Page 23 of Claiming Their Omega

He probably can’t wait to get out of here and away from me. No doubt he’s cursing his chivalry right about now. He was just trying to be generous and let his pack mates take me out for a bit and instead he’s saddled with helping get an Omega to the local ORD.

Their scents are the strongest in the room. Stronger than those of my family. I could recognize my family’s scents while deaf and blind, but the other side of that seems to be I’m so used to them that I don’t really register them anymore.

The Alphas, though… not even Aiden’s scent, a virile Alpha of the same age, can even begin to compete with these four. It’s like their scents are an invisible cloud surrounding me. What’s worse is that I’m not even angry about it. I mean, I am, but my body doesn’t agree. My body wants them. It’s a low-grade heat in the pit of my stomach, and I know it could turn into a wildfire if I’m not careful, burning me up alive.

You’re being ridiculous. A wildfire? Yeah, right. It’s just the hormones, nothing more. My Omega hormones are going haywire after all these extra years dormant. Plain and simple.

Still, I can’t escape their scents. I wish I could ask them to leave the room, but if I did, I’d have to explain why I was asking, and I’d just make everything more awkward—for everyone else and especially myself.

The fact that everyone would probably be so understanding only makes it worse.

God, I hate this. I liked being a Beta. I wasn’t at the whim of my body and biology. I was free to be whoever I wanted, do whatever I wanted, free from the societal constraints that are placed on Alphas and Omegas. I didn’t need to worry about finding a pack or an Alpha to mate with, or signing up with the ORD and going through the whole audition and mating process.

I had so many plans. William breaking up with me sucked, for sure. It hurt me a lot. But it didn’t wreck my entire life. It didn’t stop me from having my job or pursuing my career.

This does.

I have no idea if I’ll ever be able to achieve my dreams now. And that makes me tear up into my coffee.

There’s a polite knock at the door. Everyone jumps.

Aiden and Dad look at each other. Cade glares through the window.

Jesse stops pacing. “I’ll get it.”

Aiden and Dad both looked relieved. They don’t seem to want to leave me.

Jesse goes into the foyer, and there’s the door and quiet voices, then he returns with two people dressed in ORD uniforms, very obviously the officers we called.

“Grace?” the first officer says, zeroing in on me immediately. It can’t be hard to tell who the Omega is, Aiden smells like Alpha all over and my mom and grandmother are both far too old.

I finish my coffee. “Yes. That’s me.”

The officer smiles. They’re both women, and this one has a long braid and a kind face. The other looks a little more stern, tall and blonde with broad shoulders, but her gaze keeps flicking to the Alphas so I think she’s more here to protect me if anyone tries anything. You do sometimes hear stories—abusive people who try to mate with an Omega before she can be properly presented, things like that—so it doesn’t surprise me if this woman’s ready to throw hands.

“We’re glad we could come and get you. We’re sorry to hear you had a rough night of it.”

“We weren’t trying to hide anything,” I blurt out quickly. “It was just super late—”

“You’re not in trouble,” the officer laughs a little. “You’re all fine. We understand this is a disruptive time in people’s lives especially when you present later.” She smiles at everyone else. “I know this is a difficult time, and we do have information on our site and brochures to help you while she’s away from you.”

Mom takes the brochures with a shaking hand. That makes me weirdly feel a bit better—I don’t want my parents to get even more upset, and if she sees me crying, that’s definitely what will happen. I have to be strong for my family.

I put down my coffee. “Do you know how long all this will be?”

“It depends,” the office admits. “We’ll take you to where you’d like to be presented, which will of course be you and others, so there will be some scheduling. And then we’ll have to see if an Alpha or Alpha pack chooses you and you also choose them. The Omega always gets a final say in whether you want to do a trial period with the Alphas.”

The trial period can be weeks or months if I’m remembering correctly. At the very least I’ll be out of work for a bit.

“We were told during the call that you’re actually based in New York City,” the official goes on. “But this is your hometown. We’re happy to arrange for you to fly to New York and do your presentation there if you prefer. You could theoretically go to work while living with whatever Alpha or Alpha pack with whom you choose to carry out a trial period.”

I inhale slowly, then exhale slowly.

It’s tempting to choose to go to New York for my presentation, but then I’ll be far away from my family. I have friends in the city, both from work and just from around my apartment, but some of them are intertwined with William and I don’t want to deal with that mess. I don’t know how supportive they’ll be about this whole Omega thing.

On the other hand, I know my family will be there for me, waiting, even if I have to go to the ORD office and deal with the center.

Additionally, I don’t want to deal with any Alphas I don’t know. Yes, I know I might find my random true love—or true loves—at the presentation. It’s what all Omegas hope for. But I’m not going to take that bet. I don’t think I’m going to walk down the aisle, lock eyes with a man or group of men, and suddenly feel an electric connection.

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