Page 14 of The Omega Archives: Part One

“Wait, stop. Please, let me help you. My alpha is inside this building right here for a meeting.” Her gaze flashed toward the building I just come out of. She waved her hand over her shoulder. “I’m sure he could help.”

“No.” Definitely not.

Whether or not she knew, I wasn’t going near any more alphas today. I reached my quota. For today… for a long time.

Forever, preferably.

I needed to get back to work and back to the safety of the archives to get my work done so I kept my job and didn’t have to worry. I had so many things to do.

“But–”

“I’m sure. Just late. And a fainter.” Why hadn’t I just gone with that before when she basically offered it be on a silver platter? “Big fainter. It’s a usual daily occurrence.”

She raised a ginger brow.

“Thank you again.” I needed to get as far away from here as I could.

Maybe I needed to up my dose of suppressants again. Or maybe it was my blockers that I cut the dose in half. If I went back to what I was taking for the past few weeks though– ugh! I could only imagine how much faster I was going to run out.

I ignored the shake in my hands as I rummaged through my bag, finding the blockers I brought with me just in case. Without pausing, I took the other half I skipped this morning.

I forced myself to breathe as I walked along the sidewalk. Each step felt like I was swaying on a ship.

I swallowed the dryness of my throat as I paused on the edge of the east campus leading further into the city.

Maybe Rita was right. I was just getting paranoid and the stress at the library was a lot lately. I needed a break. I needed to take care of myself in the ways I was seriously lacking. Food, maybe. Or coffee, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan.

Definitely caffeine.

That should help since a full break was out of the question now that I started my new project.

But…

Checking my watch, I still had nearly my entire lunch until I needed to get back to work, but it was fine. I just needed to get back to the library where I didn’t have to worry.

Making my way back, I barely looked at the person at the front desk before heading back down and getting back to where I left off on my project, researching the worthy causes alumni have donated to and backed over the years so that the bigwigs could pat their backs when they got here for homecoming.

My phone rang with my alarm signaling the end of the workday. I blinked a few times before I realized that was what it was.

Reaching for my phone, I silenced it before slowly cleaning up. Also on my phone, a message from Rita managed to make its way through this time.

At least my phone wasn’t completely useless yet.

Rita: Still have some work here. Probably won’t be home in time for dinner.

I paused my lips and sent her another quick message back that it was okay.

It was.

Going upstairs, I hiked my tote bag over my shoulder. The library was mainly empty again this time of night, with students finishing their night classes or meeting up with friends. I paused as I watched Jane already back for another shift.

She rolled one of the heavy gray carts of books towards their one display. I stared at the new books just cataloged, seeing a few that I never noticed before.

Jane peeked up at me. “Hey, how was your day?”

“Good,” I said.

She looked between me and the books. “Need a little light reading?”

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