Page 94 of Alpha’s Possession

"He knows your name."

I swallow and nod.

"As Harlow," she whispers. Tal and Bree know my real identity now, yet the fact he figured out where I work and came here frightens me.

"Apparently, he was here last night, asking about you," Bree tells me.

Now that worries me. I don't offer her an explanation. Though it makes me curious as to why he is here.

"His name is Jake. He’s the Alpha responsible for killing my sister. She took my place in his pack," I tell her. Saying that out loud makes the sickly feeling in my stomach worse, remembering how angry he was when he found out he had the wrong Omega.

"Stay up here today; I’ll have Shane stay in case he gives you a hard time," Bree tells me, giving my arm a squeeze before going downstairs. She is due on stage in twenty minutes. I hate the idea of being here by myself, but know it can't be helped. Besides, Shane will step in if he tries anything.

I set to work, trying to ignore Alpha Jake the best I can, yet he remains most of the day. When I think he is finally getting up to leave, relief fills me, but it is only temporary. Instead, he comes to the top bar, where I am. Shane, the security guard, watches him closely and never leaves my side. But his presence is becoming harder and harder to ignore.

"Are you going to ignore me all day," Jake asks.

"Yep, I have nothing to say to you," I tell him while sliding the drink he ordered over to him. He sighs.

"Does Thane know you are working here?" he asks, and my hands stop what they are doing as I wipe the counter down.

"Chill, I won't tell him. That isn't why I am here," he tells me, and I return to my cleaning.

"So why are you here?" I snap at him.

"Are you happy with your mates, Harlow?"

I glance at him. Do I look happy? I could be at work with them, but instead, I’m sneaking around behind their backs, trying to find a way out of this city that isn't going to have me eating out of dumpsters and sleeping in alleyways.

Jake moves closer and leans over the bar before whispering. "Zara sent me," he says, and I grit my teeth.

"You're lying. Your pack killed her," I snap at him, and he leans back, looking toward where Shane stands watching him. Yet as long as he doesn't try to grab me, he will remain where he is.

"No, we realized as soon as she was brought to us that she hadn't bloomed. We aren't monsters, despite what the media says about my pack."

"You knew and forced her anyway?" I ask, glaring at him. Jake shakes his head.

"Once an Omega is bought, marked, and mated, a pack can't take another; Zara bloomed the next day," Jake tells me, looking around. "Think about what I am saying, Harlow," he whispers, unbuttoning his shirt. He jerks the collar aside, revealing his neck.

"We waited, would have waited forever if need be. She begged us to save you. Said that you promised each other to never be separated. The only way for a pack to have two Omegas is if one is dead," he tells me.

"We gave her my serum when she bloomed. I tried to buy you for her. When I found out Thane used his last serum on you, I convinced her to let you stay with him. He is a good man, and I knew you would be safe with him. But then you killed his mother and went on the run. We have spent the last two years searching for you, hoping we would find you before he could get his hands on you," he tells me.

"You're lying. Packs can have more than one Omega. And even if what you're saying is true, how did you get away with faking her death?"

Jake sighs.

"Why would I lie, Harlow? As for your other question, I can’t tell you here. Too many ears. But ask your mates. The laws changed three weeks before Zara came to us. They made it stricter. Once marked and mated, that is the only Omega for the pack. No new ones, and those that do take another are heavily penalized."

"So, Thane can't take another Omega?" I ask him.

"Not unless he wants to pay over a million dollars in fines. Not that he can't afford it, but why risk it when you have his last serum running in your veins," Jake tells me, buttoning up his shirt.

"Omegas are becoming rarer. It is also why the council is so quick to chuck Omegas into rotation these days, trying to bring population numbers up. One thing goes wrong, and an Omega is forced into the rotation—parking ticket, arrears in rent—the council has become desperate. I wouldn't have been able to bid on you had they known Zara was alive."

"You could just be saying all this. Those marks could be from anyone in your pack," I tell him.

"I could be, but when I saw you, saw how frightened you were, I stuck around. I found out you worked here. I knew once Thane figured out who you are, he would want your head."