Chapter 18

Chapter

Eighteen

Iwent into the office today.

Usually, when I went into the office, it was strictly working. Nothing else was on my mind but what exactly I needed to do. I had a list that I added to and a calendar to watch over. I went to meetings and got deadlines completed well in advance.

But instead of my usual swift work ethic, something crawled under my skin,andnot because I wore a new suit.

All I could think about was the frail omega back at the house.

What was she doing right now? Did she get enough sleep? I thought I heard her wandering the halls last night.

Did she feel safe?

Would she know that she could eat anything in the kitchen? Ihadn'teventhought to askif she had any allergies or dietary restrictions.

Would she not like being left alone? Would she run again?I knewthatshe said shewouldn't,yetthe thought bothered me.Ididn'twant her to leave the house. Sure, I barely knew her, but I cared enough. Ididn'twant anything to happen to her.

Every moment it came back to the omega.

Icouldn'tdecide whether I was worried or slowly driving myself up a wall. The others in the office kept a wide berth from me as if they could see the unsettled nature of my alpha crawling up my spine.

Cal was supposed to go and check up on her. Had he already? If he had, whydidn'the message me with an update?

My work was my purpose alongside my pack ever since Liam and I found Markoandit quickly became official that none of us were the lone wolf type of alphas wewere raisedto be.Itmade surewe were taken care ofand safe and just finewithmy familypeeking over our shoulders constantly.

No. Not anymore.

I hoisted myself up to my feet.Grabbedmy jacket off the back of my chair along with my bag, Iwas already halfway to the door before I realized exactly where I was going.Atthe small desk outside of my office, my assistant tried to keep upas she stumbled at my pace.

"Mr. Prestford. Ididn'texpect you to be out,"she cleared her throat to appear less frazzled. Whichwas a difficult task.

My assistant was alwaysin a state offrazzledit seemedsinceI hired her out of college as a favor to some work colleagues, aunt, or something.She did, however, do her job well enough.

"Can I assist you with anything?" She asked.

"I'mquite alright, Ms. Martinez."

"Okay,"she nodded."Just keeping you up to date, Mr. Walter called earlier and needs to reschedule the meeting at the end of the week about your initiative with Omega Services next month."

At this point, there was only one omega I was concerned about."I'mgoing home."

"Home?"she repeated, as if unfamiliar with the term.

Honestly, I was unfamiliar with it myself these days.

"I'mdone for the day."

"Done? Are you sure?"she stuttered as she tried to keep up with me on her tiny heels."You have a meeting after lunch– oh,and a lunch commitment at one.We did confirm. Did you hear thatit was canceled? Ihadn'tgotten the memo through email quite yet."

"No, Mirabel," I said. She stopped talking.I'mpretty sure she never even knew I knew her first name. It sure worked wonders right now."I am taking the rest of the day off. Cancel it."

"Cancel–"

I probablyshouldn"thave been as irritated as I was by her questioning me. I never canceled a meeting.

Huh. First time for everything.

I had a feeling that allwas going togo to plan for my pack. There would be a lot of firsts coming up. But Icouldn'tget ahead of myself, mainly for my pack. We all knew what happened when we jumped at something before considering the consequences. And my, did Ella perhaps have more than a few?

Theyjustdidn'tseem all that important when I saw how the rest of my bonds reacted to her.

I made my way out the door towards the lobby. Another person fell into step beside me.

"Did I just hear that we're leaving?" Marko asked slowly without emotion.

I narrowed my eyes as I glanced at him. Still, we made our way out towards the parking garage."You'restill here?"

"I haven't been assigned anywhere else."

"Yes," I said. "We're going home."

Marko rubbed his chest as if he could feel my anxiety and displeasure through the bond."Youcan'tstop thinking about the omega."

"Hm."I agreed with a single sound.

"She'sbeen slowly settling in. Cal checked the cameras earlier."

"She's awake."

Marko nodded. "Wandering."

"Outside?"

He shook his head.

Between Marko and I, there never was a need for a lot of words to get our point across. And Markodidn'toften share more than he had to these days. He was, however, sharing more than henormallydid. It was a good thing.

"Ihave a silent alarm in case she starts to panic,"said Marko."Iwon'tlet her put herself in danger until a plan is in place."

It was a good idea. I was glad someone thought of it."There'sa lot sheisn'ttelling us."

He dipped his chin in agreement.

"You think she's in real trouble," I concluded. It wasn't as if I hadn't thought of it myself.

"Cal seems to think so.Liaminsinuated it as well after he came backwith her the other day."

"No omega chooses to live in poverty,"I said.

After digging further, Cal and Liam were right. That wasexactlywhat she was living like. She was hiding in graduate student housing that was more fit for animals seeking shelter. It surelydidn'thelp that Ifound outexactlywhat Prestford University was paying their entry-level librarians. Shecould'vebeenmakingmore work at the local gas station with two degrees under her belt.

It was disgusting.

She deserved so much more. She deserved everything.

It was a broad statement for a woman we just met who still may not have wanted anything to do with all of us, but it felttruein every piece of me. Alphaor not.

"What are you thinking?"Marko asked, too many emotions floating through the bond from all directions. The entire pack has been a mess.

"Iwant her to be ours."

"You'regoing to have to make calls then."

"I know."

"But you can't," he added.

I knew thattoo, especially if the omega we had at home did believe that alphas just took whatever they wanted. Wewouldn'tbe those people to her too.Thiswould be all on her own pace, even if itwasdifficultto make that happen whenalongwith the stress of making sure she wasok, I wascertainthat an omega living with uswouldn'tbe kept a secret for long, no matter how hard we tried.

Marko didn't say anything more as we made our way back to the house.

Pulling up the gated drive and into the garage, I made my way inside,only,it was silent. From what Marko said as he headed back out to check on Cal at the other office site where he was supposed to be dealing withLiam'sparents and the upcoming benefits they were throwing in town, meaningthey'dwant to see at least one of us there to support, Iwould'vethought Ella would be pacing and forth from the living room to the kitchen.

That wasoftenwhere I trailed back and forth when I had a lot on my mind.Then again, I usually did that when I wantedsomeone,anyoneto interrupt my constant overthinking.

I headed towards the hallway, not sensing anyone back towards the office. Turning, I went upstairs. Maybeshehad gotten tired and went back to bed. Thoughshe"dbeen looking a bit better over the past few days, it was hard to forgetjusthow neglected she had been for so long. All alone.

Not anymore.

I shook myself out of the possessive thought. The guest room she was staying in was partially open. Shewasn'tinside. Her scent, however, was a gentle trail from where shemust'vebeen snooping out each of our rooms.

The thought that she wanted even the smell of us when we were gone for the day made me want to smirk with pleasure. I turned the edge of the hall to myroomwhere her sweet berry perfume lingered outsideof.

But itwasn'twhere it ended. Next to my room were the stairs up towards the attic space door. Like some of ours, the door was cracked open.

Lookedlike the little omega knew what she was looking for.

Carefully, I made my way upthe half set ofstairs, but Ididn'teven have to go past the door.

Ella stood there, frozen in front of the door. Her hair was cleanasifshe'dtaken a shower. Damp, blond waves down her back and wearing the sweats from Liamhe'dbeen laying out as if none of us had noticed him wanting to mark her even if hedidn'tseem to get any closer.

My packmate wanted her just as much as I did.

Ella's body shook though, as if desperate to take a step forward into... into the nest.

Why hadn't she?

I took a step closer."Are you all right, Ella?"

She jumped nearly a foot off the ground at my voice.