Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
APOLLO
T he music I’ve been playing to calm down is interrupted as my phone rings and my mothers’ name comes up on the screen. I’m driving home from practice. I stayed late to meet with the physical therapist to work on my hip flexors and some mobility issues I want to avoid in the future.
The goal, now that I made it to the show, is to be there for as long as possible. If that means doing yoga and whatever other frou-frou shit they suggest to keep me in shape so be it.
“Hey Mother.”
“Apollo, my darling.”
She wants something. I already know from the adorations that she adds to my name.
“How can I help?” I sigh out and she doesn’t even pussyfoot around the issue.
“One of Gracie’s friends is transferring midyear to the University. They had no housing left for her and I didn’t feel comfortable with her being in an apartment by herself. She needs to be watched after and you have such a big house for just you and your pack. I need you to pick her up at the airport in twenty minutes.”
Twenty minutes?
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Gracie is my sister, who is also an Alpha. She tends to hang out with douchebags, like the guys, who I’m sure she is going to end up in a pack with. If this girl is Gracie’s friend she’s another Alpha who is going to be a pain in my ass.
Gracie is two years younger than me and has been a constant thorn in my side since the moment she made her appearance in this world. It might be the fact that we’re both Alphas and just don’t get along or it could be that she is a stuck-up bitch.
It’s probably the latter.
“Mother-”
“She needs help, Apollo. Something…something happened and she almost got forced into a bond here. Gracie brought her home after a mixer at the academy and your fathers and I took care of it. Now we need you to just watch over her until Christmas break. You can bring her home then and we will figure the rest out.” My mother speaks in a no-nonsense tone now.
She isn’t asking me to help. This is a command and I am not getting out of it.
My mother is on the council; the government that runs our world. They make all the rules and regulations to keep all the designations safe. It wasn’t just Alphas and Omegas who mattered, Betas deserved a say in everything as well.
Things have changed a lot in the past twenty years when it came to designations. It wasn’t just Alpha’s ruling the world anymore. Beta’s had taken more active roles and Omega rights had been a very hot topic.
The Omega Academy restructure was the biggest project my mother took on. A new-age finishing school where they would be taught about their designation and would be introduced to Alphas and potential packs. It changed how Omegas were educated and presented to society.
Even though we are a family of mainly Alphas, my mother is the one who broke down the barriers that were previously placed on The Omega Academy. Before she rose in the Council, the school was for wealthy and elite families to send their Omega daughters too. It left a lot of girls from middle class and low income families without the resources to bring their daughters to a safe place. This created a lot of forced bonds and put Omegas in a vulnerable situation. My mother made it so that The Omega Academy is funded by the council and that Omegas who attend do not have to leave with a bond. The Omegas are given plenty of opportunities to excel in whatever they want.
Not many Omega pick the traditional rolls anymore. We have Omegas in the workforce enriching our communities as more than just the caretakers that they had been before.
Growing up, my Mama was the center of our family. She is an Omega who was a caretaker and took care of our family. She also broke stereotypes and would teach other Omegas about the designation and worked outside of our home. It gave us a better view on how the world could change for the better.
It was also a terribly kept secret that my two dads and mother were hopelessly wrapped around her finger.
Since we grew up always learning about how the world was changing it pushed my family to push for equal opportunity in education.
Beta’s previously were the only ones who really learned about all designations. They were taught everything because it was as if they were expected to earn a place in packs. The idea of a Beta just being loved wasn’t as accepted when I was young.
Thank fuck that changed.
My mother also is a big advocate for Alpha education as well. Equality was preached over everything. Not only had I been taught my whole life how to treat an Omega, but my mother drilled it into me that if I did the wrong thing that she would be the one I had to deal with. There wa a respect that had been previously not given to Omegas.
Now they were cherished.
The only problem with my mother being so involved with The Omega Academy, is that she’s been trying to get me to attend one of the parties and meet an Omega. I’ve explained, over and over, to her that my pack is focused on our careers right now, and we can’t properly give an Omega what they need.
“Are you listening Apollo?”
“Can you send me the information about her? And her name. I’ll head to the airport now.”
We hang up now that I’ve been given my task. My mother is probably moving onto whatever her next project was.
Thankfully it isn’t a game day and I have the time to do this favor for her.
A text from my mother comes in with the information of where this girl is going to be. It’s quickly followed with a reminder that I need to park my car and help her with her bags instead of waiting outside.
As an Alpha, this girl is absolutely going to hate that but, I know that if I don’t do what my mother wants then I am going to face her wrath.
The airport is only ten minutes away and $25 to park for the hour. I have to go up to the sixth level to find parking and I try not to get furious about that.
I’m a picture of calm.
This girl didn’t ask to have someone try to force her into a bond.
I wonder if it was an older pack looking to add a female for some sort of balance to them. Maybe they had been rejected by an Omega and she hadn’t been. This attempt to bond could have been a retaliation against her?
There was no point in making up stories of what happened to her, I’m sure that I’ll find out soon enough what her backstory is.
Thankfully it’s early enough in the day that the guys will still be at school and won’t be looking for me at home. I have no idea how to explain that for the next three months, we’re going to have a stranger live with us. The fact that she is Gracie’s friend is already a strike against her.
Vaughn is going to be the wildcard in all of his. He hasn’t been the same since the breakup with Terry and the fact his family, outside of us, sort of exploded this summer doesn’t really help. I’m not sure how he is going to handle a female presence in the house.
Griffin had stopped bringing girls home once he saw how surly our pack mate had gotten around them. Usually Vaughn was the calm one with things, so seeing him so upset lately has been hard. He isn’t opening up and talking about it, so it feels like he's shutting down on us.
None of us had been particularly upset about Terry and him breaking up. She had been pushing him to drop out and go to the draft early. She wanted him to take care of her and provide for her. I don’t think that pack life was ever something she was interested in.
Once it was settled that we were going to be a pack she had been furious with Vaughn, trying to figure out where she belonged with us. McKinley had been kind with her and tried to explain how we worked, but she didn’t like that we all worked together. Terry had been livid when Vaughn decided to continue going to school. She wasn’t going to have the free ride she was looking for.
Sleeping with his dad and getting pregnant with his sibling wasn’t exactly the revenge that we had expected though.
My mind is whirling with the pack dynamics and what having a stranger living with us is going to feel like. This is the first time we’re all in our own home off campus. We had lived together in the hockey house for the last two years together. Now we were in a place that we picked out furniture for and painted together.
I bought the house for cheap with my signing bonus. I figured it was close enough that the guys could still get to school without worry and when we were ready to move on we would be able to flip it for a profit.
There are a couple of extra rooms in the house. Only one is set up as a guest bedroom because of McKinley and his brood of a family who comes to visit. I don’t know how he will feel about putting her in the room that usually hosts an assortment of his family. I guess I can set her up in my office. There’s a couch there now that she can crash on until a bed can be delivered.
This is not how I saw my Thursday going.
I arrive at the gate just as people start coming out. With no idea what this person is supposed to look like, I scroll my phone to try and find her name in the text thread with my mother. I’m frowning when I see that my mother only sent the flight information to me, and not the name of who was going to be staying with me.
Pulling my hat down further on my head, not wanting to be recognized by anyone in the airport, I scan the people like it will somehow identify this person. It’s easy to spot the designations by how they hold themselves or their scents.
Nothing clicks with the people exiting the gate.
Back to my phone I go, thumbs tapping the screen asking my mother for a picture or at least a name so I know who I’m going to be bringing home with me.
I see the dots come up as she starts to reply but suddenly I get distracted.
A scent hits me hard .
It’s cherries and something lemony but sweet, almost like a Shirley Temple. It fills the air around me and makes me look around, trying to pinpoint where it's coming from. That scent is so sweet and strong that it can only belong to an Omega.
Sure enough, she pops out of the crowd with frizzy curly hair hanging in two braids down the side of her face. They’re tied off with red ribbons that remind me of her cherry scent. Dressed in a pair of ripped jeans, white tennis shoes and a white t-shirt that is rising up to show off the cutest bit of skin of her stomach. It’s completely impractical for the freezing cold weather outside, not that the sweet Omega seems to notice.
She hikes her backpack up her shoulder, eyes looking round and then down at her phone.
What sort of person leaves an Omega at an airport waiting for them? They should be here gathering up the cherub and bringing her to safety. Or at least putting something on her to lower her scent.
No one blocks scents anymore. It makes people uneasy when you smell someone and there is nothing but chemicals blocking their scent. Alphas usually have a deodorant that is a blocker for us when we sweat. It helps keep us a little more in check. Omegas usually wear something that masks their scents, a little bit, so that people aren’t drooling over them in public.
Much like I am trying and failing not to do.
My phone buzzes, making me look down and giving me something to do other than stare at the Omega that is in front of me like a lighthouse beacon welcoming me home.
I remind myself again that I am in my rookie season of professional hockey and need to focus on that. I need to save and build a home that is fitting for my Omega. Give her a place that is more comfortable than a rundown Victorian.
My mother has finally sent a name to me..
“Hi, I’m Clover Lynn. You must be Apollo Mathers. You look so much like Gracie.” My eyes land on the Omega standing in front of me.
Close enough now that I can see the way her blue eyes are shining under those long black eyelashes of hers. A little watery, rimmed red, and puffy like she had been crying lately. I can only smell her sweet scent, tinged a bit with something like fear around her. And I can see the way her smile is fake and a little broken.
Turns out Gracie’s friend isn’t an Alpha after all. Looks like I’m going to be bringing an Omega home with me.
Shit .