From Alpha to Omega

by Cilla B Anthony

  Impatiently she glanced towards the stairs as though she wanted to go and confront Brogan but didn’t want to leave Cade on his own. It wasn’t that she thought that he was going to rob them, just that she was responding to his scent.

  Cade watched her as she went to the bar in the corner of the room to pour herself a shot of something strong. As he observed her it occurred to Cade that Brogan had a type and mother nature took that into consideration when she chose his mate. Lara was wearing heels, but she was short, shorter than Cade but not much less than his own five and a half feet.

  That was okay because he had his own type and Brogan was it personified. While his last boyfriend hadn’t been as tall as Brogan, he was over six feet.

  Speaking of Brogan, he chose that moment to walk back downstairs.

  “Brogan,” Lara shrieked as she moved across the room towards him. “Where have you been? What happened to your face? And before you use Tate and the others as an alibi, your partners have been worried about you as well because the last time anyone saw you were Friday night at Henry’s. I knew I should have made you come with me.”

  “I wish you’d have made me come too,” Brogan muttered, but Cade wasn’t surprised to hear that. He knew that the only way Brogan would have been happy with this mating was if Cade had been the one wearing the Omega mark.

  Lara stepped closer to Brogan and mimicked Cade’s earlier motion and inhaled, “You spent the weekend with an Omega, and he got a little rough. You deserved it for cheating on me, but I don’t understand, you hate Omegas, but yet here you are in our house smelling like the slut you spent the weekend buried in!”

  “No, Lara, I. I.”

  It hurt Cade to watch Brogan struggle and if he had given the slightest indication that he wanted Cade to intervene, he would have without hesitation, but when he raised his eyebrows in an offer of help, Brogan shook his head.

  In the end, he didn’t have to tell her, she saw his hand when he pinched the bridge of his nose. This was an unconscious move and one he often made when he was tired of frustrated.

  “What is that on your hand?” She asked while grasping it in her tiny little hands. “Oh God Brogan, what have you done?”

  For once Brogan had no words.

  “You’re an Omega.”

  “Yes,” Brogan whispered.

  “And him?” she nodded towards Cade.

  “He’s my Alpha,” Brogan confirmed.

  Lara dropped Brogan’s hand and made her way over the sofa and plopped down in disbelief. She and Brogan were staring at one another with mirrored expressions of disbelief.

  “How did this happen?” She asked. “You’re twice his size and you expect me to believe that he overtook you? Did you just roll over and take it? What about us? I mean where do we go from here? If you wanted us to end you could have just told me,” she cried.

  Unable to keep quiet any longer, Cade finally spoke, “The only us is Brogan and me. A look at his face should tell you that Brogan didn’t roll over, I was just the better Alpha, and before you ask no drugs or trickery was involved. I know that the two of you have some things to work out concerning your belongings, but he’s mine in a way that he was never yours.”

  Cade could tell when Lara had accepted that she had lost, he saw the resignation in her eyes, but she had to get in a parting shot.

  “I still don’t understand how this happened, Brogan? I mean look at him you are at least a foot taller than him yet it’s you who have been made bitch. I guess I should have known when you protested so much about Omegas. Now I can see it for what it is. It’s not that you hated them, you were jealous of O’s.”

  “That’s enough!” Cade barked at her. “It doesn’t matter how it happened all you need to know is that it happened and as a result, you’re no longer a part of his life. If you ever cared for him, then don’t make this harder for him than it already is, and you will give him the chance to tell his friends.”

  She didn’t answer, she just nodded her head, submitting to the Alpha’s demand before heading towards the door. Once she reached the heavy oak door, she paused and turned towards them. “I. I need to get some of my things. I’ll take Janie with me tonight; I have friends with whom I can stay with until I get on my feet, but please give me the chance to get my things.”

  “No one’s keeping you from getting what’s yours as long as you understand that Brogan’s mine.”

  Cade stood aside and let her go up the stairs to pack some of her belongings, and he turned to look at Brogan and his heart lurched at the picture of hurt on his mate’s face. He had planned to move Brogan to his room at the apartment he shared with his friends, but he couldn’t do that to Brogan.

  So much has changed in his life, but to remove him from his home would be harsh, so in this situation, it would be Cade who compromised.

  As Lara ran upstairs to get her things, Brogan began to gather the dog’s toys and, food and bed. Cade suspected that it wasn’t because he wanted to help her, but because he didn’t want to have to spend any more time with her than he had to because he was ashamed that he was now an Omega.

  When she came downstairs a few minutes later, Cade again looked at Brogan and saw tears run down his Omega’s face, he knew that there would be more compromises to come.

  Chapter 6

  Brogan’s car was something that Cade had once aspired for and now it was his and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He didn’t even have a job yet, but now he had an expensive car and a home and who knows what else courtesy of Brogan.

  All of it was a bit much.

  After Lara left, Brogan had begged him for some alone time for a couple of hours or so, because he wanted to get his shit together in order to face his co-workers later this afternoon. Cade agreed because Brogan looked wrecked after the confrontation with his ex.

  Also, Cade needed time alone as well to determine what his next step would be. He had been counting on the job he’d lost this morning now he had to regroup and set up more interviews because he was responsible for someone other than himself now.

  “Oh, shit!” Cade said as he pounded his fist on the steering wheel, he’d completely forgot about his and Brogan’s families. Just one more thing that he had to worry about.

  On the way to his apartment, Cade stopped by the mailbox and picked up a couple of days’ worth of mail. Not all of it was his but what there was were bills. Bills he had no idea how he was going to pay, but just like everything else in his life, he’d figure it out.

  Cade stopped dead in his tracks when he entered the apartment because sitting there at the dining table were his friends.

  “Why are y’all ll getting shit faced on a Monday afternoon?” Cade asked.

  “Cade!” Danielle cried out as she ran towards him, “it’s so good to see you, my friend.”

  As she hugged him, Cade peeked past her and looked at the rest of his friends sitting at the table. They all wore solemn looks on their faces as they looked up at him from the brewery on the table in front of them.

  “He let you come alone, Cady?” Simon asked as he took a sip of tequila. “The fuck’s wrong with him, he should know that it’s illegal for you to drive.”

  Setting Danielle aside, Cade walked towards them and locked eyes with Simon and said, “No it’s illegal for him to drive, not so much for me and don’t call me Cady fucker!”

  “Cade?” Elias asked, “how did you…”

  “What was this, a memorial for me? You were so goddamned sure that I would end up Omega that you took off from work to get drunk in sorrow?”

  “Cade, honey he was so big,” Danielle explained drunkenly, “and we didn’t hear from you all weekend, we just assumed that he wouldn’t let you call.”

  “We mated, Danni,” Cade reminded her. “so, checking in with you sons of bitches was the last thing on my mind.”

  “Of course,” She nodded enthusiastically. “We know that you can handle yourself, but this guy was built like a brick shithouse, and we just thought
that he may have been more than you could handle.”

  He had the same thoughts as well on the ride to the hotel, but he had fought back; however, coming home and seeing that his closest friends had given up on him hurt a little. He would forgive them, especially Simon because he really needed to talk to him to get him to help make some heavy-duty decisions.

  “So, tell us about your mate,” Simon asked.

  “His name is Brogan, and he’s amazing,” Cade smiled trying to save face.

  During the time he’s spent with Brogan, Cade hadn’t had the time to learn a lot so he glossed over the little that he did. He was glad that they were drunk, or they would have seen past the bullshit that he was feeding them.

  Elias and Danielle begged off thirty minutes after Cade arrived groaning about being tired of listening about Cade’s perfect mate and went to their bedrooms, leaving Simon and Cade alone at the table.

  “Lightweights,” Cade snarked towards their retreating backs and laughed when in unison the both flipped up a middle finger.

  “In their defense, they have been drinking since last night,” Simon defended their friends.

  “Oh,” was the only response Cade could manage.

  Finally giving in, he reached for the almost empty bottle of tequila to pour a shot, and changed his mind and drank from the bottle instead.

  “That bad, huh?” Simon as he nodded towards the bottle. “You only drink the hard stuff when things are not going well. You just mated and you didn’t get turned into an Omega, so your life should be golden, but you look worried. So, tell me what’s really going on.”

  “You have no idea how bad things are, hell I’m not even sure but I know that my Omega shouldn’t be at home right now crying because his ex is moving out.”

  “Tell me what happened, Cade. You can leave out the sex part because mine and Elias’s sex life is good enough that I don’t need to hear about yours.”

  “But that’s the best part,” Cade attempted to lighten the mood.

  When he saw that Simon wasn’t buying it, he dropped all pretense, “I’ll be honest, when I got into that car and saw how big Brogan was, I was thinking like y’all, I was going to get the short end of the stick. By the time we made it to the hotel, I had resigned myself to being turned and he had made up his mind the moment he saw me.”

  “He treated you like the others before him, because of your size he thought that you were an easy mark,” Simon interjected.

  “Yeah,” Cade agreed before taking another swig of the tequila. “but this time I didn’t think I could win but when we were in that hotel room and he tried to get me ass up without so much as a whimper, my wolf came roaring to life and before I knew it he was naked and we were tied and I was biting his neck-claiming him.”

  “So, what’s the problem?” Simon asked as he took the bottle from Cade’s hand and replaced it with a beer.

  “The problem is that his body knows that he is Omega,” Cade smiled at the memories, “but his mind is still Alpha and he’s trying to fight his new role.”

  “What does the internet say?” Simon asked.

  “I really haven’t had much time to research it,” Cade told him.

  “Cade…”

  “Okay, the internet said that the change won’t complete until he accepts his change. Legally he’s Omega, mine - and there’s nothing he can do about that, but mentally he still thinks and acts as though he’s an Alpha, which means this could go on forever.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. He can’t stay like this forever, because he’s Omega,” Simon denied. “It’s now his nature to want his Alpha. He can fight it all he wants, but eventually, he has to give into it.”

  “I don’t know Simon,” Cade shook his head in denial.

  “Yes, he will, Cade,” Simon contradicted him, “it’s in his nature. Eventually, he’ll need to be kissed and cuddled and touched. He can fight it, but he’ll give in Cade. You just have to be patient.”

  “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

  He and Simon sat and talked some more before Cade went to pack some things to take back to Brogan’s place. He was torn between the two things he really wanted - to go and fuck Brogan stupid and since he couldn’t do that he’d like to get shit faced and pass out but he couldn’t do that either because he and Brogan were going to Brogan’s job and he wasn’t looking forward to that.

  As he packed his bags, Cade stared longingly at his favorite pair of jeans wanting to put them on, but he still had to get through the rest of this hellish day before he could even try to relax. After getting his shaving kit from the bathroom, Cade looked around the room the see if there was anything that he needed right now but he had the essentials.

  He was going to miss this place, his friends. He knew that eventually he was going to move out on his own, he just hadn’t planned on it happening this soon and without a plan or forethought. He was leaving to be with his mate and that alone should make him happy, but his stomach felt as though he’d swallowed a lead balloon and he was scared of what he was going to walk into when he returned to Brogan’s.

  Chapter 7

  The phone was ringing again, and Brogan knew that he should answer because if he continued to ignore it that his friends would all come here and demand that he talked to them and he didn't want that. He didn't want them invading this space. When he had to admit to the world that he had been bested by the tiniest of Alphas and was now… Omega, then he wanted it done at the office, not in his home.

  Once he told them Brogan wasn’t sure what the outcome would be, but he knew that it wouldn’t be good and he didn’t want the bad memories to be associated with his home, so yeah, his big reveal would be at the office.

  Ironically it was Liam’s call that he answered, or rather responded to by text.

  “Everything’s okay. I don’t have anything pressing today so I decided to take a morning for myself. I’ll be in this afternoon.”

  The text was a lie, but they didn’t know that. The group of them were all probably all just saying that it was Brogan being Brogan and would give him hell when they saw him next.

  He could still remember the fight he and Liam had the night he met Cade and not for the first time since he woke Saturday morning did, he wish he’d stayed at home. Had he done that then he wouldn’t be sitting in his home trying to hide from the rest of the world.

  He only had a few precious minutes remaining to do that, because a glance at his favorite Tag Heuer watch told him that Cade would be back soon and the old Brogan would officially cease to exist. He knew that Brogan the Alpha no longer existed, but the rest of the world didn’t know that, and he’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.

  Besides, he wanted Cade with him when he had to do that.

  He laughed dry and brittle when he thought that at least there would be no more arguments with his father about the benefits of mating with an Omega.

  He’s not sure how long he sat there and had fallen into a light sleep when he heard Cade pull into the driveway. He could sit and wait for him to come in and they have an awkward conversation, but he was ready to pull the Band-Aid off let the scab begin to form. This was something that he could control, so he grabbed his wallet and went to the door to meet Cade because if he waited on minute more, then he’d want to put this off another day.

  Once inside that car, Brogan found that he was calm and when Cade accidentally touched his hand Brogan had to almost bite his tongue not to beg him to leave it there because he needed the connection. He bit down until he tasted blood because the connection that he was craving would cement his and Cade’s bond and there was no way in hell was he doing that willingly.

  What he didn’t know was Cade wanted to touch as well but he held back for a different reason, so the ride was silent each of them secretly looking at the other drinking their fill.

  Together they walked into the building and Brogan was greeted by the employees he passed along the way. Well some of them, others gave
him a wide berth and it made Brogan realize that he’d been an asshole. Normally he was in his own world and didn’t pay attention to the people on the lower floors or their reactions, but today they couldn’t be ignored.

  It would be easy to say that he behaved that way towards the Omegas only, but there were only a few Omegas who worked there - five including Benji - so he was an asshole, and this was his payback.