Chapter Nineteen
Conrad
On what I’d hoped would be move-in day, I ended up spending the morning with the board. I had remained calm and collected as I explained over charts, graphs, and homemade cookies how the solar division was a solid investment that would move the company forward.
They mumbled some bullshit about tariffs making the profit too low and investing elsewhere would strengthen the company’s bottom line. Sure, tariffs sucked, but even with them we could keep our costs the same and make money. Just not the massive heaps they were looking for.
And then they discussed the wonderful new position they’d created just for me. I’d get to travel the world, make a ton of money, and meet with all the important people.
Then, like any rational person in my position would do, I calmly told them where they could stick their new position. And by calmly, I meant I told them heck no and marched out without looking back. If the job in Distance hadn’t just been completed, I might have given notice, but it had been, so fuck that. The very last thing I wanted to do was schmooze important people. Scratch that, the very last thing I wanted to do was be halfway across the world from Jasper, with the schmoozing clients coming in second.
Nope.
Just nope.
But now that I had left New Corbine and was driving back to Distance, my gut clenched. I was going back to my omega, to help him move into his home—unemployed. Sure, I had money tucked away and owned pieces of the company, but Jasper deserved better. He deserved an alpha who was hard-working and a productive member of society, not a lazy bum. He’d had one of those, and I never wanted him to equate me with that evil man in any way.
I needed a job and to be accepted by and into the pack—and to do all the things. But first, I needed a job. Pressing the button on the steering wheel, I called out, “Phone Travis,” and waited as the echoing ringing came through my speakers. I only had half a plan formed, but a half a plan was better than the zero plans I had when I quit my job, so I’d take it.
“Conrad.” Travis was in full-on alpha with a capital A mode, sounding none too pleased about my call.
“Sorry, Travis, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” The last thing I wanted was a pissed-off pack alpha when I was asking for a job.
“My office. Ten minutes.” It was an order. Fuck.
“I’m about fifteen miles away.”
“Then you better step on that pedal.” And with those words, he hung up.
If I had thought my stomach was in a knot before…
I did as ordered, which wasn’t normally me, but he was my omega’s alpha, and, like it or not, that meant he held power over me. Usually, I thought of him more friend than client, but his reaction to my call had me second-guessing that. The entire day had gone from the move-in-day bliss I’d planned to avalanche of crap.
I made it to the front door in eleven minutes, which was pretty freaking incredible, given the backroads I’d taken. I had my hand up to knock as Hayden opened the door, put a finger to his lips then pointed to his mate’s office. Not wanting to wake his young, I stepped lightly the entire way to the office, the door swinging open before I took my last step. They were like freaking ninjas.
He pointed to a seat, his face holding a scowl. Closing the door, he spoke his first words. “I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me.” He just shook his head, walking to his desk as I took the seat he had directed me to. He grabbed a folder and tossed it to me. “I thought you were going to be pack.”
As I opened the folder, I found two papers—an invoice for the balance of the solar panel work and a letter saying I was no longer their liaison as I had just taken a transfer.
I was going to kill my brother. No, maim him then kill him. That sounded better to my tiger who let out a growl despite my desire to appear calm.
No wonder he was pissed. He thought I was leaving my omega, a member of his clan already hurt by a man.
“I quit.” I belted out the first thing that came to mind to clarify the situation. I clarified nothing.
“He deserves better.” Travis leaned back onto his desk, his arms crossed.
“No. No, I mean I quit the job. That’s why I called. I was going to ask you for a job.” Or help finding a job. I hadn’t been entirely clear in my mind, but I knew Travis was my best first stop on the get-employed train.
“Why quit today and not before?” He crossed his arms, looking down at me, his eyes fierce. “I allowed you free rein in this pack, even as an outsider. I expected better from you.”
“I quit today because although my brother said this was going to happen, I assumed I’d talk him down like I always have before.” My brother was so glad he wasn’t there because I was getting more worked up by the second. How dare he put me in such a position.
“Today, the board informed me otherwise, and I quit. As it was, if the job stayed the same, I had a decision to make. Being away from them is torture. I want to be there when they fall asleep and again when they wake up.”
Because yeah, Jasper and Owen were a team, and, together, we could make a family—we would make a family.
“He hasn’t invited me into his home, but I’m hoping after he moves in, he will. I won’t push. He deserves better than that.”
Jasper deserved everything.
“He calls you his mate.”
“I am his mate.” I stood up, my tiger no longer able to sit there, being looked down on by the alpha. He showed and gave respect, but with Travis in that stance, he got twitchy.
“If you left, it would crush him.”
“It would crush me.”
Travis’s posture loosened, and he no longer stood there all intimidation for once.
“So, about the job. I don’t need a lot of salary, I have a decent nest egg and can provide for them without a job. I need a job to be both productive and worthy.”
“The only job I have you would be a good match for is beta.” He smiled for the first time since I walked in. Had he really offered me what I had come to learn was a highly prestigious position in his pack?
“Aren’t betas like really important in a pack and, you know, pack members?” The confusion must’ve shown on my face because Travis came over and slapped me on the back of my shoulder like a teammate in some human sporting event.
“Pack membership would be a requirement, yes.”
My tiger purred. Like for real and true purring, and Travis tried in vain to hold in his chuckle.
“You would let me—a tiger—join your pack?”
“You are good for my pack. You helped Jasper heal.” Jasper had done that on his own. Strong, powerful, amazing omega.
“He is badass and didn’t need me.” But I needed him. In our short time together, I already knew that.
“He is badass, and he very much does need you as you need him.” He strolled around to sit at his desk as I stood there dumbfounded. “We run tomorrow as a pack. Let me know your decision before then so appropriate announcements can be made and ceremonies completed.”
So that was that. I was welcome not as a worker or even as a mate of a pack member, but as an actual pack member.
“I will ask my omega his thoughts on the matter.”
“You are a smart man, Conrad.” Travis winked before pointing to the door, effectively ending the conversation, which worked well for me. I had an omega to move and a baby to spoil.