Kaiba sat at the head of the table, armed and ready to take on a meeting with his executive board of Alphas. He was dosed up on the suppressants and had changed his outfit to rid himself of any residual scent.
This scheduled meeting was the only thing keeping him from running after Atem like a fool to get the sample back.
He would confront Atem after the meeting and take it back.
"Mr. Kaiba, I have my report for the week. May I start?" One of the directors asked stiffly, sounding impatient. "I have somewhere to be at 5 tonight."
"We all do," Kaiba replied curtly, eyeing the door and wondering where the hell Atem was. That spiky-haired man was usually the first one to show up. He was late.
Just as that thought left the front of his mind, Atem came striding down the hall towards the meeting room with a laptop tucked under his arm, walking with a pep in his step.
He sure looks happy, Kaiba growled, nodding at the man who had spoken to him. "Go ahead. Start."
"Thank you," the man sniffed, rising to his feet and opening his laptop, preparing to make his presentation.
Atem eased into the room, disappointed that the seat beside Kaiba had already been taken, but it was only because he'd wasted a few extra minutes wiping himself down, because a co-worker passed him and sported a painful boner after catching a whiff of his scent.
He had been chased down and drilled with questions about who his delicious new Omega mate was, and it had taken a while to shake him off.
Irritated, Kaiba tried to listen to the man talking, but all he could focus on was the way Atem kept staring at him heatedly from across the table, his angular violet eyes melting the skin off his face.
Yep. As predicted, this meeting was going to be agony. No amount of suppressants would ever end his suffering.
The directors all stood up one by one, giving their reports, and Atem began to sweat as he wondered if he should disclose his mistake to Kaiba privately, or here, in front of everyone in the meeting. Privately was better.
"Atem?" Kaiba asked, tapping his pen impatiently against the pad in front of him. "Hurry up. We all have somewhere to be at 5."
A lie, but he needed to be anywhere but here.
Atem nodded nervously and stood, prying his laptop open and staring at the chart he had opened on his screen.
He squared his shoulders back and reported his numbers with pride, earning several admiring looks from his neighboring co-workers and impassive blinking from Kaiba across the table.
"…And that concludes my team's progress this week," Atem announced firmly, and a light applause smattered around the table.
"Great. Everyone is dismissed except for you," Kaiba said, and there was shuffling as everyone hastened to exit the meeting room, eager to end their workday.
Atem grimaced and sat back down, waiting for everyone clear out while he listened to his heart thumping wildly in his chest.
Had Kaiba somehow found out about his horrible mistake? There were cameras all over the building…
Either way, it wasn't going to leave his conscience until he told Kaiba about it.
"Atem, you smell very nice today," a man to his left praised, and Atem spared him a half-smile, feeling Kaiba staring daggers into him.
The room finally emptied and Kaiba made sure the last person had disappeared down the hall before he rounded furiously on Atem.
"Give the sample back," he said, rising to his feet and hoping he looked as angry as he felt.
"I'm sorry, I really am—" Atem began, but Kaiba was having none of it. He circled the table in a flash and held his hand out expectantly.
"Give it. Back," Kaiba growled through gritted teeth, his head spinning as he caught another whiff of Atem's musky pheromones. This was not one of their colognes, because he'd personally sniff-tested every single one in the privacy of his own home, expecting to have a reaction, and when he didn't, he deemed it safe for production.
Here, he was reacting badly to Atem's scent, which meant this Alpha wasn't wearing one of their colognes. How shitty.
"I'll pay you for the damages," Atem said desperately, holding his hands up defensively. "You can take a chunk out of my paycheck for as long as I live. I'm extremely sorry!" And he bent himself down into a low bow, his ears burning red with humiliation.
Kaiba swallowed thinly and withdrew his hand, wondering why Atem was suddenly acting so remorseful.
"You spilled it on someone?" Kaiba guessed, his anxiety rising when he saw Atem shake his head and look up at him imploringly with his large, violet eyes.
"I may have…bonded to it," Atem whispered, his stomach curling at the horrible admission, and hung his head again, unable to look Kaiba in the eye.
Kaiba's knees weakened, and he grabbed at the nearest chair, sitting heavily down into it while his world came crumbling down.
Atem…did what?
"I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. It just happened," Atem ranted furiously, keeping his fists tightly clenched at his sides while he remained bowed, staring at the tips of Kaiba's shiny dress shoes while he continued to apologize profusely.
"It smelled so good. Your engineering is amazing. The scent makes me crazy. I know this mistake will cost you millions if you ever want to manufacture it for the public to use… Everyone has been complimenting me on good it smells, and I can't take it! I feel extremely irritated and protective!"
Kaiba stared intently at Atem's spiky hair, wishing the man would just…disappear.
How did he break a bond with an Alpha?
Murder usually worked.
But he couldn't openly murder a man who worked for him.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
And Atem was still talking. He would not shut up.
"…So please let me make it up to you, in any way I can!" Atem said, straightening up out of the bow when his lower back began to ache.
"Yeah? How the fuck are you going to do that?" Kaiba hissed, seeing green every time he blinked.
Bonded! Atem had…inadvertently bonded them together! All of his efforts to keep Alphas at bay, the one second he'd let his guard down, this man had bonded to him. Fuck everything. And now this Alpha was trying to make it up to him in the most Alpha way possible, by offering…? His life?
"Let me bring you a homemade meal to show you my appreciation," Atem said quietly, still unable to look Kaiba in the eye.
Kaiba let out a delirious, barking laugh and pointed at the door.
"No. You're just going to poison me. Get out," the CEO growled, his body burning with resentment the longer Atem stood there, looking remorseful, unaware of having ruined his entire fucking life.
"I really am…sorry," Atem whispered, and slipped the vial out of his blazer pocket, setting it on the meeting table before he turned to leave, forgetting his laptop and notes in his distress.
His mind was filled with turmoil.
He was going to be fired for this offense.
Definitely. If not tomorrow, then the day after.
Based on that interaction, he was sure Seto Kaiba would draft up a severance package and fire him, so every minute he had left at this company was now extremely precious.
He'd gotten too comfortable with the CEO, and in a moment of poor judgement, he'd thrown his wonderful job down the toilet.
Author's note:
short chapter but bombshell. Womp womp atem accidentally bonded to kaiba lmaooo but it was so totally kaiba's fault for making a sample out of his own scent? Like come ON that was SUCH an omega thing to do kaiba please you are baiting atem into your b*tthole