Page 10 of The Alpha's Fake Mate
All stupid idiots.
What was Chirl saying to him? Something about me?
The Alpha glanced up at me again for a split-second, then turned and accompanied his group as Chirl showed them around the front room and into the dining hall. Some Omegas followed at a discreet distance.
My heart hammered in my chest. Flashback images came to me again of my first meeting with an Alpha, how he grabbed me, twisted me, punched, bit and defiled for his own pleasure. I had thought I would at least respond to his smell, feel an urge biologically, but he had no scent I could discern other than a burnt sweaty smell that filled me with fear. Everything he did hurt me and he didn’t care.
As I watched the Alphas leave the room, the youngest one, the new owner, turned back one more time to look at me.
The muscles of my face hardened. My teeth gritted. I turned and ran down the spotless, shining hallway toward the back door that led to the private pool area.
Under a slatted awning, in darker shadows, I found my favorite lounge chair and sat. I stared at the lapping blue water, listened to the pump and breathed in the faint chlorine scent that I’d come to associate with comfort.
I shut my eyes and tried to focus back in time to my childhood when I was not aware of how the world worked. When I was happier.
Chapter Four
Orion
I thought Zilly’s would be more run-down and depressing. More desolate, I guess.
But as I walked in with Saben and other Alpha staff who oversaw the finances and farm upkeep, I saw clean lines, polished floors and open windows letting in lots of sunlight.
I had a stereotype in my head that it would be more like an Omega workhouse from the early nineteen-hundreds or something. Maybe I’d been watching too many early historical films when I was young. I’m not sure what formed that image in my head and made me want to avoid the farms during my Burns. It could all boil down to the fact that my dad owned one and he had always been so cold.
The Omegas that greeted us were healthy and held their heads high. The ones who ran the place were intelligent and friendly. I’d expected them to be hideous, perhaps, because they were unbonded, but there it was again. My own ignorance and shallow views.
One Omega, however, caught my eye. A stunning boy, he could not have been more than nineteen. He stood back from the crowd near a hallway, tense and unhappy. No, not unhappy. Furious.
I noticed him because he, out of all of them, did not have himself under control. Nor was he at all interested in being polite.
“What is the meaning of this?” he shouted. “What are you all doing here?”
His hair was swept to one side and spread dark and mirror-shiny over his right cheek. His white shirt fit loosely at his lean waist, and crumpled at the waistband of his black trousers. His features were angular and beautiful, delicate and sharp at the same time, like some fairy tale elf from a fantasy book cover.
He fumed, huffing and almost growling at us.
He was insanely beautiful.
He held my gaze as if ready to do battle. Here in this clean and well-lighted place where everyone seemed fairly content if not happy, he was the only one who exhibited any animosity. If looks really could kill, I would have been twitching on the floor, gasping my last breath.
After he’d made his statements, I leaned forward as Warden Chirl apologized for him.
“I’m sorry for that. He’s suffered trauma and is still recovering,” the Omega whispered. “My apologies for his outburst.”
“What has happened to him?”
Chirl shook his head as if to tell me later.
I respected his wishes, but the matter was haunting. Here I had seen everything so clean and perfect, and this dark presence left a stain. I didn’t blame the Omega, but I wanted to know why. Every place had its secrets. An Omega farm would be no exception to that rule. Call me a control freak, but since I now owned the place, I wanted in on all the secrets.
I kept looking back at him, the brooding Omega now pressed against the back wall, as if he might suddenly reveal some answer. Or produce another outburst.
Of course it only made his mystery deepen as he thinned his lips and continued to glare.
Warden Chirl guided us through double doors to another part of the complex. I finally turned to follow, but as I did, I saw out the corner of my eye the angry Omega turn away and run down the hall out of sight. He limped slightly, his uneven footsteps echoing before I realized I hadn’t heard a word Chirl had said after his whispered apology. The blood rushed in my ears.
I’d never had such a response to an Omega before, neither in nor out of the Burn. Was it the challenge the angry one presented? Or my curiosity about what made him look so painfully furious? Or was it simply his ethereal beauty that brought out my shallow side?
