Their meanness and the betrayal of others had caused him to become a near recluse.
“Just the diner for dinner or something, right? Then we come home,” he confirmed.
Holt nodded. “Yes. Just dinner.”
Vaughn blew out a breath. “Okay. I’m in. Let’s see if this Katie is our omega.”
We talked about her all throughout the making of dinner. Vaughn wanted to know everything and we told him.
Once he saw her, we would have to talk about what to do next.
Chapter Seven
Karissa
The next day, I was scheduled for a split shift of breakfast and dinner due to another server needing to switch for an appointment, so I took advantage of the opportunity to visit the library and do a little research. With a few days in Pleasant under my belt, my flight instinct had chilled a little. At least enough to consider that driving in a straight line until I had some feeling I’d gone far enough might not be the correct plan.
Pleasant, if only it lay farther away, would be a great spot to live. I already had a job, and from what customers said could easily find a place to rent. They hadn’t said that to me directly, but I’d grown to understand that unless I was taking their order or otherwise interacting about their meals, they didn’t seem to remember that I was there and had ears. I could be refilling their water and overhear the most intimate details about their lives. Redhead blushing for the win.
One of the lunch guests the day before had been talking about having an ADU available for a very reasonable price, perfect for me, if only I didn’t have to continue on my way before someone came to drag me home. Being blacklisted for mating didn’t make me any less capable of hard labor or any less property of the pack.
As I approached the white-framed one-story building, I shuddered at the punishment that would be mine if they found me. Life had been anything but sunshine and roses before, but the last female who attempted to escape still wore the scars of her “redemption” years later. I couldn’t allow the charm of this town and its residents—particularly a couple of hot alphas—to seduce me. I couldn’t mate either of them even if they wanted me. The Omega Bureau had reached their decision after a seriesof humiliating and debasing tests that proved me unable to be marked. My wolf snarled at the memory.
The library door was open, and I entered to find an elderly male seated behind the desk just inside. Possibly an owl? I hadn’t been around enough other types of shifters to be sure, but his eyes, made even larger by round glasses and way of moving his head, reminded me of the birds themselves.
“Welcome.” He placed a bookmark inside the book he’d been reading and set it on the desk. “You’re new here.”
“I am just here temporarily,” I told him. “I hope that doesn’t mean I can’t use the facilities?”
“We are open to everyone. But of course, you’d need a library card to take a book or video with you when you leave the building. Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“D-do you have computers here? I need to do some research.”
“Oh yes, we do indeed. We are very modern here.” He pushed his book aside and pulled a small machine toward him. “I’ll just be needing your ID so I can enter it into our system, and then I’ll take you to the computer center. Do you have experience using them?”
ID? Oh no. I’d been calling myself Katie and was working for cash, so I hadn’t had to reveal my real self to anyone so far. That flight instinct came soaring up again. I pretended to search my purse. “I’m not sure I have it. Can’t I just use the computer for a few minutes without it?”
He folded his hands in front of him, shaking his head. “Oh dear no. I’m afraid that’s quite against the rules. We have to follow all the regulations or we might lose funding. Then where would we be? Libraries have to fight for everything nowadays, you know.”
“That’s terrible. They are so useful.” At least I thought they were. I’d only ever managed to get into the one in the town nearhome a few times while in town with a group of other omegas on a shopping trip. “You must get so frustrated with that.”
“Indeed. But, rules are rules.”
“Yes.” I’d been subjected to so many of them myself in the past. Generally they were only to the benefit of the alphas in the pack. “I don’t know…”
“Why don’t you look more carefully,” he encouraged. “I bet you find it. It sounds like you really need our services.”
“All right.” Why did I have the impression he could tell I was prevaricating? Was the wisdom of owls not just a fable? “I think, yes, here it is. You were right.” Both in my having it and needing their services. Continuing blindly across the country, I could end up somewhere really bad instead of a town like Pleasant. Surely it wasn’t the only one where I could be happy.
I handed it over and he slid it into a slot in the machine. It beeped and popped my license back out. He passed me the card. “All right. Now, I need you to look at the screen in front of you.”
I looked down and saw a flat device. “What is it doing?”
“Nothing yet.” He tapped his keyboard and words filled the screen. “It’s the agreement you have to initial and sign that you won’t use our computers to do anything illegal or”—he lowered his voice—“naughty. I know a nice omega like you wouldn’t engage in such things, but…”
“Rules are rules.” I skimmed the agreement that went on for hundreds of words, initialing and finally signing with a finger. “All done.”
“Very nice.” He stood up and came out from behind his desk. “Right this way, my dear. It’s a quiet day, so you should be able to work undisturbed.”
