Page 66 of Legally Mated

“Give me a second?” I heard the scratchy-crackle of the phone being pressed against his chest, and then the muffled rumble of his voice as he spoke to someone. Then he was back, “Okay, I have about five minutes. What’swrong?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it outright. “It’s the beginning of November.” Surely he’dunderstand.

“Uh-huh. Is there something on the schedule that I’m forgetting?” He sounded honestlybaffled.

Damn, I was going to have to be blunt. “I’m almost out of pills. For my…problem.” I chewed the corner of my lip and waited to see if I would have to be explicit. This was appallingly embarrassing, even if I was alone in myapartment.

But he got it. “You need a drive out to meet someone or need to borrowacar?”

I took a deep breath. “A drive, I think. Laine is out of town for the rest of the week. I thought I could stay at his place and if anything happened before I found a source…” My voice trailed off and all the self-hatred came rolling back over me. “I don’t want to be in the pack house if this is my time oftheyear.”

There was a pause in the conversation and his voice, when he began to speak again, was gentle and cautious. “You know it isn’t just a couple of days a year. It’s closer to five, and two or three times over the course of amonth.”

As if I wasn’t well aware of that. “I know. I’ll deal with that when it happens. But I don’t know what elsetodo.”

“You’re looking for my blessing to go stay with your human lover?” There was humor in his voice, but strain as well. I knew he was still conflicted about it, worried that any public announcement of our relationship would result in another bullet with my nameonit.

“He won’t be there, but yes, I guess I am.” After all, he was Alpha’s Mate, and the instinct to do as he said was doubly strong because he was an omega and, as far as I could see, the head of our little omega pack, no matter how little I wanted to belong to it. “I’m sorry, Holland. I know you don’t want me outside walls, but what else am I going to do? I can’t ask anyone else to pick them upforme.”

Holland sighed. “Hang on.” I heard him ask someone for a pen and a piece of paper, then he asked, “What’s the name of that stuff you’ve been getting? I’ll see if I can sniff out a supplier here, or a legal way to get itforyou.”

“Alphonyril,” I whispered, with a glance over my shoulder even though I knew I was alone in my office. “The humans callitRush.”

“I’ve heard of that one.” I heard the murmur of him thanking someone, and then he said. “I’ll see what I can do, but are you sure you want to risk it? There’s a crackdown going on about that drug right now. What if you getcaught?”

“What are they going to do? Disbar me?” I half fell into my chair and leaned on the desk. I’d gotten the email just the other day, reserving a seat for me at the March sitting of the Bar.Please let this all work out. Please don’t take this from me now.“Don’t risk yourself. I’ll be fine. I’ll figuresomethingout.”

“Garrick, I’m sure I can figure something out, just let me work at it. If I can’t get that, doesSparkdustwork?”

“Yeah. Makes me sick, though. But some of the hormones work too, thehumanones.”

“They’ll make you smell like a human, too.” I could almost see Holland staring off into the distance, wearing that pleasant, non-committal look he used when he was thinkingfuriously.

“Worst case scenario, right? I need to get something for myscenttoo.”

“What have you beenusing?”

“Wormwood and cotton root.” I hated to ask him, because my source had been in Jackson-Jellystone, through my parents, and it was a little too closetohome.

“Why the cotton root?” His voice was low, but his tone was curious, notupset.

“I don’t know, they just said it was necessary. There’s some other things in it too, but I don’t know what.” Just that it changed my scent to something almost exactly like a gamma wolf, and if someone in Jackson-Jellystone was making it, there was probably at least one other omega out there doing their best to avoid their biological destiny. “It’s someone in Jackson-Jellystone.” I felt him freeze, even over the distance between us, then hespoke.

“I’ll call Bax and see what he says. If not, we can probably cobble something together, but it’ll mean coming clean toAdelaide.”

I swallowed hard, but yeah, he was right. One more person pressuring me to accept my destiny—great. “Okay.” Then, in a rush of words and gratitude, I said, “Thank you, Holland. I mean it, I know you don’t need this on top of everything else, with the books and your job and the baby and the pack and now this legal challenge.” I stopped to take a breath, though I had no idea what was going to come tumbling out of mymouthnext.

Holland chuckled. “White House is your responsibility, I’m not having anything to do with that, except as an excuse to get away from work every once in a while. As for the rest—it comes with the job. It’s an exchange worthy of the mate I got in return.” His tone turned pensive. “Are you sure, with the changes that are coming—are you sure you want to keep hiding this? You could be a shining example of what an omega could be, what we were meant to be. It’s—our history isn’t what we were led to believeitwas.”

I’d refused the last translation he’d offered me. “I just—I like my life the way it is. I don’t want the extra expectations. If I came out—the first thing that would happen is people pushing metomate.”

“And you’re happy with your human.” Holland sighed. “No, I’m not picking a fight. Maybe you’re just so far ahead of us all that we can’t even see how the trail gets there.” Voices sounded in the background of his words, insistent. “I have to go, they need me for the next part of the shoot. We’ll talk when I get home, okay? You, me, Bax. Just us. We’ll figurethisout.”

“All right. Thank you. I can go toLaine’s?”

Another sigh. “Yes. Be careful, okay? And call me if anything goeswrong.”

And somehow, I got the impression he wasn’t talking about the safety of my body, but of myheart.