Chapter XII
“I made some minor adjustments while the crew was out of the room. You have to understand, Knox. If I didn’t fix it, they wouldn’t have had it completed by the deadline.”
Arius gazes up at me, pleadingly. He’s so…
so Omega now. I can’t peel my eyes away.
It’s eerie how he looks different, but exactly the same.
Such a soft jawline, and taut cheek bones, and broad shoulders.
A gorgeous mix of strength and delicate submissiveness.
He carries himself well and has really grown into himself as an Omega.
The Alpha in me likes that a lot, awakening a hunger inside that has been asleep for a long time.
“Show me,” I mumble with an extra rasp to my tone.
“…W-what?”
“The telescope,” I clear my throat. “Show me what you did to make this huge leap for our TIS department. I should’ve suspected that only an innovative genius like you could do something like that. I certainly didn’t believe Mr. Minsley when he initially gave credit to a random tech.”
He blinks up at me.
“Aren’t you going to fire me?”
“Fire you? Of course not.”
“You have to, Knox. I fucked up.”
“Do you want me to fire you?”
“Well, no. But I’ve broken so many rules. There’s no way Mr. Minsley will allow me back in his lab,” Arius sulks, dropping his head in his hands.
I scoff with amusement at that. “I don’t want you back in his lab either. In fact, you should be working up here with me.”
Ari’s pink lips are still frowning as he looks around us with a cute furrow in his brow. I’m not sure what he’s searching for. I wait for his eyes to land back on me. Where they belong.
“It looks like you already keep this place well clean. I don’t think I’d be of much use.”
I chuckle at him, earning a puzzled expression.
“I didn’t mean as a cleaner, Ari. I meant as an engineer. Maybe not today, but someday they’ll open up the world to Omegas. You could be the start of that change.”
His smile is honest, but he doesn’t seem entirely convinced. When he opens his mouth to respond, the door clicks open.
“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t know you were–“ Jaimie pauses when he spots Arius. His face sets into a nasty glare for some reason. Like an alley cat ready to fight, his hackles raise.
Arius, on the other hand, looks ready to jump out of his skin.
“You!” Jaimie exclaims in more of a question. Ari cowers and hides behind me.
“Did I miss something?” I glance between them.
“What is he doing up here? He’s the clumsy Omega who kept bumping into me!” Jaimie complains.
Ah. That explains it.
“It was just an accident, and I said I was sorry!” Ari pokes his head around my larger frame; delicate fingers wrapped around my bicep. Flexing a little bit for him, I hardly refrain from my eyes rolling back with pleasure. His hand feels damn good there.
“Sorry doesn’t fix a custom designed and tailored outfit worth more than your annual salary! But of course, a lowly Omega like you wouldn’t know that.”
Oh, boy. Jaimie’s words make me blink back to the present. I better de-escalate this.
“Jaimie, enough. Arius is an old friend of mine and I expect you to treat him with the same respect you give me. I’ll pay to have your clothes fixed if that’ll make you happy. Besides, I think you two could be great friends.”
Both Omegas look at me completely unconvinced, so I clear my throat and project some of my Alpha pheromones into the room. It’s not something I like to do often, but I fear if I don’t, things may get out of hand. After a beat, they both submit and I give them each a nod.
That’s better.
We’re off to a hot start, but they seem to have reached a truce. For now.
Arius and I ate dinner together. We caught up on some things.
I told him about a huge magazine I’d headlined in three times in the past two years.
He told me about an Omega activist group he joined at boarding school.
Neither of us brought up how Arius suddenly left me without saying goodbye all those years ago.
In Minsley's lab, each member of the crew hovers distantly around Ari and me as we observe the three-three-four telescope model. They don’t look happy.
Especially Minsley, whose curiosity outweighs his disdain for this precious Omega.
Something tells me they probably weren’t any happier to see him even before this whole situation.
I notice Ari stealing glances at a Beta in the room.
I’m not sure why, but it sparks rage that I haven’t felt in a long time.
I’ve been managing my anger well these last several years.
Not letting things trigger me as easily as when I was a hormonal teenager with no grasp on my strength. Why would I relapse now?
My possessive hand lifts to his back, encouraging him to go on. Ocean blue eyes meet mine over his shoulder before he begins and I offer an encouraging nod.
I like his eyes on me. Not on that smug-looking Beta.
“If you open up the optical tube near the second focal plane, like this,” he explains while demonstrating. “You can adjust the aperture through here.”
He may not realize, but no one else’s hands are as small and careful as his. It’s no wonder they hadn’t thought of this.
“And even the slightest adjustment can significantly increase the focus,” the Beta pieces together.
“Correct,” Ari nods to him. “The lens sits right in front of the zoom chamber.”
I’m beginning to really hate this guy. Why is he getting so much of Ari’s attention? Is this what he’s into? Smart Betas? I’m bigger than him. Higher up than him. Smarter than him…and probably scarier.
I’ll need to let off some steam at the gym after this before I go all Alpha on these people.
With a deep inhale of his calming scent, I turn my focus back on Ari and his amazing work.
“This is an outstanding level of innovation, Arius.”
He beams at the praise with rosy cheeks.
“Are we just going to ignore the fact that he’s still a disobedient Omega?” Mr. Minsley finally snaps. “He violated his cleaner contract by tampering with unauthorized equipment! And he withheld this information from us for days!”
Unfortunately, he has a point. I won’t fire Ari, but Minsley doesn’t trust him enough to remain cleaning his lab. I turn to Arius as everyone disperses back to their lab stations.
“As a cleaner, you are still within your contract, so I’ll have to put you on suspension for this.”
“I understand,” he hangs his head.
I tilt his chin up, loving the feel of his soft skin on my fingers.
“Going forward, come talk to me first if you have any ideas you want to share. Got it?”
He nods with a tilt of his head that charges my soul.
I offer to walk Arius back to his dorm room, but first he asks if he can say something to Brock. I wait by the door as he practically skips up to the Beta from earlier. My jaw clenches. If I’d known that was who he meant, I would’ve dragged him out of here.
I can’t hear their conversation, which makes me more frustrated and impatient as I wait. Are they friends? Or are they more? He seems a little more flirty than usual as he leans casually on the Beta’s table. Happy, even.
Jaimie’s words have been taunting me since he said them. And now they’re back, pushing their way to the forefront of my mind. Did you love him?
I cared about Arius. Deeply. Stayed up at night wondering what I did that made him leave. Wondering why he told me to wait when he couldn’t do the same for me. I tried to be angry at him, I tried not to care, but it always came back to sadness. Cold, lonely, sadness.
But that was before. Now he’s back. He grew up, settled in, and moved on. Maybe it’s time for me to do the same. Maybe it will even be easier now that I at least have some semblance of closure.
“Everything okay?” Arius peers up at me.
My vision refocuses on the present. How long has he been standing there? I clear my throat and reinstall my blank expression. Alphas don’t express weak emotions. At least, not here in the workplace. Suck it up and be a leader.
“Yeah, you ready?”
He nods and we head toward the West wing. His eyes linger on the library as we walk by, the yearning evident in his gaze.
“Do you still read?” I ask.
It’s a silly question, but I hear that Omega boarding schools can be quite strict on etiquette, so maybe Ari has dropped his old habit of slipping literature novels into the covers of recipe books.
“Not as often as I’d like. I’m not allowed in there and they don’t have an Omega section.”
He pouts, staring longingly at the library. Before he even finishes his sentence, I’m already thinking of a way to sneak him some books. Afterall, he’ll be holed up in his dorm for a few days.
“Why don’t you write down some titles you’re interested in, and I can have them sent to your room.”
He shakes his head.
“You don’t need to do that. I’ve gotten myself in enough trouble for the week.”
“Are you sure? It’s the least I could try and do since you won’t have anything to keep you busy for a while.”
“It’s fine, Knox. Besides, Brock usually has me help him study textbooks.”
My jaw is getting sore from the amount of clenching. Is that some kind of sick innuendo? Why does Brock need Ari to help him “study”?
I force a couple of deep breaths through my nose. That simmering anger is beginning to boil over, except now I understand that it’s not just anger. It's jealousy.
“Right. Well, if you want some just for yourself, you know where to find me. Who knows what genius ideas you could come up with next.”
“Genius ideas you can take all the credit for?” he bites back unexpectedly.
Ouch.
There’s not much venom in his voice, but it still stings. It's not like I want things to be this way. I’m just trying to offer him the privilege he doesn’t get as an Omega. Because he deserves it, not because I want to take credit for his work.
We’ve always been a team effort. The world doesn’t believe in him the way I do, but Ari was always content to let me take the lead where they were concerned. Wasn’t he?