He shrugged, rolling his suitcase toward the closet and setting it up on a stand.
I followed his lead, rolling mine over to the second stand. I had a lot of questions for him but no starting point. Should I even ask them? It seemed wrong to be sharing a room and notget to know the other person even if only a little. Like where they came from. What they did for a living. How old they were.
Suddenly, a question blurted out of my mouth. “Why are you at the shifter lodge?”
He turned. “When they saw I was a human alpha, they sent me here. Said it would be easier for me. Or maybe they’d made another mistake and alphas, even human ones, belong here?”
“It is a weird sort of segregation, isn’t it? Having shifters at one and humans at the other,” I murmured.
“Yeah. Where I work, there’s a mix. I’m used to shifters.”
That meant maybe he liked us. Which made sense. Where else would he find omegas to claim? Human omegas were rare.
“Can I ask what kind of shifter you are?”
“Reindeer.”
He let out a short laugh. “That’s so appropriate for this time of year.”
When I didn’t respond, he added, “Sorry. You probably get that all the time, right? I have a bad habit of speaking before thinking.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong. “It’s our herd’s favorite time of year. We thrive in the cold. The more snow the better. But if you ask if we fly, that might be going too far.”
“Oh come on. Santa’s real.”
I froze. Then he broke the tension with a barrel laugh that caught me up. Soon, I was laughing, too.
Our first conversation could have been much worse.
Maybe Dale the human alpha would turn out to be a likable guy after all.
4
Dale
Aspen was a cute but skittish omega, and as an alpha I needed to tone myself down so I wouldn’t scare him off. Now that I had him for a roommate, I was already used to the idea, and I didn’t want him abruptly leaving only to find myself assigned a new roommate with less favorable traits.
We set about unpacking and spoke no more that afternoon about me sleeping on the couch. As if in silent agreement, in the bathroom, I took one sink and he took the other, our things neatly laid out to stake our claim.
From the front pouch of my suitcase, I unveiled cookies, chips, a can of cashews, and a small cheese and cracker platter. I placed them on the coffee table and said, “I brought snacks. I’m perfectly willing to share.”
Then, in the center, I placed two bottles of wine which I’d carefully wrapped in two thick sweaters. “And there’s wine.”
Aspen was just coming from the bathroom. “You brought all that?”
“Yep.”
“I was planning on a lot of room service.”
“Me, too.”
“What’s your routine?” Aspen asked.
“In regular life or on vacation?”
“Vacation.”
“I plan on sleeping in, late breakfasts, and maybe a little snow skiing.”
