TRISTAN

 

A man named Saxon was a fixture in the orphanage that York was in charge of. He was a middle-aged man but he would’ve stood out from everybody else even if he wasn’t older. His brown hair was always disheveled. He looked like he hadn’t washed himself and his clothes were unkempt though he didn’t smell unpleasant. And then there were his teeth. They were a bright yellow and you always saw them because of his big, infectious grin.

“Hunter and York seemed pretty happy,” I said.

“Why wouldn’t they be?” Saxon responded. “They deserve a bit of a break from running the shelter. If it were up to me, I’d let them take a vacation as long as they wanted. They could retire, too. Same as Ruby.”

“Ruby… How is she?”

Ruby was an older Beta who ran the shelter before York took over.

“She’s doing just fine,” Saxon said. “The old lady deserves a chance to rest after everything she’s done.”

“She’s done a lot. Part of me wants to make her proud, too.”

“Listen, Tristan. York wouldn’t have left you in charge if he didn’t believe you were capable of running this shelter for everybody. You’ve got me. You’ve got other volunteers. Plus, the Omegas here are good kids. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Still…”

I looked down at the dishes I was cleaning off in the sink and thought about everything. Running the shelter along with being pregnant with Julius’s child was a daunting task despite all of the support I had.

“What’s wrong?” Saxon asked. “Something on your mind?”

“I have a lot to live up to,” I said. “Julius is the mayor of the city. York has ties with the richest man in the city. It seems like everybody has big expectations for me.”

“They have big expectations for all of us. You’re just a small piece of the big picture. If you want my advice, I say you just relax and enjoy yourself. You care about these Omegas, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Then that’s all you have to do. The rest will work itself out eventually. In all my years, I’ve learned a lot. One thing I know for sure is that bad things don’t happen to good people. You’re one of the good ones, Tristan.”

“Some of these Omegas have had bad things happen to them.”

“If we keep doing what we’re doing, they’ll be the last generation. The Omegas in the Timberlands don’t have anything to worry about now that they’ll always have a home. There are enough orphanages in the city to take in every Omega if that’s what it takes.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Just because you’re in charge doesn’t mean you’re alone. Why don’t you take a break after you finish up? I’ll tell the kids a story—”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“A friendly story. A story they’ll enjoy and make them smile.”

“Not any of those stories about street fighting. They’re too young for that.”

“Hey, do I look like the kind of guy who would do something like that?”

He grinned at me, his yellow teeth on display.

“You already did!” I said.

“That was for the older Omegas,” he said. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”

He patted me on the back and left the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I finished rinsing off all the dishes.

I sighed a deep breath as I headed back into the main hall of the orphanage.

“Let’s see…”

Before I could figure out what to do, the front doorbell rang.

“Just a second,” I called out.

I walked over to the door and answered it.

There were two men standing in front of me.

One of them was a clean-cut man in a suit. His hair was combed neatly. His face was unblemished. Just from the way he stood, it was easy to tell he was worth a lot of money.

The shorter man next to him was a bright-eyed redhead. His skin was pale with freckles on them. He was smaller but there was a quiet confidence about the way he stood there.

They were both smiling kindly at me, so I wasn’t intimidated, though I wasn’t sure what was going on either.

“Hello,” I said. “Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for the person in charge of this shelter,” the man in the suit said.

“Well… I’m sort of in charge right now. My name’s Tristan.”

“Tristan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Knight. This is my husband, Oliver.”

Oliver smiled softly at me and bowed his head.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“There’s something we’d like to discuss,” Oliver said. “May we come in?”

“Of course!”

I stepped aside and let the couple walk into the shelter. The two of them stood in the main hall next to me and examined their surroundings. A couple of Omegas raced by us as they played with one another. Oliver burst into laughter at the sight of them.

“Just like I remember them,” he said.

“You remember them?” I said, slightly confused.

“I got my start here. I trained here before my husband built another shelter for me to run.”

“York’s orphanage was one of the few shelters in Pandora,” Knight said. “Now it appears that you can’t walk down the block without coming upon a few orphanages.”

“That’s not a bad thing, I hope,” I said.

“Not at all,” Knight said with a chuckle. “That’s actually what we wanted to discuss with you.”

“All right. What is it?”

“I recently spoke to Julius… I’m assuming you’re the Tristan he spoke of.”

“That’s right.”

Oliver reached his hand up and put it on my arm.

“Congratulations,” Oliver said with a smile. “Fatherhood is the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m sure it’ll be the same for you.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” I said, trying and failing not to blush.

“Julius said to me that his trip out to the Timberlands was a success,” Knight said. “Having been out there myself, I know just how wild and untamed the woods can be.”

“They’re no longer wild or untamed,” I said. “Now that Julius did what he needed to do.”

“Correct. But now it presents a bigger problem.”

“A bigger problem?”

My heart skipped a beat for a second. I didn’t want to think about what else could go wrong.

Knight put his hands behind his back as he explained the situation.

“Now that Omegas can roam freely through the Timberlands, more of the outcasts will be able to come to Dirge.”

“That was our intention,” I said.

“As a result, we’ll likely need more shelters and more space in the ones that are already present.”

“It’s nice to give them a place they feel comfortable,” Oliver said.

“I expected that,” I said. “But what was it you wanted to discuss?”

“I made a friendly wager with some of the other jaguars. A competition, so to speak.”

“Competition?”

“With all of the Omegas coming into the city, they’ll have many places to choose from. They’d obviously want to come to the best shelter for them.”

“I… I still don’t see what you’re getting at.”

“This shelter is nice…”

Knight looked up and examined the shelter.

“…But there’s room for improvement. You’ll be given funds. Improve the shelter the best you can and the people will vote on which shelter is the most inviting.”

I blinked my eyes and shook my head, not sure I’d heard him correctly.

“Let me get this straight,” I said. “You want to have a competition to see who can create the nicest shelter?”

“That’s right,” Knight said.

“All I care about is housing Omegas and giving them a place to stay.”

“And why shouldn’t they live in the best comfort possible?” Oliver said.

It was silly. But the more that I thought about it, the more I realized that I couldn’t object.

“Okay,” I said with a laugh. “York takes pride in this shelter. I do, too. If you want me to build a better place for Omegas, I will.”

“Excellent!” Knight said. “We’re looking forward to seeing just how you improve the shelter.”

Knight and Oliver excused themselves. I stood just outside of the shelter and watched as their car disappeared in the distance. Then I turned around and stared at the shelter.

The place was already more than inviting. But with more Omegas arriving, it seemed fitting to renovate the place even further. A smile came to my face when I realized that the shelter was going to be even more welcoming than it already was.

I was just about to head back into the shelter when something caught my attention.

The loud rumble of an engine filled my ears. But it was more than one. It got so loud that I could no longer ignore it.

I turned my head and watched as multiple bikes rode through the street. They kept going until suddenly parking right in front of the shelter. I felt a lump my throat as the lead biker hopped off his ride and marched right up to me.

“You,” he said, pointing his index finger. “The mayor’s mate.”

Head shaved. Tattoos all over his arms. His chest and stomach exposed underneath his leather vest. The big biker was as intimidating as any man I’d ever seen.

“W-what—”

He cut me off by grabbing me by the collar. He looked right into my eyes with a stare so intense that I knew he was serious.

“Tell Julius I got a message for him. He might be mayor but he’ll never be my mayor. As long as the Black Stone are in town, there’ll never be peace. I’ll make sure of it.”

I swallowed to clear my throat and shook my head. I wasn’t about to let him intimidate me. I didn’t care that he was surrounded by his biker friends and I was alone.

“This isn’t your city,” I said. “Dirge is a town of peace now. People like you are not in charge. You never will be—”

A sudden slap across my face knocked me to the ground. I was in a daze on all fours, struggling to get back to my feet.

“You won’t deliver my message,” the man said. “Fine. I’ll deliver it to him myself.”

I listened to the sound of him getting back onto his bike. The group of bikers rode off before I finally had a chance to recover.

“Hey! Tristan, my man! I was looking for you!”

Saxon came out of the shelter and walked up to me. When he saw me, his eyes widened in surprise.

“What the hell happened?” he exclaimed. “Your face—”

“It’s nothing,” I said as I pushed his hand away.

“That’s not nothing. I can see it for myself.”

“It was bikers.”

“Bikers?”

“Yeah. One of them got up to me. He threatened Julius.”

“The bikers in this town are dangerous—”

“It doesn’t matter now. Just… Just ignore it.”

Saxon looked at me skeptically then sighed a deep breath.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you inside.”