Chapter 4: Lasagna

The meeting with the omegas was still a whole night away, which wasn’t long but couldn’t come quick enough. I couldn’t stand knowing I was on the cusp of a breakthrough to figuring out how to get out of here. It was too soul-destroying, so instead of waiting to be introduced to the omegas like Jari wanted, I lay in my bedroom listening carefully for the front door.

Sitting cross-legged, my nose in a book, I waited for almost three hours for an omega to enter the suite for dinner. The moment I heard the door, I was up, hovering next to my bedroom.

The same omega who had tried to help me make breakfast was on her way through the hall toward the kitchen, totally oblivious to my invading eyes. I followed her silently and paused in the kitchen archway. My book was in one hand, a finger marking the page I had reached almost halfway through.

When the omega turned away from the refrigerator, she noticed me and jumped, loudly squeaking. I glanced nervously back at Jari’s office door, but it didn’t open.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I am so sorry, did I… did I disturb you?” She spoke nervously, never meeting my eyes. I couldn’t tell if that was because she knew my name or simply because I was mated to her alpha.

I gave her a soft smile. “No, I was listening out for one of you to visit, actually.”

She frowned. “You were?”

“Yes. I was hoping to help you make dinner?”

“Oh… you don’t have to, Miss… Irwin.” She visibly shivered at my surname, answering my earlier thought.

“Please, I’d love to help. I didn’t get omegas assisting me when I was imprisoned back home. It would be an honour to get to know you for the services you provide.” My head tilted to the side sympathetically. “My guess is that you don’t get much recognition.”

She looked away from me. “You may help me if you wish, of course, Miss Irwin.”

“You can call me Hazel,” I told her as I rearranged the ribbon in my book to my current page. I put the book down. “What were you planning to make?”

“Lasagna - it is a favourite of Alpha Jari-Einar.”

“It’s been a long time since I ate lasagna. I think I used to like it quite a lot.”

The omega peered at me. “I’ve been told I make the best lasagna in the pack.”

“Really? What is your name, I must fact-check you?” I spoke teasingly, and she started to smile.

“I’m Keely.”

“Beautiful,” I complimented. She flushed bright pink.

“How much would you like to help with the lasagna, Mi- er, Hazel? I am used to doing everything myself.”

I walked forward and took the tray of ingredients she’d already left out on the countertop. My fingers grazed the pasta ingredients first, memories flashing in my head of the last time I had made it. “We can both work on making the pasta sheets.”

Keely was a great help - more so than I expected, even though this was her entire life, cooking and cleaning for her alpha. She never spoke out of turn, though, and I struggled to find where she kept her key into the suite. I knew I’d have to do something a little drastic, so when we were about to finish the lasagna with a sprinkling of cheese, I “misplaced” the block.

“Keely,” I said innocently, peering into the refrigerator. “Did you bring cheese?”

“I believe so,” she replied, distracted by perfecting the placement of the final pasta sheet.

“I don’t see it.” I opened the fridge door wider, and Keely glanced up. Her eyes searched the counter, but there was no cheese to be found.

“Dammit,” she murmured. “This never happens, I am so sorry, Hazel.” She pushed the lasagna carefully away from her and took off her apron, leaving it haphazardly on the counter. There were no pockets to keep a key inside of, though.

“Could you wait just a few minutes for me to grab the cheese from the kitchen downstairs?” she asked frantically.

I nodded, so she hurried from the room. Once she was at the front door, I stepped up to the archway and watched her take something out of a hidden pocket in her jeans that I hadn’t noticed before… and then blow her nose with it. The door opened still, confusing me as to what she had used to open it.

When it shut, I tried it myself, but it was definitely locked. I mentally cursed Jari.

Keely returned a few minutes later - as promised - and this time I got to see where she kept her key, since she was in such a rush to prove herself as a good chef now that she had made one mistake.

She held her key in her right hand, a block of cheese in the other, turned to lock the door, and then put her key away into a pocket in her cardigan as she handed me the cheese.

My smile was innocent, oblivious. I took the block from her and walked back to the kitchen to begin grating. Keely worked instead on chopping the herbs to put on top. Together, we had the lasagna in the oven before five pm, and for the first time, an omega stuck around for the whole cooking time to talk to me at the dining table.

She trusted me just enough.

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In the morning, Keely gave me a bright smile as she left the suite after cooking breakfast for me and Jari. I smiled back at her, but had to quickly pretend I didn’t know who she was when Jari arrived at the dining table with two glasses of cool water.

“Thanks,” I muttered, bringing my glass to my lips. He nodded.

We didn’t talk much, especially when we were eating. I’d hardly seen him in the last day, between him working and leaving the suite. In the meantime, I had read two small books and started reading a franchise of books that would probably take me about a week, considering where I was being confined with no escape… for now.

Jari went into his office to work after breakfast, so I cleaned up and went back to my bedroom to continue reading. I waited almost two hours, but he never came in to tell me that the omegas would be on their way. I got impatient.

“Jari,” I said as I walked into his office without knocking first. 

He looked sharply up at me, away from his laptop screen. I wasn’t welcome.

“When are the omegas coming to meet me?” I asked anyway.

His eyes flicked back to his screen in annoyance. “I asked them to come after lunch, Hazel. Why do you ask?”

“It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

“You’ve been reading, have you not?” He sounded accusatory.

“I have but that doesn’t mean I want my nose in a book all the time, Jari. My eyes are getting tired and I want some company. As you’re working, which is a great way to bond with me, by the way, I don’t have anyone to talk to.”

He didn’t reply.

“Are you going to listen to what I’m saying or do I have to try to escape again?”

“Hazel,” he snapped, standing up.

I almost recoiled from the look on his face.

“Look, I - more than anyone in this pack - want to get to know you better, but sometimes an alpha is too busy to spend time with his mate, okay? I don’t have time for you right now, especially as I have four other alphas up my ass.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “That wouldn’t surprise me.”

He glared at me. “Will you just go read your books and leave me alone for a while?”

“Will you just send the omegas up? I can introduce myself.”

“No. Leave my office.” Jari sat back down, making his decision final, and I huffed like a teenager before storming out of the office. I slammed his door as loudly as I could, stomping back to my bedroom. For a brief moment, I considered just breaking down the suite doors, but I realised that if I did that, he’d be out of the office in a second and I’d be immediately caught. 

Although it would be a great statement to make, it wasn’t how I was going to escape this prison.