Page 20 of The Alpha's Fake Mate
“Holland, come in. Welcome.” He went to his desk and, still standing, tapped a few keys on his computer keyboard.
I stepped inside the room and let the door shut behind me.
“Shall we get started?” His voice punched the air, almost forcefully bright.
“Do I have a choice?”
Chapter Six
Orion
The paper sat on my dad’s desk.
It was the one partially filled out questionnaire from Zilly’s that had thrown me. I couldn’t forget it. I couldn’t stop reading it over and over again.
I’d printed it out so I could hold it as I read it for the tenth time.
The damaged Omega who’d spoken out in the crowd, and who’d later yelled at me to stay away from him when I’d encountered him at the pool area had written it.
Holland.
I’d asked his name before I left the tour. It matched the one on the paper.
When I’d asked Warden Chirl if Holland had always been an upstart, his face, just for a second, tightened as if he felt pain. He pressed his lips together in a line before replying, as if it was a matter-of-fact for him. “His first time with an Alpha was not good. He was attacked. It’s been hard for him.”
“Attacked? Aren’t your clients screened?”
“To the best of our abilities, yes.”
When I had pressed Chirl for more details, he had replied only, “He’s getting the best help, medical treatment and therapy.”
I remembered standing again in the front hall, looking around at the Omegas who again gathered to see me off. Holland had not been among them.
Their faces were mostly young. The older ones left behind were still waiting to be claimed or had given up the mating hall for whatever reasons they might have, and stayed on to serve the farm in other capacities.
Still, to my mind, all were beautiful, flushed and waiting for opportunity, for a dream to come to them in the form of a bondmate, for the world to open up and give them a chance.
In a flash I had seen how vulnerable they were even in the clean and warm environment of Zilly’s, circled by a pine forest, surrounded by rolling green lawns.
Their eyes had watched me, wide and bright, a little unsure but still hopeful.
A realization spread through me, like being drenched in cold water.
It was no matter that they might be pampered, healthy, and ready to meet Alphas. I saw them for what they were to the Alpha population. Prey. Caged. Waiting for the predator to pet them, feed them, notice them.
I decided to write a personal letter to Holland. I felt it was mandatory so he would know without a doubt his words had been heard.
He was correct in every point he made. I could not fix the world. I could only help those who happened to cross my path.
Answering him required me to ignore his last sentence:Leave us alone!
But I wanted him to know I had read his words. I felt as the new owner of Zilly’s, I owed him that much. There was a personal aspect to it, too, however. I could not get his furious face out of my thoughts.
I never expected a reply.
Holland did not send a letter. Instead, two days later, I received an email.
Orion:
