58. Sage
Sage
My omega's already bonded?
No…
How is that possible? That…that can't be true. Can it? My thoughts and questions wiz past each other, chaotic in my brain, causing me to nearly tumble forward with the dizziness of it all hitting too hard and too fast.
"How?" My voice is strangled and rough, even to my own ears. "We would have felt her other bonds when we bit her, wouldn't we? We would feel those connections… She doesn't even have any other claiming marks on her anywhere…"
"It's just a bonding certificate in the legal sense and documentation. It doesn't equate to a claiming or being bitten into a pack…it just means she would be under their pack's household name, legally," Adrian explains, brows furrowed, hurt etched deeply in his brown eyes.
"No. No! This makes no fucking sense!" I shake the papers violently, looking to my pack lead to back me up here.
Within seconds, it feels like the energy in the room is being conjured and sucked into the giant alpha at my side, like a small tornado.
The effect sends chills racing over my skin as I watch him stand to his full height, shoulders seemingly growing in size as his gaze focuses on the beta and omega in front of our pack.
"I'm going to give you two one last chance to be honest."
The weight of his bark hits each of us in the room, even if it is targeted at the two women.
Shaking with wide eyes, Annabelle steps forward slightly. "Fine…"
"Annabelle!" Vivian's arm shoots out to grasp at her friend's shoulder, pulling her back.
She turns, giving her brunette friend a look that seems like a silent secret's being passed between the two. It raises my hackles, fists clenching, and with it the bullshit papers. I refuse to believe this. I would know. I would know if my omega was already bonded or had a pack.
"Fine. We were the ones that found this info and put it together for you. You deserve an omega that isn't after your pack for your hard-earned money. You're all such handsome, amazing alphas. Every woman dreams of finding a pack like yours. You deserve better than that homeless criminal—"
Growling pierces the air, causing them both to jump, eyes wide.
Even I feel my own muscles tensing at the sound, on a primal level.
Like, even my inner alpha recognizes the strength of our lead and knows to stand the fuck down.
When Calder truly embraces his primal and finds the balance between man and beast, it's like the energy of a storm, the power of the surrounding nature being gathered into his body as a source of strength.
Another reason, I have no doubts he's our natural lead.
"Enough. You're fucking done," he growls deeper than a sinner in the seventh layer of hell, the sound cavernous and guttural.
Shivers wrack my body, and I watch with terrified, hopeful fascination, realizing I'm far from the only one in the room affected.
"You're lying. I know you're lying. The fucking seal in the corner of the certificate is old.
It's outdated and was rebranded almost a year ago. "
The two women curl inward, shaking in their shoes, eyes cast downward. Their non-response is all the confirmation we could need.
"So…none of it is true?" I ask.
Two sets of guilty eyes peer up towards me, two heads meekly shaking, giving yet another confirmation of their lies.
"Holy shit." Gripping my hair at the roots, I tug hard enough for it to be ripped out, pacing again before bending over and resting my hands just above my knees. All I can do is breathe and curse as emotion and relief flood me.
My inner alpha itches and claws at me, trying to get my attention.
Focusing inward, I try to decipher the meaning, something not sitting right.
There's still something else that's missing.
I can feel it. Shaking my head, I stand, albeit dizzily, the night of Opaline's injury and her hiking incident coming to the forefront, randomly.
It's so out of left field, my mind latches onto it, trusting my intuition and my inner primal. Until it finally hits me…
"You..." My jaw's loose, surprise lighting me as the undeniable truth finally lands, my alpha slowing and taking a step back, just confirming my suspicions, like I'm finally getting what he's been trying to put in front of me.
"It was you, wasn't it? The night of Opal's accident?
That's why you were there, in the Main Lodge, behind the desk?
" I knew, in the moment, even while under the fog of my alpha and the duress of my missing omega, that something wasn't right.
I had specifically stopped and realized that she had no reason to be there, and now…
"What are you talking about, Sage?" Calder asks, turning to me, eyes narrowing.
"Annabelle. It was her." I shake my head, anger building the clearer the scenario becomes. "The night she was hurt, and you lost your connection with Opal. When she went hiking and got lost trying to find her way…" The realization hits heavily.
My omega is too smart to get lost on a trail, even if it was her first time hiking.
She figured out exactly how to read and understand that map.
But it… "It wasn't the right fucking map, was it?
" I don't know exactly how she managed it, but I fucking know this pathetic, conniving woman had something to do with my omega getting lost and injured.
Looking to both of them, I write Vivian off based on her obvious confusion trying to follow the conversation, and land back to Annabelle.
She's practically trembling, shaking with every step I take closer.
She swallows, eyes bouncing between me and my packmates, glancing to the woman at her side like she can help.
"Opaline had said it was the last map there on the trailhead," I growl, jaw tense. "That would never be the case. Those rangers keep the trailhead commons stocked and cleaned."
"You fucking sabotaged our omega?" Calder snarls, hands fisting to the desk nearest him as if to prevent himself from lunging or tossing the huge desk across the room.
Annabelle yelps at the sound, stumbling back into Vivian, both of them nearly tumbling like dominoes.
"Yes, okay! Yes! It was me! I heard Lottie and Opaline talking about it in the laundry room.
" She sniffles, tears starting to stream freely down her cheeks.
"I knew when and what trail she was planning to hike.
I replaced it with an old one I found in the trash.
" Based on the description my omega gave us of the map, this woman did more than just replace it.
She likely waterlogged it and scratched it to hell.
She sucks in air like she can't get enough. "I was sick of it! Out of nowhere, this pathetic excuse of an omega just appears and takes the most eligible pack in town! You deserve so much better than her. You deserve someone…someone like…”
"You?" Adrian snarls in disgust, interrupting. "Or, maybe Vivian?"
She nods somehow both meekly and with her head raised. The wobble in her chin gives her confidence away.
Calder's voice rings out behind me. "You're done here, Annabelle.
Your time working here is over. If either of you steps a fucking foot onto our property, onto the resort…
You so much as look at or whisper about our omega, I'll have you blacklisted from every spot in this town and three towns over to make sure it never happens again.
You can get your belongings and clear out your locker and desk on Monday. Get the fuck out, now."
His bark echoes in the room, making me dizzy with its force and power, sending the two scrambling away through the open door.
Minutes pass in silence, and I look between my lead and my pack brother. Calder's vibrating with an energy that still needs to be expelled, and Adrian looks numb to the world around him, still processing what the actual fuck just happened.
A new kind of near-static sensation fills my chest that I haven't felt before.
Before I can start to spiral thinking I'm having a heart attack from this fucking stressful mess, the others' heads pop up, each of us making contact, and I know they must be feeling it too.
The feeling seems to expand until…finally, I feel Everette's bond there in my chest. Our pack bond is finally completed and strong enough to momentarily grey out my vision as it sets into place.
Adrian reaches for his chest in awe, like he can't believe it.
"No. We need to shut down the bond. At least a little.
Our emotions are all over the place, and we need to take a minute so we don't overwhelm and worry them.
" Calder's rough voice gently commands us to muffle our bonds.
He sounds more like himself and not the terrifying alpha-god from Hell. Relief number two.
Doing as he says, I nod in confirmation. Although simply based on the strength of our new connection as a pack… I think he already knew and could feel it himself.
With the bond muffled, the silence of the office we stand in, and as more time passes, the ground starts to feel more steady beneath me.
"We'll need to file a police report," Calder says, eventually. His voice still echoes with the guttural strength of his primal riding him. "The cameras in here would have picked everything up."
We both nod in return. The longer we stand here, the more it feels like a weight's actually been lifted completely. Whatever bullshit Annabelle has been spewing and the drama and harmful chaos she's stirred since the arrival of our omega is finally and officially over.
For good.
What a fucking rollercoaster.