Jaxson’s at a study group so I’ve got our bedroom to myself for a little while.”
“So how’s that going?”
Symon groaned. “For the last time, Jaxson and I are not dating. We’re just really good friends, so knock it off.”
The pair had gotten incredibly close after Symon moved into the Jenks house to heal from his burns last year, so ‘really good friends’ could be the truth. Still… “You’re just so much fun to tease, and as your older brother, it’s my job to torment you.”
“Older by a month.”
“Older is older.”
“Whatever. Go change a diaper or something, I gotta go.”
“Love you, Sy.”
“Love you, too, dude. Later.”
Hyatt ended the call and flopped face-first onto his bed. What was he supposed to tell his roommates? “Hey, I can buy us a mansion now?” Nothing, because the credit might be revoked at any moment, despite the banker telling him it was a legit transfer.
Someone knocked. “Food’s here,” Khory said without opening the door.
“Be right out!”
He still had no idea what to tell his roommates when Hyatt left his room to join them at the kitchen table. Asher was in his high chair with dry cereal and some plain noodles on his plate. Khory and Aeron were unpacking a few Styrofoam cartons of food and gathering drinks.
“You doing okay now?” Khory asked him.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” Hyatt cleared his throat. “I talked to Symon for a bit and got something off my chest, so I’m good now.”
“Okay. But you know we’re both here if you need to talk.”
“I know, thanks. It’ll keep for a while. Aeron, how was your shift?”
“A lot of boring.” Aeron was just starting his third month as a patrolman for the Sansbury Constabulary, after graduating from the academy a week before this past Winter Solstice. Karson’s father, Karter Jenks, was a Senior Constable, and Aeron had once said he hoped to follow in the man’s footsteps one day. Be a constable his own family could be proud of. Aeron was a generous, spirited, honorable man, so Hyatt saw no obstacles to that future goal.
As he ate his dinner, Hyatt sent silent wishes to the goddess that the excessive amount of credit he’d received today truly was his to spend as he wished. To spend on the extended family who’d taken in a trio of orphans and accepted them as their own, no questions asked.
To plan a bright and happy future for himself and his unknown bondmate.
Please.
Four
Kell Etting Iverson Cross stared up at the star-filled sky above him and hoped for an actual clue as to what to do about Dorian Fowler’s proposal. At yesterday’s meeting, the young alpha had been open and earnest, and omega Kell wanted to believe his intentions were pure. But Light House Resource Center was the culmination of nearly twenty years of his life’s work, and Kell could not take an expansion proposal lightly. Not when so many lives depended on them.
But Kell’s lawyer mate Ronin had looked over the proposal and it was iron-tight. Dorian had no legal claim to how his foundation’s money was spent, as long as it was spent on a second resource center: construction, staffing, maintenance, all of it.
The sliding glass door to the backyard opened and shut. “You seemed troubled tonight,” Serge Freel said. A retired, beta ICU nurse, Serge was one of Kell’s dearest friends and confidantes. Kell and Ronin had come over for dinner at the Freel house tonight, and Kell had excused himself to the patio for a few minutes.
Guess he’d been outside for too long with his big mood.
“I’m not sure troubled is the right word.” Kell pointed to a nearby deck chair and Serge sat. The slender blond watched Kell with a curious smile. “Pondering a big decision and I’m not sure what I want to do.”
“Work related.”
“Yes.” Kell and Serge both had their hands in various charities and boards. Serge’s tended to skew more toward making healthcare accessible to all citizens, no matter their location in the province, while Kell’s were closer to omega rights, with beta rights a close second. But while their career goals were slightly different, they came at them from a similar position with their painful pasts. They both knew what suffering felt like, and how the love of their life could help elevate them from that agony.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Serge asked.
“I’m not entirely sure what I can say. We received a proposal yesterday to fund a new Light House in another part of Sansbury, possibly River Row.