A/N: Before you start reading, I need to explain the following;
Mating/Mated = dating/being in a steady relationship
Bonded = basically married.
And now, enjoy! ^^<3
*
Chapter Five
Markus Rowan hated flying. He absolutely detested it. It made him feel extremely uncomfortable and irritable and he literally always sat as stiff as a rock throughout the entire flight, no matter how long or short and no amount of blankets, drinks, food or even entertainment could take his mind off the fact that he was in a machine that was floating and moving several thousand feet above the ground.
By the time he got to Sendorai from Serai, all his muscles were aching. It had been an eight hour flight and he’d held himself so stiffly that it felt like he’d turn to stone at some point.
The hosts and hostesses on the plane looked at him with sympathy as he exited the plane and he ignored them, inhaling deeply and gratefully as his feet touched solid ground. His stomach was churning but he knew that in a matter of time, it would go down and he wouldn’t feel like he was about to retch out his soul.
Customs was a bitch as usual, he stood in the line for nearly three hours but then he was finally done and off to his new apartment at four a.m. in the bloody morning – which was just fantastic considering that he was starting work immediately the next day at nine.
In the cab, he nodded off, feeling completely irritable and cranky and almost annoyed at the driver when the beta gently woke him up to tell him they’d arrived at his apartment building. He thanked the man blankly and then picked up his single large suitcase which carried all his treasured belongings – everything else he’d sold off or given to charity back in Serai; if you could call his old teammates charity; they’d raided his house like it was an open market.
After paying the driver and watching him drive off, Markus heaved the large suitcase towards the reception of the apartment building. It was dark and the night was silent, not a single creature stirring except for the crickets and hoppers singing in the bushes that silenced the minute he approached.
The light in the reception was on but most of the rooms in the floors above were all covered in darkness. Markus squinted his eyes, guessing that there were about eight or nine floors in the building before he was dragging his large box into the reception.
The reception was warm and cosy, made up of warm and vibrant red and orange hues that would have hurt his eyes if not for the dim lights.
“Hello!” a lovely woman dressed in a co-operate white blouse and fitted navy blue khaki pants called out to him, as she waved a bit from beside the reception desk. She was really tall and slim; her hair in lovely bouncy dark brown almost black curls up to her shoulders and her skin looked like melted creamy chocolate, the brown tone healthy and radiant.
As he approached, one sniff of the air told him she was an alpha; another sniff told him that she was mated and bonded and he managed a smile despite how shitty he felt.
“Hi, I made a reservation about a week ago? My name’s Rowan? Markus Rowan.”
“Right, give me a second Mr Rowan,” she said sweetly as she walked around the desk and took a seat, turning to the computer on her desk while Markus waited, using the time to look around the room. Cream coloured walls, a velvet carpet lay in the middle of the room with dark brown chairs surrounding it that didn’t look too comfortable. Markus immediately changed his mind about the place looking warm and cosy – now that he looked properly, the velvet carpet made the brown chairs look ancient and dull.
“Oh, there you are,” the woman said and Markus turned to look at her. She was smiling brightly at him, “you’re in apartment number seventeen on the third floor. I’ll just take you there and tell you about the place, alright?”
“Sounds fine by me,” Markus said with a shrug even though every bit of him was screaming ‘please no, I just want to go to bed already’ but he just couldn’t refuse the lady when she was being so lovely.
As the woman was about to stand up, Markus noticed something glinting on her neck that he hadn’t noticed before.
He had to blink twice before he realized it was a collar. He blinked again and yup, it was still there. It was a pure white leather collar, lovely and almost glowing with the way it sharply contrasted with the alpha’s dark skin. It had a lovely diamond hanging from the middle, the jewel cradled perfectly by the ‘v’ of her collarbones. Markus couldn’t stop staring at it, feeling his heart race underneath his ribcage as emotions he’d had for quite a long time rushed through him because he knew and recognized just what exactly wearing that collar meant.
He came back to focus when he heard the female alpha make a small sound of distress.
“Oh, gosh,” she whispered, frozen a bit and staring at her table like it was the devil and before he could ask her what was wrong, there was the sound of heels clacking on the tiled floor and Markus spun to face the sound.
Another woman was approaching. She was dressed in a white jumpsuit which wasn’t too brilliant because her skin was so pale it almost blended with what she was wearing. Her hair, which was in lovely locks down her shoulders and back, was in a slightly creamier shade of white and to be honest, Markus thought she looked like a ghost. She was small, almost the same height as Markus and considering Markus was barely tall himself, that was saying something.
“Hello,” the woman greeted him, her voice soft and lilting and Markus had barely nodded in reply before the small woman was walking up to the alpha behind the counter and standing right next to her.
A small whiff of the air told Markus that the pale woman was an omega and he blinked at the authority washing over him from her as she whispered to the dark woman. He noticed that their scents were entwined and realized that this omega was the alpha’s bond-mate. And even though the omega was looking up at the alpha, Markus could tell that the authority was the other way round. In fact, the alpha looked like she was a second away from dropping to her knees.
“Elle, what have I said about guests coming in after midnight?” the omega said in a voice that was hard, full of superiority and slightly scolding.
Even with her dark skin, Markus could swear on his life that the alpha called Elle was blushing.
“If I’m alone, I’m to ring you before I do anything, ma’am,” she whispered back, staring at her hands and looking completely embarrassed and ashamed.
“And did I or did I not repeat myself this afternoon about this? Look at me, Elle.”
Elle shivered and forced herself to meet the omega in the eyes, her voice trembling as she responded, “Yes y-you did, ma’am.”
“And did you ring me when this lovely gentleman arrived?”
Elle swallowed and hesitated and the omega urged sternly but gently, “Did you ring me, Elle?”
“N-No, I didn’t, ma’am. I’m sorry, ma’am,” she added, sounding truly contrite.
The omega smiled a little, cocking her hip to the side, her icy blue eyes framed by thick shocking white eyelashes holding a heat that had the female alpha pinned to her gaze like a fly caught in a spider’s web, “We’re going to have to deal with this later, aren’t we, Elle?”
Markus felt his cheeks heat because there was no mistaking the undercurrent of sensuality in that sentence, hinting at something intimate yet naughty at the same time and he suddenly felt like he was intruding on something private.
The alpha however, didn’t sound too enthusiastic when she responded, “yes we are, ma’am.”
Markus immediately stood up straighter when the omega turned to look at him with a bright smile.
“Sorry about that,” she said, “it’s just that I have to watch over her, you know? Keep her safe, I don’t mean to imply anything.”
“Oh I completely understand,” Markus said in reply, nodding and holding his hands up to show that he felt no offense.
“I’m Margaret by the way and Elle and I run this apartment building. You must be exhausted, I’ll let Elle take you to your apartment and if you have time tomorrow, she can show you how everything works. Is that okay, Elle?”
“That’s fine, ma’am,” Elle replied shyly, her gaze back on her hands.
“Go on,” Margaret urged and Elle immediately grabbed a few things from her desk before she was quickly scurrying over to the elevator, Markus following closely behind her, dragging his suitcase along.
“Do you need help with that?” Margaret called from behind him.
“Thank you, I’ll be fine,” Markus called back and the ride up the elevator and walk to his room was silent. Markus found his gaze returning to the white collar more than once.
Elle was tense and a bit flushed as she said quickly and softly when they got to his assigned place, “you slide the key card quickly upward once and then back down again to unlock the door,” she explained, demonstrating and getting the door open, “there’s a plan of the apartment behind the door if you’re not ready to explore yet and putting the key in this slot,” she showed him a little pocket in the wall beside the door with a hole just a little bit bigger than the card, sliding the key card in and all the lights immediately came on, “this switches on everything automatically and when you remove it, everything goes off. Of course, things can still be switched off manually but this is to save energy and stuff for when you leave the apartment for work. I’ll leave you to it now, Mr Rowan. Please dial zero on the landline if you have any problems.”
“Thank you, I will. Goodnight, Elle.”
Elle smiled at him, “Goodnight, sir.”
The door was already closed when Markus felt himself shiver in response to the title. He forced himself not to think as he dragged his suitcase to the nearest bedroom – the apartment had three bedrooms – and quickly got out his things for a shower.
He was done with the shower in record time and dressed and ready for bed, checking the clock and groaning under his breath because he had less than four hours to sleep before it would be time for his first day of work at the P.F. in Sendorai. He’d been meaning to do some research on the new office and apparently who were the best officers in the entire planet but kept putting it off and now he was too tired to do anything.
As he finally settled into his bed, the thoughts he’d been fighting finally sprung free and he curled around one of the fluffy pillows, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his hands into fists.
The first time Markus had known he had dominant tendencies was when he was fifteen but sometimes he felt that signs of it might have shown earlier than that. Thoughts of having someone kneel, or obey his every word without complaint or argument had gotten him hot and bothered like nothing else.
Markus had suddenly felt vile and ashamed and for a very long time, he was consumed by an unhealthy amount of self-loathing because according to how he was brought up, what normal were in their right mind would want to own another person? It was completely savage; simply barbaric.
The fact that his mother was a very devout member of the Beta Omega Rights Foundation, an organisation made solely for betas and omegas to fight for equality between them and the alphas of the world, might have been one of the reasons for his self-loathing, because according to the organisation, dominant and submissive relationships, especially where the dominant was an alpha, were wrong and unhealthy and demeaning to a beta or omega that ‘thought’ they were being submissive when they were only being controlled by the alpha.
In their own words, they didn’t need an alpha, they didn’t need a figure of authority in their lives – they could take care of themselves and all that bullshit that made Markus feel like his ears were about to bleed. Markus suffered years of his mother pounding it into his brain that he’d better behave and treat his partner –whenever he found one – equally or she was going to shove a sharpened harpoon up his asshole.
It took a while for Markus to accept that there was nothing wrong with him for wanting the things he did, for craving to see someone – it didn’t matter the gender; be it alpha or beta or omega – just someone on their knees for him, someone asking him for permission to do trivial things; too see their cheeks flushed and basking in his praise – taking care of someone, owning them and being owned by them so completely.
God, he wanted it so badly it hurt and this was why he has never mated in his life because he was afraid he’d never find anyone that wanted something like that – he’d never seen or met anyone who was submissive. Besides, he still couldn’t fathom that someone would want to give their lives over like that; someone would want to trust him so wholly and completely to take control.
But he’d been proven wrong tonight. There were people like that and the proof was in Elle and Margaret. And to make it even more likely, Elle, the alpha was actually submissive while Margaret, the omega was dominant. His heart skipped hard in his chest as he thought about the pretty white leather collar to show that Elle was owned and he shivered as he imagined giving a collar to his own submissive one day.
Never in his life has Markus ever thought he’d see a relationship like that and the people concerned being so open about it too. It made his hope rise a little, that maybe; just maybe there was someone out there for him too.
*
“Maybe the new alpha will knock Dallas’s ego down a peg or two, God knows we need more alpha testosterone in this office,” Bill was saying in glee during their break hours to Emily Swartz and Cocoa Millz, the other two officers who worked with him, both female and both betas.
Of course, Emily and Cocoa didn’t really like Dallas all that much because he was a fucking pain in the ass, a show off and he was almost annoyingly brilliant and didn’t fail to rub that fact in all their faces every once in a while. So even when they didn’t really like the alpha Bill because he was self-centred and obnoxious – the only alpha on their team – they didn’t object to his talks of hate when the time arose.
They were aware that a new alpha was being transferred to their team all the way from Serai and they didn’t know much about him yet because their boss, Seth West, liked to surprise them all.
“What this office needs is definitely another alpha – I can’t take the brunt of all this shit on my own every day.”
“And that’s why you’re really not alpha enough, now isn’t it?”
At the sound of Dallas’s voice, they all froze and almost instantly, Cocoa and Emily were standing up and coughing up excuses under their breaths before fleeing from the coffee room.
Bill turned around to glare at Dallas with the hate of a thousand devils and Dallas was sure that his eyes might have flashed red for a second there.
“You watch your mouth, Crane,” he growled, standing up to his full height which really didn’t intimidate Dallas at all. They were practically the same height, the only difference between them being that Bill was made like a wrestler while Dallas was leaning more towards a figure skater type of physique.
“Watch my mouth or what? You’ll go crying to mummy?” he taunted with a raised eyebrow, “want to let her know how much of a disappointment you are? How you snivel at the feet of an omega – obeying his every whim, why she’d be simply appalled.”
“You fucking –” Bill cried with rage, lunging forward but Dallas easily grabbed the fist aimed for his face and swooped his leg out, sending Bill nearly tumbling to the floor if not for the fact that he’d quickly grabbed and held him by the throat, slamming him against the nearest wall.
“All you alphas thinking you’re all that; how does it feel, Anderson? The fact that you have to obey my orders, the fact that you’re beneath me, that I’m quite frankly, better than you must just be simply burning you inside,” Dallas said with a sickly sweet smile, his grip on Bill’s neck tightening when the alpha tried to struggle, hands scrambling to get his hands off his neck.
“Fuck you,” Bill managed to spit out despite the grip on his neck, his voice coming out choked.
“You wish,” Dallas said with a roll of his eyes, releasing him and stepping away as Bill landed on his feet, coughing and red in the face, “that’s all you alphas ever think about. Disgusting.”
Honestly? Dallas couldn’t wait for the new alpha to arrive. He was just itching to put that alpha in his place before he even showed what he was made of. He had to show that just because he was an omega, he wasn’t going to let any little shit walk all over him because of it – God knows he’s had enough of people, especially alphas, walking over him like he didn’t mean shit.
Work was a bit slow today because they were still waiting on the results from Spencer concerning the alpha in the alley. Of course, cases were blasting here and there and the P.F. was as busy as it always was but Dallas and his team were only called upon when it was considered a ‘special’ case.
Dallas went to the coffee machine and was only just finished making himself a cup of coffee when Tania poked her head through the door, “Sup, you? Seth wants us in the conference room in five.”
Dallas beamed at Tania, the only person he really and truly liked in this entire stink of an office, “Noted, see you then.”
She saluted at him briefly and then disappeared down the corridor. Dallas finished his coffee as quickly as he could before he made his way to said room. When he entered the room, everyone was already there. Cocoa and Emily were talking in a corner while Seth was talking to someone he didn’t recognize, Bill stood stiffly beside him and Tania stood on the other side with a bright smile.
As Dallas approached, the first thing he noticed about the stranger was that the person was small. He couldn’t be taller than five foot seven because standing next to Tania, who was five foot five; he looked to be just a few inches taller. And Dallas immediately assumed that the man was an omega but as he approached, the man looked up, noticing his presence and Dallas nearly froze on the spot because that gaze was…intense. The gaze made Dallas feel like dropping to his knees and his heart actually skipped hard in his chest because it has been so long since anyone has ever made him feel like that. The man’s eyes were a brilliant emerald green that seemed to shine almost as gorgeously as his mop of wavy black hair.
“Ah, there he is!” Seth was saying happily and Dallas could barely hear him over the sound of buzzing in his ears because he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the stranger’s and the man was equally not tearing his own gaze away. Dallas’s throat was dry and his pulse was hammering and a small voice was whispering in the back of his neck that it wasn’t right that he was over six feet tall – no one should be standing above this man who reeked of authority without even trying. The urge to drop to his knees was staggering and he clenched his hands into fists to keep his composure.
“Dallas, this is the new alpha joining your team from Serai, Markus Rowan.”
At the mention of the word alpha, the bubble burst and Dallas blinked out of it, turning to stare at Seth in shock and then back at Markus. Now that he scented the air, he could smell that Markus was indeed an alpha and he was unlike any alpha Dallas had ever seen. He was just so short and petite.
But that still didn’t change the fact that he was an alpha. The thoughts he’d had of dropping to his knees made Dallas flush violently with shame and embarrassment.
Stupid fucking alphas and their fucking testosterone!
Dallas was immediately consumed with hate and disgust with himself more than the alpha, so blinded with hate and rage that he couldn’t even stop the words from leaving his lips.
“Him? Seriously?” he asked incredulously, his voice hard and sharp, “he looks like he’s fifteen.”
The alpha blinked slowly and then actually cracked a smile, chuckling a little under his breath, “I’m actually twenty-two but close guess.”
Dallas did not feel his stomach flutter. And twenty-two? Good God, Dallas was nearly ten years his senior! That made him feel even worse about his earlier thoughts – Jesus he’d thought about kneeling for this fucking prick and he wasn’t even above thirty – and he immediately barbed, “and who let you out of the crib, hot shot?”
Markus raised an eyebrow at that and Dallas’s boss looked like he was about to dig his own grave and jump into it.
“Oh, uh,” Seth said, flushed and looking completely embarrassed, “I forgot to mention that Dallas has a bit of an attitude problem when it comes to alphas. Dallas, behave.”
“And why on earth do I need him on my team?” Dallas asked angrily, acting like Markus wasn’t even there, “he looks like he’s barely out of high school.”
Seth grit his teeth and poked Dallas in the chest with his pointer finger, “for your information, Markus has finished with schooling and at his age that’s something you should respect. He was top of his class and the best officer in Serai and I thought it would be nice to add another brain to this team –”
“Oh please, like my brain isn’t enough. We don’t need more members in this team and especially not him.”
“Dallas Crane you will –”
“– I certainly will not.”
Seth was so red it looked like his cheeks were about to explode, “Dallas,” he began but Markus cut him off.
“Thank you so much Mr West –”
“Please call me Seth,” the beta flustered a bit.
“Seth,” Markus said with a sweet smile but when he turned to Dallas, his gaze was hard, “it was nice banter in the beginning but I really will not tolerate that sort of bullshit attitude. I am honestly exhausted and barely functioning as I’ve had less than four hours sleep and since I’m going to be working with you for a very long time, I suggest you put this grudge you have against alphas behind if you want us to have a successful working relationship. Now, shall we start over? I’m Markus Rowan and I’m your new teammate, nice to meet you. You are?” he held his hand out, his face stern and uncompromising.
Dallas was too shocked to even form a bitten back response and he held his hand out, his eyelids fluttering as Markus held it in a firm grip and shook before letting it go.
“Well?” Markus asked, raising an eyebrow again because Dallas hadn’t answered him.
“D-Dallas Crane,” he replied, feeling choked up, like he was about to cry and he felt utterly ridiculous for that.
Markus seemed to notice because his gaze and expression softened and he actually smiled, “Good, that was good, Dallas,” he said, his gaze like a soft caress, “See? No harm no foul. I look forward to working with you. Thank you so much Seth but I feel like I need a cup of coffee before I collapse.”
“Right yes, okay,” Seth flustered, watching as Markus made his way out of the room.
“Right down the corridor?” he asked at the door and Seth nodded before the alpha disappeared out of the room.
Dallas was shaking. He felt like any second now he was going to collapse. The emotions rushing within him were too much and made him feel like screaming or crying. And now that the alpha was gone, his cheeks flushed with shame because Markus had completely reprimanded him right in front of his fucking teammates like he was just another silly omega – and what was even worse, Dallas had let him.
The silence in the room was unbearable.
He managed to get back his composure and looked up, not bothering to look at Bill because no doubt the fucking knot-head was smirking in satisfaction as he hissed, “Well, what the fuck are you all staring at?” he growled and Cocoa and Emily squeaked and walked out of the room.
Seth was quick to follow, knowing that the atmosphere was a little more than awkward now. It was so weird seeing Dallas speechless after being spoken to like that and by an alpha no less. If it had been Bill or any other alpha, Dallas would have ripped them apart on the spot.
Tania was shocked as well and she gave Bill a sharp glare when it looked like he was about to say something smug and she thanked the gods when he only smirked at her and sauntered out of the room like he was king, no doubt going to shake Markus’s hand or pat him in the back for ‘putting Dallas in his place, finally.’
Tania moved up to Dallas to touch his shoulder but he shrugged her hand away, inhaling shakily and saying, “I’m fine.”
Tania raised a curious eyebrow at him, “Are you sure? That was…well.”
He turned to glare at her hotly, “I said I’m fine,” before stalking out of the conference room, head held high. Dallas immediately rushed to the nearest bathroom and locked himself in a stall, taking in deep shaky breaths and telling himself he was okay.
Good, that was good, Dallas.
The sound of Markus’s voice in his head saying those words of approval immediately had Dallas flushing warmly from head to toe, the words immediately giving him the grounding he needed. He curled his hands into fists, suddenly extremely terrified of how intense his reaction to Markus was.
And he immediately hated him so fucking much for it.
Tania on the other hand couldn’t help but smile knowingly as she watched Dallas walk out of the conference room like nothing had just happened. Her hand moved up to trace the worn leather collar under her turtleneck sweater and she had a feeling that one day, whether Dallas liked it or not, he was going to be sporting a collar too for a certain Markus Rowan.
Well at least she hoped so, because even though she didn’t know the details, she knew that Dallas was a little bit broken and maybe Markus was the one that could fix him up again.
*
Markus was gripping his coffee cup so hard it was amazing it hadn’t yet shattered in his grip. He thanked the goddesses that the break room was empty so he could gather his thoughts.
Markus was known for being really calm-headed so what had transpired in the conference room had him just a little bit shaky. As Dallas had been…mouthing off in the room all Markus could think about was bending him over the nearest surface – his lap preferably – and caning his ass red until he’d whipped that attitude right out of him.
God, Markus thought shakily, he couldn’t think that. He couldn’t.
But Dallas, fuck, Dallas was so fucking perfect. He was so tall and lean and he walked with a certain sway to his hips that drew Markus’s eyes like a moth to a flame. His olive skin sharply contrasted with his white hair, his eyes a blazing cognac brown, just bursting with life like a flame.
And Markus wanted to fucking ruin him. Fucking hell.
Markus might have known he was dominant since he was fifteen but this was the first time he was reacting so strongly to someone in his entire life. Just that brief moment the first time their eyes had met and Markus had already thought of the many ways he could mark up that olive skin and –
“And no,” Markus thought with a dismayed moan, “no. No. No.”
Markus was determined to keep a civilized relationship with Dallas and his other new teammates and that was that. His fantasies could stay right as they were; as fantasies. No matter how delicious it sounded, Dallas was not his and he certainly wasn’t going to call him sir in a high breathless voice and oh fuck, Markus was so fucking screwed.
*
“You’re so beautiful. So so perfect, Dallas.”
Dallas couldn’t help the moan that spilled past his lips at the words, practically preening at the praise his master was giving him. When he opened his eyes, his entire body shook violently with pleasure at the sight of Markus Rowan standing before him, looking so damn handsome and dominating despite his small build and height, brilliant emerald eyes showering him with so much pride and joy that Dallas felt like he could fly to the heavens.
“You’re going to be good for me, aren’t you, Dallas?”
“Yes sir,” Dallas replied like he was drugged, only then realizing that he was on his knees and naked, hands bound behind his back. But he felt so good. He felt like he didn’t have to worry about anything. He felt like he could trust Dallas with his life. He was completely floating on cloud nine.
The dream changed and he was suddenly in bed, his legs wrapped around the alpha’s hips while he rocked into him, hard and deep.
Dallas threw his head back with a broken cry, his pleasure only multiplying a thousand fold when he realized that his wrists were bound to the frame of the headboard in thick black ropes.
“Oh gods sir,” he gasped with desire and was met with a soft breathless chuckle.
Then the dream suddenly changed; the body on top of him wasn’t small and lithe but instead huge and powerful, the thrusts inside him hard, painful, punishing.
Dallas’s eyes shot open and his gaze was met with familiar red eyes, paper thin lips curled in a smirk.
“Look at you, you fucking slut. Just fucking dying for it, filthy little shit.”
*
Dallas woke up with a terrified scream.