Luca
“I still don’t understand why you had to buy that omega those pieces,” Stella grumbled as she sharpened her dagger from her favorite seat with her legs crossed on the edge of the table. Stella’s scent was typically sweet—and she preferred to have her curly hair move freely. Currently, she had pulled back her fiery red hair into a ponytail, paired with the amount of cinnamon pineapple tartness in the air, only proved how annoyed she was. “You could’ve just let them be.”
“Something got into me, and I had to do it.”
Crossing my arms, I leaned my back against the wall and studied my clan and took in their demeanors as they sat around the mess table. Outside of Stella, Seth hadn’t seemed concerned about my spending. Instead, he appeared to have approved. I knew Maia and Xavier would rather have me use the money on upgrades, but there was a fine line between company profits and personal income. Neither of them had voiced their disagreement with my choice, but their frowns and pinched brows showed their thoughts. The others—Jaxom, Sylas, and Tobias—weren’t fazed by the news, which meant I hadn’t upset everyone with my actions.
“Her gamma had it covered,” Stella countered as she continued to sharpen her weapon. Each jerk of her dagger against the laser file sent a buzzing ding into the mess’s air, ringing off of the walls. “You always try to play the hero when you aren’t needed. We are at Syzygy Station. The safest location for an omega. If Owen started rampaging about no one wanting him and the unfairness of the selection, he would’ve been taken down by her caretaker, and I bet Toasty would’ve had his hand with him until the station’s enforcers came about.”
“Are you saying that you are willing to sit back and witness someone being harassed—a female omega at that—and not do anything about it?” I challenged, gritting my teeth as I tried to get control of the surge of protectiveness that coursed through my veins. The way everyone in the room had instantly jerked back as if they were hit and lowered their heads, exposing their necks, only proved that I had failed. Stepping away from the wall, I walked over to my clan and placed my hands on the table as I took a few deep breaths to try to calm myself. “I don’t care if she was a stranger to me or not. Owen ruined something that should have been exciting and joyful for the omega by lusting after her. The least I could do was step in and attempt to fix whatever harm he did to her day.” I snapped my head to Stella to make sure she heard what I was about to say. “You have never questioned me in the past, for that I will let this slide, but since you are making a bigger deal about this specific event than needed, then I think I have to clear some things up that may have been falsely accused. The credits I used to purchase those jewelry pieces were my own, not the company’s or the clan’s, so there is no need to question where the funds went. Therefore, I would advise you not to bring up my spending anymore. And if you have a problem with it or the way I run things on my ship, then you are free to find another clan to take you in.
“I never question either of you about your spending—and accept any charges toward the clan’s account when deemed a necessity. So it is only fair that you show me the same respect and trust that I show you.”
“I have no problem with what you did,” Seth announced, grabbing my attention. My medic almost always kept to himself and often allowed the others to control the conversation. His delicate features and calm demeanor, paired with his long light brown hair, often had him mistaken as an omega whenever he ventured off the vessel. He hated it when he was reminded that he would’ve made a perfect candidate for the station if it wasn’t for his strong beta smell and lack of neediness. His sharp tongue would’ve gotten him in trouble often with those who questioned him if it weren’t for the intelligent and calculated head on his shoulders. “If you weren’t there, I would have alerted the station’s enforcers myself before helping Toasty kick him out of the shop. Alphas like Owen need to learn their place. I feel sorry for his twin brother for needing to put up with someone like him.”
“Keanu could request to stand alone in the arena if he wanted.” Tobias scoffed, rolling his eyes. “But both of them have it in their heads that since they are twins, they should share.”
“Little is known about twins, especially alphas and omegas,” Seth countered, eying his older brother. “There hasn’t been a set of omega twins registered with the station since its existence, and twin alphas tend to kill each other as soon as the first one hits puberty, which is why they are often raised separately now.”
“What a way to die,” Jaxom muttered, grabbing his glass of hard liquor, his treat that he’d just bought himself from our excursion on the station. “Imagine being killed by the one that you shared your mother’s womb with.” He brought his glass to his lips and paused, locking his unchallenging eyes with mine. “How were you able to grow up beside your older brother after maturing into an alpha? Two alphas, one family? That has to be tough.”
“Leo and I came to an understanding early on, and because of that, we’ve prevented many fights.” Relaxing, I ran a hand through my hair and stepped away from the table. I knew the reason my scent was rolling off of me in waves was that I was still keyed up from the confrontation—thanks to Stella. I needed to get a hold of myself before my crew started to believe that I’d become unhinged by an unmated omega I would probably never see again. “We took our father’s company, expanded it before splitting into two entities. As you all know, there’s a clear divide of who owns what, and yet we still work together to create profit. My brother can’t trust anyone else with the valuable goods we ship, and we won’t work for anyone else. So in the end, he gets the planetside property, and I own this luxury merchant ship.”
“Don’t you ever wish you could own a plot of land on one of the exotic planets?” Maia asked, glancing up from her tablet. She tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder before pressing the end of her engineering pen to the corner of her mouth in thought. “The clan has enough credits to purchase a nice suite at one of those new resorts that have become popular lately. Or we could get a condo at one of those dome space stations.”
“I haven’t brought up how much we have accumulated yet, because I didn’t know if we would need it for an emergency or…”
I didn’t want to finish the sentence, but I knew by the way the crew shot looks at me and each other that they knew what I hadn’t said.
Our clan didn’t have an omega yet, and part of the problem was me. I hadn’t gotten around to registering myself for The Den and signing up for the available rosters. It’s known that alphas are more unstable the longer they go without an omega to tie them down. So the only prevention known was for an alpha to surround themselves with a large clan and take the extra step of claiming a pack of their own. Unfortunately, by that time, they had lost all hope of becoming registered and chosen by an omega—and if by chance they were able to be picked by an omega, she would have to accept who they’d claimed.
“Truthfully, I haven’t registered myself for The Den because I wanted our clan to become established and stable enough to support itself before even thinking about bringing up the topic.” Then, spreading my arms out, I turned my hands toward my clan in an apologetic gesture, hoping they would understand my reasoning. “If everyone agrees, then I would rather attempt my fate in The Den between trade runs before we decide as a clan what we should do with all the credits. I would rather be able to provide everything for our future omega than splurge now and pay for it later.”
“How is it fair for this unsaid omega to have a say in what we do as a clan?” Jaxom spat, waving his hand toward our exit ramp. “They didn’t work hard to earn what we have. All they do is sit here in this station with all their needs provided for them, without having to lift a hand to work. I heard they seek jobs as hobbies! And here we are, having to work hard to be in the position that we are in, and they are given access to it on a silver platter.”
“Keep going,” I urged my inventory manager, wanting to hear what was on his mind. “Voice your thoughts and concerns because we both know that they can’t change themselves or the position they are in, as we can’t either. Our government has placed them behind many failsafe walls, preventing them from ever stepping off the station unless they are claimed. How is an omega supposed to earn their keep when our very nature gravitates to them? A clan without an omega will never be as unified as one with one.”
“What if they don’t accept all of us?” Maia asked, flicking her gaze to the others. “An omega doesn’t need to claim everyone here for their pack, especially if our scents don’t grab them. Are you going to kick out the members from the clan if they don’t invite them to their nest?”
“No one will be removed from this clan,” I comforted as I let out a light purr. Even though my crew was filled with betas, they still felt the calming effects of my alpha purr as I sent my scent into the air. My clan needed a leader and to have their doubts squished. “Once I am chosen by an omega, and they will meet everyone in the clan before I mark them as my own. Only then do they decide who is welcomed in their nest, both in and out of their heat. The unchosen will remain in the clan unless they decide they would rather resign. I won’t allow any omega to fire and kick out members to make this ship pack only. We all know that we are running on a light crew as it is for the size of this luxury merchant vessel.”
“Could we get that in writing?” Stella asked as she sheathed her dagger slowly, with an audible kah-chunk, before placing both file and weapon onto the table next to her crossed feet. “I saw how that omega at the store captured your attention. How do we know that any omega you end up claiming won’t force you to ditch all of us, sell everything, and then live your lives together with all the money the clan’s earned?”
“Stella…” Sylas called out with a grimace, turning to her as he lay his hand on the table, palm up, as an invitation for hers. “We both know that Luca isn’t like that. The crew has been together for almost eight years. So why would he break us up now?”
“We both know what happens when an omega becomes greedy.” She gave him a weak smile and accepted his offer, placing her hand in his and placing them onto her lap. “I don’t want to have to go through that again, not after we’ve settled here.”
“I am not your old alpha, Stella. So don’t make unfair accusations based on him and how he ran his clan,” I snapped, needing to squash any doubts nestled within Stella and Sylas and whoever else in the clan feared they would have a swift removal due to a non-existent omega. “We are more than a business, but a family, within this clan, and whoever picks me will know this before they earn my bite. I am not dense. Even after everything, I know an omega can’t leave the station without being marked for their safety and the clan who took them in reinsurance. I am willing to throw that away and be forced to try my hand again on the arena floor to make sure this clan isn’t torn apart by an unfit newcomer.”
“We believe you.” Sylas nodded as he squeezed Stella’s hand. “Our concerns are valid. Being kicked out of another clan would make it hard to join another at our ages, especially when most are already established unless they are fresh out of the academy.”
“I wasn’t saying they weren’t,” I countered gently, trying to keep the harshness from my tone. I knew the topic would be a sensitive one, and I cursed myself for not doing it sooner. “But I am not going to allow a good thing to become ruined—nor am I going to force any of you to stay when the time comes. Just know all of you are valued, and as hard as it may be to lose a member, my door is always open for you to leave—”
A hail warning rang through the mess, turning the ceiling lights blue as the crew jumped from their seats. Xavier shot straight to the vidscreen on the wall behind him as the Syzygy Station logo appeared on the screen.
“Who is it?” I demanded, placing a hand on his shoulder as I stepped behind him. “We’ve paid our sponsor taxes along with three days on the docking bay.”
“Could it be the enforcers?” Seth asked, stepping behind us. “They could be calling you about when would be the best time to question you about what happened between Owen and that omega.”
