Hell, this whole thing is me trying to respect her wishes. Still, when Warren mentions her, I can’t help but think back to that night. The memories flood me faster than ever, something they usually did only when I’m awake in bed at night.
Warren was on the other line, saying, “Dude, just keep an open mind. I know finding an omega isn’t something you want, but… as an alpha who was in your same shoes not too long ago, take it from me: sometimes you don’t get a choice. Fight it all you want, but if you come across the right omega, you’ll know, and there won’t be anything you can do to stop fate from kicking down your door.”
It was still odd to hear him talk like that. For so long, he’d been closed off and kind of angry in a psychotic way. When he and the others found Mercedes, things changed rapidly. It’s how it always went: when an alpha found his omega, his entire world changed.Same thing happened with Pax.
“Yeah, yeah,” I huffed. “I know.” I glanced around me. I stood in a long line of alphas, their scents thick in the air. We were in a line before the grandiose Omega Garden building downtown, a large thing made of mostly glass on its exterior, that took up nearly the entire block.
Never thought I’d be here. Never wanted to be. This whole matching ceremony… it wasn’t my scene.
“You can do it, buddy,” Warren said, and I could imagine him smiling like a fool when he said it. He’d seriously been in such a good mood since Mercedes; it did make me wonder if I’d be happier somehow with a mate.
My mom would never let me live it down, though. TheI told you soshe’d tell me would go down in history as legendary.
“I’ll see you Monday,” I said, mostly so he couldn’t say anything else, and then I ended the call and slipped my phone into my pocket. Again, I glanced around. All around me were other alphas I didn’t know, wearing their finest.
Me? I suddenly felt underdressed in my all-black ensemble, but whatever. The thought of a tie wrapped around my neck was stifling.
Eventually, the line began to move, and pack by pack, the alphas in front of me were checked and escorted into the building. When it was my turn, I already had my identification out, and since it was only me, it was a quick process.
A beta was ready to bring me inside the building once I was given the all-clear by the one checking IDs. The kid bowed his head to me and said, “Please follow me.” He spun on his heel and went inside, and I was right behind him.
I was like a horse with blinders on. I didn’t stop to marvel at the fancy interior of the entryway of the building. My escort led me down a path marked by red carpet. We eventually turned down a hall, where a set of double doors were. The double doors were propped open, and soon enough we stepped into a ballroom, where tables were set up all around.
This whole thing was like a speed dating service, only for those with money.
I wasn’t loaded like some of these alphas clearly were, but my job was well-paying, and I had no life outside of it, so there wasn’t much to do with my excess money other than invest. I had the Alabaster finance guy help with that, and things kind of spiraled from there—but in a good way. I could afford to take care of myself and my mom easily.
I surveyed the ballroom, thinking something along the lines of:Well, here goes nothing.
I did not expect anything to come out of the night, even when I started meeting with the omegas stationed at every table. I was here to meet them, to get to know them, and if something happened to click, then I was supposed to pen an offer, which the woman who ran the whole thing would deliver to the omega and their sponsor.
Writing an offer wasn’t something I planned on doing, but I promised my mom I’d try. It was the most she could hope for.
Really, I wasn’t expecting anything. Not much at all.
I was sitting at a table with a pretty blond omega and her sponsor—one of her fathers—listening to her father talk about their old bloodline, when something hit me. Not literally, but damn near close enough. If I wasn’t already sitting down, I might’ve felt a bit lightheaded.
The air in the ballroom was full of scents. Now it wasn’t only alpha scents I had to reckon with, but also a cacophony of omegascents. They all smelled nice, of course, but none really tugged at that primal part of me they say an omega’s scent should.
Until that moment.
Whoever it belonged to, it made my gaze unfocus on the two across from me as I surveyed the ballroom again. I spotted an omega with blue and black hair sitting a few tables away, currently being approached by a pair of alphas, though she looked beyond bored.
“Excuse me,” I said, cutting into whatever the sponsor across from me was saying as I stood up and wandered away. A rude thing to do, but I owed him and that omega absolutely nothing.
I neared the table, which was why I overheard the omega with strands of blue in her dark hair say, “Listen, before you two say a single word, you should know that you won’t be able to win me over. Maybe you think I’m easy-pickings because I don’t have a sponsor with me, but let me assure you: I will not be having any conversations tonight in good faith. I’m only here because I have to be, not because I want to be, so why don’t the two of you just get right back up and go find another omega to talk to?”
Damn. I could see the alphas go rigid when she said that. They exchanged looks.
The omega wasn’t quite finished yet, though. “If you two don’t get up right now, you’ll just be wasting everyone’s time. And based on the fact that you’re wearing suits from three seasons ago, I’d say you’re already late.”
She sounded mean, like she wanted them to leave—and what would you know, she got her wish as the two got up and left. She was so fixated on making sure they left she didn’t even see me before she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
Was this omega really someone I wanted to sit down and talk with? I didn’t see a sponsor anywhere, which was very out of the norm for this place, it seemed. Then again, your typical run-of-the-mill omega was also meek and coy, not confident and firm.
But her scent was stronger than ever now that I was closer to her. A warm, sweet smell laced with peppermint.
Fuck it. Let’s see what she had to say about me.
