CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Let’s get you set up,” Atlas told her as they entered the building. Anais gaped at him but didn’t have time to question him further before a sales attendant approached them.

“Alpha Hawke,” he greeted them. The beta was tall and dark with a bald head and a wide smile.

Anais didn’t like him. She wasn’t sure what it was, but the beta made her feel inferior with just a look. She shifted closer to Atlas but didn’t reach for him like she wanted to.

“Uriel,” Atlas greeted the other as he shook his hand. “I need to get some things today for Ana here,” Atlas continued as he indicated her next to him. “She will need a laptop and a cell phone.”

“Of course,” Uriel responded. “Follow me, your private room is ready.”

Anais tried not to gape at the fact that not only was this guy waiting for Atlas to arrive, he was on a first name basis with her alpha and was currently leading them to a private room.

If she had come in here a week ago, they would have turned her right back around and made her leave thinking she would be there to steal something.

She shook her head at the way her life had changed. She followed the others into the small room off of the main floor and Atlas indicated the chair closest to the wall for her. Anais sat down and looked at him for instructions.

Atlas spoke with the salesman and he departed quickly. He turned to Anais with a smile. “Laptop and phone for now. We can get you an iPad later if you want one.”

“This is a lot, Atlas,” Anais told him.

“It’s not Ana. You need these things to be able to live well and I want that for you. I need to be able to get in touch with you and you need to have a cell phone to do that. The laptop will be another way for you to access whatever you want.”

“Thank you, alpha,” Anais whispered. The door opened and Uriel stepped back in with several items in his hands.

She left with a laptop and cell phone as promised. She was halfway giddy with the idea of owning a phone and halfway guilty for Atlas spending so much money on her.

Atlas kissed her palm and smiled at her when Anais thanked him again.

From there they went to the bank. Anais was surprised again and she knew Atlas scented it. “You’re full of surprises today, alpha,” Anais told him. Atlas chuckled as they ascended the stairs and walked into the lobby.

“We’re going to get you a bank account and cards set up right now so that you can have access to the funds you need to do what you want,” Atlas told her.

She reached out her hand and caught him by the upper arm. “What?”

Atlas turned in confusion to her and took her hand off of his arm to hold it. “I said we’re going to-“

“No, Atlas, I know what you said, I’m just confused. Why would you give me access to all that?”

“Because you’re my mate?” he asked in confusion.

Anais laughed. “Yea, but I’m just a-“

“Don’t say it,” Atlas growled. Anais was slightly taken aback and made to step back before Atlas’ hand tightened around her. “I’m sorry, Ana, I just don’t want you to think badly of yourself. I don’t, so I don’t want you to carry it either. You’re my mate. You’ll have access to the money you need.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “You’re carrying my pup, Ana. I would have you secure if you need money for anything. I want you to be safe.”

She melted against him and Atlas put his arms around the omega. She sighed happily and Atlas pressed a kiss to the top of her head. When they separated, Anais could smell that Atlas was happier.

They entered the lobby of the bank and were again greeted right away.

Anais wasn’t sure how she felt about the attention, but she had to say that Atlas was a commanding alpha and he got his way on everything he wanted. Anais figured he wouldn’t have build a multibillion-dollar company without the right presence.

In the end, Atlas put her name on the accounts already there and got her set up with a debit card. Credit cards would be forthcoming, but she also had a small sum put into her account every week.

Atlas said it was small, but Anais nearly passed out when Atlas put a thousand dollars in there and told her he would set up the automatic payment weekly.

“Buy whatever you want, Ana,” Atlas told her as they waited for the banker to file the paperwork. “The cash will just be that, cash. Use the cards and the cash, do what you want with it.”

“Atlas, I don’t know where to even begin to spend that much money,” Anais told him.

“Forgive me, because this is going to sound very stereotypical, but don’t you want to change things in the apartment? Buy new things that you like?”

She thought about the ugly, uncomfortable chairs in the living room and smiled.

“Thought so,” Atlas told her. “What are you thinking?”

She smiled at him. “The chairs in the living room need to go. They are uncomfortable and ugly, Atlas.”

The alpha chuckled and nodded. “Fair enough, those can go today for all I care. What else?”

Ana thought for a moment and she paused, unsure of whether or not to say.

“A nursery,” She finally admitted. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to make one, and even if I did I wasn’t sure if I would have money to buy a good crib or new clothing.”

Atlas looked at her the way that Anais was becoming used to. He looked at her like it had never occurred to him that normal things most people might have wouldn’t be something Anais would have. Atlas was focused totally on her and she wondered what the alpha was thinking.

They were interrupted then by the banker, back with Anais’s shiny new card for shopping.

Atlas then took her to a funky boutique where she bought band t-shirts and ripped jeans. She got new boots and several flannel shirts to go over them.

Anais balked at the prices when she saw them but Atlas just plucked the items out of her hands and gave them to the sales associate.

When they were finished with the shopping, Atlas directed Alfie to take them to a restaurant. Anais was unfamiliar with it, but she wasn’t worried.

There were any number of new restaurants that popped up around New York at any time of the year.

They pulled up to a little hole in the wall diner located on the side of a building.

Atlas got out and Anais followed. There wasn’t much of a fanfare for Atlas here and Anais thought that Atlas liked it.

Sure, the alpha liked being in charge and he certainly flaunted who he was to get the best service, but here, in this small mom and pop diner, he was just Atlas.

An alpha out for dinner with his mate.

He had pushed the open collar of his shirt a little to reveal the skin underneath, still puckered and healing, but no longer open.

He brushed his hand over the bare skin there and Anais shivered. Atlas smiled at har and Anais ducked her head.

“Thank you for this afternoon, Atlas,” Anais told him as they waited for their server to arrive.

Atlas laid his arm around the back of the seat behind Anais and smiled at the omega. “For what?” he asked.

She leaned slightly into Atlas and scented his happy, content alpha. “For taking me out. For buying me all those nice things and then treating me to dinner.”

“You’re welcome, Ana, but you deserve them,” Atlas told her.

Their server arrived and Anais was pleasantly surprised when Atlas ordered the same thing she did. Atlas shrugged at her questioning look.

“A double bacon cheeseburger sounds delicious,” he told her. Anais laughed and agreed.

They enjoyed their meal together. It was quiet and nice to be with Atlas when his whole attention was focused on her.

Anais learned that the company had been started and matured long before Atlas and Jovani took over, but they had grown it to the monster it was now. In the last ten years they had doubled their profits and Anais couldn’t even imagine the amount of money that they made.

Atlas told her more about his siblings and how close he was with Gabe, who was the third alpha at the club the first night Atlas and Anais met.

The Hawke’s had owned Hawke Networks for over forty years and when both oldest alphas came of age, their parents began to hand over the reins. Jovani and Atlas had always been close, but they grew closer than ever while working.

Anais quickly realized that Atlas had never been cold or hungry in his life. He never had to work if he didn’t want to but his life revolved around his work.

Anais hoped that she would be able to see how much richer her life would be with a mate and family, but they would have to see.

By the end of the night she felt more confident. She felt better about their bond and like she knew the alpha more. She had shared some things with her alpha too, but she hadn’t wanted to get into too much about her tragic past.

Atlas seemed to sense it and didn’t push.

Anais would share, but she didn’t want to ruin their night.

When they returned to the penthouse it was later than Anais realized and she was tired. Atlas took all of the new things to her room for her and Anais quelled the disappointment that she still wasn’t invited to the alpha’s bed.

Atlas had, however, taken Anais in his arms and pressed their lips together for several long minutes. Anais hadn’t been kissed like that in a long time. She melted into the embrace and soaked up the happy pheromones that drifted through the air.

Atlas eventually pulled back and bid her good night. Anais smiled the whole time she got ready for bed and drifted off quickly.

***

NEXT MORNING

***

The next morning Anais woke up feeling rested and better than she had in a week.

Her spirits were high and she thought that things would be okay between her and er alpha.

She threw on a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt and opened her door. She walked across the hallway to the bathroom to brush her teeth and use the facility.

As she moved she thought she heard something downstairs, but she didn’t think anything about it. Eileen was due that day and Anais thought maybe she had arrived already.

She finished what she needed to do, and with a minty mouth and bright smile, headed down the stairs. The smile slid right off her face when she turned the corner and saw what was happening in the dining room.

The scent of worry and anger and frustration permeated the space.

Atlas stood in front of the TV on the other side of the couch, arms folded across his chest with a frown on his face. He looked like he had been up for a while. His dress shirt was open at the collar and the sleeves rolled up over his forearms.

Anais hadn’t seen this side of Cas yet and she froze at the anger wafting from him.

Atlas didn’t seem to notice her and Anais watched his face as he clenched his jaw and shook his head. Anais’s stomach churned at the sight of the alpha so upset.

Anais’s omega instincts were to bare her neck and submit to the authority and anger of the alpha but she couldn’t make herself move.

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TBC

AUTHOR’S NOTE: hi you guys, how’s the story so far? Please leave gems