Page 6 of Ondine: Vol. 2

“This is going to be a little game I callGive and Get. Ok? You give me something and you get to continue having all ten fingers. Understand?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Where’s Ondine? Is she safe? Tell me.”

“No!” I yell into his face, spittle hitting his eyes. “You tell me! Tell me everything that happened that day!”

I really shouldn’t be in this room just hours after learning we lost Ondine to my brother. My mind and my body are going north and south.

I drag a chair over and unfold it in front of him. I get out my phone and start a video recording.

“Let’s hear it. State your name.”

He tightens his jaw and looks away, huffing out an irritated breath. Then he turns back to the camera.

“Arnold Bererra.”

“Occupation.”

“Unemployed.”

I cock my head to the side. Interesting.

“Tell me what happened. Spare no detail.”

He grinds his teeth and scoffs minutely. He’s debating whether to ignore me. He must have come up with some sort of plan because he meets my eyes and tells me the story.

“Ondine had scheduled her nest for her heat. She’d been in a few days prior to go over details. Like she had the previous times. I wanted it perfect for her. She liked the pink and violet lights, but they were faulty, so I’d gone in early to pull the LED strips and lay new ones. It wasn’t my job, necessarily. I should have put in a work order. But I knew her heat was going to be soon, and I didn’t want to wait. I had all her nesting materialsprepared. She needed five alphas for her first heat. More than most omegas that use the clinic. They gave her suppressants, micro doses, and hormone balancers to help. The second heat she needed three. And it lasted three days. Her heats were down to 48 hours and one or two alphas. They wanted her down to 24 hours and only one alpha.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They increased her medication. The Clinic only charges for the room. They don’t charge more for needing more resources. They make their clients agree to use their supplements because they want to save money. They want her heats to be short and less demanding.

“My guess is, they got the dosage wrong. Or she had an adverse side effect. It must have been something, because she had a really bad heat spike. She rushed herself to the Clinic. Alone. She’s always alone. She comes alone. She leaves alone. She doesn’t talk about anyone. She has no friends. No family. No one fucking cares about her.”

Arnold is getting upset. Angry. He’s fucking angry. He flexes his arms and squeezes the zip ties tight.

“Except me.”

I’m barely breathing listening to his story. I can’t help remembering all the times I also ignored her. Did I think my sneaking around and watching her was me doing anything at all? God, and at the hot tub, I just left her there.

And here is this beta—fearlessly trying to be there for her.

“She came in, frantic. Heat was pouring off her. She saw me in the room, with the lights. And I know I should have gone right then to get her an alpha. The ones she booked may have been there. But I didn’t. I touched her. We aren’t supposed to touch them. I put my hands on her shoulders and asked her what was wrong. She cried. Call me a bastard, but I couldn’t leave. I hugged her knowing it was basically the end of my careerat the Clinic. A beta comforting their omega client? Instantly being fired. But fuck them. The alphas there follow a script. A stressed, hormone-imbalance omega having an unplanned heat spike wouldn’t have got what I could give her at that moment. And she’s not just any omega—she’s Ondine.”

Fuck me. I don’t know what I thought happened between them, but it wasn’t this. My alpha instincts tell me to do something. But there’s nothing to do. This has already all happened.

“And then you turned her around and mounted her? Pretended you had a knot to give her?”

“Fuck you! Don’t talk about her that way. She needed me. She wanted me. I would never reject her. She tookmybelt off. She pulledmypants down. She could have anything I was able to give her. She still can. She can have my whole fucking life. She wanted my body, and I was more than willing. And it helped! Ifuckinghelped her. I never felt anything like that. Whoever would not give that woman anything she wanted is a fool.

“She never should have been given the hormones. She needs a pack. A pack of loving, loyal people. And she deserves it. Do you even give a shit about her? Or do you treat her like shit like everyone else does?”

I turn off the video recording, and switch to an audio recording and lay the phone down. I feel like I’m going to need my hands soon.

“Are you her alpha? Is she ok? Tell me!”

“Tell me about her. Tell me about Ondine.”

He eyes me skeptically. “She’s perfect. She looks at you like she sees everything all at once. No judgment. No expectations. And no hope. She’s the saddest person I’ve ever met. I don’t think anyone has ever seen her for who she is. The first time I made her smile I wanted to die right then, like I’d achieved something great.”