5. Joker
Chapter five
A few minutes into my tour of the facility, I turn my comms back on, recognising that I’m sure as shit not going to remember half of what Delilah is telling me.
I’m far too distracted by her voice and imagining how my name would sound when she’s moaning it.
Because the longer that I’m in this charming, hauntingly beautiful omega’s company, the surer I become that I’m going to take her with me when it comes time.
I don’t know her story, or her trauma, or even her favourite color, but I haven’t felt this sort of pull toward another person since I met my pack. And I’m not about to let that go anytime soon.
“Ask her about the alphas,” a voice says in my ear. Phantom this time.
I grunt affirmatively under my breath, but I’ll wait for a lull in the conversation to actually ask.
Delilah and I move from the indoor part of the ward to a small courtyard, which is charming, I suppose, if half-wilted flowers are your thing.
I can lift the wheelchair with her in it easily over the bump at the threshold, enjoying the way she sucks in a breath at the show of strength.
I most definitely do not need the ego boost, but there’s something so satisfying about the way my little gestures make her blush like a school girl.
And now I’m thinking about Delilah in a short plaid skirt and cardigan a la Britney Spears. Normally I’d be thrilled for a gray sweats moment, but I really do need all my blood to be in my upstairs brain for the moment.
I park Delilah next to a bench and throw myself down onto it beside her, looking around. There are a few cameras, but nothing crazy. Plenty of blind spots if I wanted to take advantage of them. But I’ll behave. For now.
“So is this place for omegas only? Or are they hiding the alphas in a broom cupboard somewhere?” I ask, trying to sound casual.
I know the answer, but I’m curious what they’re telling the prisoners. Oh, I’m sorry. I mean, patients.
Delilah shakes her head, her mood visibly dropping. “Omegas only. Though…”
I look at her for a long time, waiting for her to finish where she trails off. She’s staring without seeing at a blank stretch of brick wall across from us. I make a mental note to ask the pack about what’s on that side of the facility.
“Keep her talking, Jokes,” Phantom encourages in my ear.
One corner of my mouth twitches down. I know what he needs to hear, but I’m suddenly loath to push Delilah to talk about it.
Because, out of nowhere, my instincts have decided they don’t like it when my little wisp frowns.
But Phantom mutters something about “fucking brat” and I let out a sigh.
I’ll be giving whoever is on comms later an earful, but for now, I bite the bullet.
“Do the omegas sneak them in through the side doors at night to get some secret nighttime knot action?” I ask, playing it off as joking.
Delilah chuckles humourlessly once. “No, not that I think any of the omegas here would want to if they could. There are a few emergency exits, but they’re locked unless someone pulls the fire alarm, and only the staff has access to those.”
I hear typing through my earpiece, but I keep my face impassive.
That’s good information for later when my pack needs to gain entry.
I would worry about a fire marshal finding out about that protocol.
But from past experience with facilities like this, Love Wins probably has most of the local authorities on the payroll.
“But…” Delilah goes on when I don’t speak, “I swear I can smell alphas sometimes. I know they aren’t here, but every now and then, there’s something in the air.” Delilah’s voice is soft, barely audible over the sound of the breeze playing with the leaves above us.
I turn my body more fully to look at her with a furrowed brow. “Like members of the staff?”
Delilah shakes her head, looking around. I follow her eyes, but don’t see anyone. Even still, I lean closer, close enough to smell the ashes and rotten fruit of her ruined scent.
“One of the other omegas used to say they were pumping pheromones through the vents, like the facility was conditioning us to accept new alpha scents. She never had any proof, and she ended up in a high security room for causing too much of a ‘disruption,’ if you know what I mean,” Delilah says, continuously scanning, as if she’s expecting someone to jump out of a bush and tackle us to the ground.
Phantom whistles in my ear, a low, disbelieving sound, and I tend to agree with him.
If half the shit we’ve heard about this facility is true, subliminally conditioning omegas to accept strange alphas wouldn’t be that wild of a possibility.
But beyond that, I catch the very subtle warning look in her eyes as she sits up straight.
“But yeah, it’s just crazy. It would be so triggering for so many of us if they did that,” Delilah says, somehow both pointedly and dismissively.
I nod once to acknowledge the warning, not that I’ll really be heeding it. Stirring the shit is in my DNA, and getting under the skin of assholes is my favourite hobby. I decide to change the subject, but then my mouth decides to work before my brain.
“Like you?” I ask before I can stop myself.
Delilah shrugs but doesn’t elaborate, her eyes going a little distant. I’d give my left big toe to be able to read her mind for just a few minutes, to figure out where she goes when she’s got that far-off look in her stormy eyes.
“How long have you been here, luv? I would have thought a cute little thing like you would be locked up tight with a pack to worship you,” I say conversationally.
Her face darkens, and I regret my words instantly. Tears form in her eyes and without thinking, I scoop her up in my arms and set her sideways in my lap, holding her close and purring my head off.
“What are you doing?” Phantom asks, a not insignificant amount of warning in his tone.
“You’re okay, sweets. Stay right here with me. Do you wanna hear a secret?” I say, ignoring my packmate to focus on the omega in front of me.
Delilah looks up at me, confusion and curiosity shining in her eyes.
I wipe away a tear that dared to touch her perfect face, smiling to myself.
I lean down like I’m going to whisper in her ear.
Her breath catches as I let my exhales ghost over the skin of her throat for a moment.
But then, suddenly, I close the distance between my lips and her skin and blow a raspberry against the side of her neck.
Delilah’s shriek of laughter might be my new favorite sound in the entire world I decide. I hold her close, and do it over and over again, just to make her laugh and forget whatever was making her cry.
“I can’t breathe!” she laughs, clutching her belly with her giggles.
“Omegas! What’s going on?”
We both look up as several members of staff come rushing forward, and I fake a nervous swallow.
“Quick! The fuzz!” I yell, lifting Delilah with ease and moving her to ride piggyback.
Her laughter in my ear is like my new favorite song as I jog off, leading the staff on a merry little chase.
“You’re impossible, Joker,” Phantom sighs in my ear.
I don’t get a chance to answer before I hear the line go dead.
I roll my eyes, unbothered. I’ll tell him everything he didn’t see later when I’m back in my room, but right now, I’m having too much fun with my wisp to care.