Page 88 of Scheme
Steeling myself for confrontation, I slipped out of Kit’s arms and moved across the terrace to where my dad was waiting with a furious frown on his face.
“Lewis…” Nana warned from behind me, though one hard look from Dad quelled her. For all Nana disapproved of his decisions, Dad could still wield a hefty dose of alpha dominance that she couldn’t shrug off.
As a general rule, I tried to avoid standing directly in the line of Dad’s scornful gaze. He was an enormous alpha, with the shiny oak-coloured hair that five out of six of his children had inherited, as well as the super thick dark lashes gene that had also somehow managed to skip me. If my parents were betas, Dad would have done a DNA test on me just to be sure.
That was a joke he’d been very proud of making in front of everyone I knew at my seventeenth birthday party.
“What are you playing at?” Dad hissed the moment I was within earshot. “Who the fuck is that? Poor Jimmy—”
“Poor Jimmy, nothing,” I interjected, keeping my tone low and perfectly polite. I didn’t want to cause a scene at Nana’s party. “You said show up with an alpha. Kit is an alpha. What the hell were you playing at telling Jimmy to come and court me? Giving him my address and my phone number? Does my safety meannothingto you?”
Dad’s face when a spectacular shade of purple, and my neck strained from the effort of keeping it straight rather than bowing my head in submission.
“You were perfectly safe with him. Jimmy is a good alpha, and he’s been suffering alone for years while his mate bond fully disintegrated. Hedeservesan omega. You will apologise to him and invite him to your nest.”
“Ignore him,” Kit countered instantly, his voice infused with his own alpha command to counter Dad’s. I locked my knees to stop them buckling, the weight of an alpha bark making me tremble. Kit was suddenly at my back, holding me to him, keeping me steady.
I wasn’t a minor. I obviously wasn’t my father’s claimed omega. He had no right to command me to doanything.
“Watch your words,” Kit warned darkly, his scent winding around me like a comforting blanket. “Margot wants to handle you herself, and I support anything she chooses. But I willnottolerate you using your bark on her.”
Dad’s nostrils flared as he glared at Kit over my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Asher jogging toward us, shaking off one of Layla’s errant children as he went.
I inhaled deeply, focusing solely on Kit’s coffee and whiskey scent. He was the only alpha I’d ever entrust with myself; he was the only one I’d even considered giving the gift of my omega submission.
“Did you say things like that to Calum? Aboutdeservingan omega? That would explain a few things,” I added sarcastically, feeling increasingly hot and out-of-sorts after being barked at.
Dad glared at me, his eyes settling on Asher for a moment before he straightened, his expression suddenly smug.
Here we go, I thought to myself, feeling oddly detached.He’s going to play his trump card.
“Announce to everyone here that you’re inviting Jimmy to your nest. Follow through, let him claim you, and I’ll grant my permission for Asher to go to that ridiculous school you two keep going on about,” Dad pronounced, gesturing magnanimously at my shell-shocked brother. “Provided he passes the interview stage, I suppose.”
“Margot,” Asher began, already shaking his head furiously. “No, I won’t go. Not like this.”
I shot him a reassuring smile before returning my attention to Dad. “I don’t accept your deal. I don’t need to. You’re going to let Asher attend the Sutton-Harris School, regardless.”
I may not have got any of the looks in the family, but I’d definitely got the brains.
I wassmarterthan my dad. I didn’t have to play this game with him. Dad spluttered an indignant stream of refusals, but I was done letting him control the conversation.
“No alphadeservesan omega. That’s a lesson you should have passed on to your oldest son. So unless you want me to make an impromptu speech about exactly what happened to Calum—with a side of explanation on who your new friend Teddie Reid is—”Thank you, Chelsea, for your excellent information gathering skills“—then you’ll graciously give Asher permission to attend the interview for Sutton-Harris, and send him off with your full support come the start of term for him to finish his education there.”
Dad looked stricken, glancing around to make sure no one had heard me, while Asher twisted to grin at me, his eyes lighting up.
I frowned, twisting back to look up at Kit. “Did I mention the part where Teddie Reid was convicted for stalking an ex-girlfriend and sentenced to nine months in prison? Quite the company for a respectable alpha like my dad to keep.”
“Is that so?” Kit murmured.
“Mm. Also that he’s Jimmy’scousin. So there’s a very good chance that I wasn’t just a convenient omega for Jimmy to set his lonely heart on, but I was probably also meant to sweeten the pot a little. What a charming notion for a father to come up with, no?”
I patted Kit’s arm because he didn’t look particularly thrilled to be playing along with the conversation now. He was back to glaring at my dad with murderous intent.
“You’re blackmailing me,” Dad stammered.
“I am. Not nice when people play god with your life, is it?”
Asher sidled up next to me, somehow almost as tall as me already, and rested his head on my shoulder, nuzzling me slightly. It was a movement that was one hundred per cent omega comfort and only served to annoy Dad more.
