“Is it?” he asked, his words interrupting my perusal of his lean body.
“Is it what?”
“Is this seat taken?”
Josie snorted and I blushed, realizing he’d had to repeat his question.
“No, it’s not,” I responded.
He flashed me a brilliant smile and sat down, setting a briefcase on the table in front of us. I took a surreptitious hit of his scent—it was faint, marking him as a beta, but I got a hint of something floral.
Josie elbowed me in the ribs.
“Ow,” I hissed, turning to face her.
“He’s cute,” she mouthed.
I rolled my eyes and pursed my lips, looking straight ahead.
“I’m Henry.” The laughter in his voice told me Josie hadn’t been as discreet as she thought.
“I’m Westin,” I said, turning to face him. “I haven’t seen you at a meeting before.”
“It’s my first time,” Henry said. “I’m a lawyer for the government and Lucy asked me to join, since what you’ll be talking about today has a lot of legal implications.”
I hadn’t seen Lucy yet, the government-appointed beta liaison, but then, she always ran late.
“How long have you been a member of the ORC?” Henry asked, his eyes warm and totally focused on me.
“Since the beginning, so I guess close to a year.” I wished I had chosen a cuter outfit this morning instead of jeans and a sweatshirt. I subtly touched my hair, hoping my bun wasn’t too wild.
“That’s awesome,” Henry said. “Are you from around here? I only moved here a few months ago from Sol.”
“Yep. Lived in New River my entire life.”
“That must mean you know all the best spots for dinner,” he said, a slight blush on his cheeks.
Josie covered her laugh with a cough.
“Do you need a cough drop?” I whirled to face her.
“No, I’m fine,” she said innocently, even as her eyes watered from laughter.
Before I could say anything else to Henry, Lucy entered the room.
“Alright, I know I’m late, so let’s jump right in since we’ve got a ton to discuss today.” The middle-aged beta was carrying multiple stacks of paperwork, leaving a trail of dropped papers in her wake. Initially, I’d been skeptical of her with how disorganized she was, but I’d grown to like her. She took our concerns and feedback seriously, and I knew she fought for us infront of the legislature. Whether or not they listened was another story.
“The main item on the agenda today is the new pack interview process,” Lucy said.
A hush fell over the room, and I sat up straighter. The pack matching process had completely stopped after the government overthrow, and it was time to open things back up again.
“Our main goal today is getting your feedback on the policies and procedures guiding the process,” she continued.
Josie stiffened beside me, the tension in the room almost tangible. All the omegas here had experienced some level of abuse from our forced stay at the Designation Academy, and talking about this brought back bad memories. I grabbed Josie’s hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.
“With us today is Henry Williams. He’s a human rights lawyer serving as legal counsel on this project.”
Henry stood and gave everyone a cute wave. “Thanks for having me here. I’m going to present the bill the legislature drafted to get your feedback. I have copies here.”
