aster. Eventually, that contract is going to come to an end, one way or the other, and then what? If I feel any more for him than I already do right now—” He stopped himself when his voice broke, and inhaled shakily. This was difficult. He’d never allowed himself to appear weak in front of anyone, let alone his little brother, but he felt like he had to be completely honest in order to make him understand where he was coming from.

Aster was making progress.

Thorn couldn’t be the reason he regressed.

“I’m not as strong as you think,” he confessed. “I’m not as strong as either of us thought I was. I can’t do it. I can’t get closer to him knowing that one day it’s going to end.”

“You don’t know that for sure. He gave you a collar.”

“But he hasn’t given me the bite,” Thorn reminded. “He’s never even alluded to wanting to. Not once. He’s never come close, or pretended, or mentioned it. Baal doesn’t want an omega, he wants a casual relationship. Something easy, something that will fit into his busy schedule as the underboss.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Yes.”

“I have to go.”

“What?” Thorn checked the time. “Why? It’s only been half an hour.”

“I just do. But, brother? Let me just say this one last thing, and then I promise, whatever you decide to do, I’ll support you.”

“Okay.”

Aster made a sound of annoyance. “There’s nothing casual about what you have with that alpha. And you’re the only person on the entire planet too blind to see that.”

Chapter 18:

Baal flicked his lighter and held it underneath the cigarette dangling from Levi’s lips. A scream skated across the cold night air, but neither of them gave it any mind, settling against the side of the barn as their men worked around them.

They’d taken out the last of a trafficking ring, the final piece of scum left on this side of the planet. Blood stained their fingers and the snow, and there were over a dozen bodies strewn about the front of the small farm the organization had been using as cover while in hiding this past year.

Across the way, one of their alphas, Stolas, dragged a body by the ankle towards a pickup truck, whistling an upbeat tune as he went.

“You’ve seemed restless,” Levi broke the quiet between them, plucking the cigarette from his mouth and letting out a stream of smoke. He was staring up at the night sky, gazingat the stars, seemingly oblivious to the sheer carnage that surrounded them.

“You’ve got brain matter on your shoe,” Baal pointed out, rolling his eyes when his best friend didn’t even look, let alone bother to shake it off.

“Is it your omega?”