Chapter 29 #2
“Actually, it said everything was proprietary. That Omegas agree to the program because finding their scent-matches is a biological imperative…” his voice trailed off, because he knew he was shoveling horse shit.
“Yeah, well, guess it’s my fault then. I should have read my employment contract better.
Should have checked the medical release for fine print.
Should have. Would have. Didn’t.” I shoved the gooseberry in my mouth and…
the damn thing lodged in my throat. I slammed my chest with my fist twice, unable to breathe.
My eyes began to water, the world swimming as I fought to expel the fruit.
The Alphas stood, ready to aid me. But Cooper rushed forward, getting to me first. His large hand smacked my back firmly.
The gooseberry dislodged, shooting across the table like a small, red cannonball.
This time, the fruit hit Levi’s chest, leaving a stain.
He didn’t acknowledge the impact, his face worried and focused on me.
"Are you okay?" Cooper asked, his breathing fast and anxious.
His hand still rested between my shoulder blades, the weight of it comforting.
The bakery smell of his body swirled around me.
The touch was too much. It made my entire body start humming with need.
I swiped away the moisture in my eyes and stood up, making his hand drop away from my body.
“I’m okay,” I breathed out, pressing one palm over my heart, willing it to slow its rapid beating. “Death by berry. That would have been a fitting end. See,” I looked at all of them in turn, “I can’t even eat without nearly dying. Some world class, high dollar Omega I am.”
They didn’t argue. Maybe they were finally seeing the truth.
I was too flawed and incompetent for their lifestyle.
Now that the excitement of my near-death experience was over, I looked at Levi again. “Sorry about your shirt, Levi. I guess pegging one Alpha with a berry bullet wasn’t enough for me.”
As if in slow motion, Levi looked down at his shirt. He pulled the material away from his chest, examining the new blemish added to the Rorschach ink blots. “Few more mishaps, and I’ll have an interesting tie dye,” he responded. His lavender eyes crinkled at the edges when he glanced back up at me.
“So…” I started, the word trailing into nothingness.
“If the contract you guys signed didn’t clearly explain Eros’s method, and technically I gave my consent, then what does that mean?
Can you just let me go?” I paused, but before any of them could fill the brief void, I continued.
“When they processed me as a product, they said there were nondisclosures, legal protections, and every ‘cover their company’s ass’ option woven into the contracts.
Because of the way I’d hidden my Omega status, they even threatened me with jail time. ”
“Jail time?” Boone looked confused, “You can go to jail for hiding you’re an Omega?”
I offered him a tired, weak smile. “I didn’t just hide my secondary gender.
I pretended to be a Beta so I could work someplace that wasn’t supposed to hire Omegas.
So, when we get right down to the nitty gritty of it all,” I sighed, “I did sign the contract. And I did break federal regulations and put my employer at risk.”
“But it’s bullshit,” Wyatt growled, “Upstanding companies don’t hide in the fine print. They don’t entrap people like that. We need to make sure they don’t do it again.”
“How? The way they made it sound, before they stuck a needle in my neck and I woke up on a plane, was that they’ve got the power. The law’s on their side.”
Cooper moved over to the island and hopped up to sit on it.
He looked like a kid when he started swinging his legs a little.
“She’s right,” He began, “And I sort of suspected Eros wasn’t that upstanding.
I had my estate guy look over the original contract before I e-signed all our signatures.
A big section of it ensured we wouldn’t disclose Eros details to the public, and we waived the right to sue.
There’s pretty much no recourse. I knew the paperwork was riddled with red flags, but I really thought they meant actual consent, guys, not coerced. ”
“Riddled with red flags,” I repeated quietly. “And you just ignored them because you wanted an Omega so badly.”
My tone wasn’t accusing. No one could change the past. We couldn’t all un-sign our names. I think, for me, I just needed to trust that these men didn’t intentionally participate in human trafficking. That they’d, at worst, chosen to wear blinders and embrace ignorance as bliss.
“It wasn’t just want,” Wyatt said slowly, his voice gruff with emotion, “It was need. We needed an Omega. Even when we tried not to, we fucking needed an Omega.”
He was the leader here, so confident and charismatic. Yet right now he sounded and looked as if he’d been carrying the weight of the universe for an unbearable length of time.
And finally…
Now…
When relief was at his door…
He let himself fracture into pieces.
Their collective cologne turned bitter, coffee left on the burner too long. Their faces betrayed a battle raging inside each of them, buried beneath their skin and flesh and bone. To the marrow. The struggle was such a part of them that it couldn’t be exorcised without outside aid.
And I could be the answer.
I could be the cure.
I could call out their disease like a Pied Piper, master of one singular tune perfectly honed to eradicate their ferality.
But only if I stayed.
Only if I allowed myself to forget the truth of my arrival, and how this pack was poisoned from the start. Was an antidote possible? Could I give in to my Omega yearning and just let these Alphas have me?
Boone’s voice cut into my spiraling. And I was grateful, because I was shifting dangerously close to just saying, ‘fuck it, I’ll try to be yours’.
“But now that she’s here, we can just break the contract with her,” my Alpha with the crow dark hair said.
“Nobody has the right to own another person.” His intensity moved in my direction, sinking into my skin.
“We don’t own you, Nelly. We can’t own you.
But we could love you? We could keep you safe? ”
Love me.
Save me.
But why did my mind home in on ‘own’. Why did I suddenly feel like being owned by Boone wouldn’t be such a terrible thing after all?
Because my Omega biology wanted him.
Needed him.
Stretched out to him with undeniable ferocity.
It was like a dam had splintered the exact moment I’d decided to believe them. To trust that they, too, hadn’t realized what they were signing, what they were asking for, and what would happen in the future.
“Break the contract,” I found myself whispering, tasting the words on my tongue, deciding if they were sweet or acerbic.
But they, of course, thought I was making a request. Again, the aroma of the kitchen shifted, sliding to something tart and citrusy.
Anxiety. Worry. Hope evaporating. Their Alphas reacting to losing what they’d waited for all this time.
“Nelly, we’ll figure this out. But for now, can you just stay? Can you just trust us?” Cooper hopped off the island, rushing over. “Just, please, give us a little time. If you really want to leave down the road, we’ll book your ticket home, like Wyatt said. We’ll send you off safely.”
Cooper’s voice rose and fell in pitch, trying to convince me to stay.
Cooper, who I now realized started this whole thing. Cooper, who I should hate most. But, Jesus Christ, the earnestness in his expression, the pleading in his voice… it swayed me. His navy-blue eyes were a brighter shade as they dampened with unshed tears. The sight of him had me thinking, ‘sweet’.
Breaking the contract tasted ‘sweet’ after all.
And then I was uttering out loud something completely, stupidly, ridiculously irrational.
“I’ll stay long enough for you to contact Eros and figure out what happens if we mutually break this contract.
I can’t imagine they would care; they’ve already got your damn money.
” My heart and brain swirled with so many thoughts and feelings.
I added on the last, trying to regain a bit of my common sense, trying to remember they bought me here.
Millions. I’d been worth millions, right?
“I’ll contact them Monday,” Cooper nodded, agreeing quickly. “And you’ll stay? You’ll stay until we hear back from them?”
“Why wait until Monday?” I pushed, clearing my throat, feeling the ghost of the gooseberry I’d choked on earlier. Had I just agreed to stay here for the time being? How long would it take to get an answer from Eros? A day? A few days? A week?
“It’s after business hours right now. I’ll shoot an email off anyways if that will ease your mind?” He rung his hands together, clearly stalling.
“Send an email,” I said, trying to remember that I was not a stupid woman. Giving in fully was the wrong thing to do. I had to make sure they proved that they would follow through on promises.
“Sure, sure.” Cooper gazed around the room, finding every pair of eyes glued to him. “I just wanted to help our pack,” he insisted. “I just wanted to pull us back from the edge. We were losing it guys. We were so close to really losing it.”
Quiet. Not a word spoken back to him.
He glanced up at the ceiling, gave a heavy sigh, then looked back down again. “I did not think this thing all the way through, did I?”
“No, Coop. You really didn’t.” This from Wyatt, who was sitting back in his chair.
Every chair at the table was taken now. The only one standing was Cooper, burning under the spotlight of his own making.
He hesitated, clearly uncomfortable, then he strode out of the kitchen with fast, purposeful strides.
In his wake, the atmosphere was thick, choking. I needed to break the tension, or I’d scream.