Chapter 2
Chapter two
A New Prison
Cole had led me into the lift and produced a gold card from her trouser pocket to take us down to the ground floor.
In the light of the lift, her complexion was perfect: sculpted eyebrows, a sharp jawline, full lips, and there wasn’t a curl out of place.
I tried not to stare, looking away and meeting our reflection in the black mirrored wall.
The difference between us was mockingly shocking.
She was tall, her clothing fitting perfectly, her beauty as unquestioning as the power she exuded, and there I was, my hair frizzy, a mess, lopsided with one high-heeled shoe missing its heel, my makeup somehow smudged.
I always felt self-conscious because I knew I was being seen and noticed, but standing next to Cole created a new, worse kind of self-consciousness because I wasn’t just being seen; I was being seen in comparison to her.
As we stepped out of the lift into the Valmont Grand Reception, Cole was immediately speaking.
“My car?” Cole asked a blonde woman who carried a tablet in both her hands and approached the lift as the doors opened, as if she had been expecting us.
“Waiting outside,” the woman, whom I assumed was an assistant, answered.
“Thank you, Chloe,” Cole said and began to walk towards the exit.
I followed behind her. The doorman didn’t speak as Cole passed him, and I noticed the way he lowered his head instead.
A driver waited outside a large black executive people carrier, beside an open door.
Cole didn’t enter immediately; she turned and gestured for me to get in. I took the furthest seat from the open door, and Cole followed, taking the seat beside me.
The interior was pure luxury: a large arm console sat between us, and two further seats sat opposite us. Chloe sat in the seat opposite Cole and pulled out a hidden, folded table from her armrest, producing a laptop from the bag she carried to replace her tablet.
“We should be back by late morning. Alpha Sara has scheduled a meeting with you this morning, and this afternoon you have a business lunch with Sepher Logistics,” Chloe said as the door closed electronically and the driver returned to the cab.
It was clear that Cole was a woman of means and power, and the kind of full schedule that comes with being second in charge of one of the most powerful packs and a powerful institution. Sandstorm Credit House was old money.
“When did Sara request this meeting, and did she provide objectives?” Cole enquired.
“Alpha Sara did not provide any objectives for the meeting,” Chloe half-answered.
I tried not to watch Cole, but I couldn’t stop myself. She smiled, almost playfully, in response to Chloe’s answers, like there was an inside joke.
“Where are we going?” I asked as silence fell and the car joined the highway.
“We’re going to my pack home, a private gated community along the east coast: Lucian Hill,” Cole answered.
“Oh, okay,” I said.
Lucian Hill was where the richest and most powerful wolves lived.
Ashford had tried and failed to rent a flat in the Lucian Hill area last spring.
He took the rejection as a slight against himself and Pack Blizzard.
The truth was, it had been out of his price range, and he had not passed the credit check.
Cole opened the centre arm console and retrieved a tablet, tapping away on it for a few minutes.
“Would you like to read while we travel?” she asked softly.
The offer was unexpected. “I can’t,” I answered, which resulted in a stifled giggle from Chloe.
“You can’t read?” Chloe asked judgmentally.
“What? No!” I said too loudly. “I mean, I can read. I just can’t read in a car; I get travel sick,” I replied, insulted that that was what they would think of me. Did they think that omegas don't read now?
“I understand that you find yourself in an unexpected situation, and that perhaps you are struggling to mentally reconcile your current circumstances, but I do not tolerate disrespect, and I suggest you rethink how you speak to others in my presence,” Cole warned, and despite the lack of bark behind her words, her calmness was in itself threatening.
“I—” I swallowed. “I’m sorry, Alpha,” I answered, bowing my head.
“Only Alpha Sara—” Chloe began.
“I expect not to hear another word from you unless it relates to business,” Cole said.
I bowed my head lower, my chin tucked against my chest. Hoping I was small enough, submissive enough to placate her.
“If Harriet so chooses as my omega, she may refer to me as her Alpha,” Cole continued, and I looked up.
Her attention and her stern eyes were not focused on me but on Chloe, who looked like a chastised schoolchild and only nodded in reply.
Cole turned to me, and I ducked my head quickly again. She sighed.
“If you do not want to read, you may sit quietly,” she instructed.
“I will,” I assured her.
“Good girl,” she praised, and I lifted my head, but she was already typing away on her phone.
It was degrading to be referred to as a good girl, but also pleasing… It made me feel fidgety as it sat in my stomach in a way I was unfamiliar with. It felt… nice. It felt nice to be praised by an Alpha, and that realisation was disturbing. I had never felt anything like that before.
The car journey was filled with Cole and Chloe discussing her schedule and arrangements for the coming days. I didn’t pay much attention to the details of their talk.
I was bone tired; I hadn’t slept in close to twenty-four hours, and even then, the last time I had slept, I had only managed a few hours before I had to begin preparing for our travel to the game.
My head nodded forward a few times, but I fought off my exhaustion.
I had to remain alert. I was in new territory with an alpha I didn’t know, and I had no idea what was expected of me now, only that an alpha with a mythical reputation for violence and dominance was presenting herself as some calm, measured businesswoman.
The reputation and the woman did not reconcile.
Perhaps it was the shock of the initial situation that had kept me calm.
Maybe it was the darkness of the night that made it feel like a dream, something unreal.
The drive lasted long enough for the sun to rise and the rest of the city to wake up.
But when we reached the gated Lucian Hill, and security opened the large barrier gate to the expansive neighbourhood, the realness of my situation dawned on me like the rising sun.
Chloe was dropped off outside tall, slim townhouses, with no fanfare, no farewells. The driver stopped, and she exited. The driver continued deeper into the community, where the houses grew larger, each with its own security gate and a sweeping driveway.
We drove along a tarmac private driveway, up to the front of a large house. There was a double garage as a separate building off to the side; the main house was modern with a touch of old, white decorative pillars at the entrance steps, and green manicured lawns to the front.
“This is home,” Cole said as the driver opened her door.
We exited the car, and I followed Cole up the steps to the front door. She paused on the steps and held her hand out to stop me as she tilted her head to the side. I watched as her nostrils flared, clearly scenting something or someone.
She turned to me.
“Behave,” she warned me sternly, and I was confused by the sudden switch in her tone.
She had been calm and pleasant, speaking to me with kindness, offering praise even. The sudden clipped command set me on edge.