Chapter 3
Chapter three
Washing the Smell Away.
Cole opened the door without needing to unlock it.
I followed into a warm, teal entrance hall, and as she walked past the stairs with a dark grey banister leading to the upper floors, into a reception room where another woman, who looked a little older but clearly related to Cole, sat waiting on a lush, deep-vine-green velvet sofa.
The woman wore a brown V-neck midi dress and sat elegantly, her ankles crossed and her back straight. She looked effortlessly imposing, like she owned the place.
Her eyes landed on me as I entered the room behind Cole.
“What are you doing here, Sara?” Cole asked, her tone clipped.
The woman was Sara, Alpha of Pack Sandstorm.
“I wanted to see for myself if it was true.” Her critical eyes moved from me to Cole. “I see that it is.”
“Now you’ve seen her, you can leave,” Cole replied.
Sara’s eyes narrowed.
“What possessed you to take her?” Sara demanded, making no effort to leave.
Cole didn’t answer immediately, and an uneasy silence filled the space between the sisters. I felt like I was intruding on something private, like I wanted to shrink to the size of a mouse, smaller, small enough to disappear.
“It was a situational decision,” Cole began, exhaling heavily through her nose. “The Blizzard boy is hot-headed and arrogant. It was clear he used the omega as a status symbol. Claiming her was necessary to ensure compliance,” she explained.
I was just an inconvenient pawn in the game Cole was playing with Ashford.
“Necessary? There was no other way for you to ensure that the boy understood what was required of him?” Sara asked.
“You requested non-violence,” Cole replied.
Sara seemed surprised at this.
“He allowed you to take her without challenge?” she asked, looking me over.
Cole snorted.
“I offered him the opportunity to challenge my claim.” She shrugged. “He didn’t accept.”
The reminder made me feel sick. Ashford didn’t even try to stop me from being taken. He hardly protested. Was he so scared of Cole, or was I just not worth fighting for anymore?
“That is surprising,” Sara said.
Cole hummed in agreement and turned her head to look at me, where I stood just over the entrance to the room.
“Come here,” Cole said, waving me towards her.
I stepped forward apprehensively. Sara was clearly displeased with me; I felt her disdain every time she looked in my direction. I had no desire to be anywhere near an angry alpha.
Cole growled low, frustratedly, stepped forward, took hold of my upper arm, and pulled me to her side.
“Harriet, this is my sister and Alpha of Pack Sandstorm, Sara,” Cole introduced. I bowed my head respectfully. “And, dear sister,” she continued, almost mocking, “this is my current omega, Harriet of Blizzard.”
“Current?” Sara asked, not acknowledging me.
“I told the boy, if he can repay the debt by the National Assembly, that he can have her back,” Cole explained, speaking of me like some schoolyard toy they were arguing over.
Sara laughed derisively.
“You think bringing an omega into our home is trivial, a game even?” Sara asked.
Cole released my arm and sighed exasperatedly.
“She’s an omega, not a bomb,” Cole replied. “What damage can she do? Look at her. What about her is threatening?” she asked.
“Ouch.” The insult stung. I was still a wolf; I had wolfish instincts and a desire to be a capable pack member like everyone else.
“Excuse me?” Cole asked.
I became rigidly still. Had I spoken aloud?
“I, ugh…” I stammered.
“Do you disagree?” she asked.
“No, it’s just… I mean… yeah, I’m not… big and scary like, like, ugh—”
“Like me?” Cole asked, and Sara laughed.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said quietly, an awful mixture of anxious and embarrassed.
“Calm down, puppy,” Cole said, the edge to her voice softening. “There’s no need to whine; I’m sure you’ve got teeth, but I doubt you pack much of a bite.” She smiled, and I couldn’t think of a response.
I was insulted, and part of me riled at the challenge, wanting to protest; I was no puppy but…
Ridiculously, she had a smile like a damn movie star.
Like something so perfect it shouldn’t have been real.
But there she was, Cole, the Storm of Sandstorm, mocking me and causing an antagonistic kaleidoscope of butterflies to ignite into existence inside me.
Sara cleared her throat, and Cole turned her attention away from me and back to her sister, completely unaware of what she had done to me.
“You know the threat doesn’t come from an omega directly.
It’s the disruptive nature of their presence,” Sara said.
“If you're going to keep her until the National Assembly, what do you plan to do with her?” she enquired. Sara had not acknowledged my existence, speaking of me as if I weren’t in the room, standing mere feet away from her.
“I was thinking she could work in housekeeping. Alan was complaining just last week about a lack of staff,” Cole answered.
Sara nodded as if that was answer enough.
I was going to be put to work in housekeeping. It could have been much worse; I might have been expected to follow Cole around as a personal assistant like Ashford demanded. I wasn’t sure if I could stomach Cole the way I tolerated Ashford.
“Fine,” Sara said and stood. “But she is your responsibility, Cole. The National Assembly is only five weeks away, and I expect you to complete your current objectives before then. This omega best not interfere with your responsibilities.”
“When have I ever let the pack down, sister?” Cole asked.
Sara only smiled knowingly in response before she walked past me and towards the entrance.
Cole didn’t follow her sister as she left, and we stood quietly until I heard the front door open and close.
“It’s just the two of us now,” Cole said and turned her eyes back to me. The kaleidoscope reignited.
“Hmm,” I hummed in agreement.
Cole breathed in, scenting the air, and stepped closer to me.
I held my breath.
“Sara’s frustrations are valid,” she said, stepping closer to me until there was barely any space between us. “You weren’t part of the plan.”
“Do you usually go off-plan?” I asked, trying not to breathe too deeply. Trying and failing to avoid scenting her. Ashford threw his pheromones around like a slap. Cole was fresh, a light breeze I wanted to lean into and chase; a fleeting memory, a feeling of something wild. I controlled myself.
She shook her head. “Never.”
“Ashford upset you that much?” I asked, my voice low. Her smile faded to a grin.
“Your alpha isn’t capable of upsetting me,” she answered.
“He isn’t my alpha,” I told her. “I’m his omega, but that doesn’t make him my alpha.”
Her nostrils flared slightly as she inhaled.
“You’re wrong,” she told me, and somehow closed the space between us further, leaning over me. “You’re not his. Not anymore. You’re mine.”
I swallowed hard. The way she claimed me, quietly assured, was unsettling. Ashford needed me, needed everyone, to know that I was his, like it wasn’t true otherwise. Cole said I was hers, as if it just were, as if it were a natural law.
“Until you hand me back at the National Assembly,” I whispered, somehow losing my voice. Cole was just another alpha, more confident, but she wasn’t that different from Ashford.
She laughed and leaned away, giving me space enough to breathe.
“Maybe,” she agreed.
“Now what?” I asked. What did she want with me? What was she going to do if I was so unexpected?
“Now, I’ll show you to the guest room.”
She leaned forward and audibly scented me.
“You stink of him,” she told me. “You need to clean up.”
“All I have are the clothes on my back,” I reminded her.
“I’ll take care of what you need, puppy,” she said and straightened to walk past me.
“Don’t call me that,” I protested.
She laughed.
“Follow me,” she commanded as she headed towards the stairs.
“I mean it,” I said as I followed her up the stairs.
Cole stopped and turned to face me at the top of the stairs, towering over me even more as I stayed a step lower.
“It’s almost cute that you think you can make demands of me,” she said, and a chill ran down my spine.
“I wasn’t… I didn’t mean—” I started.
She smiled and trailed off.
“Why are you smiling?” I asked.
“I like watching you squirm,” she answered, and I froze.
“When I was investigating your previous alpha, no one had much to say about you, other than that you were always with him, and you hardly said a word on the journey here. I thought there was nothing much of interest about you, other than the obvious, of course. But now I’m thinking I might have some fun with you,” she explained and turned, continuing down a teal-green hallway with bronze accents and framed family photographs.
It took me a moment for my brain to start up and my legs to follow her.
“The obvious?” I asked, instead of questioning what fun she thought she could have with me.
I didn’t want to entertain whatever she had in mind.
I had five weeks before I was back with Ashford.
I knew that I had no control over the situation, over Cole, but I did have control over myself.
I wouldn’t be some game for her to use and spit out and send back to Ashford like a chewed-up bone, just another way to use me to humiliate him.
It was I who would have to suffer the consequences.
“You’re an omega,” she answered.
I nodded. Of course. The only thing that anyone cared about since my first shift three years ago was my omega status. I was no longer Harriet, no longer my father’s daughter; I was an omega. A weak link for the pack. An embarrassment to my family. A status symbol for Ashford.
“Here is your new room,” Cole interrupted my thoughts as she turned the brass knob handle of a dark-walnut door to reveal a bedroom with softer sage walls. The double bed took up most of the floor space, with light stone-grey bedding and flush pillows.
Cole stepped aside and waved me in.
“I’ll have Chloe fill the wardrobe and closet for you. For now, I’ll find you something of mine to wear. What do you think? Is it comfortable enough?” she said as I touched the bedding. Warm sunlight flooded the space from the tall window.
“It’s perfect,” I told her.
“The bathroom closest to you is the last door on the left. There’s no key for this bedroom, but you can lock it from the inside here,” she said, stepping into the room and closing the door over to show me the turn-key lock.
“Fresh towels are in the bathroom. I’ll leave something for you to wear on the bed,” she instructed, pushing the bedroom door back open, silently instructing me to make my way to the bathroom.
She didn’t step aside as I passed her.
“Make sure to wash off his stench,” she said as I turned awkwardly to pass her without making physical contact.