The Omega's Revenge

Office

“What else can we do?” Lucas leans back on the couch of my office, we’ve been “strategizing” the rest of the week, but have come up with nothing new. We’ve already done all that we could, alerting the other packs, updating our security protocols again, keeping everyone at the Northern campus up to date and in touch with the Elders.

We’ve played around with sending out a search party, but the Elder’s best trackers were still searching for Benjamin and we had no idea where he was, not even the faintest idea of where to start, and Cam didn’t want to be down any men. We were already stretched thin with the additional patrols at the moment.

Cam composed himself after his outburst but I could tell he was a moment away from being set off again. Everyone was blaming themselves, Jim for letting Jennifer get away, Cam for this momentarily lapse in communication from the guards.

It was wearing me thin dealing with other people's misplaced emotions and I knew I couldn’t deal with it for much longer.

“I think we need to step away from this for a minute, there is nothing else we can do and the more we talk about the same thing the worse our ideas are getting.”

Cam looks at me shocked., “What do you suggest?”

“We don’t have the men to go searching for them or any idea where they could be. Until we have any indication, any clue, we’re going to go crazy trying to figure this out.” I rub my hand over my face, I hated to admit that we had nowhere to start, nothing to go off of.

“Yes, Alpha.” Cam says, “What do you want me to work on at the moment?” I paused for a second, usually, Cam was the one that had ideas and he was more than capable of knowing what needed to be done.

“Go back to our normal duties, I guess.” I shrug, “Cam, I trust that you figured out the lapse in judgment in the dungeons schedule and that was dealt with?” I ask, even though I knew the answer.

“Yes, Alpha. It has been taken care of. New schedules and rotations were put in place immediately.” I knew that was taken care of the day that it happened but I wanted Cam to confirm, more for himself, so that he would get his confidence back, knowing he was on top of things.

“Good.” I nod, “Let's put that all behind us now, nothing we can do about it.” Lucas looks at Cam timidly.

“Do you both understand?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“Good.” I stand up checking my watch, it was almost dinner, another day wasted going over the same ideas with nothing new to show for it. “Now let's get some dinner and watch a movie.”

“You can choose.” Lucas nudges Cam, who scowls at him.

“I don’t need your sympathy,” Cam says.

“No, but you’re my date.” Lucas flashes him a smile while Cam glares at him, “Fine, blondes aren’t my type anyway.” Lucas mumbles which earns him a genuine smile from Cam that he quickly hides.

“I’m thinking of going into the office tomorrow if you want to join?” I ask Lucas. I haven’t been in months, Lucas has been keeping up appearances for me, but I figured I would show face even though I’ve been doing my share of the work from home.

“Works for me, I’ll let them know we're coming so they can fill us in on what's been going on.” I nod at him and we head downstairs.

___________________________

“You’re up early.” Isla stretches her arms and gives me a sleepy smile from bed.

“I wanted to get a workout in before Lucas and I leave. Are you going to be okay today?”

“I think I can manage a day without you.” She gives me a sly smile, “Besides, I have Anderson to keep me company.”

“How is he settling in?” I asked.

“He's still not talking much, but at least he's comfortable enough to sit by me during lunch without me begging him to.” She shrugs

“Thanks for letting him stay with you, I just need to make sure you’re protected.” She walks over to me and wraps her arms around my waist.

“I know.” She sighs, “I’m just looking forward to not having him as a shadow constantly.”

“Benjamin will be found, hopefully soon.” I try to reassure her as much as myself. She looks up at me. Her big green eyes make me lose myself for a moment.

“I know we will, but stop worrying about it now. We have enough to focus on without him taking any more of our energy.” I bend down to capture her soft lips in a kiss.

“I know, my love. You’re right. I hate this feeling, not being able to do anything about it, knowing that our enemies are out there. Together.” She squeezes her hold on me, “Cam is taking it really hard.”

“Is that why you let him choose the movie?” She scrunches her nose up, “Predator was an interesting choice.”

“Yes.” I laugh, “A bit different than what we usually watch.”

“Cameron is always too hard on himself, there is nothing that he could have done, he can’t be everywhere at once.”

“He wants to be.” I sigh, “He will get over it. Honestly, him being so upset about it gives me something to focus on. I think I would have lost it if he didn’t” Isla frowns, “Let’s get ready, Lucas is waiting for me.”

_______________

The ride to our main office doesn’t take long. Lucas fills me in on what has been happening there. Since we combined the packs he’s been going into the office once a week to check in on things while I got Isla settled in and I got accustomed to my bigger role and tried to figure out how to best run two separate packs as one.

“Anything else I need to know about?” I ask Lucas as we stand in front of our main building. He shook his head.

“Business as usual, I’m happy to report.” He lowers his voice, “Unlike the pack, there hasn’t been as many, uh, hiccups here.” Most of the people that worked for us were werewolves from our pack or from nearby ones, but there were still enough humans around that we didn’t speak freely of pack matters here.

My dad started the initiative to have members of other packs have the opportunity for their members to work for us and vice versa. Previously, most of our employees were from Moonstone or were humans. This initiative not only provided us with a larger pool of skilled workers but helped strengthen our alliances and goodwill with nearby packs.

“Good to hear.” I smiled, as much as I enjoyed my work I would rather focus on my pack, especially now. I’m glad that I built a business and hired the right people so that it would run smoothly, even if I took a step away.

“What’s on our agenda?” Lucas checks his folder.

“We have a meeting that you requested with the department heads to get you up to speed on the minute details, and then the CFO requested a meeting this afternoon to talk about this upcoming year and a new initiative that someone pitched to him he thinks could work. For lunch, I scheduled catering in our conference room so that anyone could come and talk to you or bring anything to your attention. I thought it would be nice to give everyone the opportunity to have an open conversation if they wanted.” He shrugged.

“That’s a great idea, thanks, Lucas.” He flashes me a smile.

“Well, let's get on with it then.” He opens the front door and I walk in front of him.

“Good morning, Mr. Black. Nice to see you again.” One of the receptionists stands up, a dark-haired human.

She’s flirting with you - Lucas taunts in my head

She’s all yours - I close my eyes so that she can’t see my eyes cloud over.

“Is everything alright, Mr. Black?” She asks sweetly.

“It’s fine, thank you.” She validates our badges and signals for us to go in. We head to our offices on the top floor, I felt guilty for taking up such a big office when I was hardly here these past few months.

“I’ll see you before the meeting.” Lucas nods at me and heads to his office. I settled in behind my desk and buzz for my secretary to come in.

_________

“Here is the agenda for the meeting.” Lucas hands me a sheet of paper as we head to the elevator for the meeting. I glance over it to familiarize myself, “Everyone is attending, correct?”

“Yes, boss.” Lucas smiles and we get to the conference room before anyone else. I get settled in the seat at the head of the table and Lucas takes the seat to my right, sliding a mug of coffee towards me, which I gratefully accept.

The department heads arrive within minutes, all greeting me politely. We exchanged pleasantries before I turned to Lucas, “What are we waiting for? Isn't this everyone?”

“The secretary, I was informed that we have a new one filling in today and I think she got lost.” He chuckles.

A few minutes later a petite blonde walks into the room, flustered. She does her best to compose herself and straighten her skirt, before giving me a timid smile, “I am so sorry, Mr. Black. I got lost and uh-”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m still trying to figure out the building.” A few of the department heads laugh at that, “We’re happy to have you join us. What is your name?”

She visibly relaxes, “Brandi.” She looks around the room and I motion for her to sit to my left.

“Would you like some coffee before we get started?” I ask her and she shakes her head and she takes her seat and arranges her things in front of her.

“Alright then, thank you all for coming to this meeting. I know you have busy schedules and I appreciate the continued exemplary work your departments have been producing, especially these past few months.” They nod and beam at me.

Dude - I flash a glance at Lucas who is covering his eyes trying to mindlink me discreetly

“I won’t take too much of your time today, I just wanted to hear from you directly about what has been going on and to brainstorm about this upcoming year. Any and all ideas are appreciated.” I continue.

Jax - Lucas pleads in my head.

“First, let's start with the HR department.” I nod to Kate to take it from there. As she starts talking I sit back and rub my eyes,

What Lucas

I think I found my mate

You think?

I found my mate

I glance around the room confused before realizing the only new person in the room was sitting across from Lucas. She was furiously taking notes but I couldn’t help but notice her stealing glances at him/

Do you think you can play it cool during this meeting?

Yes - Lucas tenses again beside me

Okay - I break the link and try my best to focus on what Kate was saying regarding the new hires.