Everest's POV:

"What if I don't fucking want to be with you?!" I growl, watching Matias' eyes widen and there's a lot of pain and fear in them. My wolf is screeching at me, using every curse word in the book he knows how to use.

Henry rolls his eyes. "Goddess, I'm going to leave now, you two need to talk." He gives me a thumbs up as he leaves the room with his glass of wine.

"You don't want to be with me?" Matias asks, and he sounds so broken that it makes my wolf whimper and try to get to the forefront of my mind. "I mean, I don't know why I thought you would actually want me... I gave you away to the man who rejected you, I never told you how much I care, I never-"

Oh, goddess, this is getting depressing.

I grab Matias' shoulders and kiss him firmly, wrapping my arms over his shoulders and intertwining my hands behind his neck,

"You talk too much sometimes," I whisper when I've parted our lips and pressed myself against him so he has no choice but to hug me. "I'm pissed off that you sent me away, but I know why, and I'm going to hold onto it for a little bit, but I want to be with you."

Matias' gets a lot less tense in seconds, but he's still holding me right up against him. "You fucking scared me, Everest."

"Yeah, well you sent me back to America. We're nowhere near close to even, mate."

Matias lets out a low rumble from his chest. "It's pretty hot when you call me that."

"I'm probably the most attractive person you'll ever meet," I quip, resting my cheek on his chest. "I really thought you gave me up because you didn't want me..."

"I wanted you safe and away from my parents. Convincing Henry to align with us and then come take you was the only quick that I could think of, and while I wanted you the whole time, I would rather lose you and have you be safe than be selfish and put you in potential danger," Matias says, running his fingers through my hair before he takes his phone from his pocket. "Come on, we had better get back to the party... I have a meeting soon."

I want to hold his hand, but that's not the best decision for now. For now, we need to act like nothing's going on between us or others will be suspicious, so I go find Henry.

Thankfully, we discussed this and he wraps his arm around my shoulder to subtly scent me so I don't smell like Matias.

"Talk it out?" he asks me softly. "You threw that poor guy for a loop at the start there."

I shrug. "He sent me away, he deserved to feel some brief panic."

"You made our mate panic..." my wolf grumbles in my mind. "I won't forgive you for that."

"We got him back, didn't we? I just wanted to make him sweat, and you weren't even here at the forefront when he sent us away," I respond. "Maybe we'll let him make us sweat in a good way if you back off."

My wolf chirps and falls silent immediately after I suggest that.

"That was kind of fucked up," Henry says, looking over at Matias who is glaring daggers at him.

Even though Matias knows the plan, it's clear the mate bond is causing him to get even angrier. He knows we can't just raise suspicion by me suddenly being all over him. Of course, that's all I want to do right now, but we have to wait until this vote passes.

A tall man with honey brown eyes approaches us, holding out his hand to me. "You must be Everest."

"Yes, but I do not think we have met," I respond, shaking his hand and watching Henry also shake his hand and introduce himself.

"My name is Emil. I am a friend of Matias and I am his brother's mate," Emil says, looking at Henry. "You are Everest's mate?"

Henry plays along, agreeing and starts a conversation about the company and how the American ones operate, blah blah blah.

Of course, I'm bored, and I thankfully don't have to be for too much longer because Matteo appears and he immediately hugs me and kisses my cheek. The action leaves me flushed and blushing, not because I'm attracted to Matteo, but he is cute and I was taken by surprise.

"Everest! You met my mate!" Matteo giggles, holding onto my left arm tightly. His breath smells like alcohol and I can tell he's had way more to drink than any Omega needs.

Emil looks a bit exasperated. "Oh, my angel, what did you get into?" he asks, taking Matteo and holding him tight to his side, but Matteo keeps holding my hand.

"I'm not telling you!" Matteo says in what I think he thinks is a whisper. "Unless you give me a kiss!"

Emil sighs. "My love, stay with me. You are too drunk for me to let you out of my sight," he says before he continues his conversation with Henry.

Matteo keeps playing with my fingers, clearly bored with the conversation, when he leans in closer to my ear. "I know that you're keeping secrets..."

"Secrets?" I ask, looking nervously at Emil.

Emil nods and has a reassuring look, so I sigh in relief, knowing that he at least understands what is going on.

Matteo giggles and nods. "You like my brother!" he chirps in a singsong tone. "And he likes you!"

"Shhh," Emil says, scowling at Matteo and throwing nervous glances at Henry. "Love, you need to be quiet. It's supposed to stay a secret, right?"

Henry smiles at Matteo, clearly amused by his antics. "Don't worry, Emil. Everest and I will play as mates until this vote passes. Then, he's going to his true mate," he says, his voice low.

"Thank goddess," Emil mumbles, gripping the back of Matteo's neck as the other Omega tries to keep playing with my fingers. "Keep quiet, Matteo."

Matteo's expression shifts to a saddened one and his bottom lip quivers. "You... you called me by my real name..."

"Yes, I did," Emil says, and his expression stays hardened.

Matteo bursts into tears. "B-But you usually call me 'love' or 'angel' or ‘baby boy!'" he wails, and Emil's hardened expression immediately falls and he pulls Matteo into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Shh, don't cry," Emil whispers, trying to comfort Matteo, but the poor, drunk Omega isn't having it. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, don't cry!"

Matteo keeps sobbing, but thankfully he doesn't draw the attention of anyone except for Matias.

"Did you make my little brother cry, Emil?" he asks, and my wolf is preening in my head.

"Look at him... he's so sexy when he's mad," he purrs.

"Oh, goddess, please shut up," I beg, even though I'm in complete agreement.

Matias glances at me and I step closer to Henry just to keep up with appearances. His expression goes sour, but I know he understands, if his deep breaths and attempt to relieve tension has anything to say.

"Let me take care of my mate how I am supposed to," Emil snaps back, looking at the clock. "Our meeting starts soon, so back off. I will not enter a meeting while my mate is in distress."

Matias scowls, turning to myself and Henry. "May I lead you to our conference room?"

Henry nods, and I wince when Matias glares at me when I take Henry's hand.

"Lead the way," Henry says, his hand loosely holding my own.

We end up in a large conference room, and I see a nameplate with Henry's name on it. There isn't one for me, and I huff when I see that Matteo doesn't have one either and he's expected to sit on his mate's lap.

Matias is glaring daggers at Henry, and I send him an apologetic look before sitting down.

"He's going to fuck you up later," Henry murmurs in my ear. "And I'm going to get out of here as quickly as possible so he doesn't murder me first."

"He won't murder you..." I trail off as more people enter the room, and I recognize Matias' father.

His eyes fall on me and he rolls his eyes, but I don't look away.

I refuse to let an asshole like him make me panic. Especially when I know that Matias would fight him in a heartbeat for me, and Henry would probably join in just for fun.

"Now, we are here tonight to take a vote," a man who I think is named Lorenzo announces, looking around at all of us. "We will be making a decision as to whether or not Matias Amato shall replace his father as the leader of the Amato family's branch of the company."

If looks could kill, Matias would be dead on the floor by the hand of his father.

"I apologize, I did not hear of this."

"I only contacted those who would be voting, as you are not eligible since you are the questioned party," Lorenzo says, looking unamused. "Your son did call this meeting, as he feels he would be a better leader. We needed the entire group of allies here in order to have an unbiased vote. You may all cast your votes and my assistant will collect your papers."

Matias' father looks appalled, but I am grateful that he is professional enough to keep his mouth shut. Hopefully Matias managed to get enough voters to support him, or else he will loose and he'll send me away with Henry order to keep me safe.

The next twenty minutes are spent mostly in silence, the only speaking being discussion between mates as they try to decide. I cannot say that I am surprised, as it is a big decision since Matias' father was not going to retire for a while, and Matias just recently returned to his home country.

However, I guess it's common knowledge that Matias' father's morals are questionable at best.

"Please tally the votes," Lorenzo orders the small group of assistants who are required to tally the votes as an unbiased group and not lie about the results. "Thank you."

Lorenzo's eyes widen as he reads the result. "Congratulations to our new lead of the Amato family branch. Matias has won in a twelve to zero vote."

"Yes!" I shriek, before anyone can stop me, and I throw myself into Matias' arms, and he hugs me back just as tight. I pull his ear to my mouth so he can hear my words. "I'm still pissed off at you, so you had better make it up to me."

"I know a few things I can do," Matias whispers, before standing up and addressing the rest of the room. "Sorry for the confusion. This is my second chance mate, Everest."

His father's face changes from confusion to anger in seconds as he sees how unbothered Henry is and how a selection of people here do not seem shocked.

"You planned this!" he bellows. "You plotted this, demanding my position for that pathetic Omega?! If you keep it your way, you will never have anyone to pass your title to! All for a useless, infertile Omega?!"

"Were you adopted, by chance?" I ask, trying to joke around and not to wince at the cruel words being screamed at me.

Matias ignores me. "You will not speak to my mate like that, father. And just so you are aware, you will be going straight from here to prison. That is what you get for sending Anthony to murder Cody."

Gasps echo around the room and Matias' father's eyes widen before he growls lowly.

"You dare accuse me-"

"I don't need to accuse you. Sofia found the emails and messages between you and Anthony. We have all of the evidence we need. Your power and money does not mean you are allowed to kill whoever you choose to teach people sick lessons," Matias says, opening the doors to the conference room, where several body guards are already waiting. "Lorenzo, would you mind?"

Lorenzo nods. "Arrest him," he says, pointing at Matias' father. "This is for killing my nephew."

"You're all foolish!" Matias' father shouts as he is arrested. "Voting for a boy who left us?! For an infertile Omega who ended up being useless?! For another one who means even less?!"

"Get him out of here," Matias orders. "Make sure to send my mother with him, and I trust your people are already arresting Anthony?"

Lorenzo nods. "Do not worry, I have taken care of them."

"Very well," Matias says, holding me tightly against his side. "Now, if you will all excuse me, I have a few more things to take care of."

The meeting is dismissed, and I'm a bit shaky from all of the emotions that have been running rampant tonight. Henry approaches us before he departs and smiles at me, but I can see pain behind his eyes.

"Take care of each other..." He trails off and holds out his hand to Matias. "If you ever need anything, I would be happy to assist."

"I appreciate that," Matias says, shaking Henry's hand. "Thank you for bringing him back to me."

Henry nods but does not say anything else as he departs, casting us both one last smile.

"Are you tired?" Matias asks, and I hum. "Can you hold on for a bit? I have one more thing I want to do."