Page 29 of Bonds and Beasts

"News?" Her voice sharpens even further.

"Yes." I lock eyes with Adison, not wanting to say anything she'd be uncomfortable with. She smiles and nods, trusting me to handle this.

I straighten. "We've found an omega. Our scent match." Blunt. No details. No long explanation. Adison is our omega. The omega we'll likely bond with if she accepts us.

The line goes silent for more than a few moments.

"Lumi?" Easton says.

"What?" She nearly coughs it out.

"We. Found. Our. Mate," Dean repeats in slow, halted words. I nearly roll my eyes but Adison grins and covers her mouth to keep from accidentally giggling.

I'd do anything to make her smile.

"I, well, that's—" another pause, "that's wonderful. Congratulations." Her voice is flatter than a pancake.

I move past it. "Our new mate is suffering from touch deprivation, plus we're obviously in the courting stage." Adison looks a bit surprised. I make a mental note to set up a courting date for as soon as we can. Tonight, if possible. "So we're going to have to activate the medical clause of our contract."

The pause this time is palpable.

"Well, that's a bit overdramatic, isn’t it?" Lumi asks. She sounds distant now, as though she's ready to be done with this call.

"Wanting to take medical leave for both newly finding a mate and addressing our mate's medically verified needs? No, Lumi. It's not dramatic. It's basic," Dean snarls, pressing Adison back a little so his anger goes at the phone and not in her ear.

A sniff, and then, "We didn't add medical coverage to this contract."

There is no long pause this time. Just outrage.

"What the fuck do you mean there's no medical coverage?" I bark.

"I looked that contract over myself. There absolutely was—" Easton starts, but I miss the end because Dean is roaring over him.

"—think I'm leaving my omega, you've lost your goddamn mind!" Dean has his hands pressed over Adison's ears as she curls into him. This much overstimulation is not good for her touch-deprived state.

I cut my hand through the air and they both go silent.

"Well," Lumi sniffs haughtily, "It shouldn’t’ve mattered since this was your last shoot so I took it out. It's a small town thriller movie, for heaven's sake. There are no stunts, no scenes that could be considered remotely dangerous. And as for anything else, it didn't seem like you could have that many issues in the short amount of time you'd be there."

My hands curl into tight fists and I have to clamp my jaw shut to keep from barking.

"We're not going in, Lumi. That's final," I say, my voice low.

There's a tsk on the other end of the line. "I don't recommend that. Not only would you be in violation of contract and lose much of your contracted stake—”

"We don't give a fuck about the money right now," Dean snarls. His scent has gone bitter and I'm sure the rest of ours has too. Adison leans up and kisses him on the jaw in an attempt to calm and he pulls her closer in response, running a hand through her hair.

"If you care about your mate, I wouldn't recommend it either," Lumi replies. We all growl at this, staring at the phone.

"Did you threaten our mate?" Easton asks with more venom than I thought him capable of.

"Of course not," Lumi soothes in a singsong voice that I want to shove back down her throat, "but imagine if you don't go in to shoot and everyone starts talking, and the reporters that have followed you out there come sniffing. You want them peeping through her home's windows, flashing cameras at all hours of the day and night? You'd make her a prisoner in her own house."

Adison lets out a low omega whimper that shoots straight to my soul. Her eyes find Easton and then land on me and I know I can't let that happen. She's been a prisoner long enough.

"However," Lumi goes on, and I want to hurl the phone across the room, "if you go in today, no one has to know anything is going on. We can say your mate is your assistant and hold off the press until this shoot is finished and you're safely back inside the walls of your penthouse in LA."

I mull it over. It's a good idea. But Adison's scent, which had already been stressed and wilted, starts to wither further. I find her looking out a window. My fingers cup her chin, drawing her attention back to me.