“Your plan? Ma’am.” I added, not wanting to sound rude.
“I hadn’t gotten there yet, Superintendent Bells.” Carolyn took a seat on one of the sofas and gestured for me to join her. I sat down heavily, uncomfortable under the many stares that were currently pinned to me.
“Well, I suppose I can fill him in. Mr. Zhao, we have several problems that we are hoping to solve in one fell swoop here. Number one: Eloise Taylor is an older unbonded omega who refuses to bond to a pack despite the fact that her heats are beginning to put her health in danger.”
“Why is she doing that?” I ask, not meaning to cut her off but my curiosity got the better of me. Luckily the older woman didn’t seem to mind.
“She says she’s ‘waiting for something’, we suspect it’s a childhood friend of hers that has not been in contact with her since she was a child. As far as we can tell this childhood friend has no interest in rekindling any sort of relationship, not that it would matter. Her friend is a beta and she needs alphas.”
“And have you told her this?” I was surprised that anyone would let an omega like that get away.
“No we haven't, we're afraid it will make her emotional state worse,” Carolyn looked a bit sheepish as she said this but continued on anyways “She needs a good pack of alphas to take care of her and help her move on in her own time. She won’t do this by being with us here at SFOFA.”
“Which brings us to our second problem: your pack.” Superintendent Bells continued, looking irritated at being interrupted so much. “Russo Pack has been a sore spot for the SFOFA for over a decade. Your pack seems to refuse to accept an omega, we have an omega that refuses to accept a pack. Put the both of you together and maybe the law of negatives will kick in and work out in everyone’s favor.”
The room falls silent and I look from member to member before bursting out into laughter, “No offense ma’am but that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I like her just fine and her scent is one of the most delectable scents I've ever had the pleasure of smelling. But you know what Leon is like. I doubt a reluctant omega will make it any easier.”
“That’s why we aren’t giving any of you a choice. You will take Eloise on a trial basis for the next eight months—until her twenty-fifth birthday—and if you don’t we'll rescind your membership to the San Francisco Omega Academy. Something that, in it’s two-hundred year history, has never happened. It will be in the papers and I’m sure will make your Leon Russo even more upset. So, what’ll it be?”
Well damn that wasn’t really even a choice.
4
Leon’s phone crashed into the wall as the leader of our pack let out a furious growl. He’d hurled the device into the wall as soon as he’d hung up with Ric, our packmate.
“How could that idiot agree to something like this without consulting me?” Leon shouts at me and I just shrug, quiet as ever. The man just threw his hands in the air and spits out a tirade of Italian curses that would make a granny faint before slumping down into his chair.
“I’m sure it won’t be all that bad.” Owen said from his place on Leon’s office sofa, he’s already pulling a box from his leather satchel that contains a new phone for Leon. He’d have the new device up in minutes as if our pack leader hadn’t just destroyed it’s predecessor. I mentally tallied up the number of phones he’d destroyed just this year and added the new one to it for a total of eight phones. I was pretty sure we were single-handedly keeping the phone company in business at this point.
“We can’t have an omega living with us for eight months O. That will be such a hassle when we have no intention to accept her into our pack.” Leon ran his hands through his dark brown curls, leaving them standing on end and looking every bit as crazy as he sounded and not at all like the normally put together CEO of a multi-billion dollar business.
I don’t comment, I never comment. But if I did I would ask Leonwhywe never accepted an omega into our pack even with what I knew about his mother. I knew that was what was missing and made our pack seem nebulous and disjointed at times. I wanted an omega, it was in my DNA to crave the softness of one.
But Leon was in charge and I never questioned him. He’d been my best friend since we were eleven years old and that loyalty ran deep. So when Owen turned to me and asked: “Gage, what do you think?” I just shrugged and remained quiet.
The beta sighed and fixed me with a look that said he would bug me later about my silence before turning back to Leon, “Look Leon, I know you have a weird hang-up about omegas, but Ric sounds like he’s actually looking forward to this. This is Ric we are talking about—he doesn’t get excited about just anything.”
It was true, our packmate seemed to be the man with a thousand lives. He’d done it all, from partying on every continent to jumping off of airplanes. Hell, the first year I knew him he’d hiked up the himalayas. Add on the fact that he almost single handedly raised his younger sister… if he sounded excited about something it made me curious to know what it was all about.
“Besides,” Owen continued, “If we don’t do this we’ll be blacklisted from one of the most important orgs in the city. That will not look pretty in the media.”
Leon didn’t say anything, choosing instead to lean against his desk and glare at the dent in the wall he’d caused by flinging his phone at it. Owen waited for the alpha to respond before sighing and standing up from his seat, heading over to stand in front of Leon and placing his hands on the taller man’s shoulders. After a moment Leon relaxed into the beta’s touch.
“It’ll be fine. Keep an open mind and even if it doesn’t work out at least we will get all of the old ladies in society off of our backs about mating an omega.”
I just stared at the pair of them, a bit jealous that I was not included in their moment. But like always I remained silent as I stood against a wall, always watching but never inside of the moment. My thoughts turned to the mystery omega that would be invading our space for the next eight months. I wondered what her reaction to this whole situation was.
“Like hell will I go and live with a bunch of alphas for eight months, Carolyn!” I shouted at my guidance counselor who sat on one end of the long conference table, surrounded by all of the other school administrators.
They’d called me into the conference room about fifteen minutes ago to inform me that I would be staying with a pack of alphas on a ‘trial’ basis until my twenty-fifth birthday. They had really lost their fucking minds.
“Now Eloise…” Carolyn began but was cut off by Superintendent Bells.
“Miss Taylor, we are not giving you an option. You will stay with Pack Russo until your next birthday and you will try your best to acclimate to them andmakethem like you or we will put you on the street and let you deal with your own affairs.” The older woman said firmly, leveling a stony glare in my direction.
For a moment I considered letting them throw me out. I could try and find him that way. But the thought of being out on the streets on my own made my whole body go cold. The world was not kind to an unbonded, unprotected omega.
“This pack is notoriously picky, they never accept any omegas. Why would I be any different?” I point out to the people in the room who seem to exchange a glance with each other as if they’d also asked the same thing before.
