Page 2 of The Beta's Bargain

You want luxury, go to Hasting hotels run by pack Treyfield. You want to wear the best clothes money can buy? Shop at Treyfield department stores. The Treyfield Pack are household names.

Getting in with this company has been one of my short-term goals. They look after their employees. Their wages are above average. They allow sick days and leave. To work for them would be a dream come true.

I’ve been filling in at parties as a temp for four years. Taking calls and jobs even after I've worked a twelve hour day just on the chance I might get the tap on the shoulder.

Yvette waits until most people leave and approaches me as I’m putting on my worn and crappy boots.

“Miss Onyx Davies?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Uh, your name has come up a lot recently. We’ve taken notice of your hard work and dedication and would like to present an invitation for a long work placement with the option to retain a full-time position when the term comes to fruition.”

“Yes!” I blurt out.

She laughs, but I can see she’s a bit startled by my eagerness. “I admire your enthusiasm, but hear me out. The job is working at the company’s country hotel. Silver Rocks Resort.”

My mind boggles. The resort won awards for its amazing gardens recently, and there are rumours that another garden will be revealed soon.

“You’ll be attending a seven-week event, helping to chaperone the guests. The first week or two will be training.”

“When do I start?” I blurt out without thinking.

“You need to go to do an intake assessment. If you agree and all goes well, you’ll get on a bus and leave right away.”

I hesitate, my excitement fading. Disappointment crushes me. I can’t take this job. “I have a dependent. I can’t take the job, I’m sorry.” My disappointment must show on my face because she reaches out and rubs my shoulder sympathetically.

“It was made clear to me to let any potential employees know that dependents and partners can come and stay in the employee’ cabins on site. The information pack will have everything you need to know. Should you do well, you’ll be offered a position at a hotel with a training package and a future with Treyfield Pack in hotels or department stores.”

I wheeze. My ears are ringing. I don’t think I’d be this happy if I won the lottery. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

She smiles tightly, and I can't help but think she’s not overly happy with my capitulation. “Excellent. Well, just be at this address by eleven am. Oh, and Onyx, the wages are three times per hour what you earned tonight.”

She turns and walks away like she didn’t just drop a bomb on me. I cling to my locker, trying hard to keep myself upright while my head rings with her words.

I have to get home, pack up. We need to get ready to go. I’m going to ace that assessment.

I grab my stuff and race out of the hotel and onto the street. It’s going to take me a long time to get home from this side of town. I try to take the straightest course, but the buses have stopped running, and my feet ache.

I don’t end up getting home until nearly dawn, and by then I collapse in exhaustion on the couch. My stomach rumbles, but I ignore it. We don’t have food in the house, we rarely ever do.

I must space out because the next thing I’m conscious of is waking up to a face that’s almost identical to mine. Silver shakes me roughly, and I’m pulled out of the abyss. Her face is soft and round. Where Silver’s eyes are a clear crystal blue, like the sky, like our fathers, mine are not. Her lips are plump and inclined to curve up even when she’s unhappy. My face is more angular, my eyes are blue but like slate, and my lips are thin and curve down.

Mama always said I was the child with the entire world on my shoulders. Silver was the twin, with her heart in her eyes. We’re as different as night and day, even if we look remarkably alike. She is the omega, wanted, watched, and loved. I’m the beta with freedom to go unnoticed through the world. We are chalk and cheese under the skin.

“Did you get them?” Silver barks.

I put my hand in my pocket and pull out the baggie of pills and the roll that my hero saved for me. I hand it over, ignoring the pang in my belly. Those suppressants cost me three times what I paid last month, but Silver needs them. If she goes into heat, any choice that she might have will vanish. I promised our father on his deathbed that I would protect her.

“There’s only thirty,” Silvie says when she inspects the bag.

“Prices went up.”

Silver gets up and stomps away from me. “That’s crap. Fuck!” she shrieks and whirls back to me. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I’ll get some more. I know I said that last time, but I found them, didn’t I? Have I ever let you down? It was take these or nothing. I’ll find more.”

Silver sits on the couch arm and puts her head in her hands. “I won’t end up in one of these packs, Nyx. You know what I want. What I deserve. I want a pack that can afford to look after me, that can afford to take care of me. Who will treat me like the omega I am and cherish me.”

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