Page 66 of The Omega's Alpha
The back wall, and one of the side ones, were all glass, with a bit of brickwork in between them. They stretched from the floor up almost to the ceiling, each one capped with a peacock-shaped window that gave the place the feel of the churches I had seen in human TV shows and movies, without the colored glass. My steps slowed as I took in the tables and the racks of fabric lining the other wall, the two humans I could see bent over lengths of cloth, busy with scissors and measuring tapes. Cale would love this—he’d been the best at taking random scraps of material and making useful, beautiful things out of them.
“Martin’s back here,” Calice said, already halfway across the room. She turned and walked to a door I hadn’t noticed, set into a wall that was covered with pictures of models in clothes that I would have loved even to try on. She tapped on the door, then opened it at a noise from inside.
“Martin? Your model is here.” She pushed the door all the way open and Martin walked out to greet us.
* * *
It really seemedlike the afternoon would never end. And boy, did I want it to.
“Calice,” Martin shouted. “Bring the chocolate leather too!”
I inhaled deeply and let the air flow slowly out through my nostrils in an effort not to let my cranky out to gnaw on the world. I was getting tired and hungry—we’d been at this for over five hours now, trying fabrics against my skin to judge the color, taking measurements, pictures, trying on things that Martin had that were half-started and that he’d never intended to finish until I came along. Wrapping me up in layers of cloth so he could be ‘inspired’. My stomach had that dangerously empty feeling that meant it was going to embarrass me soon, and even Edmond had gone from on edge to bored and restless in the time we’d used.
“Here we go,” Martin said, and threw a length of heavy, dark leather over my shoulder, pulling it across my chest. “And now, that fur. Yes, the gray one.”
The fur was fake, thank Lysoonka, or my stomachwouldhave started growling. Martin pinned it to the leather with the heavy binder clips I sometimes used for paperwork in the office, then started pulling and shifting the leather around my torso. More clips holding things in place and, in one case, my hand on the underside of the leather to keep it from slipping away, and then Martin stepped back and looked at me like I was a piece of furniture he was planning to buy. Or clothing.
I stood there, frozen and sweating with the heat of what felt like a million layers, until he nodded sharply and said, “Yes, I can see the design now. Good. I’ll need you back to try on the mockup in two weeks, and then again in a month to try on the actual clothes. And we’ll look for some other things that you can wear too. Have your agency call and we’ll get you into the show in New York in June.”
And that was it. We were out of there so fast it nearly made my head spin, and it wasn’t even us that was in a hurry, but Martin. Out on the landing, I turned to Mac. “That wasn’t what I expected.”
He grunted and shot me a rueful smile. “Next time, I’m bringing a book.” He looked at Edmond. “How’s your first day in human territory?”
Edmond looked thoughtful. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m having some trouble making it match up with what I thought we were going into.”
“The trick, my young wolf, is to not feed into their fears. They’ll forget, especially if you can get them talking about something they’re interested in, and then you’re fine with most of them. Kind of like shifters, if you think about it.” He looked over at me. “I guess we don’t need the extra days.”
No, we didn’t. “I still have to go see the agency Freddy recommended.” And some others if that one didn’t work out.
“Not tonight though, I imagine.” He led the way down the stairs. “For now, let’s get something to eat and we can update Quin. Do all models work out of an agency?”
We started down the stairs to the street-level door. “I think most models have someone who books work for them and keeps track of payments in exchange for some of the money coming in. I don’t know—I can ask Freddy. He seems to like this one he’s sending me to.” I’d have to call him to set up the appointment—I didn’t even know the name yet. Freddy had mentioned that there were a couple in New York too that he’d trust, but I’d decided to start with this one. He’d agreed I’d stand out more in a smaller group, but made me promise to consider it if one of the larger ones came calling, even if it was farther away.
Mac opened the door and sent Edmond out first to make sure it was safe before letting me go out. “You know, I made fun of Abel for allowing that photographer into Mercy Hills in the lead-up to his mating, but it looks like it’s paying off.”
“How’s that?” I walked with him down the road, stopping to look in the windows of the shops whenever something caught my eye. I wasn’t a big fashion enthusiast, though I like to dress up as much as any omega, but now that I seemed to have won a job working in the fashion industry—at least for one job—I found myself starting to notice the clothing in the big picture windows.
“You know the whole point of that was to start softening up humans’ attitude toward our people, right?”
“I remember. You think this will do the same thing?”
“Never know where it will lead. But most of all, I think it might wake up some of the old fogies in the other packs, that there’s more out here than discrimination and violence.”
“We don’t know yet that it’s going to be more than this one…thing. Whatever they call it.” I was going to have to do some research.
“Trust me, it will.” Mac gave me a look that reminded me suddenly that this was an alpha in his prime, mated or not.
I twitched myself a step or two away from him, not that it would have done me any good if he’d decided to make good on that look he’d given me.
He snorted, and then he was just Mac again. “Relax, I’m happily mated and Jason would have my balls if I even thought about someone that way. And Abel and I might be matches, but Quin could wipe the floor with either of us, so you’re safe from anyone who knows who you’re mated to.”
“I can defend myself, you know,” I said crossly, and drifted back to my previous position next to him.
“I know. I taught you, remember? And we should probably do some practicing again, to keep your skills fresh. Because I think you’re going to be working a lot, which means you’re going to be outside walls a lot. The way that human was looking at you—” Mac shook his head and turned down the street our car was parked on. “He looks like the pup that caught Midwinter Wolf and he can’t wait to let the other pups know thathe’sthe one with all the presents. And if he’s looking at you like that, there’ll be others.” He frowned as he unlocked the car. “You should call your Freddy and ask him about this agency thing. We don’t want to get caught without something we need.”
“I’ll do that this evening.”
We got into the car and headed back to the pack house, where Bram had promised there would be supper waiting.
