by Aja Foxx
"No," Fagan gasped. "I never knew. No one ever told me they came to visit."
"I suspect that this is all part of what's going on at the monastery. Something is really wrong there."
Fagan leaned his head against Beck's shoulder. His heart felt heavy. With every passing second, it was looking as if he'd missed out on so much in life, all due to that stupid monastery. He wished he'd never been sent there.
Beck's lips pressed against his temple as the man gave him a small kiss. "I know this isn't easy, baby. I wish I could make it all go away, but I can't."
"It just doesn't seem fair," Fagan whispered. He hated feeling sorry for himself, but sometimes it couldn't be helped. If everything Beck was telling him was true—and he suspected it was—then he'd been lied to his entire life. The people operating the monastery weren't just turning him into a slave, they were trying to cut off all contact to the outside world.
"These people have to be stopped, Beck." Fagan's hands fisted as a wave of anger swept over him. "I don't know exactly what is going on, but as one of those affected by this mess, I can tell you, this needs to be stopped."
"I know it does, love." Beck's arms tightened around him. "Would you like to meet your parents?"
Fagan lifted his head. "Do you think they'd want to meet me?" If they thought Fagan had rejected them so many times, why would they open themselves up to that kind of pain again?
"I know they would."
Fagan nodded. "I'd like to meet them, but only if you will be there."
"I'll be there, mate. I wouldn't be any other place." Beck pressed another kiss to Fagan's temple. "I'll give them a call and set something up for later in the week. How does that sound?"
"Good." Nerve wracking.
"I want to get this thing with the monastery dealt with first."
Fagan could kind of understand that. hHe still wanted to meet his parents and would probably spend the entire week on pins and needles, but at least he had hope that they might have wanted him. He wouldn't know for sure until he met them.
"Do you have parents?"
"No, mate." Beck's lips moved against Fagan's temple as the man smiled. "My parents died many years ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Beck said. "They died together as they would have wanted."
"Do you have any other family? Like brothers or sisters or anything?"
"I'm afraid not. I was an only child and the rest of my family passed many years ago, but I'm not alone, Fagan. I have my brothers-in-arms, and now I have you, too."
That sounded so incredibly sad.
"And when we have children, I'll have them, too. So, see, there's nothing to be sad about. I have a lot of good people in my life."
Fagan lifted his head and turned his face toward Beck. "We're going to have kids?"
Beck chuckled as he rubbed his hand down over Fagan's abdomen. "Of course we are. Unless you don't want kids."
"I've never really thought about it. Believing I was going to spend my life serving my master, having kids never even entered my mind." He couldn't say he was put off by the idea, though. "Would you prefer to use a surrogate or adopt?"
Beck stilled again.
Fagan hated it when he did that. It always meant the guy was going to say something Fagan had no clue about. "What?"
"I can't believe I'm asking this, but did they teach you what being an omega meant at that school?"
"Yes," Fagan replied. "It meant I was to serve my master. I told you that."
Beck sighed. "No, baby, that's not what it means."
Fagan frowned. "Then what does it mean?"
"It means we won't be using a surrogate or adopting our cubs, Fagan. You'll carry our children."
Fagan sucked in a sharp breath. "You're insane."
Beck's voice was devoid of emotion when he asked, "Does that mean you don't want to carry my child?"
Fagan was positive his eyes were as wide as saucers. "No, it means men can't get pregnant."
"Most men cannot. Omegas can. That's what makes you so special."
Fagan knew he looked like a fish as he opened and closed his mouth several times, but he just couldn't seem to settle on one question when so many were swimming through his head. What Beck was telling him was beyond insane. It just wasn't possible.
"Fagan, listen to me." Beck cupped Fagan's face with his hands. "I know this is really confusing to you and probably quite a bit unbelievable, but I wouldn't lie to you. Male omegas can carry young."
Fagan licked his lips as he let that sink in. He wasn't sure if he believed Beck or not, but he didn't think the man was lying to him. Beck had already proved that shifters were real. Was male pregnancy so far out of the realm of possibilities?
"How?" he finally asked. "How do omegas give birth?"
"An omega's gestational period is five months. At about four and a half months, a line appears from your sternum to your bellybutton. When the baby is ready to be born, that line opens, providing access to a temporary womb where the baby is."
"Temporary womb?"
"Yes, it forms once you're mated. It's part of the claiming process."
"But you said temporary," Fagan pointed out.
"Right, the womb goes away after a baby is born to give the omega time to recover and bond with his newborn. It grows back when that child reaches two years old."
"That's a great form of birth control." And a whole lot scary.
Beck chuckled. "I suppose it isdoes."
"I can really get pregnant?" Fagan knew he sounded skeptical, but come on. Male pregnancy? How could it be real? Of course, if anyone had told him shifters were real a week ago, he would have thought they were nuts.
Maybe he was nuts.
"Yeah, baby, you can, but only with your mate. I think it's fate's way of setting things up so we strive to find out mates. Omegas and shifter kings can only have children with their true mates. No one else."
"Really?" That surprised Fagan.
"Remember what I said," Beck told him. "Your ability to have children doesn't happen until you're claimed, and you have to be claimed by a shifter king."
"Huh." It kind of made sense, if he truly believed what Beck was telling him. hHe still wasn't sure he did. Granted, the man had yet to lie to him—that he was aware of—but this was crazy. Fagan felt he had a right to be skeptical.
Beck patted his thigh. "Don't freak out too much, baby. It's a lot to take in."
"It is." Fagan drew in a heavy breath then slowly let it out. "And it's not that I don't believe you. It's just..."
"Outrageous?"
"Yes!"
"Well, considering I can't keep my hands off you, you'll probably find out pretty soon whether I'm telling you the truth or not."
Fagan frowned. "I'm not sure if that reassures me or not."
Only time would tell.
Chapter Eleven
It had been a week and none of Beck's contacts had gotten back to him with anything useful. No one seemed to know anything. Or if they did, they weren't talking. Beck didn't know if that meant they really didn't know anything, if they were involved, or if someone had gotten to them. He just knew he was reaching the end of his patience.
He picked up the phone and dialed Elder Ramsey's office. If they wouldn't call him, he'd call them. He was done with waiting. He wanted answers even if he had to pry them loose with a crowbar.
"Elder Ramsey's office."
"Hello, this is Montgomery Beck. I'd like to speak to Elder Ramsey."
"I'm afraid Elder Ramsey is out of the office today. Can I take a message?"
Damn it.
"No, I'll call back later."
"Have a good day."
Beck shook his head as he hung up. That voice was way too cheery. He hadn't had enough coffee yet this morning to be dealing with this crap. He needed answers, and more caffeine. Beck picked up the phone and started making more calls. One of his contacts had to know something.
By the fourth phone call, he want
ed to bang his head against his desk. No one was talking. He couldn't figure out why. There wasn't even a hint that something was going on at the monastery, except that he knew that it was.
Beck glanced up when someone knocked on the door. "Hey, Greyson, what's up?"
"Elder Ramsey is here to see you."
Beck lifted an eyebrow. "Elder Ramsey? Here?" The elder had never visited him in any of the places he'd stayed. Beck had always been called to the elder's office. But this did explain why the elder hadn't been in his office.
Greyson nodded.
"Well, I guess you'd better show him in then." Once Greyson walked away, Beck quickly checked his desk to make sure nothing was out that he didn't want shared. Some things were not meant for an elder's ears. Nothing seemed out of place, but Beck couldn't shake the feeling he was missing something.
When Elder Ramsey stepped into the room, Beck knew it was too late to go over things more thoroughly. He stood and held his hand out. "Elder Ramsey."
Elder Ramsey shook his hand. "Sorry for dropping in unannounced, Beck. We've had something come up in our investigation and I didn't feel it should be discussed over an open line."
Finally.
Beck waved his hand toward the chairs in front of his desk. "Please, sit."
Elder Ramsey sat down then folded his hands together and rested them on his stomach.
"Can I get you something to drink?" Beck asked. It was the polite thing to do.
"Coffee, please."
Beck glanced toward the open doorway. "Greyson, would you get the elder some coffee? And please let Fagan know we have a visitor." Beck took his seat again. "So, what did you find?"
"I'd like to wait until your mate can join us, if you don't mind. I think he'll be interested in what I have to say."
"Yes, sir." It was all Beck could do to sit there and not demand that the elder tell him what he knew.
"How are you enjoying being home after all these years?" Elder Ramsey asked.
Beck chuckled. "I'm keeping busy, but it's still a little hard to get used to. My days at the council were always filled with stuff to do. Sometimes, there weren't enough hours in the day. Now, I can sleep in, stay up late, basically do what I want."
"And your little omega? How's he settling in?"
"I think he's doing okay," Beck replied. "There are still some things Fagan is having a hard time accepting because he spent his entire life thinking his very existence was aimed toward serving a master, but he's getting there."
There were times when the wonder on Fagan's face as he discovered something new brought an ache to Beck's chest. He wanted to share the world with his mate. Other times, when Fagan discovered how badly he'd been duped, rage was the only emotion Beck felt.
"Elder Ramsey, welcome to our home," Fagan said as he walked in with a small tray of coffee. He expertly set it down on the edge of Beck's desk then handed one of the cups to the elder before taking the other chair in front of Beck's desk. "I wasn't sure if you were hungry so I added some of the raspberry pastries I made earlier today."
Beck grinned when the elder's jaw dropped. He knew exactly what the man was thinking. He'd thought it too when he first found out Fagan was blind. It was very simple, Fagan couldn't see a thing, but he was in no way handicapped. Now that he knew the layout of the house, he moved about as if he could see as well as anyone else.
"You made these?" the elder asked as he reached for one.
"I did," Fagan admitted. "I love baking, and these guys eat up anything I make."
The elder took a small nibble of the pastry. His eyebrows rose as he took another, bigger bite. "These are pretty good."
Fagan beamed. "Thank you."
"So, what did you need to speak to us about, Elder Ramsey?" Beck asked. His curiosity was practically a living, breathing knot deep in his gut. "What did you find out?"
"From what we can tell," the elder began, "this master bullshit has only been going on for a little over twenty-five years. All of the former shifter kings I spoke with had their omegas, and there were no problems."
"So, it was just me and my generation of omegas then?" Fagan asked.
"It's looking that way, Fagan. Beck is the first shifter king to claim his omega this generation."
"No, that's not right."
When Fagan turned toward him, Beck reached out and took his hand. "What is it, baby?"
"There's no way I can be the first omega claimed. There's been several that went before me."
"Maybe I need to be more precise," Elder Ramsey said. "You are the first official omega claimed. The others were simply young men who were sold to their masters."
"Simply?" Fagan snapped.
Beck growled at the outrage in Fagan's voice. His mate was upset, which upset his cat. He grabbed the edge of Fagan's chair and pulled it around his desk then close to his own chair. It would be easier on him and his cat if their mate was next to him.
"Simply might have been the wrong word," the elder quickly amended. "I merely meant that they were not registered omegas."
"They were still sold," Fagan pointed out. There was a bite to his voice, but at least he wasn't shouting.
"And we will be tracking them all down, but first we need to stop this from happening to anyone else." Elder Ramsey turned his attention to Beck. "I thought you might like to be in on the raid."
"Raid?"
Elder Ramsey nodded. "I have a team ready and waiting. I'm not sure who all is involved in the mess, but I suspect the paper trail starts in the headmaster's office. Once we seize everything, we can start tracking down the others who were sold and who areis behind all of this."
"Do you suspect the others on the high council?" Beck asked.
"At this point, I suspect everyone."
Beck did not like how that sounded. "You really suspect the other elders?"
"Look, its real simple," Elder Ramsey replied. "Someone has started using the monastery as a way to train submissives and sell them to the highest bidders. I fully believe if you hadn't gone for Fagan when you did, we never would have known any of this was happening."
Beck frowned. "I would have known."
He was sure of it.
"Not if you were told your mate had died in some tragic accident or something. You would have mourned him the rest of your life, never knowing he was out there somewhere, serving whatever master he'd been sold to."
Beck lifted Fagan up then sat the man down on his lap. He needed closer contact with his mate. The mere thought of Fagan dying or even thinking he had died wasn't one Beck ever wanted to have. It made his stomach churn and cramp.
"I think I would have known," Fagan said, "but I'm not sure I would have done anything about it. Brainwashing can be a powerful thing. I've spent years believing my only worth was in what I could do for my master. It's hard to pull away from that."
"I imagine we're going to have to do a little deprogramming once we end whatever this is." Elder Ramsey grimaced. "I never thought someone could take something asso sacred as the peace treaty and use it to line their pockets. It's revolting."
"People will do a lot of things to make money," Beck pointed out. "And many of them don't care who they hurt in the process."
"I'd like you and your men to join us on the raid. Since we don't know who all is involved in this thing, I've brought in the only team I trust, but it would be helpful if we had more men. I'm not sure what kind of resistance we'll be facing."
"I'd be honored, sir."
"Can I go?" Fagan asked.
"That wouldn't be appropriate, Fagan," Elder Ramsey stated.
"But I can reassure the other omegas that they will be safe," Fagan insisted. "They know me. If I tell them they will be okay, they will believe me."
"And we may need you to do that," the elder said, "but for this initial raid, it's best if you weren't there. We need to be able to concentrate on getting to the information before the headmaster and whoever he's working with can destroy it. If we're worried about you, our
attention will be divided."
Fagan heaved a heavy breath. "I understand."
Beck knew he did, but he also knew Fagan wasn't happy about it. "I do have a favor to ask you, Fagan."
Fagan turned to face him. "Anything."
Beck smiled even if his mate couldn't see it. "Can I impose upon you to cook up enough food to feed all those going on the raid? We're going to be really hungry by the time we get back here."
"Yes, I could do that." A frown wrinkled the skin of Fagan's forehead. "Is that all you need me to do?"
"Stay safe?"
Beck chuckled when Fagan's eyes rolled. He loved how feisty his mate was becoming. He attributed it to Fagan learning that he didn't have to cater to someone's needs. He could have needs of his own.
"I'll promise to stay safe if you will," Fagan said. "Or at least stay as safe as you can considering you're going on a raid."
He didn't sound happy about it.
Beck smiled. "I will. I promise."
"Who are you leaving here with me?"
Beck chuckled again. Fagan knew him well. "Who would you like me to leave with you?"
"I asked you first."
"How about Dominic?"
Fagan seemed most comfortable with Greyson. Considering the man was the most even- tempered out of all of them, that kind of made sense, but he needed Greyson with him. There was no way he was leaving Jaggar there. Fagan would have him knocked out and hogtied ten minutes after they left. That left Dominic and Talon.
"Dominic is fine," Fagan replied. "He likes helping me in the kitchen."
Dominic did like helping Fagan in the kitchen. He was really there because he was fascinated by how well Fagan got around considering he was blind. Dominic liked studying people's behavior and why they did the things they did. Fagan was a contradiction, which made him great study material.
Beck wasn't sure if Fagan knew that was why Dominic hung around so much, but he wasn't about to mention it.
He set Fagan on his feet then gave his ass a pat. "Why don't you go tell the others we're headed out on a mission while I suit up?"
"I can do that." Fagan grabbed the tray he'd set down earlier and carried it out of the room, once again walking as if he had twenty-twenty eyesight.
