Lucy couldn't believe it when the alpha stalked into the kitchen and started asking about where all the different foods were kept. She pointed at the various cupboards silently, eyes-wide.
Mark had decided he would win his mate's heart by cooking for her; Leah did look like a girl who liked to eat. And though he had never cooked anything before in his life, he did watch a lot of Cake Boss. --Which he loved. And he figured that cooking dinner couldn't be all that different from baking a cake. Like everything in life, you just had to not suck at it.
"I'm Mark, the boss," he said to himself in a heavy, terrible, New York accent.
"Yes sir, you are," replied Lucy, suddenly worried that he didn't know that she knew who he was.
"Oh," he said, voice back to normal, "I forgot you were here. What's your name?"
"Lucy," she replied, doing a quick, awkward curtsy.
"Lucy," he said, again taking on the hopelessly bad New York accent, "I'm gonna make some dinner for my girl. It's gonna be freaking fantastic."
"Wonderful," she replied, a little bewildered by his voice.
He grinned at her, and Lucy, for the first time in her life, was a little sad she was just an omega. She had always been pretty okay with being an omega -- every other type of wolf seemed to get stuck with the hard jobs or the scary jobs. And the lives of alphas and betas were always so full of drama! True, it was drama she LOVED to watch; but the idea of actually getting stuck with alpha beta problems had never really appealed to her.
Suggesting she wanted to be an alpha would be like suggesting she wanted to be in a horror movie.
So it was kind of odd, the sadness Mark's perfect smile instilled in her. Her wolf shook its head; don't even think about it. So, she didn't. Instead, "Um, sir, what are you making?"
"Pasta," replied, throwing some uncooked macaroni noodles in a frying pan, and then unscrewing the lid to the jarred sauce. "This will be lucky sauce; it's Prego, after all."
"Ha, ha..." Lucy said, before realizing with a start that her alpha didn't know how to cook. She opened her mouth to say something, but what could she say? "Um, sir, would you like some assistance?"
He plopped half the jar over the hard, yellow elbows.
"I think I have it under control," he replied. "But, uh... where do you put in the temperature?" His eyes moved to her, and her stomach dropped. She knew this was wrong, but she couldn't bear to point out he was wrong and now he was asking her to join in his ill-planned culinary escapade!
She walked toward the stove, shaking now. She would have to turn on the heat. But what was he going to do when the food turned out horrible? Blame her?!
What could she do?
Her hand, trembling, reached for the dial.
"You okay?" Mark asked.
Earlene pushed through the swinging doors suddenly, causing Lucy to yip in fright. Both Earlene and Mark looked at her like she had grown another head. "You're excused, Omega."
Lucy was out of there in a hot second.
"Geez, Earlene. Now how am I going to get this thing working?"
"Opie's on the phone, says he wants to talk about the trade next month." Earlene walked over to turn the stove on for him, then noticed the pan.
"What trade?" Mark asked.
Earlene picked up the pan and threw the whole thing in the garbage.
"Hey!"
"Did you listen to the messages I left on your phone this morning?"
"I guess not."
If he hadn't been her alpha, Mark might have thought Earlene was about to throttle him from the look on her face. She took a breath, and began. "We found more women than we could take, given that we also had to take the rogues. Opie ended up taking some with him. They made it across the border safely, but he says that it's already pretty clear who's a mate and who's not. He's ansy about having unmated human women around and wants to trade them out sooner rather than later. He's thinking the first of the month."
"That's what, two weeks away?"
"The alpha does check his calendar."
"Okay, tell him yes."
"Mark, you need to talk to him yourself. Being an alpha requires having relationships with other alphas; knowing their names, speaking to them, interacting with them."
"Okay! Okay! I just, I was making dinner for Leah."
"You were making shit for Leah; go talk to Opie. I'll get an omega to make her some dinner."
His wolf bristled but acquiesced. Earlene was probably the only wolf on earth he wasn't interested in fighting. As an alpha, he knew he'd win -- but as a twenty-something he knew that a four hundred year old Earlene was perfectly capable of leaving him without an arm or a leg in the process.
Once Mark left, Lucy peeked back into the kitchen.
"You," Earlene said, nodding to her. "Find out what the alpha's mate likes to eat and make it for her. Make sure the other women are fed as well."
Lucy nodded and set off.
--------------
The sight awaiting Lucy downstairs struck her as one of the strangest things she had ever seen. The human women, in each of their cells were lined up and... dancing...?
And six of the women, two in one cell of six and four in another, were not dancing, but singing. --Some number by Beyonce. One alone kept the beat by hitting the top of an old television with her palm.
Another yelled and led the commotion --
Wait; Lucy had seen this before on television. They were doing zumba!
She suddenly discovered one of them looking at her; the woman was intimidating -- everything about her told Lucy she had some serious mass. She could stop a truck. Her scent was odd too. She was alone in her cell. Then she realized it; "Are you Leah?"
"That's me."
Lucy debated how to proceed; usually with a human she'd have no problem introducing herself and going about her business. But her stomach was moving in ways that signaled this wasn't some human. She should show some deference. She just didn't know how.
She's the alpha's mate, she reminded herself.
"I'm Lucy. I'm an omega here. I am here to find out what foods you like, so I can make you dinner."
"You waiting on everyone here tonight, Lucy?"
"The rest will get the standard dinner, but the alpha wanted to make you something special."
"Um. I've got a special idea. You tell him that..." and then Leah paused, and smiled. The grin on her face grew like the tree that bore Eve's apples. "Tell him I'm not eating until the other women are free. Yeah. Do that."
Some of the other women, closest to Leah's cell had noticed Leah's interaction and had stopped to listen. "Wait, what?" Beatrice demanded. "Leah, I thought," she began.
Leah shook her head at her. "I mean, I'm not too worried about starving to death," Leah said to Lucy, patting her round though firm, slightly protruding belly. "But, if he wants me to eat, he can let the others go."
Lucy paled. She was just there to find out what to cook! Not to deliver unsettling information to the alpha!
Leah noticed Lucy's face, and touched the glass between them. "Kiddo, it's okay," Leah said. "He won't hurt you. --Not for delivering my message." Leah's eyes suddenly stormed, and Lucy took a step back in wonder. "I don't think he will anyway," Leah added, looking away. "But if he does, I'll kill him. Okay?"
What? - Lucy's wolf stood in horror. - Kill the alpha?
Any other human, and Lucy would have been surprised by her threats. Any other human, Lucy would have laughed at and rolled her eyes after that initial surprise. But something told her that was a real promise. Suddenly, Lucy's wolf was up, poised, getting ready for a fight. No -- no one was killing her alpha without killing her first.
And they certainly would.
But that was the way of things. Proper. She should die in defense of the alpha.
"Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey," Leah said, hands up, backing away from the glass. "Didn't mean to touch a sore spot. You know, you do yourself a disservice, Lucy. You're no omega."
"Yes I am," Lucy said, automatically.
"No," Leah said. "No human is an omega. Never. And you're human, regardless of how much hair your body sprouts or how you prefer your meat. We all are."
Lucy slowly back away from Leah's cell, and then hurried up the stairs. Once she was gone, Leah waved at the others to resume their workout. She seemed preoccupied, but after a moment she yelled to the singers, "Hey -- you guys know the words to Thriller?" Then she smiled at one of the guards and added, "Appropriate, right?"
---------------
Lucy took deep breaths through her nose as she went up the steps to the alpha's office on the second floor. She could hear him talking to the Larson pack alpha and she was glad for the respite of not being able to interrupt him. But the call ended all too quickly and she found herself tapping on the door quietly.
"Come in, Lucy," Mark called.
Lucy walked in and took a look around timidly. She hadn't ever been in there before; she had never had a reason to be.
Mark rose to his feet and came around the desk. He had never cared for sitting, unless it was in the course of a marathon video game run, and he didn't like being in his father's office. The office reminded him of his father's cold side; the side that was all orders and punishments.
-And that wasn't really his dad, not completely. Mark's dad had put band-aids on Sarah whenever she had a cut, and he used to watch Batman with Mark when he was a kid. He had smiled and made sweeping declarations.
-And he shouldn't have been dead already. Shouldn't have left me in charge, Mark thought.
He looked at the scared little omega in front of him. It was like watching at a fly trying to find its way out a closed window. "What did you need?"
"Um, Madame Beta asked me to find out what... what your mate wanted to eat for dinner."
"That's probably a good idea," Mark replied, "That way she'll get the idea that I care what she thinks. Girls like that, right?"
"Uh..." Lucy paused.
"Come on, you can tell me the truth. I'm not like, some crazy-overbearing alpha. I'm going to be the kind of alpha that even omegas can talk to." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the desk. "Leah has inspired me."
"I suppose it depends... on what the girl is thinking."
