by Leann Ryans
The Alpha in the first cell was lounging on his bed, hands tucked behind a head of curly dark hair, appearing to simply stare at the wall. Sandra was a bit disappointed at how much like the others he seemed though she knew that didn’t make sense. For some reason, she had gotten the idea in her head that these Alphas would somehow be different. That she would feel that spark she was searching for that told her this was a good decision.
Sighing, she walked on to the next, and then the next. She was approaching the end of the hall, and hope, when one of the studs caught her attention.
The Alpha was massive. He was doing pushups on the floor next to his bed and Sandra wondered how he ever got any rest since he appeared far too big for it. The rippling of the muscles across his back and arms held her gaze as his piercing blue eyes stared straight ahead at the glass wall. She had to remind herself that she couldn’t be seen by him as her heartrate increased imagining him focusing that gaze on her.
Checking his file, she confirmed he was the largest stud in the facility. His golden skin glistened with sweat and Sandra couldn’t stop herself from licking her lips wondering what it tasted like. He had close-cropped dark hair, a bit longer on the top, and she could see the beginning of a beard growing in along his firm jaw. He had a serious expression on his face though a few fine lines around the eyes made it seem like he smiled a lot.
Dragging her eyes away from the Alpha, she attempted to calm her racing heart. Turning back to Ms. Burrie who was trailing behind her, she took a deep breath and asked, “Is he one of the new ones or is he in trouble?”
“Both actually. He hasn’t been here long, and he already has a mark against him,” she responded, turning her nose up slightly when she glanced at the Alpha.
Once again Sandra’s curiosity reared its head. Trying to keep her voice from betraying her, she asked, “What did he do to earn the mark?”
“He was instigating fights with the other Alphas in the common areas. We understand it’s normal for them to scuffle a little to determine the pecking order, but he was taking it beyond simple posturing and almost caused damage to another stud. He is aware of the rules and will be removed from the program if he shows any other signs of aggression.”
“But he is still considered safe enough to tend clients?”
“Oh, yes,” Ms. Burrie quickly reassured her. “We don’t think he will have any aggression towards an omega. We think he was simply trying to show off a bit to establish himself here.”
Nodding, Sandra went back to studying the Alpha as he continued his workout on the floor. She was interested in him but wasn’t sure if this would be the right choice for her. Having never been with an Alpha before, she wasn’t sure she would notice the signs of true aggression instead of the possessive dominance they showed when in rut. Debating with herself, she walked past the last two cells before turning back to Ms. Burrie.
“I would like some time to consider the options. If you could send me the files for,” she glanced down at the tablet in her hands, “five, thirteen, seventeen, and twenty-eight, as well as the contract, I will go over them and get back to you by the end of the week.”
Sandra handed the tablet back to Ms. Burrie who nodded and said, “Certainly.”
Following her back through the hallways to the lobby of the building, Sandra’s thoughts kept returning to the last Alpha she had listed. Imagining the rippling muscles of his chest and shoulders hovering over her sent a shiver down her spine and caused her core to clench. Although she had always chosen to lock herself in her safe room instead of being tended through her heats, she had taken a couple of partners in her life. The men had all been betas of course, and nowhere near the size of any of the Alphas in The Haven. She had always been left feeling a bit disappointed and had finally decided it wasn’t worth the time.
Pulling herself out of her thoughts to give a polite goodbye, Sandra left the building and hailed an AutoCab. Staring out of the window as the car navigated through the traffic towards her building, Sandra thought about what she was doing. She still wasn’t sure she should even use The Haven for her heat. Approaching her thirtieth birthday, she was used to spending it alone. It was miserable, but it was what was familiar to her.
Using an Alpha to tend her through her cycle had never even crossed her mind until she overheard some omegas talking about it in the bathroom during their lunch break. The excitement with which the women had talked had sparked her interest, and Sandra had looked into the different companies that offered the service.
Her research had shown that The Haven and The Omega Den were the top two in the city, but The Haven had appeared to have better facilities and a larger selection of studs. Since it was the facility she had heard being talked about, Sandra had scheduled her appointment there. Reading through their brochures, both companies offered boarding for the duration of the cycle in private rooms monitored for safety. The studs were given monthly injections to stop sperm production so that there would be no pregnancy risk, and they were also fitted with teeth guards to prevent them from biting and bonding an omega without her permission. They were trained to resist the urge to bite, but the guard was an added protection since some omegas liked the feel of being bitten in the heat of moment.
Heaving a sigh, Sandra had to admit that until she had seen Alpha twenty-eight, she had been considering giving up the whole idea and sticking with her safe room. While the thought of having an Alpha for the first time was exciting, it was also a bit scary. Betas didn’t have knots, so all she had to go off of were stories from others and what she could find online. While she was willing to admit that during her heat, even the larger toys she had seemed inadequate, the information she had found about an Alpha’s knot was almost unbelievable and certainly intimidating.
The car pulled up in front of her building, the AI’s pleasant voice telling her the total as she opened the door to step out. Making the payment, Sandra turned and admired the outline of the structure. She had designed it herself and the sight of it never ceased to fill her with pride.
Striding through the glass doors, she nodded to the guard and receptionist as she passed them to her private elevator. Pressing her thumb against the scanner, it began to rise towards her office floor. She owned the whole building, but many of the lower floors were rented out by other businesses. Hers was second from the top, below her penthouse suite, so that it had the best view and least unnecessary traffic passing through. She still had work to tend to before she could review the contract and make her decision, and she hoped the extra time to process would help her make up her mind.
4. Sandra
Finally retiring to her open-floor suite at the top of the building late that night, the last thing Sandra wanted to do was go over another contract. Kicking off her heels as she came through the door, she pulled the pins from her long honey-blonde hair and let it fall around her shoulders, groaning in relief as she ran her fingers along her scalp. Digging her toes into the soft fibers of her white carpet, she let the tension of the day flow away.
Carefully removing her suit jacket and hanging it in her bedroom closet, she unbuttoned the top few buttons of her blouse and unzipped her skirt, letting it drop to the floor in a puddle. She had worked hard to get where she was, struggling through a male dominated business until her reputation allowed her to start her own company, and was considered the epitome of poise and class, but sometimes Sandra wished she could relax and not have to keep such a tight rein on herself. Unfortunately, being not only a woman but also an omega, she constantly had to maintain her appearance as a professional. Being an architectural designer, many of her clients came from word-of-mouth and her reputation in the industry, so maintaining it was crucial. The long days at work left her little time to unwind.
It was days like this when she wondered what coming home to someone would be like. Instead of a quiet, empty suite, having someone there to greet her and talk to. Someone who would help her prepare dinner and take her mind off all the crap she dealt with on a
daily basis.
Huffing out a laugh at herself, Sandra made her way to the kitchen where her dinner waited on the counter. Since she had no one waiting on her to help make a meal, she had no reason to cook for herself, and usually had her assistant drop something off for her before leaving for the day. At least that was her excuse to order her dinner most nights of the week.
Settling on her sectional with her favorite pasta in one hand and her tablet in the other, Sandra propped her feet up on the purple cushions and opened the profiles she had asked Ms. Burrie to send her. She had received them before she even made it back to the office but had forced herself to ignore them and focus on her work instead. Now she could take the time to read through each one.
While the first three held only minor interest for her, she made sure to read through each of them before getting to the profile of Alpha twenty-eight. With him being the largest and so focused on his workout while she was there, Sandra hadn’t expected much intellectually from him, but was pleasantly surprised to see how well he had done in all of his testing.
The man was intelligent, as well as fit, and even showed an interest and skill in carpentry. It was easy to see why he had been chosen as a stud, though she wasn’t sure why he would jeopardize that by fighting the other Alphas at The Haven. While most people viewed unbonded Alphas as a menace to society, she had never believed they were as barbaric as was claimed. Of course, they could be highly aggressive and dominating, but that was part of their biology. They couldn’t help their reaction to an omega in heat any more than an omega could stop it from happening, and Sandra wasn’t sure why the dynamic had been condemned for it. Without that drive, they would be nothing more than large betas with better equipment for breeding, but there were few who shared her views. She had a feeling that a lot of the stories about Alphas going on a rampage were either inflated, or purposefully edited to show them in a bad light. Betas, being the most populous dynamic, had a way of looking down on the other two that Sandra was quite familiar with.
It had been decades since the mandates had been put in place and Alphas could no longer move freely in society. Once they reached puberty and presented, somewhere between seventeen and twenty, they were separated from the public and sent to special schools. It was supposedly to help teach them control without the presence of anything that would distract them. They had also been relegated to the most basic of manual labor which Sandra had always felt was a bit unfair. It was claimed that the physical exertion helped keep them calm, but she thought that it was because they were the largest and strongest of the dynamics. One Alpha could do the work of two betas, and therefore saved money. Since the majority of the people that had put the mandates in place had been rich betas, she was sure this had a lot to do with it.
Alphas were only allowed to pursue other careers if they were bonded, since they were then considered tamer. At least, they were as long as their mates were safe and not in heat. A lot of the Alphas from more affluent families had arranged matings so that they could avoid the Alpha-camps. The best position that an unmated Alpha could hope for was being a stud. They were able to live in relative comfort doing what very few would consider ‘work,’ and had a better chance of being selected to bond with an omega and earn some freedom. An Alpha living in one of the camps had little to no chance of even meeting an omega, much less being lucky enough to bond one.
Looking at his picture, Sandra admitted that the other Alphas had no chance compared to him. If she was going to do this, it was going to be with him, but she couldn’t choose the stud without ever having interacted with him. She also felt a little squeamish picking him without getting his input first. She knew the Alphas had a contract with The Haven to tend any omega that chose them, but that felt a little too impersonal for something that was about as personal as anything could be. If he met her while she was in heat, her pheromones would send him into a rut, and he would have no choice. She wanted to be sure that he was okay with it before he was put into a position when neither of them would be able to say no.
Sending a message to Ms. Burrie to schedule a meeting with the Alpha, Sandra finally relaxed and finished her forgotten dinner. She still needed to review the contract, but since her research had told her the basics of what it would say, she felt it was okay to wait another day or two before going through it. There was still plenty of time before she was due to enter her heat, and she was too tired as it was to focus on something that she planned to pick through with a fine-toothed comb. She didn’t get to the position she was in by being careless with things that affected her as much as this had the potential to. While going into heat was a simple fact of life for omegas that was acknowledged and accepted by everyone, how someone of her standing chose to spend her heat could drastically affect her business. Sandra had never had any scandal attached to her name, and she planned to keep it that way.
Cleaning up her dinner, she tossed the trash away and made her way to her room. She shed her blouse and bra before climbing into the bed that she had custom built. The edge of the mattress was high off the ground and formed a lip before sinking a few inches in the middle so that it resembled a shallow bowl. There was no frame visible or where it could be bumped into like she had done when she was a kid, giving herself an unknown number of bruises on her shins.
Burrowing into her blankets, she let out a content sigh as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
5. Sandra
Sandra was taking a late lunch break before she had a chance to check her messages the next day. Working through the list, her heart began to race when she made it to the one from Ms. Burrie. Though she made another mention of trying to pick a different stud, she agreed to set up a meeting.
Checking her calendar, Sandra responded with a time for the next afternoon when she didn’t have any meetings scheduled. Working through the rest of her messages with only half her mind, she waited for confirmation. She couldn’t focus any better once she received the affirmative reply, constantly glancing at the clock to see how much longer she had to wait.
The day wore on and she was able to push the Alpha from her mind for periods of time before something would remind her of the upcoming meeting with him. A client’s blue tie reminded her of the Alpha’s eyes. The gym she was designing made her think of the way he was working out while she watched him.
Sandra couldn’t decide if she was more anxious or excited and began to send a message to Ms. Burrie a dozen times to cancel, only to erase the message and stare at a blank screen.
Realizing that she wasn’t getting any work done, she opted not to stay late like usual and made it back to her penthouse far earlier than she did most nights. Deciding to try a relaxing bath, Sandra stripped off her suit and sank into the hot, bubbling water. The scent of grapefruit and vanilla wrapped around her and she let out a sigh of bliss. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the side of the tub as the warmth soaked into her muscles. It was rare that she took the time to pamper herself, and she decided that was what she was going to do for the rest of the evening.
Pressing the call button on the side of her tub, her assistant immediately answered.
“Natashia, contact Tanya and see if she can fit me in tonight. I decided not to work late, and I could use a mani-pedi, as well as a trim. Then see if Le Lieu Chic has an opening,” Sandra said with her eyes still closed.
“Right away Ma’am,” came Natashia’s response before the speaker cut off.
A faint smile ghosting over her lips, this was one of the many times Sandra appreciated the position she held. While she had people on-call at any time of the day or night, she tried not to abuse the power she had. She rarely called on anyone outside of work hours, and she paid her people well for putting up with her on the odd times she did.
Her assistant buzzed through a couple minutes later. “Tanya says she can fit you in at six-thirty and Luriel said to let you know they will always have a table for you whenever you wish to come by.”
“What time is
it now?”
“A quarter to six, Ma’am.”
Grumbling a little to herself, she sat up in the tub.
“Thank you Natashia, that’ll be it for tonight,” she said as she stood and began to towel off.
Rushing to throw on a nice dress and touch up her makeup, she pulled her hair up into a bun and was making her way through the lobby by six-fifteen. Luckily for her, Tanya’s shop was only a block down from her building and she was outside of the door by six-twenty.
Tanya opened the door and greeted her, waving Sandra inside the beauty salon. Tanya had been one of the first people Sandra had created a design for when she began her company and they had become close friends over the years since.
It wasn’t long before Sandra was making her way out of the salon, feeling better than she had in a while. Tanya knew her so well she hadn’t had to say a thing besides what color she wanted her nails painted. Hair loose and curling softly around her shoulders now, she made her way to the restaurant for dinner. She kept telling herself that all of the pampering was just to reward herself and had nothing to do with seeing the Alpha the next day.
Snorting, she knew she couldn’t lie to herself. Any other time she would have stayed home and curled up with a book or a movie until she fell asleep. She told herself it was only natural to want to look her best tomorrow. It may not technically be a date, but it was the closest thing to one that she’d had in quite a while, and it was more important than any other she’d ever been on.
Sighing quietly, Sandra plastered on her usual smile and approached the hostess.
“Hello, do you have a reservation?”
“Yes. Sandra Weanton.”
The woman looked at her list before nodding and motioning for Sandra to follow her. She was seated in the corner where she had a view of the entire restaurant. Placing her order with the waitress that rushed over, she raised her glass of wine to her lips, sipping without really tasting it. Looking at the couples seated around her, it was hard not to be envious. The flirty excitement written on the women’s faces; the blatant lust shown by the men. Even the polite disinterest she could see on a few didn’t stop her from wishing that she was in their places, yet it was her own fault that she wasn’t.