Sweating profusely, Sam raced out of the elevator and back to the safety of his office, slamming the glass doors behind him with a heavy THUNK!
He flung his briefcase carelessly onto the floor by his desk and yanked the drawers open fervently, his quivering fingers closing around a tiny, white bottle. Popping the cap open with a furious twist, Sam shakily palmed two pills and swallowed them dry. His ears were ringing something awful, and his chest was tight with dread, making it hard to breathe.
Dazed, he capped the bottle and sank into his chair, willing his pounding heart to be still.
That meeting…had been an outright nightmare.
There was nothing more anxiety-inducing than sitting in a room full of Alphas for two hours.
Nothing.
Except for maybe interacting with that one alpha, Caleb, who’d been circling him, giving him compliments and occasionally trying to stand way too close to him.
Clenching his fists, Sam took deep breaths, steading himself.
He might have to fire that fellow, because he wasn’t going to take the chance and get himself raped.
He’d had enough of that shit from Alphas and he was taking the control of his life.
Alex was dead, and since he only had himself to worry about, it was only up from here.
That evil man had had taken way too much from him, and his death had been liberating.
Letting out a tight sigh, Sam leaned back to reach into another desk drawer and pulled out a box of scent-neutralizing wipes, making sure to give his desk a few passes before standing to wipe his briefcase and the door handles, inside and outside.
He caught a strange look from his secretary sitting at the front desk, and he ignored her, slamming the door closed again with a heavy thunk!
Cleaning everything he touched was a constant part of his life.
He’d been branded as an OCD neat freak by the entire staff, and the story had even been leaked to the media, but he was taking no chances because he did not want to invite a vagrant alpha to pick up on his scent.
This was about self-preservation.
The phone rang on his desk, so he tossed the wipes in the trash and hurried to answer it.
“Mr. Newman, the Director of Sales is on his way up to see you,” she said quietly before hanging up.
Shit! Sam cursed, pacing around his desk in a full circle, his palms clammy with fear. This was the consequence of escaping the meeting room too soon.
The directors all needed to discuss something with him in private.
I’m just inviting danger up to my office, Sam thought darkly, straightening up and sitting stiffly back behind his desk, willing himself to appear composed.
Being an Omega in hiding wasn’t easy.
It was a struggle every second of the day.
He was hiding in plain sight, at the top of a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate selling colognes aimed at Alphas… to attract Betas and Omegas.
The irony was horrible, but this was the company he had inherited from Alexander Babbage that enabled to him to sit so comfortably above everyone else in society, so here he would stay. It was that nasty old man’s fault for thinking a ‘filthy Omega’ would never be able to surpass him.
Well, look at me suffering now, Sam thought dryly, hearing a knock at the door.
“Come in,” he said coldly, relieved that his voice didn’t shake.
To his ultimate horror, Caleb stepped inside and closed the door behind him with a confident click. The Alpha strode forward, the heels of his shoes tapping smartly across the floor while he smiled brightly, with his insufferable, spiky, tri-colored hair fixed to perfection, as usual.
Great.
The Alpha he dreaded the most.
The Alpha who was currently getting way too close….
Or maybe he’s just chasing a promotion? Sam thought nervously. Paranoia reigned supreme over his entire being and it was hard to differentiate paranoid thoughts from the sensible ones.
“Mr. Newman,” Caleb said warmly, reaching his hand out across the desk for a shake. “There was something I forgot to mention earlier when we were downstairs.”
Sam fought furiously with himself before he forced himself to shake Caleb’s proffered hand, and withdrew quickly, his palm burning as he watched Caleb take a seat comfortably in front of his desk on one of the two chairs facing him.
“What is it?” Sam breathed through gritted teeth, his patience running thin when Caleb continued to beam at him. It was sickening, the amount of trust these Alphas had in him, and the way they looked at him with glowing faces made his stomach churn.
If only they knew he was an accursed fraud in a pressed suit….
“I had an idea,” Caleb said excitedly, eager to pitch Sam on his new project. “I want to promote three people to the head of project management so they can have small teams of their own.”
He leaned back into the seat and waited for Sam’s reply, scanning the CEO with a careful eye, taking in his neat appearance.
His admiration for Sam was high.
This man was the epitome of success.
He was tall, attractive, and flushed with confidence every time he walked into the meeting room, and Caleb desperately tried to emulate the determination he saw from Sam every day.
It was inspiring.
Sam was the model Alpha.
No one else could compare.
“Fine. Now leave,” Sam said callously, waving Caleb out the door and wrinkling his nose when he caught a strange scent clinging to his hand, and his stomach curled.
To his irritation, Caleb didn’t move and continued to sit there, gazing at him with bright eyes.
“I promise to make top charting sales this month,” Caleb said determinedly, leaning forward in his seat. “So can you let me in on the secret?”
“What secret?” Sam felt a migraine coming on, and he eyed the door anxiously. Why wasn’t this guy leaving?!
“The new secret cologne,” Caleb said, matter-of-factly, lacing his fingers around his knee. “You’re wearing it right now, aren’t you? It’s working wonders.”
Sam’s blood ran cold.
It seemed…. Caleb had caught a whiff of his scent.
Holy shit.
The suppressants were fucking useless.
And he had double-dosed earlier, barely ten minutes ago.
Time to head back to the lab and re-formulate.
What the fuck was the point of having all this money when there was no guaranteed way to keep Alphas from sniffing him out?!
“The scent is designed for Betas,” Sam said belligerently, glaring into Caleb’s angular, violet eyes. “It shouldn’t appeal to you.”
“But it does, so you’ve done something incredible with the formula,” Caleb declared, completely unaware of Sam’s distress. “Several of the other Project Managers were talking about it too. They say they’ve smelled it on you before, so it must be something you’re working hard on.”
Sam grit his teeth and nodded, his ears ringing unpleasantly.
Great. Perfect.
Just what he wanted to hear.
The other Alphas had already been talking about him like he was some juicy piece of meat.
Caleb tapped his foot on the ground as an awkward silence ripened between them.
Crap, I don’t want to sound too pushy, Caleb thought, breaking out into a cold sweat. How do I warm up to him about this? Let me try again.
“I’m actually headed to a bar tonight with a couple of friends,” Caleb said casually, watching Sam’s face closely. “I’m wondering if I could perhaps; take your new cologne out for a test run? I’d love to be included in your new product. I can sell volumes, as you can see.”
Satisfied with his pitch, Caleb smiled and sat back into the chair again, his heart thundering nervously as he waited for Sam’s approval. He knew on some level that Sam must respect him as well, because he’d climbed the ranks here at Newman & Babbage Inc. with ease in the past year since his arrival.
This guy is…so blimmin aggressive, Sam thought hatefully, scrambling to find another way to deter Caleb from the ‘mysterious new scent’.
“Are you a Beta?” Sam asked vindictively, seeing Caleb’s eyes widen at the corners with surprise. “Or an Omega in hiding? The scent fails as a product if it appeals to you.”
“What?! No, I just wanted to attract some beautiful Beta women,” Caleb protested, holding his hand up defensively. “I apologize for your frustration over the new scent…”
Sam shut Caleb out and panicked internally. Why was he sitting here accusing an Alpha of being an Omega in hiding? Only a suspicious Omega in hiding would indict another true Alpha of being an Omega in hiding.
Stop saying Omega in hiding! Sam thought wildly to himself, gripping his knee with one hand while the other stayed resting casually on his cheek. Caleb was still talking, and it was hard to stay focused.
“…Which is how my team is able to sell so many units,” Caleb continued, looking quite proud of himself. “The women who catch a whiff of it oftentimes recommend it to their husbands, and their husbands recommend it to their friends, who recommend it to their wives. It a nice little model, and the units begin to sell themselves.”
“Don’t…care,” Sam growled, growing lightheaded from the stress of Caleb’s presence. “Get out of my office.”
Caleb’s face fell, and he still didn’t budge from the chair.
He’s relentless! Sam fumed, clenching his jaw so hard, his teeth ached.
“I meant to say, I’ll happily test it out for you,” Caleb said headily, unfazed by the first rejection. “I can sell the first test-batch for you, and it’ll help recuperate some of the production costs.”
Sam let his breath out in a tight hiss and turned the corners of his mouth upwards into what he hoped resembled a smile and said, “I don’t know when I’ll have it ready. Maybe soon, but I doubt it. Now, leave.”
Caleb nodded and returned Sam’s smile heartily.
“Sounds like a plan,” Caleb beamed and rose out of the seat, giving Sam a friendly wave over his shoulder before striding out of the office, leaving the glass doors swinging behind him.
Sam waited until he heard the elevator ding; indicating Caleb had left the floor before he collapsed forward over his desk, resting his forehead on the surface, his breathing ragged from distress.
Goddammit.
He’d almost been outed.
No.
He’d almost outed himself.
Caleb was known to be one of the best managers that ever entered his company. Sam made a note to fire all of Alex’s disciples and bring in new blood.
Alex had made the cologne out to be a scented aphrodisiac, boasting that it would make any Omega or Beta fall to their knees with lust, and Sam detested this type of marketing.
The product was a luxury cologne, not some vile instrument.
He’d made that very clear when he took over the company. The job applications called for virtuous Alphas only, and he personally oversaw the hiring process through the glass wall when Caleb had come in for his interview.
He remembered thinking Caleb would do extremely well and quickly climb the ranks, because he was self-assured, attractive, and charismatic.
Even other Alphas looked up to him.
That was also how he’d managed to be promoted so quickly.
Maybe being sniffed out by Caleb was inevitable.
It was not a good feeling either way.
The next step after being sniffed out was physical touching, and whatever followed that was usually absolute torture.
Being an unmarked Omega also made his scent more potent, but Sam vowed he would never allow himself to become another Alpha’s property, even if it was for the sake of his own safety.
Because fuck Alphas.
They were forever brimming with privilege and it showed disgustingly on their faces and in their movements. They ruled the world and they knew it.
Alphas were the only reason Omega children like himself ended up discarded in orphanages, only to be adopted by child-molesting monsters like Alex. Crimes against Omegas were rife in society, even when laws had been put in place protecting Omegas.
The laws only helped if Alphas followed the rules, which they habitually did not. It only deterred them from being possessive and violent towards Omegas, forcing them to acknowledge that Omegas were people too.
It was shitty.
I might really have to fire him; Sam grimaced and drummed his fingers anxiously on the desk, his chest tight with tumult. Or maybe, there was a way to make Caleb think the scent was just something he’d made on a whim but then decided to discontinue.
Well…
He’d think about it later.
