Page 31 of Mark & Don't Tell

An omega.

But not just any omega. Although most omegas smell good, this scent is...rich and welcoming. It’s sunshine and lying in a hammock on a warm spring day. It’s a campfire crackling. It’s a warm hug.

No. This isn’t some random perfume.

Is it our scent match?

Kai’s eyes say a hundred things.

Let’s find her now.

Fuck this meeting.

Where is she?

What would Vic think?

Fuck.

He should be here. He’s pack. No matter how hard he tries to break away from us, that fact will always be true.

Kai shakes off whatever he’s thinking and finishes his introduction. Mandy, our account manager, gestures to the two chairs at the front of the table, and I drop into mine, covering my mouth with my hand as I search the room. There are at least a dozen Moon & Rock employees here. They’re all clustered together on the opposite side of the table, except for a few.

One smug-looking alpha is sitting the closest, but I don’t even spare him a second of the attention he’s so desperately seeking.

Mandy is already ruled out. Her scent is a different sort of floral, rosy, and wholly unappealing in comparison to the smooth, simple richness of the lavender. It’s so distinct. Kai’s hands are under the table, but I catch him clenching and unclenching them, clinging to his professionalism when I’m sure he’s as desperate as I am to go around the room and smell each one of the employees.

He would never. Only the evil eye Kai sends my direction has me tempering the urge to go for it.

Fun sucker.

“Veronica,” Mandy says with a smile.

A young woman with bright red hair stands, hands shaking as she sets a board on the stand and turns toward us. Lemon and sugar. Can’t say I’m not relieved. I’m sure Veronica is nice enough, but she looks like the type of omega who sat in the front row and wanted to be president of the debate team.

Maybe I’m being too judgmental, but there’s so much you can read from a person simply by the way they hold themselves. When one doesn’t have a lot of friends or company growing up, one gets used to people watching, and with people watching comes knowledge.

My gaze skips over the rest of the room, but everyone is listening to Veronica present.

Surely, our match realizes we’re here. Right?

My attention snags on blonde curls and pretty hazel eyes. She’s adjusting her top. A nervous tic. Is she hiding from us? I picture myself fisting her hair as I drive my cock inside of her cunt and—force myself to look away before I think too hard about it being her.

Godammit, there are too many people in this room.

A growl rumbles deep in my chest.

Veronica trails off with a squeak.

Kai glares at me. Get it together.

Fuck. He’s always been better at keeping his reactions under control, but the little vein on his forehead tells me that even he is struggling.

“Uh, thank you, Veronica,” Mandy says. “That was wonderful. Arnold, why don’t you go next?”

“Of course,” the smug alpha says as he stands and shoots us a cocky grin. “Prepare to be amazed.”

“I think we can move on to the next presentation,” Kai says coolly.

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