Omega

Chapter 6

The elders requested time to discuss the options, which I gladly granted. I didn't want to decide anything, so the longer I could delay the inevitable, the happier I'd be.

It was lunchtime, and I was hungry. So, I'd dragged my hungover body to the greatest pizza shop in this town, which also happened to be at the end of the same block as the packhouse.

Shelly had gone home to sleep off a migraine, so I was on my own for lunch. Making a decision without someone to bounce ideas off was not fun.

Light glinted in my eye, and I looked up at the menu. It felt like the air had left my lungs when I saw Konrad.

He was across the road, leaning on a sleek black sports car. With a smile, he jutted his head and walked into a clothing shop.

"I must be mad," I muttered, dumping the menu.

Crossing the road, I walked into the shop. The woman barely glanced at me as she hung clothes on the rack. Konrad was waiting at the entrance to the changerooms.

"I am not going in a cubicle with you."

"I don't expect you to, but if you want privacy from any pack members that might pass by, then you should at least step out of the gap."

Frustrated, I moved behind the wall.

"What do you want?"

"To talk. I said that I wanted your response when you were sober."

His attention was down to his phone as he tapped away. I ignored his distraction, desperate to return to the pizza place and buy lunch.

"Right. Was that before or after you decided to buy the Jade Palace?"

Konrad smirked, and it was infuriating.

"You and your pack are welcome to enter the building as you please. Don't think that just because I now own it that you can't. Of course, my pack will be there, so it would be ideal to make sure that anyone from your pack keeps away and behaves themselves. So, your answer?"

"I'm not mating with an alpha."

He nodded as if he already knew my speech.

I might be repeating myself. Last night was a little sketchy.

"I'm not taking a mate that thinks screwing the females in his pack for the rest of eternity is acceptable. Males too. Who knows what secrets you keep?"

Konrad found that amusing. He took a step closer, and I moved back one as well. The problem was that I hit the wall and could not go any further.

"So, what about females that are not in my pack?"

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. As I turned to leave, Konrad pulled me back.

"That was a poor attempt at humour which I can see has no place in this conversation. Forgive me, please."

"You know, I find you rather confusing. You're this bizarre wolf who is nice but a complete ass. You're trying to manipulate me into a relationship and a life that will rob me of any worth. You want to destroy those who I love and create disharmony in a clan that is already suffering. Just because we lost our alpha and beta or just because the new alpha is female, it does not give you the right to assume that you can walk in here and take over our territory. This is more than your promiscuity after you're mated. This is about our way of life. Can you stand there and honestly tell me that if I accepted a deal with you that no one would harm the elders or young males of my pack?"

Konrad stared at me for a moment and then nodded.

"I can accept those terms."

"Oh, we're not negotiating, just so that we're clear. I don't believe you when you say that you accept those terms. I know that you'll kill my elders and all the young males. They're a threat to your leadership, and you couldn't handle it if you weren't the big boy anymore. I'm not subjecting them to death."

Konrad stepped back. His lips pressed thinly as he tried to smile.

"But you are. Don't you see that? Every day that you refuse me is a day closer to the war beginning. When that war starts, we will kill your young males. We will remove your elders. All you will be left with are the women. One day you will wake up and realise that your breeding females are gone too. You'll be left with a bunch of old women, crying that their loved ones are gone. They'll look at you, their alpha, and they'll know that you could have stopped it all. You could have saved their lives. Instead, you mocked the Black Ridge clan with your snide words and sarcastic comments."

He paused, and I thought he was done, but instead, Konrad stepped closer. His lips were a breath's distance from mine.

"I could give you the world, Megan. All you need to do is trust me."

When he reached the gap, Konrad stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"I'll give you another day to think about it. Tomorrow I will return, and I expect a positive answer from you. Otherwise, the consequences will be harsh."

Ignoring the frowning woman, Konrad stalked out of the shop. I watched as he got in his car and left quickly.

The woman didn't say anything to me as I walked through the shop. I could only imagine what she was thinking. Neither of us took clothes to the changerooms. The time was far too short, though.

Crossing the road, I saw the owner standing at the doorway with a bewildered look on his face.

"Hey there, Megan. You're not going to like what I have to tell you. Some guy just bought the shop."

"Are you serious?" I hissed.

"Yeah, the fellow that got into the car, the one with the guy that you were talking to."

Konrad had someone doing his dirty work.

"So, he just walked into your shop and offered you money, and you accepted it?"

"It was a lot of money."

I'm sure it was.

"And it's done, this place belongs to the other guy now?"

"We have a preliminary agreement that says that we have agreed to and will sort it out with the lawyers later. I'm sorry, Megan. I'm not allowed to sell to you or anyone in your family. He didn't tell me that one until I'd signed the agreement."

I sighed heavily.

"It's fine, Peter."

Peter's continued apology rang out as I began to walk away. Konrad had just taken away another of my favourite places. How would I explain that we couldn't buy pizza from Peter anymore? We'd end the meetings with a massive delivery from Peter. Now though, we had nothing.