Chapter 13
I had never been so scared in my entire fucking life. Waking up to find Callie and Amir both gone, the stench of her panic thick in the air… I didn’t want to think about what could have happened. I didn’t think Amir would hurt her but he was definitely someone who spoke his mind and Callie was so fragile right now. Amir could be tough to handle even when you were totally on your game.
I had immediately called security and they told me Callie was most likely the omega that had burst through the doors a moment ago. Staring out the windows and seeing her race down the road with Amir hot on her heels had plunged my stomach down to my toes. I should’ve done something more, should’ve gone after them, but I had stood frozen at that window watching them through the glass.
Diego had done his best with an inconsolable Kai who had all of Callie’s panic pumping through him from the bond, along with what I’m sure was a hefty dose of guilt that he hadn’t woken up in time to stop her. I couldn’t imagine what either of them were feeling.
The moment I had assured myself that Callie was all right, I let myself sink into my own little pit of despair.
How the fuck was I going to fix this? I had promised everyone I could but I had no actual confidence in my ability.
I dialed the lawyer who handled the shows, trying to figure something out.
“Go for John,” he said, answering the call.
“We have a problem and I’m not entirely sure how big it is yet.”
“Walk me through it,” he ordered.
I told him everything from my first meeting with Callie all the way up to her bolting out of the suite.
John whistled when I finally finished. “The omega bit first?”
“She did, yeah. We have it on video.”
“That might be the only thing that can save your asses if she does try to go after you. My concern would be her blowing up the entire organization. It’s not like we’re operating totally on the up and up.”
“We try,” I argued.
“Yeah and trying won’t fucking fly in court. The heat serum isn’t legal.”
“They’re working on approving it,” I groused.
“Again,” John sighed, “that won’t hold up in court. You’re gonna have to convince her not to do anything. Smooth talk her, get the bosses to pay her off, whatever shit you have to do to get her under an NDA.”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to pressure Callie into anything. If it wouldn’t cost jobs, I wouldn’t give a flying fuck, but our pack couldn’t take care of her if she nuked our employment. But then I suppose if she went that route, she wouldn’t want us to be her pack anyway.
There were still laws on the books in a lot of places, including here, that turned a bonded omega into property, for all intents and purposes. Kai might be able to legally force her to stay, and sign a contract to protect us, but then she would hate us. Just because the law allowed us to do certain things didn’t mean I was remotely comfortable with pursuing that option. It was far better for everyone if Callie was excited to stay with us. I felt like a slimeball for even going through all of these choices.
“Is a contract really necessary?” I asked.
“That depends on how much you like your kneecaps intact.”
I cursed quietly. He was right. We wouldn’t get out of punishment if we let Callie leave here without signing a contract. I didn’t want to force her, but Kai would absolutely get in deep shit if we didn’t. The flip side of the situation was that Kai also had some legal responsibility for Callie and if our employers and the people who funded them thought she was running amok, they might take it out of his hide.
When had everything gotten so fucking complicated? Our chances of successfully courting Callie seemed to be plummeting by the minute. I could take one for the team, resign myself to her never wanting anything to do with me if it meant protecting the others.
I fucking hated that. I loved my pack, but if the only way to keep them safe was to deny myself a chance with this bright and beautiful omega, then I would do it and be in misery for the rest of forever if they didn’t kick me out of the pack outright. I wouldn’t blame them for that if they did.
“Send me the paperwork.”
“Already on its way.”
“You didn’t put in anything fucked up, did you?”
“I feel like we have very different definitions of what fucked up means. You’ll have to read it and let me know if I did.”
Jackass. “All right, I’ll be in touch.”
I sat back, shoving my fingers through my hair, and opened the email. I pored over it line by line. There was indeed bullshit nestled in there. I struck out as many clauses as I dared, mostly ones that made no fucking sense if she was going to be part of the pack. Her family should be allowed to know us and we were absolutely not going to put in anything that was near a restraining order. The company was too fucking concerned with shuttling omegas through the system to ever consider ones that might get caught in it. I couldn’t, in any circumstances, allow her to sign a contract that restricted her so heavily in how she wanted to pursue her life afterward.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I looked up.
Diego was staring at me, his dark eyes soft with worry.
“Not really.”
“You look wigged out. We always talk through it. What’s going on?” Diego sat next to me and tried to peek at the tablet, but I turned it away from his gaze.
“Just paperwork. Honestly it’s probably better if you don’t know.”
That only made him frown instead of leaving me be. “Come on, Miles. I know things are kind of fucky, but we’ll figure it all out.”
“We will.”
Callie’s whine from the bathroom had all of us snapping to attention.
“I’ll send an alert to everyone that Callie’s going back out.”
“Do you think she should?” Diego asked.
“She’s still in heat and she’s still under contract. Doesn’t seem like she notices the audience during it. I need her to have the best chance at a future with or without us, and that involves her having a full bank account.”
“I guess that’s fair,” Diego said with a sigh. “Okay, we’ll see you during the next break.”
Kai came out of the bathroom, carrying a naked Callie, and I couldn’t help but trace the curves and dips of her body with my eyes. Amir and Diego joined them and tossed a blanket over Callie for some semblance of modesty while they traveled back to the stage.
I followed them a few moments later, taking up my place in the control room. Callie had already succumbed to the next heat spike by the time they got her out on stage. I had memorized so many things about her, and I wasn’t surprised when the breathy sound of her begging all of them to take her etched itself into my mind.
While they tangled around one another, I quietly made plans for a life without any of them. Looking at apartment listings fractured something inside me, but I had to be prepared. If they wanted to remove me from the pack for what I had to do, I needed somewhere to go since I had no choice but to stay here to work.
“What are you doing?” James asked.
“None of your business.”
“I don’t know how you can look anywhere else when you work up here.”
I huffed out a breath. It wasn’t disrespectful to look at someone on stage, but it felt wrong nonetheless. Callie deserved so much more than me.
Kai, Amir, and Diego would take care of her. She liked Diego; maybe they would bond next. Amir might kick up a fuss, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take care of her. She didn’t need me. None of them truly did.
“Fuck, that’s hot,” James murmured.
“I swear to god, if you take out your cock right now, I’m going to hit you with this tablet.”
“Chill out,” he said with a laugh, tapping his forehead. “It’s all stored in the spank bank for later.”
I hit him with the tablet anyway.
“Ow, fuck. What the hell was that for?”
“You can at least pretend to have a little respect.”
James only shrugged. “If they didn’t want me to look, they wouldn’t be out there right now.”
He might be right, but I didn’t have to like it. It was correct, in a way, for me to be separate, to only ever have Callie at a distance, through glass. It would be easier this way when I had to leave. If I was able to get a taste of her, I wouldn’t be able to let her go.
“Be nice anyway,” I ordered.
“Miles…”
I froze at the sound of Callie’s voice on the speakers.
“Did she just call for you?” James asked. “You lucky asshole.”
“Fuck off. I can’t touch her until her heat is over. She only agreed to the three of them.”
“ Miles .”
That voice was going to be my ruination.
“You’re really going to make an omega beg for you?”
I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have to stay up here, though. I left the control room and made my way down to the stage. How strong could I actually be? Who knew? Hearing her whine my name in person instead of through a speaker had me cursing every god I’d ever heard of.
She caught sight of me as the platform spun her slowly, and she reached a hand toward me. Fuck me, I was not strong enough to resist that.
I had no clue how people would react to me walking onto the stage fully dressed and with no intention of fucking the absolutely gorgeous woman spread out with my pack, but it was so hard to care when her fingers curled around mine.
“I’m right here, sweetheart.” I got on my knees so we were eye level with each other.
Callie gasped, gripping my hand like it was her only lifeline while Diego ruined her. “Fuck,” she breathed. “It felt weird for you to be gone. I don’t like it.”
Goddamn, it was going to hurt like a bitch when she changed her mind about me. I kissed her knuckles. “I can’t stay. This is your show, not mine, but I’ll be just offstage, okay?”
The pout she gave me made me want to nip it right off her face.
“Be a good girl for your alphas for me. I won’t be far.”
Prying her fingers out of mine was an agonizing effort in self-control, but staying would put her at risk, and that was something I simply couldn’t allow. Her whine of dismay was a kick in the chest, but I kept removing her grip and stepped off the platform and offstage.
I could already feel how easy it would be for her to dig in her sweet little claws and rip me apart. She might not do it on purpose, but she could if she wanted to. And I would let her. If it would make things better for all of them I would lay myself out and let her cleave me open.
Callie was a dangerous woman and she didn’t even know it.