Page 82 of Verses and Blooms
“Why do you have the notebook?” Kane asked curiously. He tapped the notebook sitting in front of Ansel, who let out a defeated sigh.
“Alice thinks that I need to work on talking to people. She pointed out that once I leave here, I won’t be able to only rely on you guys all the time. That I should be able to go into a store and have casual, everyday small talk.”
“Wait, what does that have to do with a notebook?” Ledger asked. My omega had everyone’s attention now.
“She thinks I could use my art as a means to practice. I’m supposed to find someone willing to let me draw them, and then have small talk as I do it. She’s hoping it keeps me from freaking out and avoiding the general public.”
He looked like he’d rather eat a slug than do this project, but honestly, it was kind of a genius plan. A way to integrate a safety net into something so new for him.
“I’d suggest you start with one of us,” Caspian said, “but I’m afraid that would defeat the purpose.”
Ansel huffed. “Alice specifically said I’m forbidden from doing any of my packorour guards. She covered all the bases.”
“That woman does not play,” Kane said, shaking his head. “When we talked about meeting my ex-pack again for closure, I tried to say I forgave them, and she called me on my bullshit.”
“Fuck forgiveness. I wish the worst on them,” Ledger said firmly. “Honestly, I hope the alphas’ nuts just shrivel up and fall off.”
We burst into laughter at that, but I couldn’t disagree. It would be a becoming fate for those assholes.
Ansel looked around nervously before flipping his sketchbook to a new page. His pencil was sharpened. He was ready, he just didn’t have anyone to draw.
Leave it to Ledger to be the one to handle that part for him. She never said he couldn’t enlist help.
My alpha stood on his chair and let out a sharp whistle, silencing the room again. Poor Ansel looked ready to crawl into a hole, and I felt about the same with all eyes on us.
“I need a beta who is willing to come let my omega draw them for his therapy homework. It’ll be quick.”
Silence reigned for a few moments before someone finally stood, dumping their tray and making their way toward us.
He was older than us, likely in his early forties. He had a dusting of freckles and curly, red hair. His glasses were round and a smile was on his face making him seem unassuming. Good, he’d be perfect. Plus, he seemed almost as uneasy as Ansel.
“Alice put you up to this, didn’t she?” he asked as he sat across from Ansel.
“She did,” Ansel confirmed, his voice shaking slightly. “I’m supposed to start talking to people. It’s not a strong suit for me.”
“Me, either,” the man said. “I’m supposed to do things that make me uncomfortable, so here I am. We can be awkward as fuck together, how about that?”
Ansel nodded and forced a smile, studying the man’s face for a moment before glancing down at his sketchbook to start.
“So, what’s your name?” he finally managed to get out.
“Charles. And I feel like the next standard question is, ‘why are you here?’” he mimicked with a dry chuckle. “The answer is, you should listen to your gut. My mother loved to set me up on dates. I’m not really cut out for a pack, so I thought I’d try dating another beta. Well, the one time I get paired with an omega in hiding, we hit it off. A one night stand gone wrong turned into heat. She bit me.”
“Things didn’t work out the next day?” Ledger asked, joining in.
He snorted. “No. Apparently, she came from a wealthy family and couldn’t possibly bond with someone like me.”
“Did she force you to break the bond?” I asked, horrified on his behalf.
Charles let out a sigh. “Her family paid me off. I was a struggling musician. I thought I could use the money. I wasn’t attached to this girl, so what was the big deal? The moment that bond broke, so did my mind. I didn’t recover. They said I was in a coma for the first week, and after that, I just wasn’t myself. It took seven years to find myself again.”
“That’s brutal,” Ansel said softly. “My scent apparently drove alphas to the edge of madness. Made them want to fight. So, I got taken into an alpha fighting ring, injected with heats nearly every weekend, and forced to writhe in pain on the floor while my scent filled the room, driving the alphas mad while they fought to the death. Most of the time, they kept us in separate cages in between the crowd and the arena, but… well. Clearly, it didn’t end well.”
“Fucking alphas,” Charles muttered, then shot an apologetic smile my alpha’s way. “No offense. It’s just that so many high-and-mighty alphas feel like they have to fight and show off like fucking cavemen. It’s always to the detriment of everyone else, isn’t it?”
“They always blame it on instinct,” Kane agreed. He’d met his fair share of shitty alphas.
Ansel’s portrait took shape slowly over the course of breakfast. The conversation turned lighter, Charles telling us about his time here and his plans for after. He wanted to travel the world, see things he’d never had a chance to.
