Chapter 6 From the Shadows
From the Shadows
Ondine
Four days after I left the train station with Jake, a police officer came to the house.
Jake must have known he was on his way, because he’s ready for him when he arrives.
They talk in the entryway for a while, and I listen in from the piano room.
Their low, professional, and friendly murmuring can be easily heard from the other room.
“I just have to check for my records, and we can all move on.”
“I understand,” Jake replies.
“With all the missing omegas lately, people get spooked, you know?”
“How many are missing?”
“That’s the thing, none. Two had been reported missing by their handlers or family, but all have been located and are safe.”
“Really? They’re safe? So, was it a coincidence?”
“No, not a coincidence. They’d all been taken, that’s true. And you didn’t hear it from me, Alpha Meier, but they were all taken by someone affiliated with the same…local businessman.”
“Is it who I think it is?”
“Yeah.”
There’s silence.
“But the omegas are safe?”
“Safe and accounted for. Your omega was reported missing days ago, and we assumed she was taken in the same manner. Good thing we reached out to you. You say she’s been here?”
“Temporary placement. I sent a copy of the contract for your records.”
“Perfect. I just need to speak with her. You’re welcome to stay.”
Jake leads the officer into the piano room. I’m sitting on a window seat, with my phone out, like I’d been watching a video. The uniformed officer bends his head to me.
“Hello, I’m Officer Sanchez. I just need to ask you some questions, is that alright?”
I nod my head. Jake sits at the piano, legs out wide, watching the officer carefully.
“What is your name and designation?”
“Ondine. Omega.”
“And are you here on your own free will?”
“Yes. Who reported me missing?”
“The Heat Clinic that you were scheduled to be at last week. You never arrived.”
So, was it Arnie who reported me, or the Clinic itself? Arnie knew I had been there. Did he just let me go? Didn’t try to find me? Didn’t report me missing?
“Did you need to speak to me in private about any matter?” The officer asks, and I shake my head no. He’s satisfied with the constraints of his report. He says thank you and leaves the house, escorted by Jake.
Jake comes back into the room and stares at me for a minute. I stare back. I want to ask him about the missing omegas, but he just found out as I did. I’m glad they’re safe, but it makes me wonder what happened to them. He eventually leaves me alone with my thoughts.
***
Shadow
Ondine plays the piano as I watch from the entryway. Does she know she looks like a whole different woman when she plays?
It’s like she turns on a light in a dark room, illuminating herself as Ondine.
A girl we shouldn’t underestimate. Talented people often invoke this awe in others.
Like we are walking among gods. Or goddesses.
I could write poetry about her. Her bare feet on the pedals.
Her dextrous fingers over the keys with her clipped fingernails.
God, she’s so pretty.
She has a bow in her hair.
Jake is in his office. He usually has her come to him around 11:00 am. But it won’t happen today. It’s been two weeks since we’ve had her here. Two weeks is Jake’s threshold for relationships. He’s going to start pulling back on her.
I’ve been so upset watching him lead her along.
He’s been feeding her. Giving her gifts, like a tv, and more and more clothes.
He’s also had her in his office every day (but Friday) fucking her, having her sit pretty on a chair, or sitting between his legs on the floor with her head in his lap.
I haven’t seen it, but I’ve been asking her to tell me about it.
It’s going to hurt her when he pulls back. When he loses interest. He should have been careful.
It hurt me when he pulled back. There’s still a piece of my heart beating outside of my chest that he unknowingly carries with him.
I can’t sit around and watch him do it to someone else.
Ondine is temporary, and he shouldn’t be treating her like this.
She finishes her song and checks the time on her phone. I pull back to hide further into the shadows, so she doesn’t know I’m here.
She straightens her skirt and the bow in her hair and then heads off into the house towards Jake’s office.
I’m right behind her. She doesn’t know.
She stands at the office door for a breath. What is she thinking? Why does she pause?
She opens the door, and I settle myself to listen through a thin spot in the wall.
I hear Jake exclaim, “Baby!”
But I can’t distinguish much else. It’s highly likely I won’t hear anything at all until Ondine tells me about it tonight. I’ll have to listen to her disappointed tale of how Jake won’t touch her anymore.
Then she and I will lean on each other until her contract runs out. From a distance. At arm’s length.
I haven’t even touched her since her heat, and she’s already burrowing herself into me. Any new piece of information I learn only further proves she’d make a great omega for this pack.
But she’s temporary.
She wants to go home.
We shouldn’t have done this.
Suddenly, I hear moaning. The omega is moaning. Are they fucking?
I press my ear to the wall.
Somehow, this is worse.
This doesn’t make me feel good at all. If she and Jake keep going down this road, it’ll be even worse when she leaves. I can’t do a month of this.
I keep listening as she comes not once, but twice.
My feet carry me right through his office door.
Ondine is sitting in his office chair while he’s on his knees, face in her pussy, eating her out.
I look up at the wall with the windows overlooking the river.
The sounds coming from them beckon me. The smells in this office—her cold vanilla ice cream smell and his birthday cake smell.
It’s everything in me to resist its beck and call.
Jake pulls down Ondine’s top, revealing her perfect tits and their little pink nipples.
“Jake,” I confidently say. He doesn’t stop. And I can see why. She’s close. He pulls at one of her nipples, and it nearly sends her over the edge.
“Jake?” I say louder.
Don’t look at her. If she looks me in the eyes when she’s like this…
He doubles his efforts. I have to stand here helpless as he goes after her clit like it’s the only thing in this world and the next.
Finally, Ondine comes.
And it’s so pretty.
She’s so pretty.
It’s absolutely devastating.
Jake smiles up at her. Calls her a good omega. And then stands and faces me, with the most proud look on his face.
“My dear Shadow, have you come at last to join us?” I suck in a breath. How would it be to be able to join them? God.
“Can I talk to you?” I glance at Ondine as she gets her feet under her and adjusts her clothes. “Alone?”
He places his hands on his hips and turns to Ondine. He sighs at her as she decides not to put her panties back on, but just holds them in her hand.
“Sure. Yeah,” he says to me, and then to Ondine, “I’ll come find you again soon, little omega. Don’t go far.”
He kisses her on the forehead and takes her panties from her. Pocketing them.
“Ok,” she says, then passes by me on her way out. I don’t breathe the whole time. I don’t want to risk smelling her even more.
“What’s going on?” Jake adjusts his dick in his pants. He made her come three times and didn’t even take his dick out. Good god.
“I don’t think this is working. Having her here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your behavior…”
“What about it?”
“You’re acting obsessed, Jake,” I meet his eyes. “Crazed. Possessive. Is it going to suddenly stop?” Like it did with me. “Or is it not going to end, and then she leaves us, and you won’t let her go? Either way, I’m worried.”
He doesn’t move. It’s like I’ve caught him. Finally, he says, “I like her.”
“No shit. But don’t you see this can only end badly?”
He turns to the window to look out over the river. He’s chewing on my words.
“Shadow,” he says, in a tone so loving it makes me weepy in spite of myself. “She’s just here for the contract. A good fuck. To help balance our hormones.”
Bullshit, I think, because we can’t keep her. This was supposed to be temporary. Does he even hear himself?
I can’t spend my days while she’s here, creeping around every corner, watching her. And Jake is practically doing the same thing. He checks in on her at night. I know because I’m fucking watching him, too.
I wipe my hand down my face. “No, something else is happening here. I’ve never seen you act like this with anyone.”
He sighs and waves me over to him so we can both look out the window.
“Nothing is happening. Why don’t you give her a chance to be what you need her to be? That’s a command. We have four weeks left until her next heat. Don’t waste it being worried.”
Then Jake does something he knows I love.
He puts his hand on the side of my neck and bends my head down in a small submissive pose, then he mirrors it, pushing our foreheads together.
It’s a gesture I’ve only seen alphas do with each other during mating ceremonies.
Except he’s Jake, so he continues to force my head down a little lower than his.
It makes me laugh, and I resist him until he gives up. But he’ll try again.
“It’s going to be ok,” he says. And I try to believe him.