Page 42 of Choosing Her Alpha
She didn't notice the alpha guards noticing her.
"You have just become a shameless hussy, haven't you?" a bitter feminine voice said behind her.
The wind coming from the opposite direction, Sasha hadn't heard or smelled the approach of a breed predator. Bella, dressed in dark ruby, her hair covered with a matching silk scarf, stood behind her. Sasha tensed, cautious, not liking that a viper had approached her unprotected back.
Beyond Bella, the other brightly colored flock of jewels were getting out of a transport. They had market bags in their hands and a small army of drones and guards with them who carried more.
"You were such an innocent thing. Now look at you. A few days in Kane's house, and you're showing your assets off like a prostitute from the slums. That's where you're from, isn't it? The slums? You had a gin house there or something."
Bella’s eyes held haughty judgment; her aggressive smell made Sasha want to sneeze.
"How was the shopping, Bella? Did you get everything you needed?" Sasha couldn't stay silent in the face of the other woman's challenge. She wasn't afraid of her, but she didn't quite know how to respond.
"What do you know about needs?" Bella snapped. "Is that why you are out here showing off for the guards, giving them all erections? Is this what it takes to make a slut—one heat and a month in a warlord's house? I thought it was a longer process. You don't need that, though, do you? Girls from the slums are born sluts. All the drone slaves teach you how to spread your legs and show your tits."
"Careful, Bella. Your ugly is showing."
Bella growled, a territorial sound that raised the hair on Sasha's arms. "He isn't here, so that means he doesn't want you. A good alpha stays with his new little fuck. He knows you're defenseless and at the mercy of your body, but he doesn't care. How many of his men have you fucked to fill the ache?
"Poor breeder, Kane's left you already, his attention elsewhere. You thought you had his attention because you made him take you to one appointment. That's nothing. He's left you all alone now. I'm not new. We have been together longer than you have had hair on your pussy. He will be back for me."
Sasha winced at the vulgarity.
Bella saw the reaction and thought she had scored a hit. "I have a contract with him. You, darling, have nothing. Isn't that right? That should worry you, that he doesn't respect you enough for a contract. What are you going to do when he sends you from here with a one sided bond? You'll be a poor broken little Sasha. He doesn't need you. He doesn't want you. You know you are not the only omega in this house, right?"
Bella laughed; a pretty, tinkling sound that didn’t match her words. "He can have anyone. There are three omega breeders fostered here from other sectors. Daughters of high birth, wealth, and accomplishment tucked away in the children's wing. Sheltered and protected, unlike you.
"They can do more than laundry too. All of them are so smart they take upper level training. They will be a help to their consort. You? What do you do? He was so furious when you went into heat, trying to trap him."
Sasha listened. It was odd how some of Bella's words reminded her of Maura. Sasha didn't like stooping so low. She felt bad for her unfounded jealousy of the other omega.
Emotions out of control, she had hated the older woman for touching Constantine Kane from the beginning. But the truth of the matter was that Sasha had only had two conversations with the man. She didn't know anything about his life, his women, or his plans for the future. She had no claim to him.
But the betas Merrick brought to Dover's End had taught Sasha all about responding to catty behavior. "Oh, you don't know where I've been sleeping, do you? The big room where you stay is so pretty. I love the colors and those marvelous glass windows. But it smells like other women. Don't you think?"
She watched Bella's cheeks redden as she absorbed the question. Sasha tapped her lips. "Hmm. Yes, it smells like lots and lots of other women. How old is that platform bed? That bed has had more than just five women on it. I don't know how anyone can stand it. No prostitute from the slums would touch it even if they were desperate. They get their own beds, you understand. Fresh. They choose how and where they do their... work. Just like free women choose."
Furious was not a good look for Bella. Her perfect eyebrows came down and her painted mouth twisted into an unattractive slant.
"Do you know where I've been sleeping? Where I had my heat?" Sasha asked. "Where I leave my scent every time Kane makes this slick come out of me?"
She sent Bella a glance over her shoulder. The other omega looked afraid. Bella knew, after all. Her loyal drones must have informed her that Sasha had free access to Kane's wing of the house.
During Sasha's heat, that section of the house had extra guards. Currently a revolving shift of two males kept an eye on Sasha and blocked all but a select few from entering that wing.
She left the words hanging in the air between them, letting Bella imagine more than there was.
Looking into the depths of the folded laundry, Sasha kept her back to Bella and raised her voice to be sure that everyone heard her next, insinuating question.
"He has never given you his knot, has he?"
*
Bella's words worked like acid against Sasha's thoughts.
Before, she'd lost herself in the routine of mundane chores and making friends with everyone who lived in the compound. The occasional headache, her lower back and her hip pain, and unexpected bursts of arousal caused by her transition were all just little nuisances.
She had been doing fine. Nurse Sara came weekly and praised her for her mettle and ability to just go with the flow of changes happening in her body.
