“Yes,” Jericho replies.
“Fine, I’ll meet you inside,” he says and then stalks off toward the trailer. Jericho mouths an apology toward me as he follows, shrugging when I just arch an eyebrow at him.
As I watch them both walk away, I can’t help but let my eyes slip down to Arbor’s ass. The same one that hightailed it out of The Den while I was sleeping.
Resentment boils up inside me for a moment, but I tamp it down. I can’t go there because that’s a dangerous path, especially as an alpha. Arbor had every right to leave when he wanted. I’m just pissed that he decided he didn’t want me, that for a moment in time, I wasn’t good enough. The wolf inside me didn’t like the rejection at all.
But I’m more human than that, so I can let it go.
I can fucking let it go.
I pick up the nail gun and move back toward my men. One of them shouts something to me, and I just flip him off as I get back to work. I hear the whispers about the new omega superintendent. The way he smells. How it’s different from a normal omega. They’re not sure what he is. Omega for sure, but something else too.
Something that none of us has ever encountered.
“You obsessing over the new omega, Boss?” Fisher teases me when he catches me staring at the trailer a little too often.
“Couldn’t give a fuck who he is as long as he does a good job.”
He blushes slightly. “Yeah, all right.” He hesitates and then adds, “But he smells different, right? Like it’s not totally noticeable, but it’s there.”
“We don’t talk about how our boss smells. If I were you, I’d ignore it.”
Fisher looks a little sheepish. “Yeah, okay.” He salutes me and then stalks off.
I get back to work, trying to put Arbor out of my mind. If I turn a little too frequently to watch the trailer for his presence, it has nothing to do with him.My omega.It just has to do with his being the new superintendent. I’m just curious who he is.
When I fucked him in the woods that night, I had no idea he’d end up working in construction, that he’d be my boss.
But fuck. He is. He’s the man who will oversee this entire project. I’m going to be reporting to him.
When Jericho finally steps from the trailer to make his way back to headquarters, he stops by to speak with me once more, telling me they need Arbor on this job, “to ease tensions,” he says.
Not sure why he felt the need to tell me that, but I’m assuming it has something to do with the land we’re building on. I don’t much care as long as shit gets done, and I get paid.
“He knows what he’s doing. People gave him shit at his last site, so make sure none of the alphas here do the same.”
“I will. You know I will.”
“Good. He deserves a chance, just like everyone else.”
When work ends, I linger behind as my guys pack up and leave. I decide to stay back and finish up some odd jobs before calling it a night. I always do this. It has nothing to do with him.
As I work, I glance over at the trailer and see that the light is still on.
I tell myself not to, that it won’t be welcome, but I walk over to it.
With a rap of my knuckles, I push the door open and step inside.
Arbor is behind the desk, his hair a little less perfect, round wire glasses sitting on his nose, his fingers clacking on the keyboard. When he sees me standing in the doorway, he freezes.
Then his shoulders straighten, and he pulls the glasses off and stares at me.
“Can I help you?”
“Was just finishing up a few things and wanted to let you know I was leaving.”
“You don’t need to tell me,” he says, adjusting the knob of something sitting on his desk. Is that an air purifier? I sniff and realize that his scent is even more scarce in here. “You can just log out online.”
