“Do you really think that you can adequately take care of an omega?” She’d asked and being all of nineteen years old I'd replied that of course I could.
She then pulled out pages upon pages of statistics and placed them in front of me.
“Did you know that omegas that never find a pack that has at least one alpha tend to die before the age of fifty? Their heats are hard to manage and almost impossible without an alpha present.”
“Then I’ll find an alpha pack and join it.” I replied stubbornly. I was going to be a lawyer and I could at the very least take care of Eloise in a monetary way.
The chairman sighed, “If only it worked like that. It’s all about scents and instincts for omegas, what do you think would happen if you—say—did join an alpha pack. You would be closer to them than anyone else. Now, say that you do bring Eloise to join said pack. What if she doesn’t click with them? Would you leave that pack? What do you think Eloise would do?”
I already knew the answer to that. I knew Eloise would force herself to be happy in a pack that she may not fully click with because I was happy.
“So what do you suggest?” I asked pushing the statistics back across the desk towards her.
The chairwoman took her glasses off and placed them on the table, “My best advice? If you truly love her you will let her go for now. Let her grow into herself as an omega and find a pack that fits her. If it’s meant to be, you will have a place in that pack. Go to school and enjoy your life. She’s safe here.”
I’d left that day feeling so defeated. I threw myself into my course load and eventually grad-school and working as an associate at the law firm. Time went on and I could almost forget the promise I made to the scared little girl almost fourteen years before. I’d even started dating—Pack Ruiz was nice enough even if there wasn’t much of a spark.
Of course all of that had to blow up in my face when I was least expecting it.
“Eloise!” I called after her retreating form, the alpha who had caught her in his arms was leading her towards the elevator, two others flanking them as they went. I took one step towards her and was cut off by two figures.
A tall asian man glared at me, “You’re going to turn around and walk the other way, Lincoln Sawyer.”
The other man dwarfed both of us and stood behind the asian man with his arms crossed.
“I need to talk with her.” I watched as the elevator doors closed, effectively blocking Eloise from view.
“You need to turn around and go back to your pack,” The man nearly spat the words at me, “If Eloise wants to talk to you then we will contact you. Not one minute before that.”
With that the two turned on their heels and hurried for the elevator doors to follow their packmates, leaving me surrounded by curious partygoers.
27
“Ellie, can you open the door please? We’re sorry we didn’t tell you about the beta.” Ric’s voice was muffled and I could hear them talking quietly to each other. I ignored them, burrowing further into my nest. It had very quickly become apparent once we’d gotten into the car that Ric and Gage didn’t seem very surprised by Link’s appearance in San Francisco.
They told me that they’d just been ‘protecting my feelings’. Yeah, those were feeling real protected at the moment. I’d gone straight from the car and into my nest, locking the door behind myself. I was even still in my dress which was incredibly uncomfortable.
I was reeling from everything that had happened in the last hour. I couldn’t believe that Link had been in the city the entire time. Betrayal burned hot in my gut. I had trusted Gage to tell me about what he’d found about Link and it turned out that he’d known all along where Link was. Ric had made it very clear that it had been Gage’s idea to keep it from me and the bigger alpha had no trouble taking all of the blame. But still. What could I say to them?
After spending ten years waiting for someone who didn’t intend to come back? Who’d moved on to a perfect pack with a perfect omega that I could never be? All of my daydreams about Link joining our pack and completing us were ruined.
“Eloise.” Ric, still on the other side of the door, called again.
With an angry grunt I opened the door glaring at the faces that were waiting down below. Ric and Owen were closest to me. Leon was just behind them with Dominic at his shoulder, Gage was nowhere to be seen. That almost hurt more than him not telling me about Link.
“I’m fine. Just fine. Now please leave me alone.” I slammed the door shut again and flopped into my nest and finally let the tears that had been clogged in my throat for the past hour be unleashed into my blankets. I was heartbroken and I didn’t know how to move on from that.
“You really fucked up.” I growled at Ric and Gage who were sitting in front of me on the couch, “How could you not tell us about the beta? Especially since he lives in the same damn city as us?”
Everytime I closed my eyes I could still see Eloise’s heartbroken expression as she confronted the blond beta who I’d been informed was the beta who she’d been waiting to come back for her for over ten years. It was traumatic as hell for her to see him at the party which was exacerbated by Ric and Gage keeping it from her. And they told me thatIwas the emotionally stunted one.
“I have to agree with Leon. What the hell were you thinking?” Owen stood next to me and I could feel his irritation and worry for Eloise through the bond.
“We’ve got enough to deal with with Volkov trying to fuck us over, we don’t need surprise information like this kept from us.” I looked between the two alphas, Ric at least looked guilty. I couldn’t tell what Gage was feeling.
“I did what I felt was best for Eloise and I still stand by that.” Gage rumbled, “she never would have grown close to us if she’d been heartbroken weeks ago. At least now she can rely on us.”
Owen ran a hand through his hair, his irritation spiking, “That wasn’t for you to decide, Gage. That was something for us to decide together—with Eloise included. She constantly feels like things are out of her control and this isn’t helping. You could have literally wrecked everything, you realize that right?”
