Chapter 10 The Interview
The Interview
Kol
My two ridiculous pack mates trail behind me on my way to the interview with Mads. Locke asked if he was a beta, and when I said I thought he probably was, he declared we should bond him. A guy we’ve never met. Who I’m trying to hire.
Oscar, the level-headed leader, agreed. He didn’t agree to bond him, but he wanted to get a good look at him and consider it. He said that betas meet at work all the time. I think he needs to stay off dating articles for now.
Oscar keeps asking me questions I have no answers to. Like what his type is. How tall he is. If he’s single.
I remind him that these are highly inappropriate questions, and he just looks at me like I’m the ridiculous one.
Locke asks me what his hobbies are, and I think I’ll actually ask the beta this.
We show up to the pub a full twenty minutes early, and yet my eyes lock with Mads the moment we enter.
They go wide in fear that he tries to hide it.
He’s already seated, and we come over to join him.
He doesn’t stand when we approach the table, and his eyes keep falling away from me.
On the call, he was a lot more confident.
I think bringing my two gigantic alpha pack mates was a bad call.
We are scaring the guy.
And more than usual.
“Mads! It’s nice to meet you in person. You’re early!” I say with a light tone.
He gives me a tight smile and looks back down at the table. I look at Oscar and Locke, who are both emoting worry.
“It’s nice to meet you, Alpha Soto,” he replies with a shake to his voice.
“Hey, I’m sorry to bring my pack along. I’m realizing now it’s a bit intimidating.” Oscar and Locke pull their chairs back and sit a good distance away so it doesn’t look so aggressive.
“This is Oscar Soto. He’s my pack lead,” I say with a smile. Mads ignores us both. His shoulders are practically to his ears. “And this is Locke. He’s my pack mate. He used to be my PA, but he’s terrible at it.”
Mads doesn’t even give me a pity laugh.
“Here, I brought this to show you.” Mads slides a Manila envelope across the table.
“You mentioned on the call you were going to look at that commercial property on Mansion Park. I pulled some comps and history. I made a projection on if you were to rent it, based on historical data, or if you wanted to restore it and sell it. There’s a tax relief for selling to certain organizations, so I included what that would look like.
” I’m absolutely floored looking through the packet Mads made for me.
It’s so well organized and clear. Oscar gets a giddy feeling, so I slide it to him.
He loves a good data report. Especially well summarized.
“Personally, I think it’s a good investment if you have a solid plan and don’t hang on to it for too long.”
“Yeah, I would be inclined to agree. This is incredible, Mads.”
He still can’t look at me. The server brings him a Coke, and we tell her our drink order.
“I’m very excited to work with you, but you seem kind of over qualified to be honest. Are you thinking of getting your broker license? You’d kill it.”
He just shakes his head but doesn’t answer. I noticed his hands flex and grip, like he’s trying to calm down.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I thought I could do this, but I don’t think I can.”
Oscar sits up straight. He’s so confused and worried about this behavior. As am I.
“What do you mean? I’m sorry if it was inappropriate to bring my pack.”
“Yeah, I…Here’s the thing. I was assaulted a little over a year ago by a pack of alphas, and I have trouble being around them. I’m going to actually ask you all to step away, so I can exit this bench and leave.”
None of us react, we are in too much shock. Finally, Locke stands and grabs Oscar and they leave right away. I don’t, though.
I stay.
His words do something to me.
“Mads, thank you for trusting me with that information. I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
“I’m also disabled. From the attack. I have trouble walking or standing for long periods. I use a cane.” He’s saying these things like they are reasons to turn the job down.
My heart hurts for him, and my pack mates return the same feeling from wherever they’ve gone off to. They are 100% still listening in because both of them have boundary issues.
We haven’t always been pacifists. All three of us have had issues with aggression. I can remember at least twice I took my fists to a beta male.
So, I can’t sit here and pretend what happened to him was just a couple of bad apples.
Alphas are this way.
We do this.
No wonder Mads looked so different from his profile picture. I even thought he looked like he’d aged significantly.
I cast my hand out over the table and lay it palm side up.
“Listen, we don’t have to meet in person to do this work. Do you have a laptop? You can work from home and we will do this all remote. If you can visit some properties we can go at different times. We’d probably be too busy anyway to always be working together.”
“I don’t have a laptop.”
I notice the tremor in his body. He’s turned completely away from me.
“Ok. Send me your address and I’ll send you the equipment you need.”
I feel this deep-seated need to make this work. Like I can’t let him go.
That’s he’s mine.
I can’t let it show. I have to be a “beta” about this. But I do feel like he’s mine. My possessive side is growing and I want the names of the alphas who did this to him. I want to make them suffer for what they did to him.
I bury those feelings deep.
“Are you serious?” he asks, and meets my eyes for a moment.
I pull my hand back.
“The job is yours. My offer is already in your inbox. Once you accept it, I’ll send you the equipment and it’s a done deal.
What kind of person would I be if I told you that you needed to hang out with my pack in order to have a job?
Your trauma and disability aren’t factors here…
or rather, I’m just trying to say I’ll accommodate them. No problem.”
“Why?”
Because you’re mine. But I don’t say that because there are plenty more reasons.
“You’re the best candidate. You are dedicated. Your work is exceptional. I’d be lucky to have you.”
We sit there for a moment. All our drinks sit untouched.
“I’ll look over the offer.”
I tip my chin. I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here with him. I don’t want to let him go either. The alpha in me is pacing its cage. It’s got its eyes on something it wants.
But I am in control.
“If you have questions about it, give me a call. I expect a response by tomorrow. I’ll go settle the bill. Stay and have lunch, on me. It was nice to meet you, Mads. Take care—“
Before he can respond, I stand and go see the server to leave her my card on the tab. I tell her to make sure he eats something.
He’s not going to do that but I thought I’d try.
I can already see him getting out of the bench.
His cane is one of those aluminum ones you’d see at a hospital.
It’s ugly as sin. He sees me looking at him with disgust and I hide my expression.
Fuck. I just didn’t like his cane. He should have a better one.
Before I mess anything else up I leave. Oscar and Locke are waiting for me on the sidewalk outside.
We take off down the street but after a block I turn around. I want to see him leave the pub.
“That was wild,” Locke remarks, his floral shirt is unbuttoned, and it whips around in the wind. Clouds edge across the sky, casting us all in gray shadow.
“Yeah,” I agree.
“I don’t think we will be able to bond with him. I was initially thinking we’d pitch it like an extension of his job. But…with his trauma. There’s no way,” Oscar thinks out loud.
Finally Mads leaves the pub. He walks like he needs immediate medical intervention. His limp is severe and his whole body is rigid. I have to hold myself back from chasing him down the street. the wind whirls his untidy, light brown hair wildly.
“Those alphas did that to him? He said it’s been a year?” Locke sounds just as possessive and angry as I feel about the situation. Our feelings definitely match.
“Yeah, but it’s not our problem. Let’s not make it worse for the guy. We will find a different beta.”
“We need to find someone now. Today. We are running out of time. Oscar is running out of time. I have no time left at all. You ran out of time long ago,” Locke unhelpfully points out.
I grit my teeth.
I’m perfectly aware that we don’t have time. It’s like a chant I say to myself all day, every day.
“Locke and I will go back to the board. You need to go find yourself some relief, Kol. I don’t want you back until you do.”
“I’ll go out tonight.”
If we were back at Salt Port I’d have more options. Old friends. Old hookups. Places I could always get lucky at. Cash City is still so new to me.
The same with finding a beta.
We may have had a chance of finding a willing beta in the Salt Port.
But that’s not an option.
We are still staring at Mads as the sky darkens even more with the impending storm.
He stops and leans up against a building, out of breath.
The three of us start walking toward him, about a block away, and when he starts back up we continue to follow him at a distance.
We don’t say why we are doing it. We just do.
If he were an alpha and we were showing this behavior, we’d all come to the same conclusion—he’s pack. But we don’t say anything. And we don’t bring it up. Because he’s a beta who cannot even be in the same room as an alpha.
He’s not ours.
We get back to our place eventually, soaked from the rain, and Oscar points to the kitchen table where we all take up a seat. Locke removes his floral shirt, and rings it out over the plant on the center of the table.
“What do we think?” Oscar asks.
“I want him,” Locke immediately replies.
I groan and throw my head back. We just said we would let him go!
Where was that energy?
“We can’t have him. He nearly had a full blown meltdown just being near us. Please, we have to leave him alone.”
“I don’t know, Kol. He matches a lot of what we are looking for.” Now Oscar is betraying me.
He looks over his corkboard.
“He’s unattached. Our age. Acadia simply wants a beta and he’s a beta. He’s going to be a great assistant to you. Having a pack member be in your company is a benefit. Locke is attracted to him…”
“Hey!” Locke shouts.
“Don’t deny it, Lockey, we all felt it.”
He pouts. He is the newest bonded member and sometimes forgets that there are no secrets here.
“And this report he made for you? It’s fantastic. I can’t stop looking it over.”
I take my packet away from my pack lead.
“No. I’m saying no.”
“Saying no, and yet you are already courting him. You tried to buy him lunch. You are getting him a laptop. This whole job offer is a courting gift.”
I’m aghast. I have to grab at my chest because I’m so offended.
I didn’t realize it, but he’s right.
The bastard is right.
I’m courting the beta.
“I don’t know if we have a choice anymore, though, Kol.
Let’s be real. At the end of the day, we are alphas with natures we can’t deny.
We can all feel it. He’s ours. Any other choice from now on would upset our base selves,” Locke so casually points out.
Like he isn’t saying the most significant thing.
I know what they are saying, but I also want to protect Mads from this fate just as much as I want to ensure it happens.
I leave the table to go get ready to fuck something tonight. Like I’m a goddamned animal.
At least the rain has stopped.
Later, just before I head out, Oscar calls my name. Locke looks at me with a miserable little face.
“It’s ok,” I say to Locke and go to Oscar at the kitchen table. In front of him lays a leather muzzle.
I try to avoid staring at it, but it’s like a black hole that the entire house is slowly sliding into.
I know it has to be done. If I bite someone while I’m in rut, it would ruin us even more than we are ruined now.
My alpha has a tendency to take over and since it’s been a while… there’s a good chance of it happening.
Oscar sighs and stands up, taking the muzzle with him.
I turn my back to him. We are the same height, so when he comes up behind me he can easily pull the muzzle around my face.
He secures it to the back. I put my hands up and make sure it’s sitting right.
It doesn’t go under my chin. It kind of sits below my lips and at the top of my nose.
It cinches in on my cheeks and jaw. It’s comfortable.
Oscar pats it as well, ensuring it’s secure.
I turn back to face him and we just look each other in the eyes. He’s a good pack lead. He does what needs to be done. Our safety is important to him. He knows this is humiliating. He knows. But we both know it’s necessary.