Page 13 of Knot Your Damsel

I swallow hard, trying to get my pheromones under control. Flooding the bathroom with my horny scent is a bad idea, we’re all way too much on edge already.

Caleb opens the bottle of shampoo and sniffs at it. He shrugs and pours it into his hand, reaching out for me, ready to wash my hair, but I grab his wrists, not so sure.

He gets really crabby if someone else’s scent gets on me, even if it’s from a product like shampoo and not actually their pheromones. So why is he so nonchalantly willing to use Mr Page’s products?

I sniff at his hand, noticing the super generic scent. Then I glance at the bottle, noticing ‘pheromone masking’ on the label. Ah, that’s why.

It’s similar to what I normally use, though from a different brand and in a different scent. It makes sense that Mr Page would use it, to hide his scent when he’s doing business, so people don’t find out he’s an Omega. He’s pretty good at hiding them already, but I guess using masking products is a good way to be extra sure.

I let Caleb’s wrists go and turn my back to him, so he can wash my hair.

Mr Page lets out a low chuckle, smirking. “You’re okay with hiding your Omega’s scent? You’re a brave Alpha.”

Caleb keeps washing my hair, not missing a beat. “It’s easier if people think she’s a Beta, gets her into less trouble.” He grabs the showerhead and rinses out the shampoo.

Then he wraps his arms around me, his head on my shoulder as he looks at Mr Page. “She has a habit of pissing people off and they tend to let her get away with more if they don’t know she’s an Omega.”

“You want me to believe that other people believe that your cute-as-a-button, pocket-sized, perfectly-conforming-to-Omega-standards Omega is actually a Beta?”

I feel Caleb shrug against my back. “I can’t explain it. But when she doesn’t smell like an Omega, people give her less shit for being mouthy and strong willed.”

“Hey!” I smack his leg. “It’s not like you don’t use the products too.”

Mr Page sits up, curious. “You, an Alpha, hides his pheromones?” He openly looks Caleb up and down. If I’m the perfect image of an Omega, Caleb is the perfect image of a rugged Alpha: tall, muscled and strong.

“And people believe you?” Mr Page shakes his head in disbelieve.

Caleb pulls up a shoulder. “Hubert had people looking for an Alpha and an Omega and he knew our pheromones. People tend to overlook two Betas, especially when they only have minimal pheromones.” He tightens his arms around me.

“But a guy like you already knows that. You already know that if people presume you’re a Beta, that life gets significantly easier. That going up in a crowd is so much easier when your pheromones are weak and boring, when they don’t stand out too much. Or you wouldn’t have all these products.” He nods to the shelf next to us.

Mr Page looks away from us, running his hands through the layer of foam in front of him. “It’s more precaution than anything else. More a habit of times gone by.” He stares into nothing, his eyes going distant. “I haven’t been able to release proper pheromones in over a decade. Nothing that would be noticeable unless people were standing right up against me and, even then, it’s fleeting.”

He seems to come back to his senses, looking at us, his eyes turning calculating. “But it appears that I’ll need to expand my range of products. It’s fine this time. But I don’t want you two to hide your pheromones. Pheromone masking products are off-limits to you after today.” His voice is sharp, commanding.

What?!

That fucker…

Caleb pulls me more against him, his chest rumbling, too quiet for Mr Page to hear, but I can feel it. A warning to me, a warning not to speak out, not to upset him.

“Can I make a request for some good conditioner? Vera’s hair is easier to manage with a good conditioner. It’s taken me years to find out what works best for her.” He turns me to him, looking at me, giving me a hard glare. “Right?”

“Right.” I nod, my eyes down, getting my frustration back under control. We need to play nice. It’s better not to anger Mr Page.

“You know, this isn’t going to make your debt any smaller…” Mr Page chuckles, but it sounds sinister more than anything else. “New products, hair brushes and stuff, new clothes. It’s all going to add up, you know?”

This time, I can’t help myself. “Well, if your people hadn’t burned down our house and everything in it. You wouldn’t have had to replace anything. And we’d have been able to pay for it ourselves.” I glare at him, getting really annoyed with him now.

He’s acting like it’s all such a bother, but he’s the one whose fault this all is anyway. Without him, we wouldn’t be in this situation anyway.

“You make it sound like my ‘people’ did that for fun. Like they didn’t have a purpose. Like they did it on a whim.” Mr Page’s voice falls, going cold, scary. But I’m too wound up to heed the warning.

“It seemed like they did. They had no reason to even be there. They were only there because you were hungry enough for more money to take orders from Hubert. Because he ordered you to.”

He pushes himself up out of the water, his movements slow, controlled, his muscles tight. “I don’t take orders from anyone.” He almost growls, before he glares at me.

Oh, fuck. This was a bad idea… Me and my big mouth. Crap.

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