Page 48 of Collateral Omega

“Stop right there!”

Holi turned to find the mistress standing in the hallway, staring at them. His heart hammered hard as he waited for her to say something. In the other commune houses, the masters and mistresses didn’t waste time. They transferred him as soon as the fights ended.

Holi hoped Arah would do the same.

“What is going on here?” she asked, looking from him to Blaine. Holi shifted to block Blaine from view, so Arah was focused on him. “Both of you, in my office now.”

“He doesn’t have to come,” Holi said. “I started it.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

“Follow me,” she said, walking down the hallway. Holi looked over his shoulder at Blaine. The omega was fuming. Guilt scoured Holi’s insides. He pushed it down. He couldn’t worry about anyone else, but himself. He walked down the hallway to Arah’s office.

“Sit,” she commanded as soon as he walked in. The female alpha reminded Holi of Saki. He missed her greatly. “That’s going to bruise,” she said, pointing at his right eye. “You should learn how to fight if you’re going to start trouble.”

Holi swallowed a moan as he gingerly touched his eye. It will heal soon enough. He dropped his hand. Arah stared at him from behind her desk unimpressed.

“You can’t keep doing this,” she said, dropping a data reader in front of him. She had his file open and the number of communes he’d lived in for the past six months highlighted in bright pink. They were five in total and Larny commune house was lucky number six. “Hopping around from one commune house to another is not good for you. You’re not building anything, not making friends, or leaving a good impression on potential employers out there. The omega placement agency is going to blacklist you if you continue like this. Your record is terrible. You left one job without notice. One alpha accused you of stealing. Fortunately, he didn’t press charges and your last alpha said you were lazy.”

The leisure job he had to leave because Xaine found him. The first alpha was a slave driver, and the other jobs…the alphas were all lying. He didn’t steal anything, and he wasn’t lazy.

“You can’t survive like this.”

I know. At this point, I'm out of ideas. Holi wanted to shout, but he kept his cool.

He never imagined that his life would be this hard. All he wanted to do was work and pay back his father’s debt, but things were not going his way. He met with trouble wherever he went, and Xaine was behind him at every step. Even though Holi was frustrated, there was no reason to go off on the poor woman.

She was only looking out for him and the other omegas in her commune house. That was her job. She had every right to question his decision because she had to give a reason why she was transferring him to another commune. As if she heard his thoughts, Arah leaned back and folded her arms over her chest.

Holi silently groaned.

“Tell me,” she said.

Fuck. She wasn’t going to make this easy, wasn’t she?

Holi bit the inside of his mouth and spewed the nonsense he’d fed other mistresses and masters other than telling them the real reason why he couldn’t stay in one place for too long.“I don’t think this is the commune for me. It doesn’t feel like home. I’ve tried to get along with other omegas, but something is missing. I’m not comfortable here.”

Arah stared at him. Her eyes gleamed with intelligence. “Try again.”

Holi stomach tightened.

“I…” I’m afraid he’ll find me if I stay in one place for too long. His heart gave a hard thud at the thought of that beast. Holi still didn’t have enough credit to settle his father’s debt. He needed three to four years to accumulate enough credit to make a dent in what his father owed. Holi still couldn’t believe the older omega sold him out like that. He knew they were desperate. But was it enough to sell him away to an alpha like Xaine Covus? The alpha was relentless. Xaine found him every time he ran away. He was making his life difficult.

Holi blinked rapidly as tears burned his eyes. He couldn’t cry. Not yet. The time to breakdown would come. Right now he needed to get out of the mess his omega father had gotten him into.

But, fuck, he was tired. Worrying about credit, where to hide and where to get a decent job was exhausting. Even when he worked hard, it felt like he was doing nothing.

“Larny commune house takes care of its omegas. We make sure you find permanent homes and employment. We have a few success stories of our omegas finding alphas who end up bonding with them since we opened. That can happen to you if you give yourself a chance.”

Not likely, Holi thought.

He was a poor omega. A poor omega with a lot of debt and an aggressive alpha on his back who wanted nothing but to turn him into a service omega.

No, I have to keep moving, Holi told himself, even though he liked it there. He wished he didn’t have to leave. But he’d stayed there for long enough.

Was Arah going to give him the transfer letter or not? They stared at each other for a few more minutes before she sighed and shook her head. Holi bit the inside of his mouth, watching her in anticipation as she reached for the data reader on the desk, but before she could do anything there was a knock at the door.

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