Then, all too soon, he left, going up one of the side aisles this time, and when the door closed behind him, everyone moved around gathering their things and heading for the door. It was such a letdown, having him gone.
Was he teaching any of my classes? I didn’t think so, but I’d have to look at my schedule.
I stuffed my notebook back in the backpack and stood up. Could I maybe catch up with him? Introduce myself? I wasn’t even sure why. Just that I wanted to.
“I’m Brin, by the way,” said the girl next to me, drawing my attention back to her.
“Oh, gosh. Harper. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself. I hope we have some classes together.”
“We’ll have to compare. Want to go get coffee and look over our schedules?”
“I do.” I did, but the crowd and the whole atmosphere had started to get to me a little. “But I can’t today.”
“Oh, all right.” She sounded disappointed, and I probably had just cost myself a friend. I didn’t want to do that…but I also wanted to get back in my apartment and hide a little. “Another time, maybe.”
“I’d like that.”
Chapter Six
Rowan
I played everything off the other night, with Lev telling us about the girl in the bakery, but I was intrigued. Lev didn’t get excited about many omegas. My packmate, while always warm and caring, was protective of his heart and us as well.
His excitement spilled over as he spoke about the encounter with the bakery beauty even though it lasted less than a few minutes.
This wolf had to find out for himself.
Scrubs on and backpack slung over my shoulder, I left the house before Lev and Miles woke up. Lev didn’t start his work until nine, and Miles had a day off which meant working and catching up on things from home. They would sleep in, and they deserved it. All of us worked hard.
I usually packed all my meals, but today was the exception. My curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to get a look at this omega.
My wolf wanted to see if he could scent her.
If an alpha found his scent-match omega, the rest was just details. Sure, it started with biology, but Fate had a hand in all of it.
I went into the bakery early enough to grab a coffee and some pastries and sit down to enjoy them. A rare occurrence. Lev had spoiled us the other day. The cherry-cheese danish blew my mind, and that was what I bit into while waiting.
On my phone, I went over appointments and got the outlook on my day. Our facility wasn’t a regular omega clinic, rather reserved for those in compromising situations who needed a place to go. We kept our database separate from the national and international omega system since most of our omegas camefrom dangerous situations. The last thing we wanted was for the abusive pack or alpha to find them.
I was reviewing some of the newest medical finds when the door between the customer area and the back flung open. A beautiful woman emerged with a tray of goodies in her hand. She placed the pastries into the case and then smiled and helped an older woman who couldn’t reach something.
I dropped my breakfast on the plate.
This had to be her. My coffee was empty, and I rarely drank more than one, but desperate times called for desperate measures. I ordered a second one and made sure the timing was right. It was more than right. Kismet. She flitted around and almost bumped into me. I stopped her with a touch on her arm, but she jerked away like my hand was made of fire.
“Sorry,” she said, squinting. Damn, she smelled good. Like citrus and sand and a day at the beach with the sun beating down on my skin. It called to my wolf immediately, though as soon as I got a hint of it, it was gone, like a murmur in the dark.
I was walking to the coffee station for a refill when I saw a prescription bottle. The label that wasn’t stuck right and instead of the usual green or orange plastic, it was black and opaque.
Fitting, since I was sure at one glance that these were black-market drugs. I picked up the bottle and took it to the table. Without doing an internet search, I knew what the pink pills inside were. We didn’t prescribe these anymore for the way they aggressively controlled an omega’s hormones, not to mention the side effects. Some omegas were unable to have children from taking these damned things.
And it explained why her scent was only a breath of what it should be.
Probably on kinds of strong scent blockers as well.
A few minutes later, she came back out, searching for something. Ah-ha.
“This what you’re looking for?” I asked. The place was at a lull and even the woman at the counter had snuck to the back.
