by Leann Ryans
Rubbing at his chest, he glanced around at the other men on the bus. There were seven of them, all heading out to the camp to help with the construction of a new dam. He couldn’t tell how much experience the others had, but most of them looked around his age with the weathered look of men who spent most of their time in the sun. Pouring concrete wasn’t hard though, so the guys could easily have no experience with carpentry.
Glancing back out the window, he caught his first glimpse of his new home and his heart sank even lower in his chest. While most Alpha-camps had a reputation of being fairly run down, this place looked like a pile of sticks in a mud pit. Hastily slapped together to house the workers as cheap and easily as possible, Mount Mornell was obviously not made to withstand the test of time. Having been built so that the Alphas working on the dam would have somewhere close-by to stay, it was only a semi-permanent camp, and looked as if no one had been taking care of it during the two years since its construction. It seemed like a strong storm could easily wash the whole place away.
Sighing, Austin stood as the bus pulled to a halt. Moving slowly so that the other Alphas had time to exit before him, Austin grabbed the small bag he had been given with the clothing that had been collected from The Haven and followed the others to the Administration building.
The building that controlled almost every aspect of an Alpha’s life, every camp had an Admin building right inside the gates that separated them from the world outside. They would receive their room and work assignments there, along with a map and rules for the camp. All of the ‘business’ associated with the camp was ran through the Admin building.
Once again struggling to control his reaction to the scent of other Alphas in close quarters with him, Austin went through the process that every Alpha knew by heart within a few years of presenting. He was grateful that the office seemed to be prepared for them and it didn’t take long to get what they needed. He was even more relieved that as a Crew Chief he was given a single room instead of having to share a room with another Alpha. With the way he had been feeling lately he doubted having a roommate would have turned out well for either of them. He needed a place to escape to when he felt a little too close to the edge.
Taking his bag to the room he was assigned to, he sat on the bed for a little while in the hopes that the cafeteria would clear out before he went in to grab dinner. It was already fairly late, but he was hungry and needed to eat something before attempting to go to sleep. He would have to start working in the morning, and while he usually would face a new project with enthusiasm, he couldn’t find it in him this time. The prospect of having his own crew in a few days after he was shown the ropes didn’t put a dent in the apathy he felt for the world right now.
Sighing, he put the few things he had away and tucked the map of the camp into his pocket, deciding to walk around and try to learn the layout. It didn’t take long to walk the entire camp. There were approximately twenty-five hundred Alphas living at the camp crammed into small apartment buildings. It only took ten buildings to house them all, plus the few other buildings that were needed to supply and cater to them, and it all fit in less than half a square mile.
The wall here was made of old wooden planks since there was no real worry of the Alphas escaping and causing issues to others. If they did, there wasn’t anything but wilderness for miles in each direction, and they would have to live off the land. In the city, most of the walls were reinforced steel standing twelve to fourteen-foot-high with another two feet of barbed wire along the top. Most of the Alphas worked in factories inside the camps, and the few Alphas that did leave the camps to work were closely monitored and kept separated from the community.
Finally entering the cafeteria, Austin let out a sigh of relief at all of the empty tables available. While he had never been anti-social before, he figured his best course of action was to avoid others as much as possible in hopes of being able to keep himself under control. He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage that as a crew chief, but he would figure it out.
Scarfing down a meal he barely tasted, he was glad to finally be full and made his way back to his room without having to speak with anyone besides the man that had been in charge of the cafeteria. Beginning to feel a spark of hope that everything was going to turn out okay, he stretched out on a bed that actually fit his large frame and counted his breaths until he finally fell asleep.
26. Sandra
Spending the rest of the morning working on plans for clients that needed her attention but didn’t require interaction with anyone else, Sandra found a level of peace. She was able to focus on the work and push her jumbled feelings to the side. She even managed to finish most of the meal that Natashia brought in for her to eat at lunch.
Going back to the project she had worked so passionately on a few days prior, she couldn’t help but think of Austin. If he was having the same symptoms as her, he may be struggling even more than she was since he was stuck with a bunch of other Alphas. She couldn’t keep avoiding the decision she had to make.
Thinking about it, she decided she needed to know if he was affected at all before she could make her decision. If he wasn’t, she could consider waiting to bond with another Alpha at some point in the future. That thought turned her stomach a bit, but if he was having the same symptoms as her, maybe he would agree to a full bond.
After letting the idea roll around in her head for a few hours, she finally sent a message to Ms. Burrie to schedule an appointment to see him again. It wasn’t until after the message was sent that the thought crossed her mind that he may be with another omega.
A growl left her throat before she realized it was coming. Clenching her fists as she took deep breaths, she tried to shake the rage that coursed through her at that thought. Eventually she managed to push it aside and calm down, but it was a struggle.
Burying herself back in her project, she didn’t notice the return email until she was closing up her files and getting ready to leave for the day. Opening the message before she shut down the computer, her jaw dropped.
Ms. Sandra Weanton,
We regret to inform you that the stud you used during your last heat is no longer employed with us at The Haven. We have a great selection of Alphas and hope you will still be interested in using The Haven for your future heats.
If you would like to meet with one of our current selection, please let me know and I will arrange it for you. I have included a list with their information.
Agnes Burrie
Client/Stud Coordinator
Sandra reread the message, yet the words remained the same. He wasn’t there.
Natashia came running when she let out a yell she couldn’t contain. Slapping her hands on the desk, the disbelief morphed into despair.
“No! No, no, no. He has to be there!”
Breaking down into sobs, Natashia was left staring at her without knowing what was going on or what to do. Approaching slowly, she laid a hand on Sandra’s shoulder.
“Can you tell me what’s going on so I can help?” she asked quietly.
Sobbing, Sandra explained everything between gasps for air as her head lay on her desk. Looking up, she could see Natashia’s eyes widened in horror when she finished. She was an omega as well and understood exactly how bad this was for Sandra. Waiting until Sandra calmed a bit, she finally spoke up.
“We have to find him. It’s not likely they will tell you, but you should send an email back asking if they know where he is, or if they will at least give you his last name. I have a friend that works in Alpha Control, I’ll try to reach them and see if they can help track him down.”
Sitting up straight, Sandra cleared her throat and nodded, wiping her face and nose with tissues from her desk. It wasn’t like her to break down and cry over an obstacle. She would work and find a way around it. He hadn’t died, in a macabre way that would have fixed her problem, so there had to be a way to find him. Alphas were registered with the camps they lived at, so she could start looking a
t the ones in the city.
Telling Natashia her plan, her assistant gave her a smile before telling her goodnight and leaving, shooting worried glances at her as she walked away. Sandra replied to Ms. Burrie asking for more information about where Austin went, or at least his last name, then began looking for the registries of the local Alpha-camps. With three within the inner city, and more in the outlying areas, and holding thousands of residents in each, it could take a while to get through all of the lists.
She searched until her eyes were too blurry to focus on the screen any longer before finally giving up for the day. She didn’t want to accidentally miss seeing his name because her eyes were tired.
Glancing at the clock and seeing that it was already two in the morning, she stood up and made her way to the elevator. Stumbling into the kitchen once she made it to her suite, she chugged a glass of water, glancing at the food on the counter before turning away and heading to her room. Crawling into bed, Sandra fell asleep before she even covered herself up.
Waking up at her usual time a few hours later, she was still tired and groggy as she drug herself into the shower before preparing for work. She was tired of crying and being angry and feeling like crap. Today, she was determined to get things done.
Striding purposefully from the elevator when the doors slid open, she stopped at Natashia’s desk.
“I need you to cancel all appointments for the rest of the week. Either reschedule them as a phone conference or tell them they will have to wait until I’m available again in a week or two to be seen in person. Then I need you to look into some building permits for me. I’ll email you a list. I want that to take priority over other client work.”
Moving on to her office door, Natashia called out, “It’s good to have you back boss.”
Flashing a smile over her shoulder, Sandra went to her desk and settled in. She had plans to finish, land to buy, permits to get, and one sexy Alpha with a partial bond to find.
It was going to be a long day, but it was going to be worth it in the end.
27. Austin
His first day didn’t go as badly as he had expected. The older Alpha showing him around the worksite was gruff, but not in a surly way. More like he had expectations and expected them to be met but didn’t expect everything to be perfect or to make friends.
Austin was going to be in charge of a mixed group of guys that included about half of the ones that had come to the camp with him. For now, they were set to do some of the more basic work for the dam until the green ones proved themselves capable of more complicated work.
Since they were outdoors, Austin wasn’t as bothered by their scent as he would have been working inside. He was still fairly tense, but as the day wore on and he focused on the work, he was able to relax a bit and start to enjoy the project. At this point, they were still clearing and preparing the site in some areas while they began to pour the concrete in others. It would be another two years before the more complicated work began and by then his crew should be ready to handle it.
Being the small camp it was, the men rotated duties weekly. One week was clearing, one pouring, and one doing chores around the camp. They were learning the pouring now but would start their first week clearing brush. There were some grumbles about that, but for the most part the men seemed prepared to do their job. Only time would tell who actually did or not.
A few of the older Alphas in his crew pressed him a little, testing his dominance, but they all backed down before it became a real issue. Austin had expected it to happen and didn’t take it personally. Nothing progressed beyond a little growling and posturing.
By the end of the day he was tired and ready to get cleaned up and go eat. After trudging back to the camp from the worksite, he went straight to his room and stripped out of his dirty clothes. He was going to need to get new ones since the things he had lounged around The Haven in weren’t exactly the best thing to wear for doing manual labor.
Grumbling about the cold water in the shower, Austin washed quickly before jumping back out. He supposed he should be grateful for running water at all out here, but he couldn’t help missing the hot showers he had taken at The Haven.
Letting out a sigh, Austin dressed and decided to make his way to the cafeteria. He had debated on waiting, but he was starving after the day of work and was tired enough to not want to waste time staying up just to avoid being in a crowd.
When he walked through the doors, he almost changed his mind. It seemed like most of the population of the camp was crammed in the room and it reeked of unwashed bodies and Alpha scent. Apparently not everyone had bothered to get cleaned up before coming to eat.
Trying to breath shallowly through his mouth to limit the scents, Austin passed through the food line, grabbing things he could eat quickly or take back to his room. Standing with his tray in his hands, he scanned the room for an empty seat. There were a few, but most were in between other Alphas, and while he usually would have gone and introduced himself, he wasn’t sure he could handle it with the way his control was already strained.
Seeing a group getting up from the end of one of the long tables, Austin made his way towards it quickly, sitting in the last seat so that there were a few empty ones between him and the next man. The others sitting there gave him a glance but went back to their food and conversations, leaving him alone to scarf down his dinner.
Inhaling the food he couldn’t take with him to his room, Austin was sitting for about five minutes before he was on his feet and moving towards the exit again. He had barely tasted anything but the little he did manage to taste let him know he wasn’t missing much.
The short amount of time he had spent in the cafeteria had been enough to leave him with his fists clenched and sweat dripping down his spine. He was grinding his teeth so hard he could hear them crunching and it was making his head pound, but he was so anxious he couldn’t stop.
Escaping into the night air, Austin froze in the middle of the hard-packed dirt path dragging in deep breaths to clear the scent of the other males. He couldn’t keep living like this. He had no idea what had come over him for the past few weeks, but he lived on the edge of rage constantly. He never got a chance to relax. He was either angry, or horny, and with no way to relieve it, it made him more agitated.
Beginning to take slow steps back to his room, he hung his head as his shoulders drooped. The constant struggle to control himself was exhausting and Austin knew it wasn’t going to be long before something happened to cause that control to snap. This time it wouldn’t end with a few bruised Alphas and being sent to a new camp, it would end with him being taken by Alpha Control and labeled a rogue.
Rogue was something they labeled Alphas that couldn’t conform. The ones that refused to follow the rules, were too aggressive, or attempted to escape their confines. If Alphas in general were considered a threat and a menace, rogues were dangerous. More often than not they were put down like a feral animal, because that’s exactly what they were considered.
Entering his room, Austin threw himself on his bed, covering his eyes with his arm and prayed for sleep, but even in his dreams he couldn’t escape. He was back with Sandra, cock deep in her cunt as she screamed out her release. Breathing deep of her sweet scent, he lost himself in the feel of her wet heat surrounding him.
Feeling his knot begin to swell, he slammed his cock into her over and over, driving her to the edge of another orgasm as his fingers rubbed the little bud trapped between their bodies. When her pussy began to spasm and she threw her head back, Austin leaned forward and sunk his teeth into her shoulder, knot trapped in her channel as she milked him.
Waking up alone in his bed felt like being crushed under a pile of rubble. Sandra’s scent drifting away with the dream. He lay in bed staring up at the ceiling for the rest of the night, trying to find a way to forget the best thing that had happened to him.
28. Sandra
The response from Ms. Burrie was exactly what she had expected. She couldn’t
release any information about where Austin had been sent, or why, and she couldn’t give out his last name because that was private information.
Sandra still growled under her breath as she read through the message, getting up from her desk to pace around her office. She had made it through two of the lists for the inner-city camps, if she didn’t find him on the third, she would have to move onto the other nine. Luckily, Austin wasn’t a very common name and she was able to rule out the two she had already found because they were the wrong age. At the pace she was going, though, it could be weeks before she found the right one.
Plus, she was trying to finish up the plans for her project. She had the basics down but needed to add in the details. Sandra had also found a good piece of land for it and had placed a bid. She was waiting to hear back from the seller to see if they accepted.
Heaving a deep sigh, she sat back down at her desk and started pouring through the third list. After an hour she couldn’t focus on the words anymore and switched to fleshing out the details on her project. All of her other work had taken a backseat until she could get this finished. Sandra no longer cared if she pissed off her clients, she could always get more. Everyone who had deadlines within the next month were already finished, and she could catch up on anything else that came up after that. Natashia was fielding everyone for her so she could stay focused as much as possible, but it was still time consuming.
