Chapter 25 Tessa #3
"Miss Fortune, your past doesn’t matter anymore. No one cares if your daddy used to be somebody. I suggest you remember that, and work on having a more compliant attitude. Our clients aren’t the type of Alphas to deal with a flawed product."
“I didn’t ask for your advice,” I said, lifting my chin defiantly. “And,” I swallowed, steeling myself, “I’m not a damn product.”
As if backing me up, Josie hissed and swatted a paw in Beta Love’s direction. He took a step back instinctively. What a wimp.
“Are you really scared of an itty-bitty kitten?” I lifted an eyebrow, purposefully hoisting Josie away from my body and a little closer to Beta Love number two.
“That cat," Beta Love mumbled, his gaze flashing down to Josie and then back up to my face. He backed away further. “Because of your stubborn refusal to see the reality of your situation, you’re going to push things too far. Clients have been known to change their minds about accommodations.” The side of his mouth quirked, as if he suddenly found something amusing. “What I wouldn’t give to see you forced into submission. Omegas are only useful,” he leaned forward, despite Josie swatting at him, and he lowered his voice to a harsh whisper, “after they’ve been broken. ”
“That a threat?” Instantly, I stopped using Josie to intimidate the Beta tech. I clutched her close to my chest. “Are you allowed to say that kind of thing to me?”
He straightened his posture, studying his nails casually. “Firstly, that was a warning, not a threat. Secondly, there is nothing in my contract that requires I speak nicely to Eros… products.” He turned his back on me, leaving me to sputter fruitlessly at the use of that damn word again—product.
The female Betas walling me in didn’t give me time to think of a comeback. They started shuffling me out of the lab. I hoped I never had to see Beta Love’s stupid face again.
We pushed out into the hallway, formation strictly in place, the well-oiled machine chugging along.
Part of me wondered if these four had served in the military; their synchronization was damn near perfect.
I let my mind wonder as we shuffled through the floor fourteen maze.
Soon we left behind areas I recognized, passing through several security protected doors as we traveled.
We walked endlessly, until I thought we must be near our location, but the hive of Beta women showed no indication of stopping.
I almost screamed when we turned a corner and came face-to-face with Beta Love.
Had we just walked in an endless, weaving loop and arrived right back at the damn lab?
I opened my mouth to say something snotty, but then I clocked the pale pink suit and the small white rose pinned to the lapel.
And this Beta Love was smiling broadly. The ceiling here was different too.
Painted a soothing, soft sky blue. I glanced down at my feet, finding tiny clouds dotting the hall floor.
Definitely not the lab area. Definitely not the jackass Beta Love of the lab.
“Miss Fortune, I cannot tell you how pleased I am to see you!” He strode forward, slipping between the Beta women in front of me until he could clamp his hands around my shoulder and give them a gentle squeeze. Everything about Beta Love number one was softer and kinder than Beta Love number two.
“Your brother wasn’t so happy to see me.” I shrugged.
“Yes, well, my brother is prone to grudges.” He cocked his head to the side. “Don’t let him get to you, not when your whole life is about to change for the better.”
“Not exactly how your brother made it seem,” I muttered, thinking about how his visually identical sibling had painted a picture of submission, pups, and possibly losing Josie.
“He’s a pessimist!” Beta Love crowed, pushing his arm through mine and tugging me forward. The Beta women protested but were completely ignored. “You should have seen him as a child. Always half-empty cups and perpetual gloom.”
I noted as we moved, swifter and more erratically now with the four women scurrying behind us, that Josie didn’t react badly to Beta Love number one. She was calm and collected, taking in our surroundings.
Before I knew it, we were standing in front of double glass doors, beyond which seemed to be a resort worthy spa.
The entrance opened and perfume-laced air gusted out.
Lavender, lilac, baby powder. I was tugged inside and quickly found myself in a salon seat staring at a triple mirror.
Beta Love, who was standing before me, leaned over and pushed my hair behind my ears. His eyes sparkled and his grin widened.
“This is the best part,” he promised. “You’ll truly feel like a new woman. And,” he waggled his eyebrows, “I oversaw your travel wardrobe. It... is... sublime.” He drew out the last three words for effect, seeming overly pleased with himself.
Beta Love disappeared and the room flooded with Betas, male and female, wearing navy blue with paler blue trim which matched the spa ceiling. A younger woman with short, manicured nails tried to whisk Josie out of my arms.
“No,” I said, pulling Josie to my chest. “She stays with me.”
“The cat will stay in visual range,” she said quickly, her voice a pleasant tinkling as if she was more accustomed to singing soprano than speaking normally. “We’ll see to it that she has the royal treatment as well.”
"I—" I hesitated, clutching Josie tighter.
"Please," the woman's voice remained musical, but there was a firmness beneath it.
"Solely for your situation, we have created a special pet grooming station.” She half turned her body, lifting a hand to point behind me.
Using the mirror, I checked it out. A makeshift grooming station was set up and two people waited, poised with brushes and bows.
When I didn’t seem convinced, the woman wanting Josie persisted.
“Miss Fortune, your contract addendum clearly states the pet must stay with you. If she does not, then The Eros Institute is in breech. Additionally, our employment rules strictly prohibit us from doing anything that may risk a client’s product.
Our company would suffer a huge monetary loss, and we would lose our jobs.
Do you think that we would risk so much? ”
It made sense.
But that was the issue lately.
They found a way to make it seem logical, even when it was all… a huge fucking ploy to kidnap people.
“Fine,” I finally gave in, because what was the alternative? “If I look into this mirror and I don’t see her, then I’m going to call your bluff on that breach of contract.”
"Of course," the woman nodded, gently taking Josie from my arms. It took every ounce of my willpower to let this stranger walk away with the only family I had left. I had to close my eyes, so I didn’t watch Josie traveling further away.
When I had the courage to part my lashes and look in the mirror seconds later, I watched anxiously as someone began brushing her methodically while another person presented her with a small white dish. Josie nearly pounced on the plate, lapping up what I thought might be milk.
"Traitor," I muttered when she lifted her face, little beard dripping with liquid, and meowed appreciatively.
I can’t explain what happened next.
Time seemed to both speed up and slow down.
I was surrounded by a flurry of activity.
I was asked to stand up and move over to a small round platform.
When I was in position, a Beta lifted a strange handheld device that emitted a soft blue light.
She ran it over my skin in slow, sweeping motions.
Wherever the light touched, my body tingled.
I watched in wonder as long-healed scars and new imperfections magically seemed to melt away.
When the robe became an obstacle, I was asked to remove it.
There were so many people here, far more than the day they’d submitted me to a physical exam.
“Ah, I apologize.” the wand-wielding Beta clocked my discomfort and made quick work of pulling a curtain around me. “An oversight.” She offered before asking me, once again, to de-robe.
My brain was on overload, I hadn’t even seen the metal railing on the ceiling, or the curtain clumped together waiting to be extended.
Still feeling nervous, I untied the double knot and dropped the robe. It pooled around my feet.
When she asked me to raise my arms, my breasts lifted just enough that the cat collar fell to the ground with a thud. I panicked, crouching down to snap it up quickly. I clutched it in my hand, staring at the Beta with wild, fearful eyes. I didn’t want her to take it. I wouldn’t let them take it.
The Beta stood there for a moment, ingesting what had just happened, but then she seemed to decide it wasn’t her problem.
She finished her work, rewinding time and erasing all the proof that I’d struggled for nearly two years homeless.
The tiny scar on my eyebrow, left behind from a jagged aluminum can lid used as a weapon by a man who’d wanted my spot in the park, was gone.
The jagged, torn line across my left thigh from when I’d fallen into a dumpster and hit a large chunk of broken window glass didn’t exist anymore.
I looked like the Omega princess again. If I closed my eyes, if I wished really hard, could the tragedy in my past disappear too? Could I have my family back?
It didn’t work that way.
I pushed the collar back under my breast, digging it up into the fold roughly and begging it to stay put. Then I wrapped the robe around my body again.
Beatification took hours.
Until they all said I was walking perfection.
They’d placed a floor length mirror in front of me.
It almost tricked me into forgetting I was ever destitute.
My collar bones were still too pronounced—they couldn’t magically fix how thin I was—and my cheekbones were too sharp, to carved inward.
Yet otherwise I truly seemed magazine worthy.
How could this girl, with perfect skin and hair, be homeless?
Mirrors didn’t lie.
Beta Love hadn’t lied either. The dress was stunning.
A waterfall of champagne satin with spaghetti straps and a thigh high split.
The collar had threatened to escape a second time when they’d been dressing me, but I’d managed to inconspicuously keep it in place.
The shoes were dainty sandals yet again, matched to the gown.
I didn’t have to worry if they’d fall apart on the streets though.
I was never going back to a life of fighting for a box in an underpass and scrounging for discard food behind restaurants.
I was never going back…
But I wasn’t sure where I was going would be any better.