“Thank you for the breakfast Gage, it was delicious. Also: thank you for the nesting materials you dropped off in my room yesterday. They really helped me sleep in an unfamiliar place.” With that I turned on my heel and left the kitchen and the stunned men behind. It was going to be a long eight months.
9
The room was silent for a few moments after Eloise left the kitchen, her chocolate scent was the only thing that remained in the room of her. Dominic was smirking into his coffee, Ric was studiously reading an email, Owen was glaring at Leon and Leon was glaring at the doorway which Eloise had just disappeared through.
I was curious about the file that they were speaking about. All I knew about Eloise was what Ric had told me over the last 48-hours. But we had also discussed looking into her life in more detail like this and everyone had agreed to not dig. That had lasted all of twelve hours.
“I cannot believe you snooped on my computer Leon. That is a total invasion of privacy.” Owen crossed his arms over his chest.
“And was looking up the omega not also an invasion of privacy?” Leon countered, still not making eye contact with our beta.
“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do a whole deep dive on Eloise.” Ric had put his phone down and was now frowning at our alpha. My first instinct, as always, was to defend Leon. Like I always have. My mouth even opened to do so but Eloise’s angry brown eyes flashed through my mind and I closed my mouth just as quickly as it had opened and crossed my arms over my chest. I could defend Leon for a lot of things—he was my chosen brother and we had been through a lot since meeting at eleven years old. But I couldn’t defend him for this. He made someone feel bad and uncomfortable simply because of their designation.
“I wanted to know more about her. If we want to make this work or even have a chance at working we need to be on the same page about her past.” Owen looked at me and Ric as if pleading his case.
“Why are you all so obsessed with making it work with an omega anyway?” Dominic queried from his place at the end of the counter. He was the newest member of our pack and had not experienced the rotation of omegas that Leon had rejected.
“We arenottrying to make it work with the omega.” Leon said through gritted teeth, “I thought this had been established a long time ago—long before Owen and Dominic were invited to join this pack.”
“It was established,” All of Ric’s normal easy-going nature was gone and his dark eyes seemed to shoot daggers at Leon, “By you. You rejected all of the omegas and until this point I let you because they were all off. But this is different.”
The words hung in the air between us and Leon pushed back from the counter, his knuckles white on the edge of the counter as he stood and stared down Ric.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is it different because she was foisted upon us by a nosy Omega Academy who wants our money?” Leon’s shoulders seemed to square off and the room could feel his emotions which seemed to waft off of him in angry waves. The alphas in the room flinched at the feeling but poor Owen seemed to buckle against the counter, his forehead touching the cool tile.
“It’s her smell.” My words came out a bit gravelly and seemed to surprise everyone in the room as they wheeled around to look at me. I cleared my throat before continuing.
“She smells good, Leon. To all of us—even Owen. Almost soothingly good.” The only thing I could compare the smell to was my omega mother’s smell from when I was a small child—before she had died of cancer. My mother had smelled of citrus and jasmine—very different from the chocolate and champagne of Eloise. But the effect was there. It made me drowsy and horny all at the same time.
“We aren’t asking you to bond with her Leon,” Owen said gently, reaching a shaking hand out to his alpha and laying a hand on his forearm. “But you at least need to treat her well, she’s a guest in our home.”
“And I’m going to court her.” Ric glared at each of us as if daring us to go against him, “Gage has already started it with his nesting materials. I want her—instinctually—and if her ability to put Leon in his place is any indicator of her personality I’m going to like her. If you guys have a problem with it you can shove it where the sun don’t shine.”
With that Ric left the room in the same fashion that Eloise had only moments ago. We stood in silence which was broken, as always by a stupid comment from Dominic.
“Well this has been the best breakfast I have attended in a while, so… yeah. I am going to head to work. See you all at the office.” Then he was also gone.
“Think about it Leon,” Owen gave Leon’s arm one last squeeze before exiting, leaving Leon and I alone in the kitchen.
A giant sigh whooshed out Leon as he scrubbed a hand over his face, “I’m surprised you spoke up at all, brother.”
“I am honest. Always have been.” I replied as I began to gather the breakfast plates.
Leon’s snort of laughter filled the kitchen as he began to help me clean up, “No words have ever been truer. I remember the first day I met you and you called me a spoiled brat.”
“You were a spoiled brat. You took one look at my dad’s shop when your granddad came to meet my father about business and turned your nose up at it.” My fathers were two grizzled old alphas who had raised me in a motorcycle repair shop that had acted as a front for the Russo’s until Leon turned them legit a few years ago along with the rest of the Russo holdings. They had sold the shop and retired to the mountains of Northern California. I usually gave them a phone call every other week to check on them and make sure that they hadn’t killed each other by being all alone in the mountains. So far, so good.
“Yeah, you may be right about me being a spoiled brat.” Leon finished loading the dishwasher and leaned against the counter, checking his wrist watch.
“Are you going to court the omega—Eloise?” Leon didn’t look angry anymore—at most he just seemed resigned to it all.
“Yeah, man. I am. Either way I think it’s time to confront your issues about your mom—don’t let her selfishness affect you anymore. It’s not good for you even if we never welcome an omega into the pack.” I gave his shoulder a sturdy squeeze before leaving the kitchen to get ready for the rest of the day.
10
“Bitch, it has been almost a full twenty-four hours since you left and you don’t even deign to send your best friend a text?” Tibby’s mock-angry voice filtered through my phone’s speakers as I gripped the edge of the dresser as a mock barre and did my dance warm ups. I had spent the rest of the morning fuming inside of my nest, working on my homework and nibbling on the plate of food which someone—probably Gage—had left in front of my door. I finally broke down and changed into my leotard and tights and had begun to warm up when Tibby had called.
“Sorry Tib. It’s been a bit wild over here.” I apologized as I lifted an arm over my head and stretched, feeling the burn in my stiff muscles.
