Beau:
What’s happening? Should we do a call?
Alve:
I can’t call right now. I found my scent match and she’s obviously in crisis. I don’t know what to do. I’m waiting for her to come back out.
I stepped closer to them, both my omega and the staff member she was talking to pausing and turning to me. “Sorry to interrupt, bu?—”
“I’m so sorry! I’ll get out of your way.” The omega shuffled to the side, trying to collect herself.
“No—”
“Are you buyingbothof those?” She tugged at a section of hair, twirling the ends nervously with her fingers.
I was caught off guard by her question and looked down at the pillows in my hands. “I… was still deciding.”
“They have different undertones so they won’t go as well together. You need to pair the warm and cool undertones or they’ll look off.”
“Uh, actually, I was going to ask if there was some way I could help? You seem”—I swallowed hard—“distressed…”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Unless you can manifest a place for me to live and a job for me to pay for that with, then no, you can’t help.” Another broken sob. “Sorry, that was mean. I’m not having a very good day.”
Wild thoughts spiraled through my head. I had a nest in my home, one I’d been slowly building in the hope that fate would bless me one day. I wanted to be prepared for an omega, even if I never got one.
Some people had vision boards.
I had a vision nest.
“I could actually help with both things.”
She stared at me for a long moment.
The beta staff member nudged her behind him. “Why don’t we have some introductions before you start making offers?”
“Oh, um, yes, I suppose that would be reasonable.” I held my hand out to him, and then to the omega—her hand was impossibly soft in mine—giving a slight bow of acknowledgement. “My name is Alve Sato. I run the Omega Housing Initiative in Las Vegas with Beau Carlton.”
“I’m Madison.” The omega stared at me with her bright brown eyes. “I thought the OHI hadn’t finished their new construction? I can’t live there if it’s not done.”
“Oh, you’re correct. The new construction hasn’t begun. We’re still fighting for land space, but I do have an apartment you could move into. It’s fully furnished, and comes with a nest.”
Was that weird to offer? It was probably weird. Too much, too soon, but the nervous energy tumbling through my body wasoverriding the intense filter usually in place when I met new people.
She visibly perked up, her brown eyes still shining with tears. “Really? I wouldn’t be stealing it from someone who needs it more?”
“Maddie, I think being kicked out with nothing qualifies you as needing it,” her companion gently admonished. He turned to me and offered his hand for me to shake. “I’m Jude. District manager for Las Vegas Best of Nests. I’m glad to meet someone else interested in making sure omegas are cared for.”
“Good to meet you. We worked together last year, I think, but never got to meet face to face.”
Jude nodded.
“How does the apartment work?” Madison asked. “What paperwork do I have to fill out? I don’t even have my ID.”
Words tangled on their way from my brain to my tongue. She was too pretty and smelled incredible, the sharpest edge of her distress fading from her scent the longer she stood with us. “We can worry about paperwork later. You need a safe place to stay and I happen to have one.”
Jude looked at me shrewdly. “You have to know that sounds suspicious. A conveniently furnished apartment with no paper trail being offered to an omega in a desperate situation?”
“I… Okay, I can understand that. I swear there’s nothing nefarious. I can certainly have paperwork done up, though I don’t have anything ready at the moment.”
