She heaves an exhausted sigh. “Okay, let’s go. We’ll drop this off first and then head over to the, um, are they in the restaurant?”
The kid nods.
“Sebastian’s the alpha in our match, right?” I ask, feigning curiosity and following after them. I’m not going anywhere but where they are.
She jumps like she had forgotten I was there. Rude. “Oh, um. You don’t have-”
“I would love to accompany you on your daily chores,” I say smoothly and use the puppy dog eyes, the innocent grin, and let my sage, lemon, and browned butter scent turn light and sunny as I silently try to look as cute as possible.
Her scent surges in the air in response to mine, turning deeper, more mysterious, full of allure, and I know that no matter what she pretends, she is not immune to me.
She blinks at me; the brown in her eyes has darkened until her eyes look black. Cordelia doesn’t look scared, though; she looks like she wants to step into me and lick her name onto my skin. I am all levels of okay with that. “Um, okay, then. Imogen, this is Fox.”
The girl stares at me, unimpressed. She’s got a pink top on and is wearing shorts and flip flops.
“Aren’t you cold?”
She shrugs dismissively, but doesn’t answer me.
“Shall we?” I suggest with a smile. I am in way over my head. I pull out my phone and send Katsu an SOS.
Cordelia leads us straight to the Sandy Heart Café. Yolanda smiles at me as I enter and hold the door open for the omega and her friend.
“Fox, good morning. Where’s Katsu today?” Grigori shouts as he pokes his head through the kitchen door.
I grin easily at them. “He’s off having meetings and running the empire. I am having all the fun escorting the lovely Cordelia around.”
Grigori snorts and gestures for me to come over. “You get to be my guinea pig.”
“I like them; they are cute and fluffy.”
The shop goes silent, and I realise everyone is watching me, but most importantly, she’s smiling at me.
Yay!
“Right,” the teen says slowly and does some weird eye-waggle thing at Cordelia. My neck burns as I duck my head, furious at my slip and the teen who makes me feel so stupid.
“Be kind, Imogen,” Cordelia admonishes.
Grigori hands me a takeaway cup. I take a sip and moan. It is warmth and liquid gold in a cup.
“What is this?” I moan, and when he reaches for it, I dance several steps back and keep it out of reach.
I moan again and turn, freezing at the shocked and stunned expression on Cordelia’s face. Her eyes track my every movement. I could jump up and down, I’m so thrilled, but then she recovers herself and looks away.
“Honeycomb chocolate, we’re experimenting with flavours for the Light Knot Night dates.”
“You should add a dark chocolate straw,” I moan, and then, because I am nothing if not a decent alpha, I hold out the cup to Cordelia.
She shakes her head.
“Come on, just a sip. They need our expert opinions.”
She raises an eyebrow. “I’m not an expert.”
“Sure, you are. You drink beverages, don’t you?”
She blinks, and when she smiles, I realise she’s got this dimple on the left cheek, and her eyes crinkle at the sides in a way that transforms and steals all the worry from her face.
