Chapter 3 The Meier Pack
The Meier Pack
Ondine
“Sebastian! Shadow!” Jake calls up the stairs and then takes me to the piano room.
I don’t know what else to call it. It’s a corner room with window seats lining the walls and tall windows on two sides. There’s a baby grand piano and bookcases on the opposite walls. Through the French doors, two alphas enter.
The first man is large, in every sense of the word.
He's a black man with a buzz cut in his tightly curly hair. His light brown skin shines bronze in the sunlight pouring in from the windows, and his beard is short. He has a single gold earring with a sparkling diamond. He looks like he just got done with something physical because he is shiny with sweat and dirt. He has on just a wife-beater, and his jeans are dusty. His arms are enormous. I can’t even look him in the face.
“Baby, meet Sebastian,” Jake says when my eyes don’t wander from his arms.
He nods, a bit confused. “Where have you been, Sabbies? You look run through.”
Jake takes in his pack mate from head to toe.
“Emil asked me to help remove that tree trunk by the road. Remember the tree died in the last storm?”
Jake tsks. “Always so helpful.”
“Well, we got it.”
I look over at the other alpha.
“And this is Shadow,” he says.
Shadow, the alpha, they want the omega for.
The needy alpha. The different alpha. He’s almost like Sebastian’s opposite.
Pale skin, long black hair knotted at the back of his neck.
Dark circles under his eyes. Jake is right about something—Shadow looks a bit ill.
He’s pretty, though, cut jaw and lovely oil slick black eyes. He’s Chinese, I note.
“I’d like you two to meet Odessa. We’re considering her for the omega position,” Jake says, and I whip my head to look at him.
“My name is Ondine,” I correct, hurt leaking into my voice, “On-deen.”
“Right, she’s about to go into heat.”
My mouth hangs open as I turn back to the other two alphas.
Suddenly, my stomach clenches. This is such a fucking bad idea. But, of course, this would happen when you fuck up as much as I just did. These are consequences. These alphas are my consequence.
“Interesting,” Shadow says, but his tone’s neutral.
“Did she come from the Institute?” Sebastian asks.
“I met her on the way home. She’s unattached. Thought we could do this privately. Save a middleman.”
The two alphas crowd me, pushing me towards Jake until all three surround me. They smell me. The scent-blocker is nearly completely gone at this point.
“She smells like you, and another man, it’s strong, like he’d had some sort of intense reaction to her,” Sebastian assesses.
“She said she was running away from him,” Jake answers, like I am not even here.
I just let them carry on. This is hardly the time or position for me to do anything other than submit and comply.
Doesn’t mean I don’t fucking hate it.
Shadow ignores them and takes another big breath before saying, “She smells like vanilla and homemade ice cream. Reminds me of the ice cream shop near the academy.”
“So you like her then?” Jake asks Shadow earnestly, hoping to solve another problem.
I wonder why they are speaking about me like I’m not here, right in the middle of them.
“Yes, Alpha,” Shadow says, and Jake makes a noise that only alphas can make. It’s a small rattling noise, for when they are satisfied.
“She needs to sign the contract first,” Sebastian tells them.
“Of course, it’s on the desk already,” Jake gestures to the desk with a folder on it, and I walk over there.
I look back at the alphas. They are young. No one looks like they are yet thirty. I’m only 23, so it’s not the worst scenario to be introduced to three alphas not too much older than me. I’d say Sebastian is the oldest, but I could be wrong.
“Go read it, Omega,” Sebastian finally addresses me. “It’s just for two heats, this one will count even though it’s so soon. You’ll be paid out before and after. We want your full attention and submission. There’s a consideration for extending the contract as well.”
I guess I only needed to get Shadow’s approval. Not getting Sebastian’s open approval as well makes my heart seize. Being an omega is the worst. It makes you crave acceptance from alphas.
I maneuver around the men and go to the desk, sitting on the edge of the chair.
I open the envelope and get to reading. They want me to submit, alright.
They reserve the right to use an alpha voice on me, only at Jake’s prior approval.
If I’m favoring one over the other, it’s a violation of the contract.
I’m to be loyal to them, including their perceived loyalty.
I guess that means not speaking with other men.
I don’t have to cook or clean, a surprising thing.
Most packs want their omegas to serve them.
I’m guessing the Meier pack has betas for that work.
Then suddenly, I catch something strange—there’s a line for me to fill out who my current handler is. It doesn’t appear optional.
“Alpha Meier, what does this mean?”
Sebastian walks over to see what I’m pointing at.
“Don’t most omegas have handlers? Just write in their name and email.” He sounds so no-nonsense.
“I’m a private citizen. I’ve never had a handler.”
He’s not wrong. Most omegas have a handler. And some alphas too. It’s an important position. They set the rules of courting and ensure they are followed. They keep the person safe. They often live with them and care for them.
Sebastian shrugs.
But there’s no option to leave blank. I’m trying to read through the contingencies, but they don’t make any sense. I feel the ghost of a cramp, and because I need this to happen, and I have no more time, I write in “self”. I slide the document away from me, my fresh signature glistening up at me.
More pain warms my center. “Where will I nest?”
“Just the spare room where you’ll be staying is fine.”
I close my eyes and refuse to protest. Omegas don’t do well nesting where they sleep. But I can’t say that. This is what they offered, and I have to take it.
And do I even deserve a fucking nest?
Jake takes the contract from me, adding his signature, and soon it’s fully signed.
“You forgot your banking information,” Sebastian says as he reviews the contract. I take it back and fill it out, not having looked at the payout. Fuck me. They are offering $20,000 for a signing fee. $80,000 at the contract’s end.
What are they paying for? I pay $3,000 for my room at the Heat Clinic. It’s exorbitant, but worth it. The alpha partners are well vetted, and the accommodations are outstanding. And there was Arnie.
Don’t think about Arnie.
I didn’t realize how much money an omega could make on a temporary pack placement.
I suppose it’s a desirable position. Perhaps if I enrolled in the Institute, I wouldn’t have even had this opportunity.
They would have chosen another omega. Perhaps, even found an elusive “scent match”.
Perhaps, she would be an omega who didn’t pounce on her crush, the man she’d nearly fallen in love with, demanding he take care of her.
But $100,000. That feels like they are buying more than an omega. “Can I get a copy of this?” I ask. I have to make sure I know what is required of me. Maybe I missed something.
Sebastian smiles at me, and my stomach flips.
“Of course. Let me send this to our lawyer, and I’ll email you a copy too.”
My email is on the document, so he’s got everything he needs.
Jake and Shadow are talking to each other on the other side of the room.
“So I take it the meeting didn’t go well?” Shadow asks Jake. Jake looks unhappy and shakes his head no. Are they talking about the interview at the Institute? Jake asked me to do this privately. Is it because they didn’t qualify for placement?
No, don’t think that. You have a place to hide from your shame and alphas to see you through your heat. Nothing else matters.
Right?
“I guess it worked out. What’re the chances of running into an unattached omega on the train? Feels like the beginning of a romance movie.”
But the way he says it, it sounds more like the beginning of a much different kind of movie.
***
Sebastian
At least she’s pretty. I’ll give her that. Does Shadow think she’s pretty? I can’t tell anymore what he thinks, and what he feels is even more strained.
We’d gotten only through the first step in the application process at the Alpha-Omega Placement Institute, and then we were unceremoniously rejected. We hadn’t even gotten an interview or referrals.
We didn’t know who or what to blame. But we all looked at Jake, our pack lead, a diagnosed narcissist. It’s listed right in his designation registration.
While I don’t think it would make him a bad alpha to an omega, it’s most likely what disqualified us.
Ultimately, we didn’t get a reason for the rejection.
Jake got an appointment with a caseworker to plead our case, but I am guessing it went poorly.
The omega is in the guest room. Hopefully nesting. We were not prepared for this. The house has a place for a nest, but it’s used for storage. My eyes twitch just thinking about this situation we are in.
Of course Jake brought home a desperate omega. This is how it would work out for us. We should have just had Jake prowl around the city until he found an omega in the first place.
I don’t like it. It feels wrong in some way. We invited a stranger into our home.
But we had to do it. For Shadow.
Shadow needs more than what Jake and I can give him.
At first, just our commitment and friendship were enough for him.
Our bites and our bonds. But a few years ago, we started to see the changes in him.
He sleeps all the time. He hardly eats. I can’t even remember the last hobby he had.
He watches the same tv shows over and over again.
He’s been reading the same little pink book for months.
Jake hates problems. And he hates problems in the pack even more.
But nothing he did fixed it.
It was Boone who suggested an omega.
Boone is an alpha and our friend. We’d bond with him, but he’s still vetting packs. He was the one who talked to us one night, after we’d been drinking and playing games all night.
I knew that Shadow and Jake started out with a sexual relationship. They met shortly before I came into their lives. But I always thought it was a phase. Something they grew out of. They were just friends and soon pack mates before I even met them.
I guess it was just a few fun nights fucking. And that was all Jake wanted. But Shadow wanted more, and accepted less, it seemed.
I didn’t know this until that night, but Shadow also wants me. He wants more than my respect and friendship. But he knows I’m not very open-minded. I didn’t mean to reject him, and I don’t even remember doing so.
I just think that until a pack is complete, male alpha-alpha relations are not appropriate.
That, and I don’t want one. I’ve never felt an attraction for my pack mates.
My love for them runs deep, but there is a line for me.
Which means—both pack members have rejected Shadow.
He is also no longer gaining satisfaction with the betas we have coming in and out of here.
We applied for omega placement shortly after that. I love Shadow. He’s my brother and pack mate. However, I can feel him slipping away and becoming less and less himself, and it’s not good for anyone.
Our bond is not what it used to be.
Jake claps his hands loudly, getting both of our attention.
“Dina is about to go into heat, so I’ll get us out of work for the next few days.”
“Ondine—“ I correct.
“Yeah, ok. Let’s get our business taken care of so we can have some fun.” Jake leaves us as he makes his way to his office to do just that. He’s probably so excited to have more work to do.
I catch Shadow’s haunted eyes.
“Are you ok?”
He raises his eyebrows at me. “Yeah, she smells nice. I don’t know about that male scent on her.”
“It was odd, wasn’t it?”
“This is happening quickly,” he says to himself.
“Have you ever been with an omega in heat?” I ask, knowing the answer. None of us have.
He shakes his head. What have we gotten ourselves into?
“I like her hair,” he whispers, and I smile. She does have nice hair. It’s short and I can imagine my hands on her scalp, pulling her hair as she…
There are too many pheromones in the air. It’s fucking with me.
She’s quiet. Exactly how you want an omega to be. I wonder if I can get her to scream.
There I go again!
Shadow gives me a rare smile. “What’re you thinking about?”
I return his smile. I think this strange little omega may actually help him. Is this the answer we’ve been waiting for? Omegas can do a lot for a pack. I am looking forward to watching her fix all of our problems.