Lashonda is drinking hot chocolate with fluffy marshmallows, while casually talking to Ms. Fields.
It blows my mind to see the relaxed way that Ms. Fields laughs, slouching against the wall.
For the first time, I can fully see the true people who had been smothered under the hundreds of rules.
Possibly, they are discovering themselves as well after years of suppression.
It’s so fucking liberating.
Ms. Fields may still have her severe bob but she has chosen to wear a casual, soft pair of peach trousers and a hoodie.
Every member of the staff can leave the hotel in their free time now, not only to shop. They are allowed to travel wherever they want. It’s just the start of the reforms that collectively I, Dad, Hatton, and Icarus are eager to bring in.
But first, we want to hold genuine consultations with staff across every hotel.
I meant it about running this business cooperatively.
Yet it will take time.
Luckily, I have an entire pack who are dedicated to this vision.
The long, golden counter is covered with cakes, pastries, and chocolates that were bought in for the guests but are now being fed to my Sinner pack.
Michah proudly has his arm around Chris, while Chris is showing off the pastries that she has baked: sweet potato biscuits, blackberry cobbler, and bourbon pecan pie.
She lifts a honey-drenched cake to Michah’s lips, as if Michah is a treasured Omega. The two Betas are so focused on each other — their love — that they don’t notice anyone else around them.
I smile.
Staff being able to be in relationships, match, and bond was the very first change that I made.
I’m not a hypocrite.
For two Betas to break taboos like this and not show shame makes my soul dance.
I want this hotel to be a leading light to shake up the conventions and prejudices of our world.
I shiver, remembering being forced to hide in the shadows with my brother and only peer out at this luxury in secret. Now, I am not only openly in the light, every staff member is, including the Hotel Omegas. The HOs aren’t called that, however, any more because I have abolished the entire cruel practice.
I have offered that the Omegas can either return to their packs or be the first ever Omegas to be trained up in staff roles, on equal rights and pay.
Every single one told Icarus that he was their Alpha and the Sinners was their pack.
So, they were staying.
Plus, we held a ritualistic burning of everyRules for Staff Handbook,along with the HO catalogs for guests, yesterday in the gardens, while the staff cheered and danced around the bonfire.
Talk about cathartic.
This is a new beginning.
Happily, I nuzzle in Piper’s arms amongst a nest of golden pillows that Icarus built for me beside the fireplace, which roars and crackles with an open log fire.
Piper has his arm casually resting around my waist, while I lie against his chest.
I purr, twisting to rest our foreheads together.
Then my brow furrows. “You’re hot, Wolfie. Are we too close to the fire?”
