I sniffed gently. They didn’t have badges on, or it would be easy to know their secondary class for sure. The guy was an older teen, about the age when an Alpha has had their rut for a while and starts settling into their mature smell. He was soaked in a heavy cologne though. The kind made to mimic Alpha pheromones. Without a doubt he was Beta. The girl seemed Beta too, but unlike the guy, I had a sneaking suspicion she was suppressing her true nature, not trying to fake the wrong one. She had on long sleeves, but they’d ridden up her arms while she worked. I clocked the dark wristband and took that as confirmation. It was a decent,wearable blocker disguised as a nice watch. Not a back-alley knock-off. She was cute, and I wondered why she’d chosen the Beta life. Just cute though... nothing about her sparked the nether regions. Did I suddenly become a damn pod person?
The egotistical dude was rotating the manual, as if he couldn’t tell which side was up. The girl now waited, arms folded over her chest with her hands still gripping the two labeled parts. Her patience didn’t last long.
“Honestly, just give it back and go do whatever. I really don’t care.” The girl sighed out the words, shifting the parts into one hand and reaching for the manual. She seemed used to this guy being incompetent.
“You go. I’m just fine,” he scoffed in return, finally deciding how to hold the manual.
Part of me felt a little bad that the cat trees were a pain in the ass, on top of the fact these kids were having to rush the job. Then again, that’s what they were paid to do. I’d give them a good cash tip when they were done anyway.
Bringing the to-go cup to my lips, I tipped it back and frowned when nothing came out. Grabbing another was a good excuse to get away from the cat-tree-building bickering, so I padded into the kitchen to bin the empty. After taking the top off a third latte and reheating it, I dug through the fridge to find whipped cream. I typically kept it shoved in the back next to a few bananas. Nothing like a banana split with cold bananas so the ice cream stays frozen longer. I filled the cup too much and whip topping spurted out of the sipping hole when I replaced the lid. I licked the excess happily. Nothing like creamy, dreamy white on your tongue.
I was going to have the fucking zoomies later after all the caffeine, but no way in hell was I wasting a drop of the s’more like deliciousness. When I returned about ten minutes later and glanced into the hall, I frowned. The Paradise Pets employees had made little progress.
“Yes, that way. No, turn it back the way you had it.” The guy was giving the orders now. And he was no better at that than he was at following instructions.
“You’ve had me spin it twice already. Give me back the directions.” The girl was losing her cool. “Seriously, I don’t know why they keep sending you on the delivery with set up jobs.”
“Hey, I’ve got seniority,” he hit back.
“And that means jack shit if you can’t perform,” she snapped.
I stood up and approached them, leaning over to peer at the cactus-like outcropping that was threatening to topple over the five-foot cat tree. “Is it supposed to branch out that way?”
“Yes, sir,” the sharp-nosed guy glanced up from the directions he held, “There’s a few more attachments and then circular platforms go on top.”
As he spoke, I saw the girl shake her head as if each word out of his mouth was a fabrication.
“Great,” I nodded, eyes glancing down at the manual. “Hard stuff’s done for this one, sounds like. Let your partner take over and you can unpack and inventory the other two. That’s the job part that requires an eagle eye.” I gave him my best smoldering look. He didn’t ping my queer-dar, which probably meant turning on the charm wouldn't work, but I was also betting he was the kind of guy who acted big with women and backed off fast otherwise.
He looked at me confused for a moment before nodding vigorously. He’d registered the compliment.
“Yeah, she couldn't even tell the washer from the nut.” He glanced at his partner, rolled his eyes, and then looked back at me. It was an outright lie. I’d heard the girl telling him what they needed earlier, and she seemed perfectly in command of the parts list. He pitched his voice conspiratorially. “Women, am I right?”
The girl looked like she wanted to protest, but I turned to her at such an angle that the guy couldn’t see my lopsided smile and accompanying wink. She was smart and understood, mouthing ‘thank you’. The guy jumped to his feet, eager to impress, and shoved the instructional booklet at his partner before jogging over to the last box. To his credit, he seemed adept at basic inventorying, granted all that required was matching pictures and counting quantities.
After giving me a grateful smile, the girl went to work. Alone, she moved quickly, her eyes checking the diagrams as she plucked parts off the floor and made quick work of assembling. She impressed me, because,damn, it would take a college degree to decipher the small diagrams on the booklet. A college degree. Ha. It kept surprising me that I’d decided to give academia another try. You’d think a guy who’d been forced to finish high school and walk the stage wouldn’t touch college with a ten-foot poll.
“Hey, guys?” Catalina’s voice rose above the din. “Eros sent a pre-shipment email with some new photos.”
Like she’d just spoken some magic words, Mac and Ryder immediately came to life, both dropping what they were doing—or pretending to be doing—and heading towards where Cat had just appeared after forcibly pushing her way through the garage door and past crowded clothes racks. I wanted to bolt over, see the photos first, but instead I strode quickly to the courtyard doors which were already open.
“Dix!” I hollered. He cocked his head, so I knew he heard me. “We got new pictures of Tessa!”
Dixon comically scrambled to his feet, slipping on the smooth surrounding pool tile in his urgency to get inside. “Don’t you fucking look at them before me!” He bellowed, crossing the distance quickly thanks to his long legs.
The guys and I huddled together, Cat holding the tablet turned towards us. She tapped the scroll arrow slowly, giving us plenty of time to digest. In the new photos, Tessa looked healthier. She seemed well fed, with blushed cheeks and glossy hair. There was no way this was the same girl as the last picture, unless they’d digitally retouched. A person’s cheeks didn’t fill in so quickly, no matter how much they were eating. When I thought that, I immediately saw the truth under the manipulations. Her expression was strained. She felt vulnerable. Exposed. Scared. She wasn’t wearing anything except for underwear. She held a cat, which I could only assume wasthecat, against her chest to cover her upper body. They’d put her on display...on display for us.Becausewe’d paid to find her.
Fuck me, they were both beautiful.
“She needs to be here now,” Dixon breathed out, the slightest quake in his words as he took great pains to stay in control. His hands were painfully clenched, his nails beginning to draw blood from his palms. I reached over and took one, covering it with my own. He relaxed at my touch, hand un-fisting. Mac noticed too and took Dix’s second hand. It was almost supernatural the way Tessa’s scent had changed Dixon back to his old self. Almost back. Back enough that gentle nudging could restore his rational mind.
“She’ll be here soon, Dix.” I soothed.
“If I can hang on, you can,” Ryder added, moving behind Dix and curling his hands over our pack brother’s shoulders. He massaged firmly.
“You broke a damn cabinet,” Dixon seemed pleased to point that out. “Think I’m doing better than you at this point.”
“Fine, if you can hang on, so can I,” Ryder corrected.
