“Her mark isn’t something for you to be worried about,” Quinn replied, her brown eyes focused on the healing process of Elara’s angry wound. “If it starts to ooze and become unbearable, then it would be smart for you to visit your medic--or the infirmary on the station.”
“I believe it’s fine.” Elara lightly tapped on the mark on her neck and let out a slight hiss. “It seems to be healing nicely.”
"I'm glad to hear." The delta scanned my omega once over and nodded. "Has your alpha treated you well?"
"Very." Elara grabbed my hand and entwined our fingers together. Then, squeezing it, she placed them on her stomach and gave me a wink. "I had to convince him it was okay to mark me, but I had no complaints once he did."
"I have a final request that I would like you to follow."
From the tune of her voice and the serious look on her face, an easy feeling fell upon me. Elara let out a sigh as if she was unconcerned about what her old caretaker was about to say.
"Have at it."
"Unfortunately, due to what happened during your session in The Den, there have been multiple complaints about what happened and how to prevent such things in the future."
"I've marked her," I growled, squeezing Elara’s hand for reinsurance. "What are they going to do about it?"
"Demand a refund." Quinn raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms. "Demand for your company to pay what you stole.”
“I didn’t steal anything!”
“Tell that to your peers,” Quinn snapped. “You aren’t the one trying to clean up the mess. I am. While you two were too busy bonding, I’ve been up all night, neck-deep in vidcalls.”
“Luca hasn’t done anything wrong,” Elara countered. “They are just poor sports about everything, and after a week or so, I will become old news.”
Her scent in the air had turned acidic with fear. If I need to cut this conversation short, then I will. She deserved time to heal in peace, especially before her up-and-coming heat. Listening to her old caretaker complain about doing her job wasn’t something she needed, no matter how close the two were.
“Elara, since we were already discussing yesterday, I might as well tell her the truth in case my brother gets here before I confess to him.”
“True? Confess?” Quinn’s sharp gaze sliced straight to me. “What are you talking about, Alpha Coco?”
“I am indeed, Alpha Coco,” I explained, not phased by her glare. “But I am not the Alpha Coco in your records. That would be my older brother, Eli. I am Luca, the younger one.”
“And who is in charge of the delivery system for Coco Pharma,” Quinn spat. “So you're telling me that you have illegally entered The Den, been chosen by an omega, and because she was infatuated with you, you two skipped the courting phase and went straight to bonding.”
“Correct.”
“And how am I supposed to explain this to the Matron?” Quinn demanded. The intensity of her voice would've been equivalent to an alpha’s bark if she wasn’t a delta. “Oh, by the way, my omega has just bound herself to an imposter on top of all of the complaints.”
“I was hoping you would keep it our little secret,” I explained. “I am sure you have connections with the records department. If I send you the funds now, under my name, and go through the testing before we leave tomorrow, shouldn’t you be able to smudge our files?”
“You know it doesn’t work like that--”
“No,” I countered. “I know there are a lot of things behind the public's eye that happen on the station that most of the population ignore. For example, there are about the same amount of alphas as there are omegas, and yet, The Den’s arena continues to fill up with more and more alphas needing a mate, but the number of omegas has stayed steady this whole time.”
“What are you getting at?”
“No matter the fact that alphas have to travel here from all over the galaxy, shouldn’t there be an omega roster in equivalent size needing a mate?”
“That is a matter beyond you,” Quinn replied, shooting a glance at Elara. “All you need to worry about is taking good care of your omega and getting as far away from here as possible while things cool down.”
“And my records?”
“I require double the fee,” Quinn huffed. “No need to come in. Your face alone will anger many of the alphas who are still lingering around, hoping to get lucky today.”
“I’ll pay triple if you can guarantee my brother will never know.”
“There are no promises regarding that, but I’ll do my best.” She placed her hand on the windscreen. “It would be best if I didn’t bring any more unnecessary attention to you and your new clan, Elara, and not see you off. Once things cool down here, I will tell the matron that I want to do an in-person check-up and come visit you, wherever you are.”
“Are you saying that this is our goodbye?” Elara sobbed as tears flowed from her eyes. “When do you think I can see you again?”
“I’ll try to visit once your heat is over,” she soothed. “There is no room for a delta at that time unless you need me to take you out of an abusive situation.”
“I will not hurt my omega,” I snarled. “I may have worked your system to be able to stand on that arena floor, but anything, I just showed you the flaws in your own program.”
“That’s a unique way of viewing what you’ve done.”
“Because it’s true.”
“We can discuss that at another time. But, for now, I need to depart,” Quinn announced. Her stern gaze softened with the tone of her voice. “I am only one call away.”
