Chapter Twenty-Nine – Warren
Focusing at work is like trying not to think about something; impossible. The more you try not to think about one thing in particular, the more you end up thinking about it. If something wishes to dominate your mind enough, there isn’t anything you can do about it. It’s always there, hanging over your thoughts; if it isn’t in the foreground, it’s in the background, waiting for its turn in the spotlight.
Such as it is with Mercedes.
The first day back at work was terrible. Knowing she was at my parents’ house, spending quality time with Laurie, made me antsy. The second day, Pax could tell I was mentally somewhere else, so he put me on guard duty at the warehouse, meaning a job that’s important but not really, since we have cameras that do the same thing.
Darius is getting everything ready at the house. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to return to some normalcy, but at the same time, I know we’re still missing a piece of the puzzle. So, on day two of our stay at my adoptive parents’ house, when I get off work, I make a stop before going home to Mercedes.
I go to Solus Academy.
A beta at the front desk stops me from going further into the academy—it’s basically everything you imagine, when you think about an old, run-down building where orphaned omegas are housed and taught how to be good omegas.
Groomed, basically.
The beta, a woman in her thirties, gives me a polite smile when I walk in. “Hello, sir.” She breathes in through her nose, clearly detecting I’m an alpha. Perhaps she automatically assumes I’m here to scope out an omega for myself, because she says, “Do you have an appointment with the headmaster to meet with an omega?”
“No,” I say, giving her my best smile. Not something I’m good at; I’m more of a blades guy, but I left most of my weapons at work. I only take a few knives home, the ones small enough to fit where they won’t be seen by the undiscerning eye. “But I would like to meet with the headmaster if she’s available.”
“Give me a moment, mister…”
“Warren,” I tell her. “Warren Alabaster.”
Her mood perks up at the mention of my last name; everyone knows Alabaster Security. She reaches for the office phone and hits a single button as she lifts the old phone to her ear. A few seconds later, she says, “Headmaster Helen? I have a Warren Alabaster here to see you.” She waits a moment, then nods. “Great, I’ll bring him back.” After hanging up the phone, she stands and smiles at me. “Follow me.”
I follow her through a short hall. Even the lights in the hallway are dingy and flickering. Being here sets me on edge; I don’t know how anyone is supposed to live in a place like this long-term. What kind of funding do they have? Obviously none. They barely keep the lights on with the money they get from selling off the omegas once they become of age.
One reason why Mercedes took it upon herself to sneak out. No alpha who comes to a place like this looking for an omega can possibly be a good guy.
The beta bows her head once we reach the headmaster’s office, and I step inside, closing the door as I meet the discerning stare of the woman sitting at the grand desk ten feet away. It’s funny; the headmaster’s office doesn’t look nearly as filthy as the rest of the place, almost like she keeps most of the money herself.
Headmaster Helen is an alpha—a rarity, but a necessity so alphas don’t roll in here and use their dominance to get whatever they want. Females can be alphas, just as males can be omegas; it’s just not very common.
Helen is an older woman of fifty or even sixty, with blond hair pulled elegantly back and a striped suit that is perfectly tailored to her figure. Her hands are folded on top of her desk, though she stands when I approach and offers me her hand. “Headmaster Helen,” she introduces herself with a tight smile.
“Warren Alabaster,” I say, slow to shake her hand. She sits down, and I take my time in choosing one of the two chairs opposite her desk.
“Mr. Alabaster, it is a pleasure,” she says, practically purring out my name. “To what do I owe this visit of yours? I heard through the grapevine your pack claimed an omega at the last Omega Garden ceremony. Did it not work out?”
“That’s odd,” I say, flashing my teeth at her in a wordless warning. “How would you know that?” Indeed: how would she know the dealings of the Omega Garden, since she doesn’t let any of her omegas go? She keeps them here, where she can oversee the deals herself, and rack in as much as she can.
She chuckles. “We had a runaway. I was tasked with finding where she went. You wouldn’t know anything about our runaway, would you? Since she’s an orphaned omega, I am her guardian until she’s of age—any matches should be through me.”
“I think you mistake why I’m here,” I say, slow to lean forward. “I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about someone who might be after a certain omega, so let’s save some time and cut the shit. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll think about letting you off. If you don’t tell me, well… there might just be a torture room with your name written on it.” I reach into one of the holsters on my hip and pull out a long, slender knife. “And one of these, too.”
“Bringing a weapon onto academy grounds is more than enough for me to contact local law enforcement and have you dragged out of here,” Helen warns.
All I do is grin. “Go ahead, then.” I point the knife at the phone on her desk. “Pick up the phone. Dial. How many times do you think it’ll ring before you bleed out on your desk?”
The woman closes her eyes for a moment, breathing hard. I’m not using my dominance on her, though I’m reasonably sure I could. Make her bend in the same way Darius makes everyone else bend around him.
When she opens her eyes, she looks tired. “The omega your pack claimed at the last ceremony has been unofficially claimed since she stepped foot inside Solus.”From the beginning, she knew we had Mercedes, she was just playing coy to see why I’m here. Too bad for her, she’ll get nothing out of me.
Instantly the fury in me swells to unimaginable heights. “Claimed by who?”
Grinding her teeth, she mutters, “By another orphan, an alpha.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be here to stop things like that from happening?”
“This alpha is… I’ve never met another alpha who had such control over his dominance, even from such a young age. I had no choice in doing what I did, nor did I have any choice in telling him it was your pack who claimed her. If he hasn’t made a move yet to reclaim her, he will.”
I frown at her. “You’re pathetic. Fucking pathetic. Not even worth staining my knives with your blood.” I stand and slide the knife back into its sheath. “Give me a name and I’ll leave. Don’t give me a name, and, well, I think you know what’ll happen.”
She doesn’t want to tell me. Of course she doesn’t. But she knows, for her health, it would be better if she did. So, after a tense moment, she finally says, “His name is Jay. Jay Kellogg. He graduated over a year ago. I don’t know where he is.”
Jay Kellogg, from Kellogg Academy for orphaned alphas.
Now that I have a name, I can find him.
But before I go…
I take a step closer to the desk and lean over it, a growl reverberating from my chest. “If you run and tell Jay about this conversation, I will hunt you down, tie you to a chair, and carve Mercedes’s name into your skin over and over until pain is all you can feel—and then I’ll let you sit in your own blood and piss until you starve. That’s a promise. So if I were you, if that alpha asshole comes sniffing around again, I’d keep this meeting between you and I a secret.”
The look on Headmaster Helen’s face tells me she’ll do her damned best to keep this whole thing to herself. It honestly doesn’t bother me either way; I’d be more than happy to gut this miserable, pathetic excuse for an alpha.
Just like I’d be more than happy to torture the living daylights out of this Jay asshole.
Alphas are supposed to protect omegas, not betray them. Not abuse them. I know there are shitty people in this world, but it always surprises me when I stumble upon them. My father was one of the worst; I will not let this go unpunished. Even if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll find this Jay and make him rue the fucking day.
I’m in my car, driving to my parents’ house, when I call Darius and give him the news. The news and the name. My brother picks up on the third ring: “Warren. What is it?”
“Are you home yet?” I shake my head at myself. “I mean, are you—”
“No, I’m still at the house. The security system is coming along. They’re having to run new wires for certain camera locations, which is why it’s taking so long. The new window should be in tomorrow. The other windows are getting upgraded Wednesday, and they should be finished by Sunday.” He must then remember I called him. “What’s this about?”
“I stopped by Solus Academy—”
That’s all I have to say for Darius to get growly. “Warren.” The way he says my name, even across the phone line, makes my inner alpha flare up, like I’m being challenged. I know he’s our pack leader, an alpha among alphas, but sometimes I actually have good ideas.
He might be getting shit done at the house, but I’m getting shit done out here, too.
“What did you do?”
I run my tongue over my teeth to calm myself down before I tell him, “I got a name, that’s what. I know who threw the rock. I should’ve stopped at Solus immediately. I probably could’ve had this asshole in the warehouse already—”
“Don’t tell this to Nic, or Mercedes.”
“Don’t you want to know his name?”
Darius is quiet for a moment. “Send it to me.”
“Fine, but it sounds like this asshole might be hard to find. He graduated from Kellogg Academy over a year ago. I could swing by there and—”
“No,” he quickly says, shutting me down. “I’ll handle it from here. Just get home and make sure Mercedes is all right.” The order flies off him easily, and if it was anything else, I would’ve told him how annoyed he’s making me.
But, since it’s about Mercedes, I say, “For someone who tries to act like he doesn’t give a shit about her, you’re awfully protective of her.”
He sighs. “I care. She’s—”
“She’s what?” When my brother doesn’t say another word, I ask, “What is she? Just spit it out, man. What the hell’s going on with you? You’re never one to dance around the bush, ever. What—”
The words Darius says reach through the phone and practically slap me in the face: “She’s my scent match.”
“She’s your… scent match ?” Those two words swirl around in my head, sounding so wrong at first—but then, the more I think about it, the more it feels right. Nic knew the moment he saw her. It has to be kismet. “Holy shit, dude. You’ve known this the whole time, and you’re just telling me now? What the hell?”
“I didn’t want to say. I thought… I thought she’d be gone already. She wants to run away, Warren.”
“Yeah, to get away from this Jay asshole. If we take care of him, she’ll have nothing to run from.” I think about our omega and the few times I’ve seen her in the same room as Darius. Neither of them act like scent matches; they both must be very good at hiding things. Unless…
That headmaster made it clear that academy doesn’t teach things to their omegas that equate to their freedom or happiness. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Mercedes was never taught about scent matches.
“Does she know?” I ask, pulling onto the highway.
Darius mutters, “I don’t know. We haven’t spoken about it specifically.”
“She might not even know scent matches are a thing. If you saw that academy, you’d know their curriculum is basically just grooming them. I doubt she was ever taught about something as fulfilling as scent matches. You have to tell her.”
“You will not tell me what to do,” he growls out, and then his tone softens, “but… I know.”
We say our goodbyes after that, and my mind is swirling with all of the information I learned in the last hour. Not only do I have a name, but Darius and Mercedes are scent matches—basically made for each other. Their scents drive the other crazy. I don’t know how they haven’t fucked already. They must have some top-tier self-restraint.
Hell, sometimes it’s difficult for me to be near her without pulling her into my arms, hoisting her up, and taking her to the nearest bedroom. I’m dying to get between her legs, to discover every smooth inch on her body and fill her core up with my knot.
Just the thought of fucking her and hearing those soft moans from her lips is enough to make me drive home with a hard-on. Thankfully, by the time I reach the Alabaster house, the erection has passed.