“It really doesn’t matter to me but if you want to get along with your new coworkers, then I suggest that you don’t refer to them as O’s.” Benji suggested as they stopped in the hall outside the door where the Omegas were housed. “We are Omegas, and unlike you, we are proud of that fact and you will address us as such. You have a new place in life, and unless I missed something in science class, there is nothing that can reverse that, so you might as well adjust.”
Brogan bit his tongue and pursed his lips but didn’t respond to Benji’s soapbox speech.
“Okay, then work. That part is simple as far a working with the Omegas you’d normally be on the bottom, but you have time and experience with the company, but we have to figure out where you fit in here.”
“I fucking started this company! You knew that I was coming in today, probably salivated over the fact that I’d be under your thumb, so you should have an idea about where I fit in. Hell, I should be running this department, not you.”
“First of all, I didn’t salivate,” Benji grinned, “I fucking jerked off at the thought of you being under my control, and secondly, you didn’t start the company you helped start it so don’t give yourself full credit. I was as at that kegger, remember? If you don’t, I have pictures to prove it. I’ve been here as long as you have, I remember you saying and I quote, ‘No slick dripping, hormonal driven O was going to have a say in your company.’ Liam was so offended that he almost walked away but I was not about to let him piss away a great opportunity because you were a douche. I’ve been putting up with your prejudiced ass since I presented, so handling you has become a part of my daily routine. The good thing is I get weekends off.”
Brogan bit back the guilt of having said that to Benji, because if not for the fact that Benji was an Omega, they could have been friends; they had been friends until Benji began sending out pheromones that made every Alpha in a three-mile radius want to fuck him.
He’d even tried and that was the beginning of the war between Liam, Benji and him. He never really wanted Benji other than what the Omega scent made him want, but he’d pressed enough to cause an awkwardness between the three of them that never went away.
His father said that this was why you never wanted got involved with Omegas because they fucked up everything they touched, and the situation between the three of them proved his father right.
“I’m glad that you get some satisfaction from this but remember that I am not some lackey that you can just push around. Just because Cade got lucky, I still deserve to be in the front office and not in a cubicle hiding from the real work.”
“Then you should have fought harder,” Benji advised before opening the door to the large room cutting off the rest of his retort.
The cheerfulness of the room surprised Brogan.
He was used to the front offices of the partners who had individual space. Their space was expensively decorated according to personal taste, but ultimately designed to impress clients. This was totally different.
Each cubicle was decorated individually, but they featured family pictures, recipes, flowers and other nick knacks to personalize the space, but it all felt welcoming. So welcoming that when Benji deposited him into a cubicle with plain beige walls, it represented what he was feeling now.
“I have a meeting with the partners, so I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of Jaime Green. He’ll get you started on our latest project.”
Not waiting for a response from Brogan, Benji looked past him and smiled at the pretty Omega with the gorgeous blue eyes in the next cubicle. “Jaime this is Brogan…”
“Tate’s Brogan?” Jaime interrupted.
“Technically, Cade’s Brogan, but yes, Tate’s Brogan,” Benji smiled indulgently at the young man. “He’s going to work with you today while I attend the meeting and he’ll be with me afterwards.”
Brogan resented that statement because he was not some child who needed his hand held while the grownups did important things. He watched as Benji walked out of the room as though he was important, but when in reality the Omegas were just fluffers while the men Benji was getting coffee for held the real power.
Once Benji was gone Brogan turned to the kid and tried to growl, “Okay, show me what you guys spend all day doing, and oh, by the way I was never Tate’s anything.”
“I know that because I’m Tate’s,” Jaime corrected him his brows furrowing. “I just meant that you were Tate’s friend and I never got to meet you because he wanted to protect me from you. Now I see why.” He shook his head sadly.
When Brogan heard the sadness in the kid’s voice he felt as though he had pulled the wing off a butterfly. Tate had hinted that he was seeing someone, but as he peered into Jaime’s cubicle and saw the pictures of Jaime and Tate and the other’s it appeared there was a lot that Tate hadn’t told him.
“Follow me and I’ll show what we’re working on,” Jaime turned and walked to a table in the back of the room, “each year during the Miami Open, Peter Andre, the world’s number one men’s tennis player, holds a clinic and a charity for underprivileged youth and it’s our job to coordinate everything. With your face looking like that it’s a good thing we don’t have to make public appearances this week.”
If he had still been an Alpha, Omegas would have found him sexy, but now they look at him in horror and disgust. Therefore, Brogan decided to ignore Jaime’s statement as he was the second Omega who had mentioned his face. He knew that he looked like he had been badly beaten and he didn’t want to explain to anyone how easily Cade had overtaken him. “I put that deal together,” Brogan boasted instead. “So now I get to plan a party for it?”
“Oh, so that’s what you think that we do?” Jaime smirked. “It would be nice to just plan a party, but unfortunately there are other things that have to be completed before the party.”
“Yes, all of the things that that lead up to the party, that in the past you just show up for, doesn’t just magically appear because you get someone to sign a dotted line,” a familiar voice behind him said.
“Hi Paige,” Brogan greeted Christian’s Omega mate. She was the only Omega he knew whose attitude was pissier than Benji’s.
“Brogan,” She greeted as she walked up to him and sniffed. “Well look at you all Omega’d up. I can’t wait to meet your Alpha. I heard that he’s a little thing Brogan, but I guess it all worked out for the both of you.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean,” he tried again to growl but the Omega hormones have seemed to put an end to that.
“What I mean is that you didn’t get a real Alpha but it’s okay because he didn’t get a real Omega.”
At her statement he could hear the tittering laughter of the other Omegas who’d gathered around them. Most of those gathered there he didn’t know but he’s sure they just wanted to see Brogan the Omega. He probably had offended them somewhere and this was a part of the fallout, but he‘d been nice to Paige and didn’t deserve this from her and there was no way he was going to stand by and let her insult his Alpha.
“He may be short, but trust me he’s all Alpha, and trust me I’m all Omega. We accomplished in one night what you and Christian hadn’t been able to do in four years.” He heard the others gasp, but there was no stopping him, so he patted his stomach and continued, “when my baby is born perhaps that will convince you how much of an Alpha and Omega we are.”
The hit was below the belt, but she had no reason to attack Cade, especially when she’d never met him.
Oh, fucking fuck!
He was defending the son of a bitch who had placed him in this situation. Then he took in Paige’s pale face and he knew that he’d hurt her as he had in the past but unlike in the past, this time he felt guilty.
“That was uncalled for,” she accused in a voice that broke more with hurt than anger.
“Neither was you insulting my Alpha,” Brogan countered. Just because he was now Omega did not mean that he was going to cower to another Omega.
/> “You’ve got a lot to learn Brogan,” she warned in a stronger voice as she spread her arms. “This is our domain and you have no power here and none of us are afraid of you anymore.”
She was right, and Brogan didn’t want to fight with her, he just wanted to be left alone, but since he could not get out of it, he tried a different tact.
“I understand that there is a lot of bad blood between us, Paige, and you all want to get your revenge, but I am not going stand by and let you all insult me. Just because I’ve lost my knot does not mean that I’ve lost my fight. If you want to be enemies then we can be enemies, but you will not attack and not expect me to attack in return.”
“Why don’t you go home like a good little Omega?” she sneered “I mean you have an Alpha to take care of all of your needs.”
He recognized her hateful words as part of the shit that he’s been spouting over the years, but that’s been proven true right? Didn’t Omegas want to stay at home and be taken care of while they spit out babies and take care of their Alphas? A week ago, he couldn’t be convinced otherwise, but now walking in an Omega's shoes he recognized that statements like that were pure bullshit.
Body language told you what most people are afraid to verbalize and one glance at the others in the room told Brogan that he was in this situation by himself. If things turned ugly, even if he was not at fault, no one in this room - probably in the building - would take his side.
He was being judged and convicted by his past actions, and if he were honest his current actions weren’t that much different, so he made a decision.
“Look I know that I have said some shit in the past and nothing I do can make up for it. All I can say is that I’m sorry that I insulted any of you. I know now that Omegas’ aren’t weak, it’s the Alphas who don’t understand who they are.”
Brogan cringed as he made the speech. The only reason he was smarter than naturally born Omegas is because he was born an Alpha. Right now, he has their rapt attention just by making that saccharine sweet speech.
“Like sorry is going to make up for what you have done,” Paige jeered.
“It’s all I have.” Instead of continuing to trade insults with Paige, Brogan turned to Jaime and asked, “What am I supposed to be doing?”
There was shock and indecision on Jaime’s face because he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do and he looked between Brogan and Paige as though one of them were going to give him an answer. Brogan was ready to move past this, but Paige was not giving in so easily.
“Poor wittle Omega can’t take it when he’s not swinging a knot, huh Brogan?” Paige mocked in a child’s voice.
It would have been so easy to shut the little bitch up, but he turned towards Jaime and raised his eyebrows.
“This way, Brogan,” Jaime said nervously, “We’re putting the media packs together.”
Nodding his head Brogan followed Jaime to their work station ignoring the glare from Paige. He could tell that she wanted to continue the argument but thought better of it and went back to her cubicle.
The work was harder and more complicated than Brogan had anticipated. They always received a press packet filled with goodies, but he’d always assumed that these were perks of being the owners but putting the packs together he realized that there was a lot of work in this.
The gift bags they were putting together were for the celebrity announcers at both the Tennis Open and not just Paul’s clinic.
Each gift bag was carefully crafted with the recipient in mind and it would have been embarrassing for Patrick Connors to get Susie Cartucci’s gift bag. The man was famous for temper tantrums, so Brogan could imagine the fit he would throw if he received a gift bag with a gift certificate for bikini wax.
By lunch time, Brogan was tired, but he and Jaime had almost completed the media packages, and after lunch they would be working on the partner’s gift bags. With this change he wondered if they would give his to Cade.
It would be funny if they didn’t because his usually geared towards something sports related and he can’t imagine tiny little Cade enjoying the same things he did.
At twelve the others, including Benji who’d returned from his weekly meetings with the partners, all gathered around a large table in the break room to eat a meal that they’d all apparently contributed to.
When he left the house this morning, he hadn’t given much thought to lunch because he’d always ordered in. He could still do that but by the time it arrived, lunch would be over and there was no way he was going to sit in the break room and watch them eat.
More importantly, he was not going to be at their mercy, because being Omegas despite their dislike of him, they would not let a pregnant Omega go hungry.
Besides, he wasn’t sure if his fucking credit card would work.
As he sat there trying to figure out what to do about lunch, and angry voice interrupted his thoughts, “Brogan fucking Ford how dare you insult my mate!” Christian Stephens’s voice assaulted his ears.
“You’d think that your ego and animosity towards Omegas would change given your current situation, but you’re still the same arrogant bastard you’ve always been.”
Normally, Christian or anyone else who spoke to Brogan like that would be on his ass, but instead of attacking as he normally would, his wolf kept shouting Alpha! Submit! And although he didn’t submit, he also didn’t defend himself as Christian stepped in his personal space.
“If you touch my mate, I promise you’ll fucking regret it,” Cade said casually from the door of the room. “It is not your place to defend your Omega against another Omega. If Paige can’t defend herself in the workplace, then you let Benji handle it because if you touch my mate, I’ll break your fucking arm.”
“Should have known he’d be trouble,” Benji muttered before stepping between Christian and Brogan.
Brogan, happy with the intervention, stepped back, but Christian continued forward.
“Christian, stop!” Paige pleaded.
“Listen to your mate, Stephens,” Cade growled making Brogan tremble a little. Cade stepped forward and put down the white Styrofoam box he was holding, and from the smell Brogan was sure it was from his favorite Italian restaurant. “Why don’t you ask your Omega why Brogan said the things he did instead of assuming that he was the one at fault.”
“Paige?” Benji asked softly. Instead of getting an answer, her cheeks colored a bright red as she looked away.
The look on Christian’s face said that it never occurred to him that his precious Paige as the one who’s started the trouble.
“Nothing I said deserved what he said,” she lied with a shaky voice and Brogan thought about how she looked next to him; petite with wide blue eyes and trembling lips that made her seem more innocent than she was, and her Alpha wanted to defend her. “He’s always been mean to me and nothing’s changed.”
“I know,” Christian agreed, “and that’s why I want to rip out his throat.”
This was what Brogan hated about being an Omega and what he’d hated about them as well. He’s never been scared of anyone or anything in his entire life and now he was trembling with fear at the Alpha’s displeasure while watching Paige play the helpless victim.
The threat was apparently unacceptable to Cade because he moved around Benji to stand next to Christian. With a speed he didn’t know that Cade possessed, before he realized what happened, Cade had the taller man’s arm twisted behind his back.
“If you try to touch him again, I’ll break it,” Cade promised the surprised man. “It seems as though the Omegas aren’t the only ones looking for revenge.”
“This has nothing to do with revenge. My mate called me crying about the hurtful things Brogan said to her.”
“That’s very noble,” Cade sneered, “but how many times in the past has he hurt her feelings and you did nothing? Now that he’s weaker than you, you want to defend her in a physical way. You didn’t stand up to him when he was Alpha, and you won’t now that he�
��s an Omega.”
“Cade, it’s okay,” Brogan said huskily. He was pleased that Cade went primal and defended him, but he had to put a stop to this even though he secretly wanted him to beat Christian’s face to a bloody mess. “Let him go. Please.”
Brogan and Cade looked at one another and Brogan felt something that felt like reassurance coming from his mate through their bond and he tried to send it back. It must have worked because Cade released the blonde’s arm.
“Benji, Brogan is going to come with me,” Cade told the Omega as he stepped around Christian.
“No Cade, I’m okay.” Brogan reassured Cade. He may not be their friend or a part of their clique, but if he followed Cade to that office, he was going to lose face and be accused of hiding behind his Alpha.
While Christian walked around to stand next to Paige to make sure that she was okay, Cade stared at Brogan as though he was trying to find a weakness, to see if Brogan wanted an out but Brogan attempted to look convincing because it wouldn’t take much persuasion for Cade to convince Brogan to leave with him.
From Alpha to Omega Page 10