“And you’ll be the alpha?” Cannon pressed.
“Why would you think that?” Tyrone asked. The scent of the honey made me reach for the cornbread and mimic Tyrone’s makeshift dessert.
“Because you came here and you had the dream.”
Cannon nodded at my assessment. It made sense to me. Before Tyrone, we were just two pissed-off bears making do. Now, in less than a few hours, we were a sleuth. We still had a lot to think about. Logistics. Rules. Roles. We were meant to be together as friends and sleuth mates for life, and that meant we had to learn to get along. So far, so good.
“No.” Tyrone polished off his cornbread. “In the dream, you were the alpha, Cannon. You have been before.”
Cannon’s pupils widened. His shoulders slumped. “Yes. It didn’t go so well.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that you were meant to be the alpha here. I don’t make the rules. I only see the visions.”
We all nodded. It was fine by me if Cannon was the alpha. And we were all in this together. Cannon had never gotten into specifics about his old pack or sleuth, but from what I gathered, he never wanted to go back there. Either that, or he wasn’t allowed back there.
“There’s another dream I had and it concerns the both of you.”
“What else?” I asked. Today had taken us by surprise, but hearing there was more, well, didn’t shock me. We were planning and creating a future based on dreams and visions and vibes from our bears, so anything was fair game.
“I had a vision of our omega.”
Cannon looked shaken. His eyes widened, and he gripped the edge of the table. “You’ve seen our female? Are you sure it’s her? You mentioned earlier about Sylvie, was it? What if it’s just someone else you need to help?”
“It’s not. It’s her. My bear already knows her. Recognizes her as his mate. And in the dream… I know this sounds unimaginable, but she’s not just our omega. She’s our scent match.”
“You scented her. In a dream…” I whispered it, mostly to myself. A pause fell over us. “What did she smell like?”
Tyrone chuckled. “You know she will smell different to each of us, right?”
“Just tell me.”
This new sleuth member nodded. He understood why I needed to know. Scent was everything, not only because we were shifters but because our omega would smell like home to us. Before we knew her name or who she was…anything else about her…we would scent that she belonged to us.
Or in this case, Tyrone would dream about her first.
“You’re not going to believe me, but to me, she smelled like comfort. Cinnamon. Cloves. Cardamom. All the things I love.”
“Where do we find her?” Cannon leaned back in his chair.
Tyrone cringed. He hadn’t told us everything, and my bear had a feeling we weren’t going to like what he was about to say. “In my dream, she was on auction. An omega auction. We were all there, but I didn’t see the result. That’s why I had to find you so we could establish this sleuth. Because this is important, but saving our omega from being sold to a pack who will likely abuse her is the most important thing about me coming here. We have to save our future mate.”
Cannon stood up, clearly upset by this news as we all were. He began to pace up and down the kitchen. “Where? How? Wehave savings but we’re not rich. We spent a lot purchasing this place. We can get some more. I can sell my…”
I put my hand up. “First things first. Do you know where she is Tyrone? Where the auction will be?”
Tyrone nodded. “I do. And yeah, we’re gonna need everything we have to get her out of there.”
Chapter Five
Millie
The dreams couldn’t save me. The year of grace, or as I thought of it of servitude, passed and my birthday drew close. I was taken off my jobs in order to be prepared for the auction. The work was not helpful for various aspects of the omega’s presentation. For example, all the cleaning and scrubbing had my hands red and raw, hardly the elegant appearance the wealthy shoppers would expect. Not to mention the marks from slaps and cuffs and pinches when I didn’t move fast enough to suit someone.
Suddenly, Cinderella was plucked from her ashes and the spa treatments began. The females who had been so dismissive, verging on cruel, were tasked with making sure I looked as good as possible. In my childhood, nobody had cared if my skin was dry or my hair lay in tangles around my shoulders. I had actually pulled myself together while away at school, but when I returned, I slipped back into my old ways. As a child nobody really cared about, my clothes were hand-me-downs and I had to figure out things like self-care by myself. I wore my hair in two braids for convenience. Of course that was not acceptable. Maximum profit was required, after all.
So, I was driven into town for a hair style and blow out, had a mani-pedi, went to an exclusive boutique where I tried on multiple outfits until my minders decided one was appropriate, and even got my ears pierced. There were comments about piercing other places, but the females who were with me said it was just a joke, and that such decisions would be made by my new alphas. Lovely.
None of the others got the spa treatments. They really must be expecting to make more from me.
