Fury
Having the entire pack together is an odd feeling; it’s warm and cozy, and makes my Alpha purr deeply, but so few and far between for such busy men.
Clay and Atlas manage the activity center that Clay built on the far edge of the property, and occasionally sub in as instructors, teaching kids how to axe-throw and climb.
Teddy is out on the ranch as much as he can be, dealing with the small lot of chickens in the barn, and his horses now that the cattle are long gone.
Luc and I both work pretty unsociable hours as a trauma surgeon and on-call farm vet, respectively, though he is away more than I am.
Thanking my lucky stars that I haven’t opened my own surgery, I let the second vet on staff know I am taking leave.
Kayle is even more of a workaholic than I am, and I’m glad for it on days like this.
Alphas are entitled by law to one day a month to visit the Omega auctions, and whilst I find it distasteful, or downright fucked that we trade people off like this, I appreciate that it led us to our Omega.
From what I’ve heard, most of the facilities are meant to be luxurious, focused entirely on Omega’s well-being and setting them up to meet good matches, but the way Skye had looked at the bar tells an entirely different story.
Storming into the kitchen, Lucas is on the phone, his face pressed in tight lines, and I know how furious he is after enough years together. Yikes to whoever is on the phone with him.
“I’d like to remind you that it is part of the law that Alphas are allowed one day off per month for this, and that I have not taken a holiday in nearly three years.
” He's silent for a moment before he turns even more thunderous, amber eyes turning to molten gold as he spits, “I can go play princess elsewhere, Alan, and leave you so far up shits creek you’d have to use the paddles as crutches. If you object to my taking time off so badly, then I will be taking the entire week, and you can pull my sparkling record in your office next week. Goodbye.” Hanging up, his head drops back, teeth gritted hard enough that there’s a tendon twitching in his jaw.
He’s lucky as hell that he’s such a good surgeon, and the last few years he’s put in stupid hours working himself to the bone, despite the hospital having plenty of staff in his department.
They won’t let him go. Director Riven, who’s several levels above Lucas’ boss, is an old friend and a shifter too; he appreciates his staff too much to let them go over a single week.
“That went well?” I chirp, leaning against the cabinets with a chuckle.
Allowing one little twitch of his lips, Luc brushes off his suit.
The gray three-piece suits him, almost too well, setting off his dark skin against it.
Shame he’s not on board with this whole Omega thing, because he’s going there looking like some sort of male model, and he’s going to blow her away.
“About as well as can be. Alan is difficult at the best of times. He’s insisting that the whole department will fracture and fall if I’m not in for a night.”
“So you… Decided to take a week instead?”
Lucas shrugs, and whilst he doesn't smile, there’s an edge of humor to the crinkle at the corner of his bright eyes, “I might even take two.”
Mumbling from the hall disrupts our conversation, and I slide the easy smile as Teddy walks in.
He’s in a charcoal three-piece, several shades darker than Lucas’, with a pale pinstripe running through it.
He’s huffing as he breathes in, tugging at the waistcoat and the straining buttons from where he’s a little thicker around the midsection.
Teddy’s always been ‘work fit’ for a Beta, as I’ve joked, he’s not ripped and cut like an Alpha would be, but he’s got the sort of build that comes from actual hard labor out on a farm most of his life, though it’s softened a lot since his accident; something else that he’s found insecurity in.
“I just won’t believe that I’ve put on this much weight since I wore it last… It’s only been a year or so.”
“Hey, come on,” I shoulder him gently, brushing a hand across my own burgundy two-piece, the white shirt silky beneath the jacket, and the collar falling open a couple of buttons.
Grabbing what the pack has dubbed the ‘villain cane,’ I hand the mahogany stick over to my Beta.
He polished the brass handle to a glittering finish, the wood shiny and lacquered.
I half expected there to be a sword inside it.
“Besides, you lost a whole leg, that weight's gotta go somewhere.”
Usually, Teddy loves a good jab at his expense, giving it back twice as good—but it hits him somewhere soft and vulnerable tonight.
He rarely bothers about the loss of his limb a year later, the wounds well-healed and having spent his fair share in therapy to deal with the physical and mental trauma, but clearly, something more is bothering him tonight.
“Teddy, I’m sorry, that wasn’t—“
“Do you think she’ll still want me?” So quiet, I thought I might have imagined it, he whispers, his voice fragile, like he's a cracked glass just waiting to shatter. “I’m the oldest in the pack, I’m a Beta…
I’m not even a shifter, and I’m missing a leg.
Not much I can do for her that you guys don’t have covered. ”
To my surprise, before I can comfort him myself, Lucas steps in and pulls him into a hug. Embracing the other man tightly, he glares at me over Teddy’s shoulder. “Just wait, mano, until she’s laid out in front of that hearth you’ve built with your own two hands.”
Clay and Atlas come in, oblivious to the tension in the room, before stopping at the sight in front of them.
Not only has Luc pulled his head out of his rear long enough to comfort another human, but he is talking about our dream here—the one he’d so vehemently rejected—the one where we lay our sweet Omega out and mate her by the roar of the fire on the thick plush carpet.
I want to believe he meant it somewhere, deep, very deep, in the levels of his heart, and not just trying to cheer our Beta up, but he’s made it very clear that he isn’t on board for that.
Lucas had been our third pack mate, joining after Teddy and me had been together for half a decade already, stumbling into our lives when I had to take one of my clients in after the bull we’d been working on happily had kicked the shit out of her on the trip back to the paddock.
With a damn buffet full of trauma and having lost two Omegas already, he slipped easily into our quiet lives out here.
History had dealt him a rough hand, but I need to know whether he is going to hold the future liable for that, and let us—and more importantly, himself—be happy for a change.
Hopefully, our Omega is equipped to deal with us all; goddess knows she’s going to have a job of it.
As always, Clay steps in to take over with Teddy, planting a kiss on his temple and pulling him against his side, “Come on, trouble, someone has to keep the furballs in check and show our girl that humans can give just as good as the lunarly challenged.”
Lunarly challenged. The fucking wheeze that escapes me sounds like a whistling kettle as I fold in two.
Exploding next to me, Atlas’ loud, whooping laughter fills the room, and even Lucas has to hide his chuckles behind his hand.
Nothing in life has brought me more happiness than this little family of ours, and I can only hope a sassy little Omega will bind us even tighter.
We could all do with a little OLC—Omega Loving Care.
??
Most of the other packs tonight are suited and booted too, but there’s a distinct divide amongst the Alphas and Betas gathered in the queuing area of the facility.
Packs like ours, chattering happily, nursing the pages of the catalogs and pointing at Omegas between the pages.
Others stand silently, the fit of their suits telling me that they are carrying more than their wallets tonight.
Wearing suits that probably cost more than our cars, duplicated in black and white monotone, they put me on edge.
However, it does make me preen a little. Our pack is dressed to kill, catching glances from some of the other Alphas and even some of the Beta staff at the facility. Though they seem to be eye-fucking almost every pack that walks past them, so maybe not entirely a compliment.
Looking us up and down, the guard who is taking the fees at the door glares.
His hand is bandaged, and the number he tells us to pay makes the blood drain from my face.
Fuck it’s almost ten damn times what we were told when we called to put our names on the list. Clay doesn’t even bat an eye as he pulls out his fancy black card, swiping it with an almost smug look on his face, and I do wonder if it’s purposeful that they’re trying to deny us entry.
Surely they saw us last week when they were dragging our Omega back to the rooms.