Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Maya’s Office, Omega Hotel
“If an Omega can’t say another word, then I will.” Icarus marches ahead of me.
His shoulders are stiff with fury. Dominant pheromones roll off him in waves. I have to run down the grand corridor that leads to Maya’s office to keep up with him.
Maya’s office is the one place, located next to the elevators on the floor beneath the penthouse, which no staff member wants to end up.
Ellington will coldly list off at staff meetings the names of those who have been summoned like he is not calling them to their doom.
Icarus normally manages to work out a reason why he should go and take their discipline instead.
Yet he never voluntarily comes to Maya’s office.
Except, today he’s too angry to be cautious after what we witnessed with the Frost Omegas.
Icarus is too protective of Omegas…of his family.
Mine.
“Slow down.” I wipe at my cheeks that are still wet with tears.
Remaining behind the door watching while my parents were wrecked and my brother was threatened and sent away, was one of the hardest things that I have ever done.
“I only just managed to convince the Idols to go back to their room and not tear out Maya’s throat, before kidnapping my family to save them.
I’m too destroyed right now to hold you back as well. ”
Icarus doesn’t look around. “Why are you trying to stop any of us? It sounds an incredible plan.”
“To me too.” My pulse is roaring in my ears. Why am I the sensible one? I have never seen Icarus snap like this before. Someone has finally found Icarus’ limit, and I am about to see what it’s like when an uber Alpha explodes. “But the only way that we save everyone is if we have the power.”
I can’t say any more in public.
We both know, however, that we mean the heist and then the board meeting when I will make Maya bleed out in a way that will truly hurt her.
I will take revenge for all of us. And it will be fucking sweet.
But will it be too late for Bird?
I’m too aware of the cameras monitoring me. I shudder, skin crawling.
“The Idols are guests,” Icarus growls. “They don’t know our boss like I do. The Alphahole is prepared to send her sick son to the Institute. But I know what she likes. I have something to trade. Stay outside. I won’t allow her to hold hurting you over my head like she did your parents.”
“Hold on.” I dart forward, grabbing Icarus’ sleeve. Reluctantly, he stops. “What do you mean?”
He avoids my gaze. “We have to find out where she has taken your brother. She tore him from your dad’s arms with the threat to his other kids and granddaughter.
It wouldn’t have mattered if they’d clung to Bird harder, Mrs. Frost would have summoned her security in a moment and had all of them sent to the Institute. ”
“But she can summon security on you as well. She can also have Ollie and you kicked out of the hotel or even sent on trumped up charges to the Alpha Center.”
“Don’t you think I know that, Grace?” Icarus wrenches his arm away from me with a growl of frustration. “She’s threatened me with that for years. This time, however, I am going to give her the one thing that she truly desires from Alphas in exchange for Bird.”
Alarm makes me dash in front of Icarus, as if I have any chance of blocking him from taking another step if he truly wants to. “I won’t let you… I won’t let her…”
Icarus brushes the back of his hand down my cheek, before glancing at the camera.
He shrugs like he has literally reached the point of no longer having a fuck to give.
“Mrs. Frost isn’t interested in Alphas in that way.
But haven’t you wondered why she has accepted me taking responsibility for so many of the staff’s mistakes or misbehavior?
Why she has no interest in bonding Betas or Alphas? ”
I wrinkle my nose. “She’s an Omega obsessive. Alphas like her are only interested in being surrounded by Omegas.”
Icarus pulls me close, as if he’s straightening my uniform.
Then he whispers in my ear, “I didn’t want to tell you this.
I’ve tried to hide it from everyone. Please don’t tell Ollie or…
just no one, okay? But Mrs. Frost employed me as your pretty Alpha friend precisely because she wanted an Alpha around who she wasn’t bonded to but who she could control.
I think she had her eye on me since I was in high school.
Alphas like her don’t bond with Alphas because they can’t cope with anyone else challenging them.
She loves being my boss in every way. She isn’t romantically drawn to me.
Her turn on is causing a stronger Alpha pain.
Knowing that I hate being pushed into submission but that she is my boss and I have no choice.
And that makes her the weakest Alpha who I have ever met. ”
“Icarus.” My voice shakes. “I’m sorry that I recommended you for the job. I didn’t know Maya—”
“Don’t.” Icarus pulls back from me, sharply.
“Being here with you saved my life. It gave Ollie and me our family. I wouldn’t change a thing.
So, don’t start any nonsense like feeling guilty but do obey me for once about staying outside the office.
There is one submission that I have never given Mrs. Frost. I’m going to exchange it for Bird. ”
“I’ll go in with you. I can’t let you face this alone.”
Icarus smooths down his shirt, checking that his suit is immaculate. “I’m never alone. You’ve been in my heart every time that I’ve faced Mrs. Frost. Pain is nothing when I have the memory of your delicious scent and the taste of your slick.”
He ducks around me, stalking to the high mahogany door at the end of the corridor. I stumble after him.
He glances over his shoulder. “Am I a mother duck?”
“I’m an Omega duckling,” I say, stubbornly. “We’re in this together.”
Icarus can’t hide his smile fast enough. “One concession. You can stay outside in the corridor. Don’t let Mrs. Frost see you. Are you going to listen to me?”
“Maybe. If you’re very lucky.” I let my hand touch Icarus’ fleetingly. “Will it help to know that I am here?”
He nods. “It will be like I am submitting to you and not her. So, aren’t you actually lucky?”
My breath hitches.
Before I can answer, he raps on the door.
I hurriedly hide to the side of the corridor.
“Come in,” Maya coldly calls.
Icarus pushes open the door and marches inside, deliberately leaving the door wide. He gives the impression of someone who is simply busy and under pressure, as would be natural on Christmas Eve in this grand hotel.
“I have a problem,” Icarus states, as if panicked.
“Bird is not with the guest pack like he should be. In fact, I have been informed that he collapsed on them. I have had to provide them with a backup Omega to stop them complaining. It’s my fault, as well as Ellington’s, for not fully appreciating that Bird simply needed a longer rest. Do you know where Bird is?
Could Ellington find him for me? I have too much to do today to waste on chasing Omegas. ”
It's a good act. If I didn’t know that Icarus is faking right now, then I would believe it.
But then, Icarus has had to perform every day in front of Maya. In front of the cameras. In front of everyone.
Maya is sitting behind a large oak desk, which is empty apart from a laptop, iPad, and computer. Her office is opulent with oil paintings by the great Alpha artists of battles, ice-blue silk wallpaper on the walls, and velvet armchairs with gold tassels.
Outside, a snowstorm is howling and rattling the floor to ceiling windows like winter ghosts.
“Calm down.” Maya slams shut her laptop. “You forgot to address me appropriately as Mrs. Frost. Do that again in this meeting, and I will dock you a week’s pay.”
“Mrs. Frost,” Icarus replies, “where is Bird?”
Instead of replying, Maya cocks her head to study Icarus.
My heart is hammering in my chest.
I don’t want to watch but I promised Icarus that I would. He is my Alpha. He’s doing this for our pack. And I swore to trust him.
I must.
“Why are you so interested in an Omega?” Maya pushes herself out of the chair. Icarus stands to attention, staring at the windows and the storm behind her. “You haven’t grown feelings for the filthy HO have you?”
Filthy?
I clench my hands into fists, feeling my nails bite into my palms.
Don’t say anything…
Icarus huffs a laugh; I’m hoping that I am the only one who can hear the fury beneath it. “Of course not. But he’s the most in demand Omega in this hotel. He brings in a lot of business. It’s in my best interest to make sure that the cash cow is kept in good health, isn’t it?”
Maya finally relaxes, smiling. “I can always rely on you to keep a rational head. Sometimes, I wonder if you’re part machine.”
When Maya prowls around the desk toward Icarus, it is me who flinches. My best friend, lover, everything only stands very still.
“I think you’ve done enough to me by now to have tested that I’m not,” Icarus replies.
“Have I?” Maya circles him. “Shall I experiment again?”
Don’t touch him.
I’m expecting her to… I can’t even think it.
Instead, Maya reaches up to grab her manager by the hair, dragging him down to her level like he’s an inflatable doll.
Then she punches him across the face.
I support myself against the wall, staring through the gap at the nightmare unfolding, while remaining hidden. I know now why Icarus didn’t allow me to go in there (one Alpha Command from Maya and I would be paralyzed), but I fucking hate it.
When Icarus doesn’t do more than grunt, she punches him again, this time in the mouth.
She splits his lip with a burst of blood.
Maya’s eyes light up with vicious glee. She runs her finger through the blood, smearing it.
“Not an android after all.” Maya takes a step back. “But you do look a mess.”
“I apologize, Mrs. Frost.” Icarus licks the blood off his lip, testing his swollen jaw. “This will bruise. I advise keeping the blows beneath my neckline over this busy period. Bruises are hard to explain to guests.”