Chapter Nine – Nic
It takes me hours to get everything she’ll need, and without a doubt, I go overboard. I planned on asking her what she likes, what kind of shampoo and soap she preferred, but when I went to her room, she was sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake her. I figured I’ll just get what I can, and if she doesn’t like something, I’ll replace it. We have the money.
Besides, I took the next few days off to spend time with her. Being alone in a new house can’t be easy or fun. If I need to get her other things, I’ll have plenty of time.
When I make it back to the house, my car is damn near full, and I’m surprised when I pull into the garage and see Darius’s car parked. Huh. I thought he was at work today. Why would he be home? Hopefully he hasn’t crossed paths with Mercedes yet; I know better than most just how much of a jerk he can be when he’s in a mood. He’s likely to scare her off, give her the wrong impression.
I grab as many bags as I can and lug them into the house, all the way up to her bedroom, where she sits on the bed, clutching her old backpack to her chest, a far-off look on her face. I nearly stop cold when I see her—it looks as if she’s debating on running away, and the mere thought makes my heart ache in a terrible way.
“Hey,” I say, causing her brown eyes to snap in my direction.
Her rigid posture relaxes when she sees it’s me, and then she spots the bags in my hands, and those eyes widen. “Are those all for me?” she asks with a hint of wonder in her voice, like she’s never been spoiled in her life.
And I suppose, given where she was before this, she wasn’t.
Don’t worry, I plan on changing that.
I deposit the bags onto the foot of the bed, grinning at her and saying, “And there are still more in the car. If I missed anything, just tell me. Or, on the flipside, if you absolutely hate something, tell me that, too. I wasn’t sure about your style, so I did my best. Same with guessing your size.”
Her backpack forgotten about, she kneels at the foot of the bed, peeking into the bags. She digs in one and pulls out a simple black V-neck shirt, and I watch her with bated breath as she nods in approval.
Then she goes to a very pink bag whose contents instantly make her blush.
“Uh, right. Those are…” I trail off as she pulls out a pair of lacey panties and quickly drops them like they’re so hot they burned her fingers. When her wide eyes meet mine, I cough and rub the back of my neck. “Obviously, you can see what they are. I just, um, you know—you need—”
Holy moly. When did I get this lame? I never claimed to be smooth, but this is just ridiculous. If Warren was here, he’d laugh at me. I’m acting like a twelve-year-old boy who’s trying to ask his crush to a school dance for the first time and not an alpha who’s only trying to get his omega everything she needs.
And, yes, that includes sexy underwear.
Mercedes sits on her legs and averts her eyes from me, causing me to quickly say, “You don’t have to wear them. I mean, I did get less… lacey ones, too.” Of course, a lacey one had to be the pair she pulled out of the bag first.
And if she’s worried about looking good in them? Her worries are pointless. She might not be wearing a fancy dress with her hair done and makeup on her face like last night, but she’s still gorgeous in a way that makes my mind hang in the gutter.
I bet she looks even better naked, honestly.
My cock stirs at the thought, and I have to think of other things to stop it from getting too hard. I’d love more than anything to lay Mercedes down and show her how perfectly she fit with me, worship her body in the way it deserves, but I won’t push her. Her walls are clearly up, and I have a lot of work to do until I can knock some of them down.
“Thank you,” she whispers, her cheeks no longer as flushed now that she’s not holding onto a pair of sexy panties. “I’ve never had this many clothes before.”
I chuckle as I stand there beside her bed, just a few feet away from her, and yet it still feels like too much space between us. I want to touch her, to embrace her, but I hold back. “If you think this is a lot, wait until I finish bringing everything up. I, uh, went a little overboard today, but that’s okay.”
What she says next startles me a bit: “Darius won’t be upset with you spending all this money on me?”
“Of course he won’t. You’re our omega, Mercedes.”
She looks away. “He doesn’t seem to want me at all.”
“You—” And then it dawns on me. “You met him.” Shit. I hoped to introduce them, to mediate—Darius is an acquired taste. If you don’t know how to handle him, you’d think he’s a jerk. Mean, even. I know a lot of people we work with that are terrified of the guy, but unless you do something to harm him or us, he’s all bark and no bite.
“Yeah. He caught me in his office.”
“What were you doing in his office?”
The look she gives me right then tells me she’s apologetic… and unnerved, maybe even scared. “I was using his computer. I don’t have one of my own. I don’t even have a phone.” At that admission, her eyes once again fall to her lap, like she’s embarrassed or something.
Of course she doesn’t have a phone or a computer. She’s from Solus Academy. I should’ve known, should’ve come home with a laptop for her and a shiny, new phone. I’ll tell Warren to pick something up on his way home from work, but first I need to talk to Darius about him scaring our omega.
I slowly move toward the bed, gingerly sitting on its edge. Though I want to reach for her hand, I resist the urge, wanting to go at her pace. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think he’d come home today. I should’ve been here to introduce you two.”
Her voice is soft, “I don’t think an introduction would’ve helped. He’s—”
“I know, but trust me, he’s not that bad. Be patient with him, and he’ll come around. He doesn’t like strangers.” When she doesn’t say anything in return, I stand. “I’ll go talk to him, and then I’ll finish bringing up your things.”
I turn on my heels and walk out of her bedroom, knowing her gaze is on me the entire time. She doesn’t stop me, doesn’t try telling me not to, which is good, because I don’t think I could stop. Darius is Darius, and I’m not too happy about it. Mercedes has clearly been through a lot in her life; she needs kindness and loving care, not anything else.
Goddamn Darius.
I head upstairs, knowing he’s in his office. I don’t know how long he’s been home, but apparently long enough to startle and freak out our omega. I find him sitting in his chair, leaning forward somewhat, an elbow on his desk with a hand over his nose and mouth.
And then he sees me and quickly pulls his hand away from his face. He leans back in his chair and glares at me.
“What the hell is your problem, Darius?” I ask, moving closer to the desk, stopping only when I stand inches away from it.
I don’t need to elaborate further. He knows what I refer to. His voice comes out stiff and rigid, “I caught her in here, Nic. She didn’t have permission to—”
“She doesn’t need permission! She lives here now. She’s one of us. She’s our omega, and you can’t treat her like she’s some random stranger off the street!” I take a pause to let out a hard breath and calm myself down. “She doesn’t have a computer of her own. She doesn’t even have a phone. You can’t be upset with her over using your computer.”
Darius doesn’t address the fact that she’s one of us. Instead, he asks, “Do you want to know what she was looking up? She was so entranced in it she didn’t even hear me coming until I was ten feet away.”
I shrug. Honestly, whatever it was was her business, not mine, but I’d be lying if I say I’m not the least bit curious.
He flips the computer screen toward me, allowing me to see the headline of the internet site: TOP TEN SAFEST CITIES FOR OMEGAS. I have to read it three times before it sinks in, and then I have to lean on the desk like I was physically hit.
“Now you tell me,” he starts, “why your new omega would be sneaking around and looking something like this up? With the offer you gave her, she can cut and run at any time. You do realize how stupid you were when you wrote that offer, don’t you?”
That makes me glare at him. “I offered what she wants, and she’s here now, whether you like it or not. And, even if you don’t want to admit it, she’s ours, Darius, not mine. She’s ours to take care of, ours to protect. If she wants to look up safe havens for omegas, then we should be the ones helping her—not the ones scaring her.”
He says not a word as he turns the screen toward him. His green eyes roam over it, and I can see the wheels turning in his head. “She—” Whatever he was going to say, he doesn’t let himself.
Softer, I say, “You frightened her. You should apologize.”
My suggestion earns me a hard glare, but that glare softens as he must realize I’m right. “Fine.”
“There’s something about her. I can’t explain what it is, but it’s there. You have to feel it, too.” A good pack involves all of its members being on the same wavelength. Lately, we’ve been a little fractured, but I think Mercedes might be the key. Darius has to see this.
“I don’t feel anything.” He says that part a little too fast, and he scowls at me. “If you’re not running back to the stores today, call Warren and have him pick her up a phone and a computer on his way home. I don’t want her in my office again.”
I was already planning on it, but I don’t tell him that. I simply nod and leave the room, to let him finish stewing. It’s as I leave that I wonder if, perhaps, she really is planning on running away.
Could I blame her? This would be her first opportunity to leave it all behind and start new somewhere else. One hundred thousand dollars wouldn’t last forever, but it’d help her set up roots somewhere else.
The thought of her leaving makes my insides twist in the worst way. If she wants to go, I won’t stop her, but I hope, before she makes that decision, she opens up enough to let me show her that she can be ours and still be free to live her life however she wants.