“Great.” She said and her voice was soft and a little bit disinterested, “Can we go now before I really become the school’s sideshow?”
She shoved passed Carolyn and headed for the door and, not knowing what else to do, we followed with Carolyn bringing up the rear.
“Now, Eloise, I want you to call me if you need anything. This pack will take good care of you. I just know it. Eric, Gage you better not lay a finger on her without her permission—got it?” The woman waggled a manicured finger at us as she fussed over Eloise who looked as if she’d rather be anywhere else but here. I couldn’t help but think that it was ironic that Carolyn seemed reluctant to let Eloise get into the car with us when she and her bosses had forced the situation in the first place.
“I’ll be ok Carolyn, it’s only for eight months, right?” Eloise gave the older woman’s hand a squeeze before closing the door.
I turned to Carolyn with a placating smile, “I’ll give you a call tonight Carolyn and let you know how she’s settling in.”
“You better tell Leon to go easy on her or I’ll break in and shave him bald.”
“You got it.” I was definitely never going to tell Leon that, but Carolyn let Gage and I get back into the car and drive away without any more threats. The whole thing took maybe ten minutes and as I pulled onto the street I could hardly believe it. They were just going to let us drive away with an omega? What the hell?
“Soo Eloise,” I said as I began, giving my brain a second to figure out what I wanted to say next, “You hungry?”
The back seat was silent for a few seconds before she spoke directly to me for the first time—her voice soft and a little bit whispery: “I could eat.”
The diner we were sitting in looked like it was straight out of the fifties. Black and white tiled floors that were scuffed with age, booths lining the windows with vinyl red and white seats and chrome black tables. Tired looking waitresses were milling around and filling coffee pots and taking orders while dressed in red and white uniforms. I loved every bit of it.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had sat down to eat somewhere that wasn’t the Academy or one of the few restaurants that the ballet company would frequent. Those had been modern and sleek and our meals had been that of the lean diet of a ballerina—no carbs to be seen. I had vague memories of sitting at a diner counter and my mother working while smoking a cigarette, but that was a memory I’d rather forget. Instead I looked around at everything in the diner, soaking in every detail.
I was only an hour into this whole trial period and if they kept on feeding me I wouldn’t mind the next eight months at all. I sucked on my milkshake straw, relishing in the sweet taste of vanilla and looked across the table at the two men sitting in front of me.
Eric Zhao was a tall asian man with broad shoulders and warm brown eyes that were tilted up at the ends. He had deep lines in the corners of his eyes that told me that he smiled a lot. He was wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of black slacks. His skin was a warm brown and it looked like he got a lot of sun despite the fact that we lived in one of the foggiest cities in the United States. He stood out in the diner where most of the patrons were dressed in casual everyday clothes.
Gage Larson was huge. He was so big that I was surprised that he fit into the bench seat with Eric. His big arm was thrown over the back of the chair behind Eric and he seemed uncomfortable and was looking anywhere but at me with his hazel eyes that erred a bit on the reddish brown side. He had long golden brown hair that was tied back into a bun and a full beard that did little to hide his sharp, square jaw. He was wearing a dark green long sleeve shirt that clung to his chiseled chest. If I was an omega looking for alphas these two would be exactly what I was looking for.
And don’t even get me started on their scents.
Eric smelled like rain on wet earth and fresh laundry. As I inhaled as surreptitiously as I could around bites of pancakes I also picked up Gage’s smell: Gage smelled like pine needles and fresh mint. The effect that both scents mingling together on me caused goosebumps to go up and down my spine and arms. I was glad that I was wearing a sweatshirt and had slathered myself in as much de-scenter body wash as I could that morning in the shower.
Neither of the men were eating, instead opting for mugs of steaming coffee, Eric took his coffee black and Gage poured so much sugar and cream into his it could barely be called coffee anymore. Over the past twenty minutes we had been in a standoff of sorts, waiting to see who would break and talk first.
Call me stubborn but that was not going to be me and the big guy didn’t seem like he was going to break either. Finally after an uncomfortable twenty minutes Eric sighed and leaned forward with a smile that could only be described as charming.
“So, Eloise, tell me about yourself. Carolyn tells me that you are finishing up your degree this summer?” Aaand now the ball was in my court. Shit.
“Uh, yeah. In communications. I’m just finishing my last classes in the next few weeks.” My answer was as dry as could be. But, honestly? Ask a dry question and get a dry response.
I guess honesty was really the best policy. I inhaled deeply and prepared myself for their anger at my next words: “Look, I’m going to be as honest with you as possible. I’m not looking for a pack, I’m really sorry if you are looking for an omega. I was going to wait to say this when I met all of you together but I think I need to get it out of the way. My plan is to fly under the radar for the next eight months and then hopefully go back to the academy.” There. I said it.
Eric didn’t even blink and I knew that he and the other alpha already knew all of this. So why was I even here?
“Eloise—”
“You can call me Ellie.”
“Ellie, I don’t think that you understand. We have our own hang-ups on our end which you will see once we head back to the house. I think we should just start as friends? We’re going to be roommates for the next eight months after all, so we should probably try and make the best of it.” Eric reached out and brushed his hand over mine in the briefest of touches before drawing it back into his lap.
My insides quivered violently at the tiniest contact—was this how all alphas made omegas feel? My only experiences with alphas had either been terrifying or completely underwhelming. It was strange that my body was reacting like this so easily.
Rather than dwell on the feel of Eric’s fingers I turned to Gage who, up until this point had stayed silent.
“What are your thoughts on all of this Mr. Larson?” I asked, turning to face him fully. He was fiddling with one of the empty sugar packets on the table and I noticed tattoos on each of his fingers that crawled up his hands and forearms. The ones on his fingers were of some kind of runic letters and his arms held a mixture of flames and other smaller tattoos.
Gage looked up at me with his hazel eyes that were at times concealed under his heavy brow and brown eyebrows.
“I think you will like the house,” He began in a deep, husky voice and continued; “And I also think it will be a nice change of place no matter the outcome.”
