Page 48 of The Omega

But Ken’s words caught up to me as he stepped into the hall.

“Wait,” I said. “Did you say dates? As in, plural? Today? With both of them?”

“Don’t you worry about any details,” Ken tried to reassure me, and failed. “The guys are taking care of this.”

“They better be, after the stunt they pulled last night,” Clara growled. “Also, does everyone just talk over you like that and ignore what you say?”

“It’s fine.” I didn’t bother to point out the irony in her question.

Not when I had more important things to focus on. Like a date with both of my mates today.

The almost-empty pill bottle of heat suppressants sat on my night table, staring at me like a mocking joke as Clara and Jesse started arguing again.

I don’t have enough.

Or—hear me out—you could not take those last ones today…

19

Atlas

“She hasn’t had it easy,” Alpha Journey Morganton told me over the phone.

I knew that and I wished I didn’t.

It’d be easier to imagine Opal as a princess. Untouched and set apart from the cruelty of the world as she sat in her ivory tower, waiting for the day I found her.

But I’d seen it in her eyes. The weight of a survivor. It was a look I’d dealt with often in my life. I’d phoned her Alpha today as part of my research, half-planning to challenge the old wolf.

He turned out to be a decent Alpha, though.

“I can see that.” I stood on the back patio, just past the pool, staring into the woods beyond. “My plan is to make her life as easy as possible from now on.”

“Are you asking my permission?” The old wolf chuckled a little. “From an Alpha, that’s a first.”

“That wasn’t my intention, but I am now,” I said.

“I heard about you and the Volk Pack. Seems whispers travel all the way out here,” Journey said.

I cringed, turning to look over my shoulder, but the camera crews weren’t listening into this call.

There’d be something exciting to film later.

“All rumors,” I said.

“Rumors,” Journey echoed. “We’ll leave it at that. And yeah, you have my permission. Treat that girl right or I’ll castrate you.”

Ouch.

I chuckled. “Will do.”

I hung up the phone, already planning the details for the rest of the day. Journey hadn’t given me much information and I’d been hard-pressed to find more online about Omegas, but I had an idea of what I was going to do.

It involved peeling back her layers one by one and getting to know my mate. Then I’d convince her to leave this show with me before her heat took over and bring her home where she belonged.

And if everything went perfectly—despite the truce we’d made—Opal would forget Dorian Bailey ever existed.

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