of the armchairs. “Dorian was a perfect gentleman. Polite. Genuine. We talked about our families’ histories a bit and we’re going on a date next weekend.”
“Can you see yourself being his mate?”
“Not really, and not because of him. I mean, he’s this tall, gorgeous guy, and I’m, well.” He waved at his slender body, which was nothing special at all. His curly black hair never held any sort of style, and he hated needing glasses to see any real distance, but he hated touching his eyeballs even more so contacts were out. “I feel so plain next to him.”
“Hey, don’t insult my friend,” Aeron said. “You’re not plain at all, dude. You need to work on your self-confidence more during your therapy.”
“Maybe.” One thing Hyatt had always lacked was confidence in his own abilities to be someone useful and interesting, especially growing up around someone who rarely gave out praise or had kind words for his work. Meeting Karson’s family and learning how to cook had been his first real step toward becoming a whole person with ambition, and he needed to keep feeding that. “Anyway, it’s been an exhausting twenty-four hours so I’m going to bed.”
“Night, Hyatt,” Khory said.
Despite being emotionally exhausted, Hyatt lay in bed for a long time, mostly staring at the ceiling, thoughts swirling in all directions. He’d dreamed of meeting his bondmate one day. Of meeting a wonderful alpha who’d give Hyatt the perfect life he’d always wanted with a home and kids. Dorian could definitely provide a home but he’d seemed resistant to children. If Dorian decided he didn’t want them, could Hyatt live with that? Live with never being an omegin?
He wasn’t sure he could.
They hadn’t made any specific brunch plans for the next morning, but Hyatt was not surprised when Symon, Karson, Rebel, Gaven, Frey, Emory, Layne, Peyton and baby Caleb all showed up around eleven, armed with food. Their crew packed the small-ish apartment, and Hyatt was peppered with questions about Dorian while they all made plates buffet-style, because the kitchen table only had four chairs.
Hyatt did his best to answer the questions honestly while he munched on a hash brown casserole and fruit salad. Symon listened without speaking, which worried Hyatt a little—Symon’s opinion was the one he truly wanted, after all—but Symon was often introverted in large gatherings of their friends. Plus, he was the only beta in the room aside from little Asher. The adorable boy was in his playpen gumming on a toy, while Caleb was traveling from person to person.
Peyton Tovey, who was not known in their group for being able to self-censor well, blurted out, “So are you going to mate with Dorian?”
Hyatt nearly choked on a bite of melon. “I don’t know. That’s why we’re going on a date. So we can get to know each other. Talk more in-depth about the things we disagree on.” Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.
“What do you disagree on?” Rebel asked, eyes narrowed.
“He doesn’t think he’ll be a good sire and isn’t sure if he wants kids, but I do. Honestly, bondmate or not, that would be a deal-breaker for me. I want kids.”
“Why doesn’t he think he’d be a good sire? Was his sire abusive?”
“Not that he said.” Hyatt hated being the center of attention like this, but how often did someone in their group find out their bondmate was related to their adoptive brother? “He was absent, I guess. Not very attentive. But half the people in this room were conceived by rape, so we all know that who you become as a person is more than blood. It’s your heart and the people who raised you. Even bad people can raise good kids. Hell, look at me, Symon and Rebel.”
He met and held Symon’s gaze a beat. Symon nodded and then looked down at his plate.
“You’re right,” Rebel said. “Bad people can raise good kids, and good people can raise bad kids. But right now, the only person whose happiness I care about is yours, Hyatt, and if Dorian can’t give you the future you want, good man or not…” He trailed off, his meaning clear.
If Dorian can’t give you the future you want, good man or not, don’t mate him. Find someone better.
Easy for Rebel to think, since he’d lucked into the perfect bondmate, and now they were having a baby. “Can we talk about something else for a while?” Hyatt asked. “Please? I’m exhausted of myself.”