AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I had thought that this dinner, my first as a part of the family, or the pack, or whatever they wanted to call it, would be… different, somehow. After all, this time, they all knew I was mated to their brother–we were permanently bonded to each other, forever–and last time I had been, what? His brand-new girlfriend? It was startling, almost, that this second family dinner was so alike to the first: the joyful camaraderie of the family, the bottles of wine shared in the kitchen, the smell of food–although this time, Charlie had dispatched Richard and Rose to pick up take-out from Bibi Sarkar.
“Charlie!” Rose shrieked, upon seeing us come downstairs and into the kitchen where she and her mate stood unloading box after fragrant box. “Why have you been keeping Bibi a secret from us? Iloveher!”
“You haven’t even tasted the food, yet,” I said, smiling somewhat nervously up at Rose. The girl wrapped me in a hug that was ninety-seven percent long arms and legs, like a gorgeous, rose-scented, extra-snuggly spider.
“I’m so happy for you,” she whispered, and when she drew away I noticed a glimmer of tears in her eyes. “Welcome to the family,” she added, her voice low and quiet. “We’re sisters now, Ella.”
Rose had already turned back to the rest of the group by the time I cleared my own eyes, and was regaling the rest of them with Richard’s encounter with Mrs. Sarkar. The quiet alpha was shaking his head and smiling even now, so different from his more outgoing wife–or his brother.
The only awkward moment occurred when Philip pulled me aside to apologize. He apparently had thought I–and Charlie–had known, and thought he would spare me the discomfort of having the impending “downsizing” of the magazine broadcasted at a dinner party. The Princes were accustomed to sitting at the top: he hadn’t thought that no one had told theemployeesof the magazine. After all, he had known, and he was an employee of the magazine, sort of. He had his wine column. Nevermind the fact that he hadn’t known through official channels… But there was nothing to do but forgive him. Margaret had said that he and Michael were not friends, very decisively, and I trusted her, despite not knowing the intimidating woman as well as I wanted to. I would get to know themallnow, as I looked around the table at them, laughing and talking andmmmming over the rice and skewers heaped on china platters and in bowls. Philip, the quiet Richard and outgoing Rose, serious Jack and Asterid and Margaret, and even Charlie, the man I had met only weeks ago, and had now promised my life to. The thought made my stomach fill with flitting butterflies.
Half way through the meal, I understood why they acted the same towards me, despite the life-changing decision I had made between the two family dinners.
They had already seen me as pack. As family.
They had known, even then.
Even when I hadn’t known, myself.
I had always,always, belonged here.
Charlie reached over, settling his hand on my thigh once again, and I smiled.
From the Pages of CityStyle Magazine
Ms. Marke’s stated goal? “To start a revolution,” she says with the beautiful smile of a confident, self-assured omega.
The challenges facing omegas in tech fields often begin during their school years. “I was always one of the only, if not the only, omega in my upper-level computer science classes,” Marke says. Collingswood University records confirm that out of thousands of computer science graduates, very few are designated omega–fewer that the overall omega population would suggest for an equitable distribution.
But even accomplished omegas encounter barriers to success. Marke says the key to her success is a strong community of coworkers, friends, and, yes, fellow omegas. Even as Chief Technology Officer of local tech firm SPARQ, she was on the receiving end of offensive comments. [See NOUGHTON FACING CHARGES, page 8.] “It can be lonely, as the only omega in the room,” she says. “That’s why I started Omegas in Tech–I wanted to give other omegas the same chance I had. OIT will provide that foot in the door for future omegas.”
CITYSTYLEMAGAZINE, THE “REVOLUTIONARY” OMEGAS IN TECH, PAGE 6
Ella
I hadn’t felt conspicuous–notany more than normal, at least, for an omega–in the weeks since Charlie and I had made our second visit to the greenhouse. I was thankful for the suppressant-dulled noses of my coworkers: no one had noticed the subtle change in my scent, still muted with daily scent-blockers. My mating mark was still healing on my shoulder, red and bruised, but it wasn’t like I was wearing strapless dresses to work at the office, and it wasn’t like I had much of a social life outside of work, so no one had even seen the marks besides the Princes.
Of which I was one.The realization would hit me again and again throughout the day, as I let myself into the townhouse with my own keycode. As Asterid poured me a glass of wine from the bottle she and Margaret were splitting, lounging in the living room after Margaret got off work. As my things began taking up space in Charlie’s closet. I had asked him if he wanted to move into my studio apartment, to get out of the shared space of the townhouse, and smirked against his lips when he just smiled and kissed me. He loved it there, he always would. I did, too, and anyway–if today went according to plan–we would soon need the space.
But visiting the doctor, the cotton gown drooping from my otherwise bare shoulders as she looked up from her tablet, I felt uncomfortably exposed.
“You’re sure?” she asked. Everyone–the doctor, Charlie, Margaret and the other Prince’s omegas–was asking me that recently, and I told her the same I had told them.
“I’m sure.”
“Alright then,” she said, frowning slightly as she made a note on my chart. “If you are sure.” Her eyes met mine once again, and I straightened my posture on the uncomfortable examination table. She looked back at her clipboard. “We’ll get that taken care of today.”
Two months and twenty three days later–I had been counting, eagerly, anxiously, desperately–I woke up hot and wanting.
I had thought I had known what it would be like, my heat. I remembered, vaguely, the slight fever, the delirium that had come with my presentation, before the suppressants had been administered. I had read the pamphlets from the doctor, cold and clinical, full of statistics. I had even pried Margaret and Rose and Asterid–my new sisters–for information, and gotten both more and less detail than I wanted.
“I don’t know,” Asterid had said, “It’ll probably be different, for you, since you’re… you know.Trying.”
Margaret nodded. “I’ve always wanted it, during mine, but…”
“Notreally,” Rose had shuddered.
“Well,yes, really,” Margaret had said. “It’s a part of the whole experience–being an omega, being in heat. You want–youneed, in the moment–to be bred.” I was astounded by the way she could say those words without blushing; my own cheeks, I’m sure, were crimson.
