Page 9 of The Omega Archives: Part One

Immediately, I shook my head. “No trouble at all. I’m glad I can be of help.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

As I moved to stand, my eyes caught on the few other things that seemed more personalized on the head librarian’s desk touched with another thick scent that made me want to sneeze.

“Do you have any other questions for me?”

“You’re mated,” I whispered before I could stop myself, the words almost not audible.

But this was an alpha. Of course, he heard me.

He grinned as if I said something extraordinary.

I should get up and leave, but my eyes couldn’t be torn away from the framed photograph on his desk.

Mr. Wolfern stood on the edge of a small group in the picture. Two other men smiled wide in comparison to Mr. Wolfern’s tight grin as if he was holding back. In the center of them all was a girl with wild, curly ginger hair. Her eyes were bright with color and laughter. She looked about my age, healthy and clean and even... happy.

“I am.” A small smile perked at the corner of Mr. Wolfern’s lips.

“You’re a... pack?”

“The Wolf Pack, yes,” he chuckled, again, cupping his hands in front of himself. “I know there aren’t too many of them anymore. Not many people pick up on it right away. We tried to come up with a better name, or just use the‘fernportion of the name, but it stuck. We’re coming up on nearly three years now, my pack and I all together. Are you part of a pack?”

“No.”

It wasn’t unheard of for betas to mate or not to mate. Omegas on the other hand?

An omega mated quickly as they headed towards their first heat which usually happened by the time they were twenty. It was a dangerous choice, as well as an unlikely one.

More recently, I had noticed the idea of more than one alpha sharing an omega a common practice with how rare omegas were becoming. Yet that girl in the photo certainly didn’t look put out. Did she?

“I’m never going to be someone’s mate,” I said.

Dark eyes blinked. Mr. Wolfern cleared his throat. “Of course. I apologize for keeping you longer than necessary. To be honest, you remind me of our omega a bit, Lidya. I know she’s been looking for friends in the area since we arrived. She transferred from her last Omega Academy on the West Coast but wanted to continue her studies. Though we understand it’s unusual for an omega to do so after they are bonded.”

“She studies?” I asked, still staring at the happy omega in the photograph.

Pride lit his features. “She has a talent for seeing art.”

“You’re… progressive.”

“Our pack does what is best for us all,” he said.

“I should get to work,” I cut him off.

He narrowed his eyes.

“I’m also sorry if I worried you at all, calling you back here,” he said, studying me closer. Something twitched in his brow and my heart stopped.

Though I took the half-blocker dose, the suppressant should’ve been enough. He shouldn’t have been able to scent anything at all. It should’ve been like he was sniffing dull air like any other beta would come across as.

He was sniffing dull air, wasn’t he?

“Well, you may head out as you’d like. Sorry to interrupt your morning,” Mr. Wolfern concluded. “But Ella?”

I felt like my heart was going to give out right then and there. “Yes?”

“I know that you mentioned that you do not have a degree in library science or archival work?”

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