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1
JEREMIAH
This was it. Home sweet home.
I hadn’t been to the family home in months, and so much had happened in that time. Two of my brothers had babies, and now it was just me and Orsino who were left to secure positions within the family.
Andro, as the oldest and now head of the family, was supposed to be the one to secure an alliance between some other powerful family when he took over for my dad, but he went rogue and found one of our enemies to shack up with.
It all worked out, and Joey was really cool as far as brother-in-laws went, so I was happy for them.
But it wasn’t part of the family plan.
And then when Louie did the same thing by knocking up one of the omegas from the harem, it put a different kind of pressure on me and Orsino.
As the last single alpha brother, Orsino was expected to marry completely for power and distinction. He wouldn’t have much choice in the matter because Andro and Louie used all that up.
Fortunately, he seemed fine with that. Marrying for love wasn’t a priority for Orsino, so at least he wouldn’t be a problem.
I hoped.
Oddly, I thought I would be fine with it too. In fact, since the time I was in high school, I was almost looking forward to the day that my father told me some nice, eligible alpha was ready to take me into his home.
My role was to marry an alpha and bring in new heirs to secure future generations of power. It was what I was raised to do. What I’d always been content with.
But now that I’d spent so many years away from home, I realized that being forced into a marriage wasn’t what I wanted. Not anymore. Not after seeing how happy and in love my married brothers were.
I wanted what Louie and Andro had. Orsino could bear the burden of betrothal if he wanted, but it wasn’t what I wanted…or deserved. I deserved to marry for love. At least, that's what I planned to tell my father when I went home. After graduation. Not now.
When he sent me across the country to go to college, I thought it was purely for my education. He agreed that a law degree was the most beneficial path for our family, but since I also had a passion for art, I was permitted to attend Stanford.
If I could spend all my days and nights painting, I would. But my responsibility to my family came first. At least as far as my career went. I wouldn’t let them dictate who I’d marry. Not if I didn’t truly love the man. And the chances of my family choosing the perfect alpha for me were slim to none.
I’d do my best to protect them in the only way I could. Legally.
The rest, I’d figure out how to negotiate when the time was right. And it wasn’t right yet.
For now, I needed to play along with the plan and be the naïve omega son who only visited around the holidays, ran up my dad‘s credit card on partying, and showed no interest in settling down with someone for love.
“Need any help with your bags?” Trev opened the door and stood there staring at me, waiting for me to get out of the car.
“No, sorry. Just…happy to be home.” I slipped out of the back of the SUV with my backpack and overnight bag in my hand. “Thanks for picking me up, Trev. I could’ve taken a rideshare, you know.”
He clapped my shoulder and gave me a little shake. “Don’t be silly. Your brothers would’ve had my head if I let you get in some stranger’s car at the airport. You know what kind of scams people are pulling these days.”
I rolled my eyes and started walking up the driveway. “Yeah, I know. Everyone’s out to get us.”
He mumbled something behind me, but I didn’t ask for clarification. He wouldn’t have told me anyway. Over the past few years, my family had kept me as far away from the business as they could.
It was annoying—insulting, to be honest—but I knew it was because they wanted to protect me. Now that two of my brothers had omegas to protect, they understood the risks at a completely different level and suddenly considered me to be weak and helpless.
They’d forgotten the years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and hand-to-hand combat training I took right alongside them as we were all growing up. I was pretty sure I could kick all three of their asses without breaking a sweat.
I didn’t get all the way to the front door before it flew open.
Louie rushed out to give me a hug. “Jeremiah, it’s so good to see you.” He embraced me hard, practically squeezing the air from my lungs. “It’s been too long.”
“Hey, Lou. It’s good to see you too. Where is this new little nephew I keep hearing so much about?”
