Page 27 of Ondine: Vol. 2

On my laptop, I pull up my formal request to court Ondine. As Boone talks, saying something to convince me I didn’t just say what I just said, I add some more language.

…Inter-pack relationships will be permitted, specifically between myself and Shadow…

I didn’t think Boone would listen to me. That’s why I already have a plan. Boone can’t be around my omega nor Sebastian. And there’s only one alpha I know who can ensure that will happen.

10

Yours

Ondine

Freddie and I go to a cafe for an early dinner, but we both forget to order food. I order two different types of herbal tea. I’m happy to get to wear this dress out a little more. It did not impress Tina, but she didn’t insult it, so I’m calling it a win.

“I have to fix this,” Freddie tells me over his coffee.

“Fix what?”

“Man-ho. After what my mom said, I am going to leave him as her problem. She antagonized him. She will have to face the consequences. I’m not her personal assassin.”

“So what do you have to fix?”

“The school. I was too young to have any power to do anything but to save myself. And then for many years, I was not in a good place to see beyond myself. But I think I know what I need to do now.”

He smiles at me.

“I’m not going to kill Man-ho, but I am going to try to help the kids still under his control.”

“I want to help,” I say before I can think about it.

He nods. “Yes, but not today. I have a plan, sort of. It’s forming. But I can’t bring an omega with me. I think I need to do this, and now.”

I nod.

“Will you stay at Sky Nest? I’ll keep you on my phone the whole time. We will be separated, but not apart. I want you safe while I am gone.”

I can feel everything, so I know how important this is to him. And I also know how important it is that he helps those kids. Freddie has the money and the means to make a difference. Instead of using that privilege to seek revenge on Man-ho, he’s going to save those kids. The omega in me chose well.

“Of course.”

Freddie takes me back to the hotel. He talks to Meier Protection agents and the hotel security about our situation in the lobby. He tells them about Boone, that there was an unbonded alpha that got into our room with a room service cart. I walk over to the hotel bar instead of listening to him shake them down. I order a seltzer with lime.

After he’s done talking to them, Freddie comes over to me, frustrated. “Ondine, I don’t know if I trust the security here. They aren’t giving Meier Protections the access they need. And no one is owning up to the security breach when that slimy lawyer showed up.”

“Have we outstayed our welcome?”

He sits down on the stool next to mine. Then he looks at me with a heaviness, but I don’t know why. “Did you get the email from Jake?”

I shake my head. He pulls it up on his phone and hands it to me.

“It’s a formal offer to court you.”

It may be a formal offer, but it’s more of a personal letter to me from Jake. Freddie looks hopeful. He must have read it over. With a nervous glint on my belly, I read the email:

My dear Ondine,

Being apart from you now is killing me. Is it killing you? If you aren’t thinking of me at all, then there’s no need to read any further. Save me the humiliation. I’m about to lay my dreams at your feet, as Shadow once told me—tread softly.

I’ve always wanted a big pack. It had been my dream for as long as I can remember. I was the only child of my alpha parents. We were close, but I always wanted more. We have that in common, an alpha mom.