Chapter 21
Kip
With Kaden’s help, we slowly start working on Mags’s understanding of the pack bonds in between shifts at the Langleys’.
It’s tough scheduling time for this, but thankfully the Langley omegas aren’t as spoiled and pampered as our previous marks.
They’re almost nice, so it’s a pleasant change from the norm.
Another difficulty is figuring out how to teach what comes instinctively to me and Kaden. We just know who’s who in our twin bond. Articulating that to Mags takes some time to work out.
We start with physical feelings, since my scraped palms seemed to be an easy thing for her to understand.
Throughout the day, Kaden and I try to bump into things, trip, even pinch each other.
When we have a free moment, we text Mags to see if she can tell who is who.
At first, Mags struggles, but after a few days, she texts first with her guess before we can even tell her that one of us has an injury.
Unfortunately, this method leaves us black and blue, and Nik catches on one night when we’re all changing for bed.
“What’s the deal?” he asks. “You two have been sending pain signals through the pack bond for days. Are the omegas doing that? Should Mags and I talk to Mr. and Mrs. Langley? Spill it.”
Busted.
I open my mouth to answer him, but Mags beats me to it.
“It’s my fault. They’re teaching me how to understand the pack bonds better.” She blushes and looks at her feet. “I guess we figured if I can tell the difference between which twin is feeling what, I can better sort through my own feelings in all this.”
There’s a bit of confusion coming through the bond from Nik, but it morphs into such strong affection that Kaden and I have to fight the urge to scoop Mags up in a hug.
Instead, Nik scoops her up, twirling her in a circle before setting her down again.
“I’m proud of you, Mags.” He kisses her forehead. “This is real growth.”
She beams up at him. “I’m more than just a pretty face. I’m also a devious mind and an expert problem solver.”
“Speaking of devious minds, how’s the job going for everyone? I’ve been so busy with my security detail that I’ve hardly seen the three of you. Are the omegas behaving themselves behind the scenes?”
“Yeah, they’re fine,” I say. “Oddly so. No outrageous demands, no weird requests.”
Suspicion spikes in the pack bond. Mags freezes, then rushes to her laptop. “You’re right, Kip. Nothing weird at all, which is super weird.”
Nik, Kaden, and I look at each other, but we’re all equally confused.
“Mags? What’s going on?”
Her brow furrows as she types. “I’ve been so busy trying to sort the bonds that I haven’t noticed anything off, but it’s strange.
A rich family like this should be ordering us around, making us jump through hoops until our feet fall off.
So, why aren’t they? I find it hard to believe that they’re just that well-adjusted, especially given all our experience through the years. ”
“Mags, what’s the big deal? They’ve obviously got money. There are guards and servants everywhere, and this place has to cost quite a bit for upkeep. I doubt we’re going to get shafted when this job is done.”
Like Nik, I fail to understand what’s triggering Mags’s panic. The omegas are being nice; so what?
The frantic typing stops, and Mags sits back with a groan. “Fuck. We’ve been played.”
Her thoughts and feelings are such a jumbled mess that even I can’t sort them out. “Mags, just tell us what’s happening.”
She turns her laptop around so the rest of us can see the screen. “This house is on the market. Has been for years. The previous owners died, and their estate is asking so much for the place that no offers have been made. Tell me, why would a rich pack be squatting?”
The three of us gather around the screen, and a collective sense of dread seeps through our bonds.
Kaden recovers first. “But they’ve got so many staff members on duty … Like, that costs money. So does the electricity, the gardening—everything costs money. They’ve got to have something to pay everyone with.”
“Like they plan on paying us?” Mags raises a brow. “I’d bet that most of the so-called staff are new hires. Like, as new as us.”
“That’s a big con, if it’s the case.” Nik sighs and scrubs his face with his hands.
“But you vetted them, Mags.” Kaden’s worry radiates off him in waves. “You always vet our marks. How could they get past that?”
Mags shuts the laptop. “I … might have been distracted. I hadn’t run full backgrounds on the backup list. I sort of rushed the check I did right before we signed up.”
Even without the pack bond, I can see her shame. Slumped shoulders, red face, and she’s not making eye contact with any of us. Nik puts a supportive hand on her shoulder, but she shrugs it off. “We’re boned. I’m sorry, guys.”
“Mags, two things: One, it’s not your fault. I pushed you into changing the con. And two: I’m not convinced they’re grifting us. I mean, what’s their objective?”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
I pause to consider it. The Langley family has unsuccessfully been trying to breed their omega daughters, who don’t act like typical rich omegas. In fact, they act almost like …
“Wait.”
Everyone looks at me.
“Are we sure the daughters are omegas? I mean, Nik, you’ve got the best nose of all of us. Do they smell like omega?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ve been standing guard outside doors mostly. I’ve barely interacted with the daughters. I don’t think any of the guards have. Do you think they’re betas?”
I nod. “Yeah, I do. It would explain the difficulty breeding, and it would explain why they don’t seem to know how to throw their omega weight around.
If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say they haven’t been at this very long.
The omega part, that is. I’m betting that Mr. and Mrs. Langley started billing them as rich omegas to reach a better breeding pool.
Betas can get pregnant, after all, but it takes a lot of effort. ”
Kaden picks up where I left off. “And stronger alphas have a better chance of getting a beta pregnant. Okay, so why try to get their kids knocked up? What’s in it for the Langleys?”
All eyes turn towards Mags.
“What? Why are you looking at me?”
Nik smirks. “You’re the master. No one knows how to run a con better than you, so I’m sure you can at least speculate why they’d go to these lengths.”
Mags sits for a few moments, tapping her fingernails on the laptop in a staccato rhythm. I can feel her mind running through different scenarios, things she might do if she were trying to con several people at once.
Her fingers stop tapping, and her eyes widen when the memories of the guards from our late-night walk through the gardens pass through her mind—and through the bond.
“What is it?” I ask.
She gets up and digs through her suitcase, tossing clothes and papers on the floor, then sitting down right on the tile to sort through all the paperwork. “Everyone, check your contract.”
Kaden frowns. “Why? You drafted those contracts yourself. Just look on your computer.”
Mags shakes her head. “No. Get your printed copies, the ones you signed.”
We all go to our various hiding places and pull out our contracts, handing them to Mags for review.
“What’s wrong?” Nervous energy pours from Nik. And Mags. And us, too.
She scans each contract, one by one, until she gets to her own. Dread fills the bond to the point where I start to shake from fear.
“I messed up,” she whispers, “I messed up big time.”
Nik squats next to where Mags sits on the floor. “Just tell us what’s going on, Mags. We won’t get mad.”
“You might.”
She hands her contract to Nik and points to a paragraph.
“When Kip and I went for a walk a few nights ago, the guards told us we couldn’t leave the grounds until the daughters’ heats were done.
I didn’t think anything about it at the time—after all, we’re heat helpers—but just now, I remembered that I didn’t add any such clause when I drafted these.
” She picks up the other three contracts.
“These all have clauses forbidding us from leaving until the omegas get pregnant. And if they don’t …
” She swallows hard, and tears stream down her face.
“What if they don’t?”
Mags’s mouth opens and shuts, but no sound comes out. Nik answers Kaden’s question for her.
“If they don’t get pregnant within the first month of the contract, we get sold.”