Dominic Dubois was the second tallest of the group, being only a few inches shorter than Gage. He was a black man with cool toned brown skin and hair that was lined and shaded close to his head and clean cut facial hair. He was dressed in a soft looking white sweater and a pair of chinos and was built like a runner, wiry muscles were easy to see since he had pulled up the sleeves of his sweater. He also had a delicious french accent that made my knees shake and a devilish glint in his eyes to match. He smelled of lemons and another warm scent that I couldn’t quite place but it made me want to lean in and curl up against his neck where his scent was the strongest.
Owen Samuels was… well… cute. He was the skinniest of his pack and had curly black hair that was unruly and looked like it needed a brushing. Dressed in a brown flannel shirt and dark jeans. Perched on his nose was a pair of tortoise shell rimmed glasses that he was constantly having to push back up. He’d abandoned a macbook that he was no doubt busy working on when we’d come in. His scent was a bit fainter when put up against the alphas around him—I could really only pick out the smell of vanilla bean but his open and friendly expression more than made up for that.
Leon Russo was tall, dark and scary. He was shorter than Gage, Dominic and Ric but was built like a boxer. His cropped dark brown hair had a slight curl to it that told me he’d have corkscrew curls if he let it grow out. His jaw was sharp and square and he had a dark, heavy brow over a pair of the darkest blue eyes I’d ever seen. In the short time that he was in the same room as me, his scent of a crackling fire and mulled cider washed over me and made my mouth water.
I gave myself a mental slap. These men were not for me to ogle over—they didn’t want me here and I didn’t want to be here. I had a feeling that I was going to have to keep reminding myself of that fact.
I turned to Eric, trying to look as exhausted as possible, though it wasn’t much of a feat because Iwasexhausted, “Can you show me where I’m going to sleep? I’m worn out from the day.”
Eric, thankfully, jumped right into action. “Of course, it’s not perfect as it’s an extra bedroom we never use but I think it will be really comfortable for you.” Eric picked up my duffel bag and I shouldered my backpack more firmly onto my back.
“It was nice meeting you.” I waved to the men before following Eric up the stairs.
“He won’t always be so hostile towards you—he’s not so bad once you get to know him.” Eric told me as he opened the bedroom door and led me inside. The room was much larger than my small, cozy, dorm room. A large four poster bed sat in the center of the room and two large floor to ceiling windows looked out over the San Francisco bay. A dresser stood next to a door that revealed a large, empty walk-in closet and another door led to a clean modern bathroom with a large tub and shower.
“We can get anything you need since it seems like you didn’t pack too much.” Eric put my duffel on the bed and we stared at each other for a moment, awkwardly.
“Well I’ll let you get settled in. If you want to come down for dinner later I’m sure Owen would be stoked.” He turned to leave but paused and looked over at his shoulder, “Hey Ellie, for what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here.”
Then he was gone. I put my clothes and my ballet things away, not knowing when the next time I would get to practice was. Finally I stood in the center of the room feeling… itchy. The room was too big for me and there were only two pillows and one measly duvet on the bed. These men clearly were not familiar with omegas. How was I going to make it eight months without a nest? How was I going to go about asking for nesting materials? Was I even brave enough to ask?
I was going over potential options in my mind from calling Tibby in tears and having them send me my nesting materials from my dorm room all the way to calling Carolyn and demanding to be brought home, when there was a soft knock at my door.
“Yes?” I called, wincing at the panic in my voice.
“Ellie,” Gage’s low, thrumming voice came from the other side of the door.
I opened it and stared up at the alpha who was standing on the other side, his pine needle scent wrapping around me. It distracted me, for a moment, from what he was carrying. In his hands was a large wicker basket that was packed full of soft looking blankets and pillows.
“I brought these for you,” He said quietly, placing the basket just inside of the room, “I figured you’d want them for your nest.”
My throat tightened with tears as I stared up at the giant man who seemed a bit sheepish to have even mentioned my nest at all.
“Thank you Gage, I really appreciate it.” My words were a little bit choked up, but sincere.
Gage gave a little grunt and a nod, “Welcome to the house, Ellie.” Was all he said before turning and heading down the hallway and into parts of the house that I had yet to see.
I shut my door and turned to stare back at the room, feeling better now that the basket of nesting materials sat at my feet. Now I just needed to figure out how to make this room more comfortable for myself. There was no way I was sleeping on the bed in the middle of the room. It was too open and airy. My eyes found their way to the closet door again and an idea formed.
Twenty minutes later I had the mattress pulled off of the bed and dragged inside of the closet. It was a tight fit but it formed a sort-of cushioned floor. I had arranged the blankets and other nesting materials on the bed, patting down the pillows and wrapping the blankets in a circular pattern. At home I had soft chiffon curtains hanging from my ceiling that I wished I had brought with me, but this would have to do.
I quickly changed into my pajamas and heading into my makeshift nest, curling up in the soft materials and breathing in Gage’s comforting pine scent that was all over them before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
7
I flopped away from Leon, sweating and panting as the alpha threw his arm over his face. I loved angry sex just as much as the next guy but this was just ridiculous. The rest of the afternoon after Leon had stormed out of the house had been spent in relative quiet. Eloise didn’t come out of her room, not even for dinner and none of us were brave enough to knock on her door. Eric had thrown himself into work in his office, taking phone calls from Russia and China. Gage had followed Leon to the office, not liking our lead alpha to be on his own for too long and Leon had a hard time staying angry at our quiet giant.
Dominic, of course, had disappeared. Probably to some company party or mixer where he would schmooze with the upper echelons of San Francisco society to make deals for Russo Enterprises.
I was alone in the house for the rest of the afternoon. I fiddled around on my computer for a bit, tweaking some of the software security systems that Russo enterprises and responding to emails from department heads who couldn’t figure out how to work the mousepads on their laptops. Never a dull moment as the head of technology for a billion dollar corporation let me tell you.
Finally, after I couldn’t fiddle around anymore, I let my curiosity get the best of me. Heading upstairs with my laptop tucked under my arm I entered my suite of rooms and shut the door quietly behind me. We had agreed not to do this, but the memory of Eloise’s big brown eyes seemed to spur me on as I opened up my secure browser and got to work.
Eloise Marie Taylor. 24. Born February 14th. A resident at the San Francisco Omega Academy from age eleven on. Perfumed at a relatively young age and was removed from home by the state department that handles all Alpha and Omegas. The department decided, based on the home environment of the custodial parents, that it was better off to make a deal with one Georgia Taylor and husband Robert “Bobby” Taylor. Parents were amenable to the deal and Ms. Taylor came under the guardianship of the San Francisco omega academy.
I flipped through Eloise’s file, feeling a bit intrusive but also just the tiniest bit justified. If SFOFA didn’t want me in their files, then they needed to get a better security guy because it was ridiculously easy for me to access these files. I ignored the meticulous notes that had been taken by two guidance counselors, a male beta named Stanley Regis and, later, our friend Carolyn. It seemed too personal to read the notes about their sessions with Eloise.
I did, however, find the notes about potential matches for her. It looked like someone had written on a sheet of paper and scanned it in. There was the typed general information about three different packs and the scribbled notes in the margins. I read the notes in the margin.
