Chapter 07
DARIUS
Xander was quiet for the entire journey as I drove us to the little restaurant I favored on the outskirts of town. It wasn’t a fancy place, but the food was excellent and the atmosphere cozy. If I only got one night to date my omega before we mated, this was where I wanted to bring him.
A change had come over him in the time I’d been sorting out the mess down at the omega-house.
Anytime there was a problem there, the omegas called for me to fix it.
In reality, Zendius would have been more than capable of sorting out that particular issue, but for some reason the omegas insisted on me helping them.
They seemed to place more trust in me than any of the other alphas or betas.
It didn’t hurt that my sister was an omega, strong-willed, and a champion for omega rights; she was much loved by the other omegas, and since she trusted me, they in turn showed me the same confidence.
That didn’t change the fact that something had happened after I’d left him in our room. He’d barely looked at me when at last I came back, even though I’d hurried as much as possible. He’d showered and dressed silently and waited quietly for me to get ready.
Had I misread things in the office earlier? Had I pressured him into something he wasn’t ready for, and had it actually been a relief for him when Zendius interrupted us?
Or was he nervous about the night ahead?
Or the role he was about to take on?
Being the Alpha Mate was an important role in a shifter pack, and it brought with it a lot of responsibilities, many of which were intangible.
While the Pack Alpha might have the burden of maintaining discipline and setting the moral standards of the pack, the Alpha Mate was inevitably responsible for the emotional wellbeing of the pack, particularly the omegas.
It was a role that relied on emotional intelligence, compassion and good old common sense, not that the latter was terribly common anymore, based on what was happening in some of the neighboring packs.
We’d been doing fine as my sister had largely been filling the role until now, but I knew she was impatient to hand it over and start living her own life.
So maybe this was the cause of Xander’s sudden withdrawal. I planned to get to the bottom of it, and I hoped that the ambience of the restaurant and the opportunity to spend some quiet time getting to know each other would loosen him up.
When we arrived at the restaurant, I pulled into a parking and jumped out of the car, intending to open his door, but Xander was already out before I could get there.
Disappointed, I offered him my hand, but he ignored it, feet crunching on the gravel as he walked past me towards the restaurant.
I stared after him in dismay – the evening was already not going how I’d intended – though I did get momentarily distracted as I admired the way his fine ass filled out his jeans.
Which could only be described as… impressive.
When I didn’t immediately follow, he turned and raised one of those expressive eyebrows at me.
There was a level of challenge in his stare that I didn’t understand.
Still, I could appreciate that none of this was the way things were normally done, and although I had half fallen for him on seeing his photo, the same was probably not the case for Xander.
It was understandable that he might have reservations, but he had agreed to this mating, so a little less prickliness would have been nice.
It did occur to me then, that I knew nothing about what had motivated him to accept this offer.
Maybe that was something I needed to find out.
Ignoring Xander’s bristly attitude, I strode past him, my long legs easily carrying me to the restaurant door before him.
He narrowed his eyes and glared at me as I held the door open but he didn’t say anything, the soft fabric of his shirt brushing against my fingers as he pushed past me.
I was definitely going to have my hands full with him.
Which, to be fair, I didn’t mind. I liked to be challenged, didn’t want a totally submissive partner.
But I did hope he allowed us to develop a proper relationship and bond as mates.
“Darius! So good to welcome you here again.” The auburn-haired lady at the front desk cut across my thoughts, recognizing me even though it had been many months since I’d been here.
“Good evening, Corinne. It’s a pleasure to see you too. It’s been a while,” I returned her warm greeting.
“It has indeed. It’s good to see you out and about again.”
I stifled a grimace. I didn’t need reminding that the last time I’d been here, I’d been with an omega who had been cheating on me because I wasn’t spending enough time with them.
They were right, but well, that was my life.
That was why I had no mate and was obliged to take this drastic step now.
It was also in the past. After meeting Xander, I was a lot more motivated this time.
Corinne eyed Xander up and down. Turning to me with a not-so-subtle smile, she asked, “And who is this delightful gentleman?”
“I’m Xander,” Xander jumped in, making sure he didn’t allow me to answer for him.
“My future mate,” I added, staking my claim.
Corinne whistled approvingly. If she noticed any tension between us, she didn’t let on.
“Congratulations!” she said. “I’m honored you’ve brought him to my restaurant.”
Then turning to face Xander directly, she added, “I’m very pleased to meet you. I hope you treat him well. Darius is one of the good ones. He does a lot for us omegas.”
Surprise flittered across Xander’s face and was gone just as fast.
“Come this way,” Corinne ushered us smoothly towards a table for two set in a secluded alcove of the restaurant. “I recognized your name on the booking sheet,” she admitted. “When I saw you weren’t coming alone, I thought you’d like this table.”
“Thank you, Corinne. You’re as thoughtful as always,” I bowed my head to her.
“I’ll leave you two gentlemen to settle in. Your server will be across shortly.”
We seated ourselves and Xander watched as Corinne made her way to the front desk to greet the next group of arrivals. As soon as she was out of earshot, he spoke.
“Did I get that right? Is she… does she own this place? She’s an omega, right?”
I laughed. The expression of disbelief on his face was something to behold.
“Yes, and yes. This is her restaurant. She started it herself a couple of years ago.”
Xander looked stunned. “I’ve never heard of an omega running a business before. I’m certain that isn’t allowed back where I came from.”
“Yeah, well things are a bit different in the major cities,” I told him.
“There the Council has a much bigger stranglehold over things. In the city, money talks. But out here, where it’s all pack lands and small towns, not so much.
The packs are a bit more open-minded and as much as we can, we set our own rules.
If an omega wants to be independent, they can.
Well, not every pack thinks like that, of course, but the majority do.
And while technically this restaurant isn’t on pack lands, we’d still jump in and defend her if anyone tried to mess with Corinne’s business. ”
“So, is that what she meant about you being good to omegas? I… I had the impression you were a… player.” The last word came out as a half-mumble. A touch of pink colored his cheeks.
I laughed. I wasn’t, had never been, a player. And I was pretty sure I had more of a reputation as a recluse than as someone who enjoyed the favors of the local omega population.
“I don’t know where you got that idea. I really don’t date often.
Ever since taking over the pack, I haven’t had time to put much effort into relationships.
” I cringed as I said that, because I knew it didn’t sound promising.
The truth was, though, that until now I’d also never met anyone who inspired me to make the time.
I owed him the truth. “I never met anyone who I really wanted to make it work with either, so… I didn’t,” I shrugged. “But I am willing now.”
Xander looked at me skeptically, but before I could insist or attempt to convince him, our server arrived to take our drinks order.
Once he was gone, Xander turned to me again, veering away from the more personal topic of my dating habits.
“Tell me more about the ways you’re helping omegas.”
“Well, I’m not doing as much as I’d like to,” I replied, thinking of the numerous constraints imposed by the Council.
“But I ensure all our pack omegas get an education, including supporting them while they attend university, if that’s what they want, and we help them find jobs.
We’ve also introduced a number of programs to support those omegas that want to live independently, provide heat suppressants, and when needed, find appropriate alphas to take unmated omegas through their heats – if that’s what they want, of course. ”
That last program was something I was particularly proud of.
Omegas could only take heat-suppressants for so long before they risked damaging their health and future reproductive capacity, and toys could only go so far in easing an omega through heat.
Omegas were mating older, these days, or even not at all, so heats were becoming more of an issue.
Omegas often wanted a trusted alpha to help them through their heatsbut sometimes they didn’t have anyone close to them that they felt comfortable sharing such intimacy with.
We had several unattached alphas in the pack who were exceptionally kind and discreet and could be trusted to help out when required.
They were very well regarded, and their services were pretty popular within the pack.
Using one of our own alphas for this service did mean the omegas would run into them from time to time as part of normal pack life, however, and some omegas felt uncomfortable about this.
Therefore, I had made arrangements with another pack whose Alpha I knew well, and they provided us with a couple of trusted alphas when required.
All the alphas had been carefully vetted and we’d never had any complaints about them, quite the opposite.
The pack provided accommodation in a secluded section of our pack lands where the omega could see out their heat with the alpha without embarrassment or feeling self-conscious.
Of course, that was the ideal. Omega heats could be brutal and humiliating, and I couldn’t guarantee no omega ever felt embarrassed.
But we tried to create an environment where whatever happened during an omega heat was considered natural and normal, and from information relayed back to me from my sister, the omegas were extremely pleased with arrangements.
“As Alpha Mate you’d be able to introduce your own programs to help omegas.”
That was when I saw the first bit of genuine interest in those stormy green eyes. But of course it came with a challenge.
“Yeah? Even though I have no education myself?”
“Um. Firstly, you don’t need a formal education to have good ideas about what needs to be done. Betas and alphas are usually the ones that create the programs, but as an omega you’re better placed than most to understand what really matters.”
Xander acknowledged that, nodding his head gravely. “And second?”
“Secondly… well, I’m pretty damn surprised your uncle didn’t give you an education. Goddess knows, he’s got the money…”
Xander scoffed, interrupting. “My uncle doesn’t give two fucks about omegas. All his kids are alphas. Living in his house was… unpleasant.” The disdainful curl of his lip suggested this was an understatement.
My hackles rose. “Did he… did he hit you?” My voice dropped to a low growl. My wolf was possessive and he did not like this.
The silence was telling. Xander dropped his eyes. In a low voice, he mumbled, “Not often. I locked myself in my room, to keep out of his way. My cousins were no better so it was best to stay away from the whole family.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, placing my hand over his where it picked at the tablecloth.
“I’m fine,” he said sharply, withdrawing his hand. “I survived it. Now I’ll just survive this.”
That felt like a punch to the gut and I sat back in my seat.
I thought the evening had been going well, and that Xander had been warming up to me.
We seemed to have a certain amount of physical chemistry, but we still had to get to know each other.
Xander’s mood swings were dizzying. I wasn’t used to dealing with that sort of thing.
“If you don’t want to go through with this…” I began, but he shut me down.
“I do. Now can we please order? I'm hungry.”
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. We ate, we drank, and we conversed. The man was intriguing. He kept his information close to his chest. He'd definitely built some walls around himself, and I was going to have to find a way over them if this mating was to mean anything at all.