Chapter 28
A mir had brought Callie home late, so I let her sleep as long as she needed, waking early and getting as much work done as I could in the meantime. When Callie finally made her way downstairs, looking sleepy, beautiful, and content, she floated straight across the kitchen to where I was sitting at the table and draped herself against my back.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning, sweetheart. Did you have fun last night?” I took one of her hands hanging in front of me and brought the back of it to my lips.
“Mhmm.” She nodded and slid into the chair next to me. “We’re going out today?”
“If you still want to, yes.”
“Yes, please. I’m feeling so fancy with four men to take me out on the town.”
“Would you rather eat breakfast here or go out? There’s no wrong answer.”
“Could I have a tiny breakfast here and we get something out when I’ve worked up an appetite?”
“I’m fine with that. I’ll be here when you’re ready to go. No rush.”
Diego was the first of the pack to join us, immediately moving to put together some toast and fruit for Callie while she sipped her orange juice.
Once Callie was fed and dressed, I popped her in the car. “I know if you’re staying with us you’ll have plenty of time to explore everything the city has to offer, but it sounded like you saw so little on your vacation, and I can’t let that stand. Take your pick between the gondolas, zip line, or Ferris wheel.”
“I’ve wanted to go on the gondolas forever. I know they’re super cheesy, but they’re so cute.” She looked so sheepish as she said it, and I wanted to immediately grant her wish.
“Gondolas it is.”
The trip into the depths of the city was pretty short, even with traffic. I parked as near as we could get to the Venetian, but Callie still wilted going from the car to the hotel, instantly perking back up when she stepped into the air-conditioning.
“You’d think for how long you’ve lived in LA, you’d be a little better with the heat.”
Callie pouted. “I can’t help it that I still have the blood of a Seattle girl.”
“I’m only teasing, sweetheart.” She let me take her hand while we walked, making our way into the Venetian.
“I asked Jerry if we could go on them, but he said they were a waste of money.”
Just hearing that made me wish her ex were still around simply so I could wallop him with the gondolier’s pole and then drive the boat over him. “Nothing that makes you smile is a waste of money.”
I was indeed rewarded with her beautiful smile when we got onto the gondolas. She leaned into me the whole ride, grinning as we were serenaded in Italian in a little boat beneath a fake sky. I didn’t do a lot of tourist things in the city, but with Callie I loved every second of it.
“I was on the real gondolas on a high school trip,” she told me, “and I have to admit, the inability to get sunburnt on these boats here is a huge perk.”
“You and I can be sunburn twins if we ever go to Italy.”
“I’m sure one of the others will bully us into wearing sunscreen to avoid that fate.” She snuggled into my side, a soft rumbling from her buzzing against the arm I had looped around her.
“You’re purring,” I pointed out.
She snuggled closer as the boat spun around at the halfway point to head back, our gondolier singing his heart out. “I’m happy.”
Those two words got my purr going as well.
The tension leaked out of my body bit by bit. She was so sweet and pleased next to me that when she drooped as we arrived back, I immediately paid for another round just to bring her smile back.
“You’re way too cute,” she commented.
“You’re having fun. I don’t want it to end too early.”
“You don’t have to spoil me, Miles.”
“But I want to.” I lifted our joined hands and kissed her knuckles. “I’m the only one of our group who gets to court you in the traditional sense. I’m not going to waste the opportunity.”
“You don’t have to court me. I’m kind of a done deal.”
I shook my head insistently. “I’m never going to take an omega for granted, and I will kick the ass of any pack member who leans in that direction. Just because you’re bonded to one of us doesn’t mean you don’t deserve all the fun of courting.”
“I’ve never been courted before.”
“Why not? You were with your ex for years and he never courted you in the beginning?”
Callie shrugged. “Jerry and I met in university, and things were casual until they weren’t. I think I was just convenient, to be honest. He didn’t put effort into much, and I never really thought to question it, I guess.”
“And what about your crush you had on your twenty-first birthday? That was within the timeline of you being with your ex, isn’t it?”
“We were on a break,” she explained. “We’d been split for about two weeks, and as soon as this classmate found out I was single, he started to lay it on really thick. I think I was just really depressed, thinking about spending my birthday by myself, so I didn’t say no when he asked me. Jerry showed back up in the picture about a week after that and I went back to him like an idiot.”
“You are far from the only person to stick around in a lackluster relationship.” The gondola came to a stop and I helped her out of the boat, wrapping my arm over her shoulders as we started to wander. “Did you have anyone in your life to show you what a good relationship actually looks like?”
Callie was quiet for a moment. “Not that I can think of. Everyone had friction or terrible taste. No one had relationships I’d consciously wanted to emulate, though I guess I did anyway.”
“It’s hardly your fault when you fell into the same pattern everyone around you was also in, right?”
“You’re making me feel a lot better about wasting eight years of my life on an asshole.”
“I prefer to think of it as a learning opportunity rather than a waste. Mostly, I just want you to accept that we’re going to give you better.”
“I’m not sure I know what to do with better.”
“You’ll get used to it in time,” I promised. “I plan on giving you plenty of practice.”
We spent a lovely couple of hours wandering the hotels along the Strip, sticking mostly to the ones that connected so I didn’t have to take Callie into the heat. I’d forgotten how exciting the city could be for people who didn’t experience it every day. Watching her marvel at the art exhibits and sumptuous decor, dragging me excitedly into selfies whenever she found something she loved, was cute as hell.
My phone rang and I sighed, seeing Kyle’s name on the screen. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart, but I’ve got to take this call really quick.”
“You go right ahead. I’m gonna check the shark reef times while you’re busy.”
I answered the call, immediately regretting it.
“Miles, what the fuck is going on with the schedule?”
I didn’t have to guess what he meant. I’d been rearranging things to push the pack further and further down the calendar to keep them off the stage while we figured everything out. “I had to reschedule some things.”
“Yeah, I can fucking see that. Why is Kai still on the payroll?”
“Because he’s still contracted? Or were you planning on firing him for bonding someone?”
“Well, he sure as hell can’t do the rest of his contract, can he?”
“It’s illegal to fire someone for taking a bondmate,” I pointed out, voice firm and the edge of a growl sneaking in.
“Fuck off. You know half of what we do isn’t legal.”
“I’m just trying to give everyone time to figure out what’s happening.”
“We don’t have time. Amir and Diego need to stay on the schedule. Stop playing favourites and fucking around everything for your pack, or you’ll be on the chopping block instead.”
“They’re a team,” I insisted. “All the alpha groups are a team.”
“If they can fuck a new omega each time, there’s no reason in the world they can’t add a new alpha to the mix.”
Jeff and Kyle didn’t have omegas or a pack. They didn’t understand what they were asking and I was pretty sure they didn’t care either. Their only concern was the money. “All the spots are filled. Why is this an issue?”
“You’re abusing your power, and we’re not going to let that little tramp fuck with everything.”
A growl ripped free before I could stop it. Callie stared over at me with wide eyes.
“This is what we’re talking about, Miles,” Kyle said with a sigh. “Bringing her in was your fuckup and now you’re trying to cover your ass, but we see what you’re doing. Stop working things around her and do your job.”
He hung up on me and I stared at the screen, trying to control the urge to hurl my phone against the marble floor.
“What’s going on?” Callie asked, approaching me tentatively.
“Nothing you need to worry about, sweetheart. My boss is being a jackass.”
She chewed her lip, scuffing the toe of her shoe against the floor. “Because of me?”
It technically was because of her, but it still wasn’t her fault. “Management wants Diego and Amir to continue performing.”
The growl that leapt out of Callie had every eye turning toward us.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Take a deep breath for me.”
She did so, but I could see the words turning themselves over in her head, see her waging war against her omega instincts. “I know it’s their job,” she eventually said, “but they’re mine.”
“We should probably discuss all this at home and make a decision as a pack,” I said.
Callie nodded sadly. Of course Kyle and Jeff would ruin my date with her. We couldn’t work around this. Callie was our omega, and as much as her rational brain might be fine allowing her alphas to continue with their work, instinct didn’t give a shit about that. The others would struggle to put on a performance, and it would probably push her to the edge of a breakdown to think about her alphas with another omega. If it were a case of having two omegas in our pack, that might be different, but we all knew that wasn’t what this would be.
I cursed my job as we made the trip home. The others looked like they had recently arrived as well when we pulled up.
“Pack meeting,” I announced.
Callie went straight to Kai, tucking her face against his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Kai asked us.
“Let’s all sit down first.” We gathered around the breakfast table and I laid it all out as clearly as I could.
“And we can’t do a wrongful termination suit if they fire me?” Kai asked.
“We could try, but I’m not sure we would win. You’re not able to continue the job.”
“This is fucked,” Amir growled. “They can’t force us.”
“No, they can’t, but if you can’t fulfill the terms of the contract, you need to buy it out and if we do that, we might risk losing the pack house. We’d be out all that money and have all those streams of income cut off.”
Callie whimpered. “This is all my fault.”
“No,” Diego snapped and immediately reined himself in. Much more quietly, he said, “No. This is management being a pair of dicks. They could work with us if they wanted to, but they don’t.”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble.” Callie looked around the table, her dark eyes luminous. “I don’t want to be the reason you all lose your home. I would hate every single second of it, but if you need to keep doing your work, then I’ll just suffer.”