Page 43 of Alpha's Embrace
Prim was older than I by about thirty years, but it didn’t show. He looked young and healthy, an Alpha man in his prime.
I’d read his resume, as I had all of the staff when I took the job. He’d been bonded for twenty years. He had three children from one litter, which was not uncommon. His kids included two Alphas and an Omega, and he and his bondmate were raising them all, unlike some couples who sent their Omegas off to be brought up and educated on chattel farms, considered to be an acceptable option for Omega children. While the Omegas had few rights and very little say in their futures, like my own childhood friend Mase, many families chose to keep those children and love them. The world wasn’t entirely crazy and emotionless.
When I sat across from Prim, he began.
“The report on Tory is muddled, but we do know his Omega is not living at his address. We’re still trying to locate him.”
I crossed my arms and pressed my back into the leather of the chair. “If his Omega left him, protocols dictate Tory should have reported it. If his bond is in jeopardy, or worse broken, it is a violation of his work contract.”
“Which is probably the very reason he didn’t report it. He didn’t want to lose his job,” Prim said.
“But I wouldn’t have fired him outright. I would’ve made sure he worked isolated from patients, including Misha who I would have banned from my office.”
“You know better.” Prim sighed. “You would have laid him off. It’s board policy. You would have banned Tory from the colony. It has nothing to do with Misha being able to walk the halls or not.”
“I’m still new here. We don’t know each other. But if it came to laying off Tory, I would have helped Tory find new work. I would have given him a good letter of recommendation.”
“He didn’t know that.” Prim put his elbows on his desk and clasped his hands in front of him. “At any rate, he’s being transferred and that will be on record. His job is lost. You’ll need a new assistant.”
I couldn’t help but think Prim was being a bit cold. He’d worked here as long as Tory. He knew the man even if they weren’t friends.
If he knew anything at all about what was going on—which was nothing, really, it had to be nothing—between me and Misha, I’d be out as well. For some reason, the thought did not panic me. I knew I could do this job and do it well, but I wasn’t in love with it. My biggest fear was being arrested. It would end my career. I would have to start over from scratch with, technically, a criminal record.
Prim continued to talk but I heard very little, until he said, “By the way, I never congratulated you on your newly forming bond.”
My skin flamed beneath my shirt and trousers. I know my face had to show my shock. “Yes, thank you. I think maybe it happened at a chattel farm I last visited. The Omega and I got along quite well. We were extremely compatible.”
“Excellent. Well, good then. We don’t have to worry. Your job should have gone to a mated Alpha and now it looks like that qualification will be soon satisfied. Are you dating? Have you proposed yet?”
“Uh. No. Not yet.”
My body wanted to shiver and melt at the same time. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t be bonded. I hadn’t formed a bond with my last Omega partner, and I had never had sex with Misha.
“Can that test be run again? I just want to be sure.”
“There is little margin for error,” Prim replied, frowning.
“Please? I’m not feeling what I think I should be feeling. Run it again.”
“Do you want a new test on new blood?”
“Yes.”
Later, after the vial of my blood was packaged and sent to a nearby lab the colony always used, I passed by Misha’s room. Even though our last parting had felt somewhat final, and I’d promised myself I’d stay away from him, I couldn’t resist going in one more time. I risked everything by doing so, but my emotions over-ruled my rational mind. I had to see him. It hurt me internally to stay away from him.
I didn’t think about any consequences, or what I might do. I existed only in the now. Today was all.
As I came to his side and sat, the tension in my body almost immediately released. My heart-rate calmed. But my mind wasn’t working right and I knew it.
Prim had brought up the blood test and there was just no denial of it. It was fresh on my mind again. Clear as day. I was forming a bond with Misha and it should have been impossible. Skin to skin contact should not have been sufficient to cause a two point nine rating. We had not shared bodily fluids. We hadn’t even kissed.
Misha slept, his long lashes brushing the tops of his cheeks, his breathing slow and peaceful. My chest felt filled with buffeting air. My Misha. I couldn’t stop thinking of him that way.
The blanket covered him to the sternum. His bare chest gently rose and fell, hairless and perfect, the pecs well-defined, the nipples the loveliest shade of pink I’d ever seen, perfect and round, perky and pointed. I wanted to brush my fingertips over them, feel the taut and heated skin.
The bruising on his neck remained a violent thunderstorm of color, of wounding.
My muscles clenched. I thought of Tory and wanted to kill. I’d never had that sort of instinct in my life. But I knew if Tory crossed my path right now, I might not be able to control myself. He’d hurt my Misha. My mind was filled with a yearning to protect what was mine.
