Page 9 of Ondine, Vol. 2 (Cash City Omegaverse)

Family Matters

Freddie

“ F reddie, please, your mother is begging you,” my mother, who is currently begging me, laments over the phone as I lean against the window at Sky Nest, staring out at the mountains.

“As I said, I am not staying.”

“But why, Freddie?!” She’s asked me why three times and my answers have all been unacceptable. She wants a different answer. Who cares if it’s right? Let’s think. What does she want me to say?

“Mom, I can’t stay at the house with you all. I only said I was coming by to talk.”

I’m holding Killer a little too tightly in my nerve wracked hands, and she is getting unhappy. I let her down to my feet, and hold the other end of the leash. I’m just waiting on Ondine before we head over. I’ve already ordered us a car, and it’s waiting at the valet.

Since I’m seeing my parents, I’m wearing slightly more clothes than usual. I have some chinos and a crew neck sweatshirt. I’ve got a leather belt, too. My hair is combed and tied back in a knot.

“My alphas and I need you here. You came here to help the family and nothing has changed!”

Everything has changed. Before I bonded Ondine, Jake pulled his contract. He was very serious about it. And now I’ve stolen his omega. I have no idea how I stand with him.

And second, Ondine. She needs me. She needs me. I can’t think of anything more important than her at this time.

She needs me more than I even thought. I’d been teasing her and egging her on to get her to show that omega side of hers, the one that’s all animalistic and stunning, but I didn’t realize until this morning she’s been purposefully repressing it.

I’m the king of managing my nature, if I can tame mine, I can certainly help her unleash hers. It’s probably the same fucking method.

My mom is still begging me. Guilting me.

“Freddie, your family needs you. Your father needs you. You cannot abandon us.” Again . She wants to say it so badly. I can feel the word floating unsaid in the air. “Please come. Stay the night. Is it a money thing? I can get you money.”

“Mom, it’s not a money thing.” It’s never been a money thing.

We will go over there, but we aren’t staying for long. I need to talk to my father about Man-ho.

“Ok, I’ll be coming over soon. And we will talk then.” She gushes how happy she is and it bothers me as much as her guilting me. She’s happy because she thinks I just agreed to stay longer.

Ondine sent Sebastian on another errand after he returned with her prescriptions, and he’s already giving her the bags of clothes she had him pick up. He’s now sitting uncomfortably on one couch, pretending not to be listening to the phone conversation.

“Sabbies,” I say, acknowledging him.

“Freddie.”

“I appreciate you sticking around and helping out. We’re going to the Wong house. You don’t need to wait around for us. I’m sure you have things you need to do.”

He doesn’t reply for the longest time.

“Respectfully, Freddie, I don’t want to be separated from her. If I leave now, will this be it?” And in a quiet voice, he says, “I can’t say goodbye.”

The realization dawns on me and hurts to even consider.

This isn’t it! We are all supposed to be together.

Aren’t we? But I can understand his fear.

There’s nothing tying the two of them. The contract is void.

There’s no official declaration of courting on record.

I’m very much within my rights to keep her all to myself.

And any alpha with good sense would take her away, make sure she is well bonded to me and only me.

I have no pack. I have no affiliations. The Meier Pack has never given me an offer.

I haven’t even registered us, but my claim is strong. She’s my scent match. Though, Dr. Chen is a mandated reporter and will most likely start our registration as soon as she can. I’ll have to go in and finish it out.

Killer hops in Sebastian’s lap.

“I understand,” I say, planning on saying more, but nothing comes out.

“Promise me you’ll ask her about me. I want…Freddie, I want to stay with you. But I understand I’m a third wheel here. Since you bonded, neither of you have invited me to the nest. And I may have misread Ondine’s possessiveness when she told me not to touch Boone…”

I cut him off. “No. I don’t think you misread that. She claimed you, right?”

He gives me a look. He’s right though. Ondine didn’t ask for him to come into the nest. And neither did I. We’ve only been using him as a butler.

“Maybe until you guys know what’s going on, I should keep my distance. But just know, I won’t let this be a separation.”

I stay quiet. I feel like I’ll say something stupid.

He stands and sets Killer down on the seat next to him. She’s very upset he moved.

“I didn’t realize you were her scent match until the doctor said. I’ve been such a fool.”

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He heads down the hallway just as Ondine emerges all ready. She’s wearing a short pink linen dress. It’s a delicate light pink and has a bow on the front. She has a white cardigan in her hands. God, she looks beautiful. She and Sabbies stand together in the hallway.

“Sabbies, are you leaving? We will be back later,” she says.

“I’m going to go to the peninsula.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes,” he says, like he wasn’t just telling me how desperately he wanted to stay.

“Oh,” her little voice breaks. Through the bond, a deep sadness takes root. She shoves it down quickly. “Ok. I hope you have fun.”

Fun?

“Of course, sweetheart.” She leans in and kisses his cheek. Sabbies looks like he’s going to cherish that kiss for the rest of his life.

“You look beautiful in that dress,” he says and then leaves.

I can feel this really strange energy from Ondine.

It’s like a warble. She turns to face me and I see it on her face.

She’s very upset. She swallows and takes a deep inhale, and then it’s gone.

Pushed away. Oh fuck no. This is that thing she does to hide herself from everyone.

Who taught her to do this? I can’t even feel her sadness or pain anymore. It’s gone. Completely.

Well, that’s not going to work anymore.

Ondine

We take the stairs up to the penthouse, to the back entrance. Freddie doesn’t want to prematurely alert his mother at our arrival. He told me that this would be better than giving her a heads up that I was joining him for this meeting. He said he’d make sure I was ok.

He holds me in one hand, and in the other hand he holds Killer. We enter the penthouse and he lets her down, then unclips the leash from her little vest. She stays near our feet. Freddie then helps me out of my cardigan, drapes it on his forearm.

I smell an omega. Not Tina. Another one. Freddie also smells the air, but says, “My dad and Shadow’s dad are here. How strange. They are hardly ever together.”

He catches my eye. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

I smile and nod, and he catches me with a quick kiss, then leads me through the penthouse. It’s gaudy and immaculate, and just expensive looking. She loves marble-work. Red velvet tufting. And oversized vases.

We find ourselves in front of a den, the double doors open to reveal Tina standing by a bar cart, two alphas on a couch.

Killer darts under a couch and leaves us standing there, hand in hand, facing everyone.

Tina turns to face us, holding a glass with clear liquor in it.

“Freddie! And…your brother’s temporary omega?” Tina’s entire left side of her body limps down, like she’s had a ministroke.

What a weird thing for me to be called.

“Mom,” Freddie acknowledges. “Dad. Judge Wong.”

Did he just call Shadow’s dad, Judge Wong? I guess they aren’t that close.

“Freddie, why did you bring your brother’s temporary omega here?” His dad asks him.

Freddie pulls me up next to him. His arms surround me possessively. “Ondine, this is my dad, and you remember my mom. And this their pack mate. Everyone, please meet Ondine. My mate.”

There’s a sort of pop in the air. Like everyone’s brains just broke at once. Freddie’s arms drop down.

“Freddie, you haven’t registered any omega. There’s no pack on record,” Tina calls my mate a liar.

My mate, with his agitation creeping on, takes a cigarette out of his pack, but before he can even bring it to his lips to light it, his father marches over and takes it from him. He breaks it in half, tabacco sprinkles onto the carport.

I interlace our fingers, and Freddie turns and smiles at me. I bring him closer to me.

Tina, not waiting for an answer to her accusation, asks, “Isn’t this the temporary omega for your brother’s pack? The one they have to regulate their hormones?”

I bare my teeth at her.

“Mom, Ondine and I are scent matches. Just bonded.”

The weirdest thing happens: Tina’s entire body shimmies with happiness. An unexpected reaction. Is she capable of being nice?

“Oh my god! This is amazing! I knew it would happen one day. Who’s your family? Are they a big pack? Are they in a clan?”

I open my mouth to answer, but nothing quite comes out.

I know the Wongs are in a clan. And there are a few Wong packs in the clan, too.

And Sebastian’s parents were also in a clan.

It just didn’t occur to me that someone would ask about it.

It’s a status thing, isn’t it? She’s about to insult me again. I just know it.

“Ondine, sweetie, I know you’re being demure but this is no time to be silent.

Oh, and this is great! You are no longer contracted with Yin.

Now that I know they want an omega, and they lost this one, they will come to me to help get another omega.

I need to make some phone calls. Finally, I’ll get him away from Jake Meier. ”

Oh fuck no, absolutely not.

The words jump out of me without any preamble, “If you bring an omega anywhere near Shadow, I’ll make it everyone’s problem, Tina.”

Freddie has been confused for the last little bit and it makes sense when he cuts in to ask, “How do you know I haven’t registered yet?”