Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
~Harlow~
I'm cursed. It is the only thing that makes any possible sense. Of all the places to land a job, it has to be working for the very people I have been running from for years, and the jerk I spilled coffee on just has to be the damn Alpha and my new boss.
Great, the first chance I get, I am buying a sage stick and cleansing the heck out of myself. A bad omen must be clinging to me. Surely my luck isn't this shitty?
After Thane stalks off toward his office, the other two follow quickly to their own as they part ways, leaving me with Leila.
"I think that went rather well; don't you think?" she asks while side-eyeing me. I raise an eyebrow at her. Well? More like a disaster. It's clear they hate me already. I have been here minutes and am seriously considering telling her to jam her job offer up her tiny ass.
Leila shows me around the floor. I discover it has a small kitchenette, which has Chinese takeout containers piled in the sink, the bin is overflowing, and there are coffee stains on the counter.
If this is their place of work, I would hate to see the state of their home.
Leila then writes a list of how they like their coffees before showing me the bathroom, which is surprisingly clean, or cleaner than the kitchenette anyway, and then she shows me to the filing room. That is a total nightmare.
The door won't even open completely from the stacks of files piled behind it. Every countertop is covered, and there is a little path from the door to the printer and a small fax machine. It also stinks heavily of dust.
"I'm assuming you know how to use the fax machine and the printer?"
I nod my head, gawking at the room in horror, yet I love cleaning. It must be an Omega thing. My mother loved it too. There’s nothing better than seeing the before and after of hard work, so at least I know my tasks for today.
"Great, well, here is your login. This is the key to the fire exit, you know, just in case, though I doubt you will need it," she shrugs, handing me folders and a tablet.
Leila follows me to my desk and watches me log in before nodding. "All set then, lunch is at one, finishes at 1:40, the day is over at 6 p.m.," she says, about to walk to the elevator.
"Ah, Leila?" I call. I have to ask, praying my assumptions are wrong, yet I need to know.
"Yes?" she asks, moving back toward me. She stops at the edge of the desk, and I lean over, keeping my voice low.
"Um, Thane, his dislike for Omegas—"
She waves a dismissive hand in the air. "They’ll get over it." She rolls her eyes.
"They once had an Omega, and she ran from them, taking Thane's last serum with her," she says.
"That's why they hate Omegas? Because she ran from them?" I ask. Leila nods and sighs.
"That, and the fact that Harlow killed Mrs. Keller.
They were barely able to hold the pack together.
Thane hunted Harlow after what she did, but he couldn't find her.
She just vanished. She must be dead. No way anyone could survive in those woods, especially an Omega, in full-blown rogue territory," she says, staring off vacantly.
"Their Omega killed Thane's mother?" I ask, outraged. I did no such thing.
"Yep, they found her body next to some restaurant, her throat was cut, and her car was gone, though we found it in a gully, along with the poor man she ran off the road and killed. Tragic, really; Thane and the pack wanted her as a mate, not a breeder.
“She nearly destroyed them. Thane's fathers killed themselves after his mother died. Leon went crazed with bloodlust. Thane—well, that's another story," she says, and I swallow.
"So, you have worked here for a while, I guess," I tell her, sitting back in my chair. Whoever attacked us that day covered it up and framed me.
"Of course, I started here when they first took over. I'm Leon's sister," she says with a flick of her hair. So, won't be confiding to her then, I note quickly.
"I should probably get to work," I tell her. She laughs and nods.
"Me too. It wouldn't be the first time Thane has fired me for slacking, so make sure you're always doing something. Don't let them catch you twiddling your thumbs," she says, giving me a wink before strolling to the elevator.
Surprisingly, the job is straightforward, or maybe they just aren't as demanding since it is my first day.
After cleaning the kitchenette, I sort my desk.
Those are simple tasks. However, after cleaning, I spend most of the day in the filing room, or should I say paper room, because not a thing is actually filed in the cabinets, just tossed on the counters.
I spend all day scanning everything into an electronic system, which I think is odd being that it is a tech company, and yet nothing is filed electronically. They certainly have not put a file away in months, maybe years, in the cabinets.
Lost in the task at hand, I don't realize one of them is looking for me until his rage-filled, booming voice reverberates to me, making me stiffen.
"Omega!" Thane bellows. I press my lips in a line. Surely, he will not address me like that all the time?
"Maybe you scared her off already," Raidon chuckles, and I listen as the footsteps draw closer.
"Can only fucking hope. Now where the fuck is she? Useless, bloody woman thinking—" his words stop as he enters the filing room just as I am about to get up off the floor where I was sorting the last stack of documents.
Thane's mouth opens and closes as he glances around the room that was piled almost to the roof in some places with files, now, tidy as can be. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly before his eyes fall on me, his gaze turning to a glare.
"If you threw the files out—"
I open the drawer beside me, and he shuts up instantly.
"Do you need something? Everything is filed by the year, date, and in Alphabetical order. I also added the electronic filing system to each of your desktops," I tell him. Raidon whistles low and laughs, rocking on his heels and placing one hand in his pocket.
"Well, guess we aren't firing her," Raidon chuckles, patting Thane's shoulder.
"Get me a coffee and then go to lunch," Thane says, walking out. Raidon quickly follows, and I sigh. Okay then!
As I’m making coffee for Thane, Rhen comes into the kitchenette and leans on the doorframe. His scent alerts me to his presence behind me and I try to breathe through my mouth.
His gaze bores into the back of my head, making me nervous, and I clutch the spoon tighter when I feel the telltale signs that my pills are wearing off. Slick dampens my panties, and I press my thighs together, only to realize he is purring, which induced it.
They are either trying to make me quit or give Thane a reason to fire me. I continue to breathe through my mouth, refusing to inhale his scent. I briefly wonder, however, if my pills aren't working because I am, in fact, their Omega.
The serum acclimates us to our Alphas, for our bodies to recognize them as our mates. Could that be why, since coming in contact with them, they suddenly appear to be hardly working at all?
Or am I looking too far into it? All I know is if I go into heat, it could be dangerous.
Thane may recognize me as his Omega. My pheromones would make him insane. I wonder if the serum had a use-by date; would it wear off one day if it is never activated and the bond is not completed? I’ll have to remind myself to look that up when I can.
"Breathe, little Omega, I don't bite. Not Omegas anyway," Rhen laughs before doing that stupid purring again.
"Can you stop purring? I know you are doing it deliberately," I say through gritted teeth as I fight the instinct to crawl into the damn man's lap and scent him. Rhen laughs, and I feel the heat of his body radiate up my back before feeling his breath on my hair as he moves behind me.
"Why? Does it make you want to beg for my knot? Does it bother you that you are too weak to deny me if I ordered you on your knees? You're nothing but a lowly Omega. Must truly suck holding no power," he growls behind me.
"For a lowly Omega, Mr. Keller, I seem to have a great effect on your ability to restrain yourself," I tell him, pressing my ass against his legs and bumping the erection I feel digging into my back.
"You claim to hate Omegas, but you are fantasizing about me on my knees, fantasizing about me begging at your feet, because you wouldn't use your purr on a lowly Omega if you weren't," I retort.
Fire me, see if I care. I am not putting up with sexual harassment. If I want that, I can take Tal up on his offer to work the floor. Rhen growls, the noise sending a jolt through me.
"Watch your tongue, Omega."
I shrug in response.
"Must suck having no one to take your knot. Is that why you are fascinated with tormenting me, Mr. Keller? Are you hoping I will beg for you to take me, since your mates can’t?" I tread dangerously.
We both know he can order me to my knees if he wanted, and just like he said, I would be powerless against it. Yet, he also knows I’m right. I’ve been fighting my instincts for years, but has he? Around an Omega, his urges and baser instincts could destroy him just as easily as me.
"Rhen!" Thane's deep voice echoes through the room, and Rhen startles behind me, moving away. I glance over my shoulder to find Thane standing in the doorway.
"Go pick up Leon for me and bring him back here," Thane says to him, yet his angry black eyes are on me. He clenches his teeth, making the muscle in his jaw pop. Rhen saunters over to him and I think it’s the end of his little game, when he stops beside Thane.
Thane, clearly angered by whatever the heck Rhen is doing, looks at his mate.
Rhen smirks, gripping the front of Thane's shirt and grabbing Thane's crotch, squeezing him as he presses his lips to Thane's.
Thane growls, and Rhen steps back. The scene causes some strange sensation to ripple through me; one I have never felt before, and it only takes me a few moments to recognize it.
Pack urges. The urge to live within a pack, to be protected and cherished: something all Omegas crave, and I am no different.
It makes me think of my parents and the love they shared, and then it makes me think of my little Den back in the shitty apartment I was kicked out of.
The safety I feel within my Den, my little pack of one.
How I crave what they have, that sense of belonging.
I swallow and turn my gaze back to making coffee.
I hear Rhen chuckle before hearing his footsteps as he leaves.
Thane, however, doesn't leave. Pouring the steamed milk in, I hand him his cup, trying to breathe around the lump that has suddenly formed in my throat.
You hate everything about being an Omega, I remind myself.
Yet, that has changed over the last year or so.
Werewolves are pack creatures and being alone is lonely.
With my sister, I was never alone. Until I was.
Since since then, I crave companionship.
Someone who understands me just as well as she did.
"Don't let me catch you teasing my mates again," Thane says, as I turn to hand him his mug.
The words slip from my lips before I fully register them.
"Yes, Alpha," I say before internally cringing at myself and cursing at my stupidity.
Yet, it doesn't make his following words sting any less, though they shouldn't have hurt at all.
How is it possible to be upset over someone you despise?
I hate Alphas, hate the control they have while I hold none.
"I am not your Alpha!" he growls, snatching the mug from my grip and stalking off, his words more painful than if he had slapped me. Omegas crave praise from their Alpha and want to please their Alphas. I hate that part, yet still, his words break a tiny splinter in me that I swallow down.
You will not break! Especially in front of that asshole, I scold myself.