Chapter 77
Chapter Seventy-Seven
~Thane~
Alpha Jake keeps looking at his phone throughout the meeting. He seems somewhat distracted, and I end up cutting the meeting short. He is getting on my nerves.
“We can do this another time. You are clearly distracted,” I tell him getting up from my seat.
“Sorry, I have something going on, but yes, we can go over the last of the details over the phone,” he tells me, and I nod.
I want to leave early today anyway. I want to see if I can convince my mates to come home, or even just one of them.
I can’t handle being in that damn house by myself. The quiet is driving me insane.
I walk Alpha Jake to the elevator when he pauses at Harlow’s old desk.
“What about your Omega? Why isn’t she in today?” he asks, and I growl, not liking him speaking of her.
“Did you know who she is?” I ask him. He was the other bidder, and from what I heard from Harlow, he knew her twin sister. That is, if she was telling the truth.
“No. What you mean?” he says.
I shake my head and motion for him to leave. “Safe travels,” I tell him.
He looks like he wants to say something, but I am already walking back to my office. On my way there, I hear my desk phone ring. Pushing my office door open, I move quickly to grab it before it rings out. Picking it up, I see it is Elaine.
“Hey, Elaine,” I answer the call.
“Well, finally, some good comes out of that wench,” Elaine tells me, and my brows furrow at her words.
“Pardon?”
“Harlow, some good did come from her, and now you can be done with her.”
“Elaine, I am not taking Sarah as an Omega,” I tell her.
“Oh, I know that you boys are too stubborn for that. I am talking about Harlow. She’s pregnant, Thane.
I’ve got her test results in my hand. She is pregnant.
So, you can get your pup—or fingers crossed she’s pregnant with more than one—then we can kill her.
Problem solved: breed her and bury her,” Elaine tells me.
“Harlow is pregnant?” I ask her.
“Yes, did you not hear me? Is it a bad line?” she asks, mistaking my silence for a bad connection. “Hello?” she says after a few seconds.
“Okay,” I tell her.
“Okay. Thane, you need to get her home before she runs off and uses that baby against you. That is why I called you. We have already lost so much because of her. And I refuse to lose a grandchild too. At least some good has come out of this mess,” she says, and I swallow.
I hardly hear anything else she says after that. I hang up just as Rhen and Leon wander into my office, also wanting to leave early today.
“What’s wrong with you?” Leon asks, stealing my bottle of Coke off my desk. Opening it, he takes a sip of it.
“Harlow is pregnant,” I tell them, a little shocked by the information. Leon chokes on his next sip.
“She’s pregnant?” Rhen asks.
“Elaine just called me,” I tell them just as Raidon comes in. He stops, glancing around at us, feeling all our shock.
“So, is someone going to speak?” Raidon asks, peering at us.
“Harlow is pregnant,” Leon blurts out, yet despite this good news, they watch me warily, as if nervous about how I’ll react to this information.
* * *
~Harlow~
I feel like throwing up. I glance at the clock as the time gets closer. I am on the verge of a panic attack in the small room attached to the functions room as the security helps set up the boxes we are expected to lay in.
I shake my hands and pace the small room, trying to encourage myself. It is just a job, yet I feel sickened by what I am about to do. I’m not like Bree. This isn’t a business transaction to me. This is my body; I can’t detach from it like she can.
Hearing voices as the function room fills with people, I glance around nervously for Bree before peering through the black curtain that separates us from the men on the other side.
The door opens, and Bree rushes in. She thanks the security staff, who assure us they will be on the other side of the curtain to make sure they don’t try to hurt us in any way.
Hearing that makes the pit in my stomach open up more.
“Breathe, Harlow. They won’t hurt us, and Shane is on the other side. It’ll be fun. Just relax!” she says, rubbing my arms before slipping her clothes off, leaving her in just a bra, panties, and heels.
Bree is about to climb onto the table and slide her bottom half through when the door opens, and Talon walks in, his head down as he peers at his phone.
“We are three girls shor—" his words cut off abruptly when he lifts his head and sees me. His eyes run the length of me before he pins Bree with a glare.
“No! Are you fucking insane, Bree? Thane will kill me,” Talon says, grabbing my arm. Bree rushes to my side and gives him a shove.
“She is a grown adult and can make her own decisions, Tal,” Bree snaps at him.
“She has mates. I don’t even like that you are doing this shit, but you insist. I would rather get rid of these shows altogether.”
“And what, Tal? Make me a fucking housewife?” she snaps at him.
“Yes, I don’t like you working the floors either. We’ve talked about this!” he snarls at her, and I am completely forgotten as they start to argue.
“Wake up, Talon! You don’t want me. I’m not an Omega; I can’t carry your children. I am not going to commit to you only to be tossed aside.”
“I am not one of those Alphas, Bree. I don’t want kids! I have told you this!” he snarls before reaching for me. He jerks me toward him, and Bree grabs my other arm.
“Let her go. Thane doesn’t give a shit what she does, Talon. She doesn’t even live with them after he kicked her out! What does that say about her being their mate?” she snarls.
“He kicked you out? I know you fought, but Leon told me they are talking to him and will sort it all out,” Talon says, looking confused.
“See, she doesn’t belong to him."
“I don’t like this. No, she still bears their mark, Bree!”
“You don’t have to like it. And with some de-scenter, they won’t even be able to tell,” Bree is quick to defend, tossing the can I just used at him. Talon grits his teeth and storms out, slamming the door.
Bree squeezes my arm. “He won’t say anything,” Bree tells me, waving him off.
Bree climbs up onto the table using a small stool, she waves for me to do the same, and I chew my lip, having serious second thoughts about doing this.
The room on the other side is full of voices, and I hear security explaining the rules, what they can and can’t do to us, and the repercussions if they tried, when I hear a familiar voice.
I have no idea why, but it has my brows scrunching as I try to place where I’ve heard the voice before. I listen to the men’s banter and chatter. I shake my head, changing my mind when Bree climbs off the table and grips my arms.
“It’s just sex. Do you want to leave the city or not?” she asks, looking me dead in the face.
“I do; I just don’t think this is the way for me to do it,” I tell her. I regret not taking Alpha Jake’s offer. I still have his phone number. Maybe I can call him. I hear the familiar voice again. I peer toward the curtain.
“It’s five thousand dollars. That will get you out of the city and set you up until you find a job,” she tells me.
Yeah, but it still won’t last long, and I’m not sure I can go through with it.
“Maybe Tammy,” I suggest when the deep voice has my head turning toward the curtain. I step forward when she grabs my arm.
“I need to know. If you can’t, I’ll get Tammy. You have ten minutes, so choose now. Are you in or not?” she asks, and I swallow, feeling guilty that I wasted her time.
“I’m sorry, Bree. I can’t do it.”
She drops her head and sighs.
“It’s okay, I’ll send for Tammy,” she says, running her fingers through her hair. She tugs the curtain back slightly and peers out at Shane, yet makes sure to keep herself hidden from the men on the other side.
“Can you ask Tammy to swap places with Z?”
He nods, walking off when she closes the curtain.
“Who are they?” I ask her nervously.
“Some Alpha Pack,” she says dismissively, when I hear that voice again.
It has me pinching the side of the curtain to look out.
Peeking out, I see men drinking and moving around when the one directly in front of the curtain steps aside a little more, letting me look past his body at the others, and I gasp. Mr. Black?
I take a step back, letting the curtain close.
“Z?” Bree asks, knowing better than to use my name when a flimsy curtain is all that separates us from them. I shake my head.
“I need to go,” I tell her, spinning on my heel and ripping the door open. I rush out, only for a set of hands to grip my arms tightly. A feral growl tears out of him, as he jerks me to him.
“When Talon called me, I thought he was fucking lying,” he snaps at me.
I gulp, looking up at Thane.