Chapter Eight
There was a single window in the room, high up on the wall. The light from it made its slow way across the room as the day passed, until night fell, throwing him into darkness. No one came for him and his tears had long since dried up.
When he spied light through the door, he realized that the room outside was lit up and there was a gap just large enough for him to see through. He watched Bobby come and go, talking to people, to the other workers. It wasn’t easy to hear, but if he concentrated, he could make out the words.
“What about the new omega, boss? He on tonight?” someone asked him.
“We’ll book him a few alphas, get him broken in,” Bobby said. His eyes turned toward the door, and Noah pulled away, hoping he hadn’t been spotted.
When he got brave enough to look again, Bobby was gone, though he could hear his voice in the distance, sounding angry.
People started arriving, mostly men, largely betas though a few alphas, too. As they arrived, people came out to greet them leading them away. No one came to his door, but he knew it was just a matter of time. A cursory glance around the room he’d been thrown into told him the alphas would be coming to him. There was a bed in one corner, a couch in another, a sink tucked in against a wall. There were other things too, things that made him shudder. Like metal rings hammered into the walls. What looked like ropes around the bedposts. Just the idea made his stomach sick and he looked away, back toward the door.
If an alpha came in, he’d try to escape, try to fight his way out, try to… oh, who was he kidding? If an alpha came in, he’d cower and plead, but he wouldn’t dare fight. Omegas didn’t fight, they submitted and hoped they weren’t hurt too badly in the process.
Bobby reappeared, speaking to the shifter from before. “We’ve got an alpha for our newest addition.”
“How do you want to handle it?”
“He knows the situation. Just open the door, let him in, and close it behind him. Don’t open it again until the alpha asks. We clear?”
“Of course, boss.”
Noah was frozen in place, watching as Bobby went one way and the shifter the other. There was no getting away from this. And this would just be the first. There’d be others, on and on. Stumbling back from the door, he found a corner to hide in as far away from it as he could get without being near the bed.
Every sound of footsteps had him shaking, his stomach doing somersaults. When two sets of feet finally made their way to his door, he was close to hyperventilating, tears streaming freely down his face. The door opened with a creak, pushing inward, and Noah ducked his head down, unable to watch his fate.
The door banged shut and a voice growled. “Why is it so dark in here?”
There was something odd about the voice, enough to push back the avalanche of fear crashing over him. Enough to let him lift his head as light flooded the room.
Ronan stood by the door, looking furious.
“I thought we had an understanding?”
All that drunk idiot Trey had been able to tell Ronan was that Noah’s pack had found him a job, in a brothel no less. It seemed an odd choice and one Ronan couldn’t picture the omega agreeing to,. Yet Noah hadn’t waited for Ronan like he’d promised. He would have left it at that, but the wine-stained message on the notepad, and the blanks Trey wasn’t able to fill in, had him going a step further to get to the bottom of what was going on.
Another attempt to get information from Trey wasn’t very successful but did allow him to narrow down the possibilities and make some calls. He got lucky on his third call, to a girl he knew working in a place called Fortune Favors. It was a casino that doubled as a brothel, run by a guy called Bobby Fortune. Bobby was a little like Ronan, in that he skirted the line between right and wrong, though Ronan had the sense he strayed onto the wrong side more often than he let on. The girl confirmed a new omega had just been brought in by his pack and that he was scarred.
Making his way to Fortune, he called Bobby and made a discreet inquiry about the omega, without letting Bobby know that they were already acquainted. There was faint recognition in the other man’s voice, enough to have him confirm that they had a few omegas available, including one newly arrived if Ronan felt up to the challenge and had the money to pay for the privilege. Ronan quickly agreed, making a booking, and putting his foot on the gas. He was still an hour away, and he didn’t trust Bobby not to be swayed by someone standing in front of him waving cash around.
When he got there, Bobby put the face to the name, greeting Ronan like an old friend.
“It’s been too long, Ronan. Haven’t seen you around these parts in years.”
“Business has been taking me elsewhere.”
“I didn’t think my business was your kind of pleasure,” the alpha said, his eyes narrowing.
“It’s not, normally. But your new employee and I have some recent history, the kind that would lead me to wonder why he’s here and not elsewhere.”
Bobby shrugged. “Pack brought him in. He seemed fine, got a little overwhelmed when they tried to leave. You know what omega are like if they’ve never been outside their packs before. He’s calm now. I have clients booked for later but if you want to talk to him first, go knock yourself out. If you want to do more than talk, you know my fee.”
Ronan pulled some notes from his pocket, slipping them into Bobby’s hand. Money was the language Bobby spoke most clearly.
“I appreciate your understanding and your discretion.”
Bobby nodded, waving to a girl rushing past with an empty tray. “Leave that and bring this alpha to the new arrival.”
The girl set the tray aside and beckoned for Ronan to follow. He did, in no hurry, taking in the busy surroundings. He could hear the noise from the casino out front, much louder than the noise from any of the rooms they walked past. Soundproofing was a shifter’s best friend.
The girl spoke to a man who looked him up and down before taking a key from a hook on the wall.
“This way.”
The other shifter unlocked the door carefully, gesturing for Ronan to enter. The door closed and locked behind him, leaving Ronan in darkness. His eyes adjusted almost instantly but he preferred to have some light on the subject. He voiced his complaint and the man outside switched them on, flooding the room with brightness.
And there, huddled in a corner behind the sofa, was Noah. The sight of him filled Ronan with inexplicable anger.
“I thought we had an understanding?”
The omega’s head jerked up, his eyes wide.
“Ro-Ronan?”
“Who does it look like?” he asked, his voice scathing as he stalked across the room toward the omega.
As he got closer, Noah launched himself off the floor and, in the blink of an eye, Ronan had an omega clinging to him for dear life. Noah was talking with his face pressed against Ronan’s jacket, babbling words at a rate of knots.
Ronan attempted to detach him while he tried to work out what Noah was saying. He made out something about him coming to find Noah and something about a note.
“Noah?” he said, making another unsuccessful attempt to pull the omega away. He had attached himself, limpet-like, around Ronan’s waist, kneeling on the ground.
The tone of Noah’s words changed and so did the content.
“Don’t leave me here, please don’t leave me.”
“Leave you? Why the hell do you think I’m here?”
He wasn’t sure if it was his words or the sharpness of his tone that had Noah petering off into silence. The omega lifted his tear-streaked face, fearful eyes peering up at him.
“Do we still have an understanding?” Ronan asked him. It was the only question that mattered.
“Yes, Alpha,” Noah whispered back.
That made it simple.
Ronan picked Noah up and set him on his feet. He considered for a moment before pulling off his jacket and wrapping it around the omega. It served two purposes, marking Noah as his through sight and scent. Then he pushed Noah toward the door and rapped on it.
“Open up.”
The shifter from before was quick to return, the door swinging inward. Ronan pushed passed the surprised beta, directing Noah back toward Bobby. He let every inch of the anger he felt show on his face as they walked. It had the desired effect, staff and patrons alike moving out of his way. Bobby saw him coming a mile off, getting to his feet and taking it all in.
“Problem?”
“This omega is mine. We had a prior understanding that remains unbroken.”
And no shifter who valued his life got between that.
“His pack said he was free of attachments,” Bobby said, crossing his arms. Ronan cursed under his breath. Trust Bobby to be the exception to the rule.
He shook Noah by the shoulder. “Noah, did you tell your pack about us?”
“Yes,” came the whispered reply followed by a shudder.
“What did you tell them?”
“That you were coming back for me.”
“I’m guessing they conveniently forgot that part when they handed him in.”
Bobby’s face morphed from skeptical to pissed. “They did at that. Lied right to my face when I asked if there were any alpha relationships.”
“I hope you didn’t pay through the nose.”
Bobby snorted. “Gave them half what he’s worth in today’s market. But I’ll get it back. No one stiffs me and gets away with it, certainly not a pack like his. Backwater mutts.”
Ronan clapped a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “Well, I apologize for the inconvenience. Had I known this was a possibility, I’d have made sure I was there in person to stop it before it happened.”
Bobby waved that off. “Not too many are foolish enough to do what his pack did. You sure you’re set on him? I can’t see how he’d be much use.”
Noah shuddered again, turning frightened eyes toward Ronan. Despite how understanding Bobby was being, Ronan knew he had to be careful not to burn bridges.
“Sometimes, the body wants what it wants.” He pulled a few more notes from his pocket and handed them over. “For your trouble.”
Bobby accepted them with a nod. “It’s late. I’ve got business to see to and some money to recover.”
“We won’t take up any more of your time.”
Slipping an arm around Noah’s shoulders, Ronan led him toward the side exit and out into the night.