Charity Dwyer had been an amazing omega. Strong and patient and compassionate. Like Bree, she’d been able to hear snippets of people’s thoughts while reading their emotions. Some speculated that that had contributed to her “fall,” as it was termed. Those same people expected Bree to fall, too.
It hadn’t been easy for her father to survive the breaking of the mating bond, but he’d fought to live for Bree. It was a few days after her eighteenth birthday that Jim’s health began to deteriorate until, a week later, he passed in his sleep. It was almost as if he’d told himself he’d hang on until she was old enough to take care of herself. Then he’d lost the fight.
“Earth to Bree,” said Dani. “Hello, are you with us, sweetie?”
Bree blinked, snapping out of her thoughts to find everyone looking at her. “Sorry. Woolgathering.”
Dani raised an imperious brow. She had a Stepford Wife vibe going on and always looked immaculately well-groomed with her sleek, ruler straight blonde hair, expertly applied makeup, manicured nails, and elegant manner.
The primary had always disagreed with Bree’s “approach,” feeling that tough love was not what omegas were all about. But she’d mostly left Bree to her own devices until she began to grow in strength at a fast rate. Although Bree had made it clear to one and all that she had no wish to usurp Dani, the primary felt threatened by her. And so, she nitpicked her. Put her down. Patronized her. And it pissed off Bree’s cat big time.
Bree figured that most people had had a bitchy, micro-managing, confidence-killing, “I know best” boss at some point. There was a special place in hell reserved for them.
“I heard Quinn sought your counsel this week,” said Dani, her voice a little stilted.
Hell. The guy in question had been Dani’s boyfriend up until two months ago. Bree had known the primary wouldn’t be happy that he’d sought another omega’s advice. It simply wouldn’t occur to Dani that he might find it awkward to confide in his ex; that they no longer had that level of emotional intimacy.
“Yes, he did,” Bree confirmed.
“And his problem was?”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
Dani’s eyes hardened, but she managed to keep a smile on her face. “Excuse me?”
“He asked me not to repeat our session to anybody.”
Dani licked her front teeth. “Yes, well, I’m sure he didn’t mean he was uncomfortable with me knowing whatever his issue may be. You can bring me up to speed later.”
Bree shook her head. “Afraid I can’t do that. It’s understandable that you’d be worried about him, but I won’t break his confidence.”
Planting her hands flat on the table, Dani leaned forward. “I wasn’t requesting that you share the information, Bree. It was an order.”
Bree’s cat hissed. “If he’d wanted you to know, he’d have gone to you for counsel.”
Her cheeks reddening, Dani drew in a breath. “Need I remind you who the primary is, Bree?”
It was a struggle not to roll her eyes. “Need I remind you that one of our oldest rules is that if someone asks that their session remain confidential then we respect that? Look, I can call Quinn and ask if he’s fine with me sharing the details with you. If he says yes, I’ll do so. But I won’t do it without his consent, and you really shouldn’t ask me to.”
Dani slowly leaned back in her seat, her back ramrod straight. “You and I will talk after the meeting is over.”
Bree couldn’t help but bristle. Dani had spoken to her like a teacher would to an unruly member of the class. She flexed her fingers beneath the table. She would not flip her lid. Nope. Her father had raised her to be always in charge of her emotions.
Jim had also raised her to take no shit from anyone.
He’d have hung out on his balcony after hearing about the hyenas; would have spent time “cleaning his gun” while watching for any signs of them. She’d reported the hyena-incident to Vinnie after Benny left yesterday … only to discover that Alex had already notified him. The wolverine was such a Chatty Cathy. And now the entire pride knew of it.
Once the meeting finally finished and the other omegas had filed out of the room, Dani headed straight to Bree. “I get that you have an inborn problem with authority, but you need to shake that off. I am your primary. If I ask you to do something related to omega business, you do it. You do not ignore me. You do not contradict me. And you do not deliberately undermine me in front of the others.”
Bree’s cat bared a fang and swished her tail. “If I give someone my word, I won’t break it. You know that, so you knew I wouldn’t tell you what Quinn said. Are you sure you didn’t push me on this just so that you’d have a reason to flex your primary-muscles at me?”
“I have no choice but to be hard on you, Bree. I taught you how to counsel and guide people, just as I taught the other omegas. They follow my directions. You don’t. Your approach to helping others is wildly inappropriate.”
“Is it? Or is it just different? I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the greatest omega—”
Dani’s bark of laughter dripped with condescension. “That’s something of an understatement, don’t you think?”
“What I think is that if Vinnie had witnessed that shit you just pulled, he’d have ripped you a new asshole for abusing your authority by trying to, essentially, force someone into submitting to your will.”
The amusement fell from Dani’s face. “Oh, you’re going to run to Vinnie with tales, are you?”
“If it happens again, yes, I will. Because I’m done with your shit. As you so often remind me, you’re primary, so act like it instead of punishing me for something I absolutely cannot control.” With that, Bree walked out.
Fumbling in surprise, Elle nearly dropped the paint roller. She gaped at Bree. “He mentioned the kiss? The kiss? He actually acknowledged that it happened?”
“Yep,” said Bree, sweeping her roller up and down, spreading the soft, sedate blue paint on the wall. The redhead’s price for helping with the bedroom makeover was the promise of a juicy piece of info—Elle rarely did anything for nothing.
“I can’t believe you’re only telling me this now. Well, I can believe it. You’re like a freaking vault. It’s maddening.” Elle huffed. “Please tell me there’s more.”
“There’s more. He reminded me of how I came all over his thigh. At which point I reminded him that he’d shoved me away afterward. And then …” She cut off, hesitant to continue, worried her friend might read too much into it.
Elle wagged her finger. “Oh no, you can’t just stop there, Dwyer. Spill.”
“Well, I teased him over how he likes to pretend our chemistry doesn’t exist. And he got all … weird.”
“Expand on weird.”
Bree sighed. “Don’t wanna.”
“Bitch, don’t you leave me hanging like this. Expand.”
“He, in so many words, admitted that he was attracted to me—no, don’t get all excited, I haven’t finished—but then he also said I’m not ready for what he’d demand of me.” Alex hadn’t been back to the store since that day. Which was good, because both she and her cat were still mega ticked off at him.