Chapter 16 Mother
Mother
Jake
Shadow might be fucking Ondine. His lust and drama are flooding our bond. While his is intense and prominent, Sabbies is full of worry. What the fuck would he be worried about?
Freddie is talking about Cynthia. Anytime he has to see her, he complains about the experience for days and days.
Cynthia is a personal administrative assistant for Man-ho.
She mainly runs his calendar. Freddie has had a casual thing with her for years.
Basically, every time he comes into the city.
And she has loose lips, so it works for our benefit.
He hasn’t said anything of value, though. He’s just detailing all the things he does not like about her: her grating voice, her sticky skin, her snapping jaws. I feel like I’m the one who slept with her by this point.
“And she’s so full of shit. We were listening to Ondine play this incredibly erotic and emotional song on the piano, and her reaction was to pretend it was annoying. I’ve never wanted to punch a girl before that moment, I swear.”
I don’t like my omega’s name on Freddie’s lips. I growl at him, and he stops talking. I pull out my phone and text Sabbies.
“Why are you so damned worried? They are together. It’s a good thing.”
Freddie is thankfully still silent. I huff out an annoyed breath and look over at him, fiddling with the chain around his neck.
Sabbies doesn’t text back, but I see he’s read my text. Who would have thought being a pack leader to only two alphas would amount to this much drama?
“Freddie, I need your opinion,” I say. Freddie has always been a good ally. He makes good decisions. He’s strong. He’s independent and intelligent. He’s also been part of a monastery that swears off omegas or whatever the fuck they do. “Do you think an omega is good for a pack?”
Freddie stops playing with his necklace. He weighs his answer carefully. I appreciate him taking the time to answer. “Good for a pack?” He rolls the question around in his mouth. “Jake, they are the pack. They are like tiny suns begging for us to orbit them.”
“This is what they say at the monastery?”
“Yeah, they say that in the beginning, when all we were undefined ancient humans in a hostile world, trying to survive long enough to procreate, we had to form packs. We needed alphas to protect, and betas for their wisdom and skills, and we surrounded our most treasured prize—the omega. At the monastery, we learned that an omega is a death to the alpha’s feral self.
We were never supposed to be without her. We’ve moved so far away from that.”
I’ve heard it all before. How modernity has made being an alpha very difficult because there is hardly any need for our specialities anymore. And instead of adapting, many alphas just kick a fit at the world for no longer being the place for them.
“So, then you’d say having an omega fixes all of that?”
“It’s more than just ‘having’ her, Jake.
Let me tell a story,” he says, and I sigh, then wave his story on.
“Last year, I was on a hiking trip. Solo. As I’ve done many times.
I was in the river, washing my feet, and drinking what I could before heading off again when I heard a group of college coeds having a bonfire nearby.
I hid from them and just watched. Most were wearing their mascot costumes since they’d come from a big game.
They drank beer, ironically, from the monastery brewery.
They danced and listened to loud music. One woman, an omega, was wearing this insane costume.
She had a wig of long yellow yarn. She had a medieval pink princess dress that went past her hands and to the forest floor.
She had all this silly makeup on that made her lips look round and her cheeks bright pink. ”
“Freddie, can you get to the point? You hooked up with the princess, and she rejected you. There I did it for you.”
I shake my phone, willing Sabbies to text me back. He doesn’t.
I drop my head back and scoot down into my seat. Shadow’s lust, that floods the bond, is all scraggly and missing pieces.
“We didn’t hook up, Jake. We connected. It was like I’d never seen the stars at night or a fucking flower bloom.
Smelling her on the wind sent me into a panic.
She was like this missing piece of everything I’d never been.
I knew that if I were to just make her laugh or even sigh with contentment that I would finally achieve what the monastery had been trying to teach me. ”
This makes me put my phone down.
Not because he was telling the story in any way that made me think he’d get to the point, but because he was speaking about something I’d been curious about.
The omega-craze. How absolutely mad Ondine was making me.
All my thoughts had Ondine at the beginning, middle, and end.
It was like she carried a piece of me wherever she went, and I wanted to be united with it anytime we were apart.
“What happened with the girl? Why aren’t you with her?”
“I was shocked. And scared. I didn’t think I could ever be worthy of an omega.
I left her with her friends and returned to the monastery.
I had never even imagined being an alpha that has an omega.
I needed time. But I had nightmares every night.
I regressed all my progress with my studies.
They sent me to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with ‘bond sickness.’ I didn’t even hear her speak!
It took weeks to recover without her. I had to go through scent therapy. I still take drugs for it today.”
I blow out all the breath from my lungs, so I don’t have any left to tell Freddie that he’s a fool for leaving her behind.
“You don’t know who she was?”
“My alpha leader told me something interesting. He told me I may have met my scent match. Have you heard about it, not in tv shows or movies, but in real life? Someone fated to be yours? I figured if that was true, she’d find her way back to me. And…” he stopped his sentence abruptly.
A scent match. How very cool and unique, just like Freddie. I’m not sure if I buy it. He sees a princess in the woods and nearly dies. How dramatic.
I shake my phone again like it’s a damned Etch-A-Sketch.
My knee is bouncing, and I need to know what’s going on with my pack.
“Freddie. This is all troubling information that I don’t know what to do with. I hope you find your princess omega scent mate who will do whatever, whatever, whatever. Or she finds someone else and moves on. I’m going to find the pool now.”
I stand up and fix my suit, and then button my suit jacket.
I nod to Freddie, who doesn’t seem to mind my speech, and turn to leave.
But Sabbies is standing right there, and next to him is a small Chinese woman.
She looks to be in her fifties, and she’s wearing very stylish clothes.
Oh my god, it’s Shadow and Freddie’s omega mother, Tina Wong.
***
Sebastian
Freddie jumps to his feet.
“Mother.” He swallows hard and then adjusts his clothes and pushes his hair back. It’s not good if Freddie Fucking Wong is nervous.
All three of us alphas stand at attention.
This is the last thing we need.
“Freddie, how long have you been in the city, and I haven’t seen you once?”
Shit, it’s starting.
I ran into the woman in the lobby and tried my best to avoid her attention.
I was unsuccessful, obviously. She scares the piss out of me.
The last time I saw her was in her townhome two years ago.
Shadow, Jake, and I were invited to dinner.
We’d been a pack for three years at that point.
I was very much aware of Shadow’s parents’ disapproval of our pack.
I wasn’t aware that they had been planning on keeping Shadow there with them and sending us away with a pile of “fuck off” money and a kick in the pants.
Jake speaks up next, “Tina. It’s a pleasure. Would you like a seat?”
She turns to him like a master might turn to his unruly dogs. “Absolutely not. It’s uncouth to discuss family matters in public. Freddie, let’s go to your suite. Where is my other son?”
Jake turns to me, and my face gets hot.
“I’ll go get him.”
I turn on the ball of my foot and take off like a bat out of hell. This is just what we need. Mrs. Wong. Her purse probably costs more than the house I grew up in.
I get into the elevator up to the pool and cringe. What on earth are we going to do about Ondine? I don’t want her anywhere near Tina Wong. She’ll eat her alive.
And I don’t care to hear her opinion about my omega.
Is that why she’s here? She’s heard we have an omega? She’s always been way too nosey about our business. Or is she here just for Freddie and his hunt for her husband’s would-be killer?
I get to the pool and exit the elevator.
It’s down a hall and to the right. I check my phone and see an old text from Jake.
Ugh. Yes, I’ve been grumpy feeling Shadow’s lust through the bond.
When they are together at the house, I’m nearby.
I’m working right now, and I can’t keep my focus on everything at once.
I use my key card to enter the pool reserved for just the upper-level rooms. It looks empty. But it’s hard to see anything with all the trees and shit.
“Shadow? Ondine?” I call out. I hear Ondine make a little noise. Well, at least she’s here.
I walk around the path and up a couple of steps, then around the privacy wall. Shadow is nowhere to be seen, but Ondine is in the hot tub. Her upper body is lying on the concrete, while the rest of her is in the still water. She’s got her head in her arms.
“Ondine?”
She makes a little noise of acknowledgment, but otherwise remains still.
“What is going on? Where’s Shadow?”
I crouch down next to her and put my hand on her head.
“Sweetheart, what’s going on?”
She sits back, and I see her face all red and puffy from crying. I pull her towards me, and she steps out of the hot tub, and I get her into my arms.
“I’m fine,” she squeaks. She’s not fine.
I take her into the locker room and use my nose to find where her things are. She’s shaking in my arms, probably from the cold air.
“Hey sweetheart, it’s ok. I got you.” I rub my hands on her body wherever I can touch, trying to ease her.
“Sabbies?”
The largest smile I’ve ever felt on my face erupts. She just called me Sabbies. Fuck, that’s amazing. A chemical I didn’t even know existed pulses in my veins.
“Yeah, I’m here. Let’s get you dressed, ok?”
She looks at me with her sad eyes, and my heart aches for her.
I don’t want her to start crying, at least until she’s dressed.
I push her swimsuit down, and she steps out of it.
I have her step into her underwear and pull them on, as well as her jeans.
They are really loose, so I pull off my belt and thread it through her loops.
Jake’s shirt is folded up neatly in the locker, and I ease her into it, buttoning the middle buttons.
I tie the loose ends on the bottom together.
I shuck out of my suit jacket and have her wear it over top.
I sit her down on a bench and get her socks and shoes on.
“Sabbies?”
“Yes, sweetie, I’m here.”
“Where’s Shadow?” she says, barely above a whisper.
“I don’t know. I thought he was here. Maybe he’s gone back to the suite. We will meet up with him soon.”
“He left me. He said…I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
She looks like she knows she just doesn’t want to talk about it. I give her some time to get the courage.
“He said really nice things. And I thought we were going to…I don’t know. He kissed me. But then he used his alpha bark on me, and then left me.”
Oh, no. Fucking Shadow. He made the omega cry. I bring her into me, tucking her head under my chin. She relaxes, and I squeeze her tight.
I’m trying really hard not to go hunt Shadow down and lose it.
Not just for making her cry. He’s not allowed to use his alpha bark on her.
Not only is it explicitly against our contract, it’s devastating to have it done to you.
He’s used it on me before, just because I was curious. And it’s…frightening.
My phone buzzes. It’s Jake.
“Shadow is here. Do you have her? Bring her back to me.”
I’ve never known Jake to be needy. It’s kind of endearing.
“Yeah, I got her. We’re coming.”
He ends the call.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s get out of here.”
She’s clinging to me, and that’s fine with me. I interlace our hands and walk her out.
She’s so compliant. She just follows me. She lets me take the lead. Her head is low in submission. I rub little circles on the palm of her hand. We get into the elevator, and I turn to her. She has a single tear track coming down her cheek.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m emotional,” she says apprehensively.
Oh fucking hell.
“You can have whatever emotion you want with me.”
Why did Shadow leave her like this?
I kiss her forehead.
“Jake needs you. I’m taking you to him. He’ll make you feel better.” I tip her head up and look over her face. “You’re already looking better.”
I look over her neck and shoulders. His alpha bark is very powerful, and I can only imagine how easy it was for him to use it on her, and how affected she was, how scary that must have been.
His alpha bark is no joke. I pull her closer to me, and we finally make it to the suite.
In the vestibule, I can hear arguing. Great, Omega Wong is still here.
I turn to Ondine and fix her hair, wipe her tears, and smile at her. “Chin up, young lady.”
She cocks her head to the side, confused at my words. It’s something I would tell my sisters before they had to face a hard day. It always worked for them.
I give her an encouraging nod, and then she raises her chin and squares her shoulders. Her breathing is normal, and she looks so much better.
See, it works.
We enter the room, and it’s just as you’d expect.
Tina Wong sits in a wingback chair facing the living room area, and Shadow and Freddie stand before her, like she’s the queen and they are wayward princes.
Jake is leaning against a wall nearby. He sees us enter and pops up.
He is over to us in just a few strides. He wraps his arms around Ondine and brings her up and in for a hug, ripping her out of my hand.
He mumbles something into her neck.
“Jake,” I say. “Jake.”
“What?” he mumbles, but then lifts his head to me.
“Shadow used his alpha bark on Ondine,” I say as simply as possible. I don’t exactly want Queen Tina to hear.
Jake’s eyes darken, and he spins towards Shadow while he’s still holding Ondine. Freddie, Shadow, and Tina are looking at us. They’ve stopped arguing.
“What’s that?” Tina asks, clearly referring to Ondine.
Jake holds her tighter. “Tina, this is Ondine. Pack Meier’s omega.”
Silence.