Page 31 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

“Nature makes some creatures prey,” she said, gesturing to the animal heads on the wall, “and some creatures predators. Is it fair that deer don’t have teeth and claws to protect themselves? Is it fair that wolves can’t survive on grass, like deer, that they are forced to put considerable effort into chasing down and slaughtering their prey in order to survive? Is any of that fair?”

“No,” I said, pulling the shirt over my head. “No, I guess humans made up the idea of fair, didn’t we?”

“That’s true enough,” she said.

“We try to make things fair,” I said. “With the way we structure things in civilization. We at least try. I don’t want to be a spoiled brat who forces however many alphas I can attract to cater to my every whim.” The shirt looked good. The stretchy fabric hugged my breasts and waist, but I felt balanced because of the sleeves. I surveyed myself in the mirror. “I like this one.”

“Yeah, it’s good,” said Ilse, coming up behind me. “Okay, you’ll wear this.” She grinned at me. “And you mustn’t think of it that way. You can’t understand how gratifying it is to please an omega. This is my purpose in life, you see. Even this, giving you this shirt for tonight, sorting this, it fills me up in a way I can’t quite explain. It’s what I was made for. Don’t worry about your alphas. They want to serve you. It’s what they were designed to do.”

I considered that. “But then… what am I designed to do? Just to be placated? To have an unending well of needs that can never be fulfilled?”

Ilse smiled at me. “Does that sound awful?”

“A little bit,” I said. “Yes.” It was passive, for one thing. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be passive. Maybe I wanted to do something active for myself now and again. And I couldn’t shake the feeling it was selfish and somewhat megalomaniacal. I was an omega, and did that mean I had to be a demanding person? Did my alphas want that from me?

“Hmm,” she said. “Well, I’m going to get Cole to talk to you at some point, then.”

“Does Cole do things for you?” I said.

“Besides give me a purpose in life, anchor me to the earth, and make me happy?”

I snickered. “All right, all right. I see what you mean.” I surveyed myself in the mirror.

“It’s about something else, isn’t it?” she said.

“I was hoping… with Dmitri… that maybe I could help him in some way. But I only seemed to make him, well, worse.”

“Oh, Dmitri, he’s…” She shrugged. “You can’t worry about him.”

“I have to,” I said, turning to her, very serious. “He’s definitely going to be my alpha.”

“Yes, I suppose.”

I turned back to the mirror. “You think I should order him around? Make him do things to please me?”

She laughed softly. “That wouldn’t be an awful strategy, I don’t think.”

“I think he’d hate that,” I said.

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “He is an alpha, however.”

There was a knock on the door. She went over and opened it. She held up a pair of strappy shoes with a chunky heel. “Try these on.”

“Where did these come from?” I said, crossing to take them from her.

“This is what I was texting about when we were on our way here,” she said. “What? You think being an alpha princess doesn’t have perks?”

I grinned at her.

johannes

THE OMEGA MADE a lot of noise about being shy.

She said she didn’t like crowds and that she didn’t like when people looked at her and that she was happier at home. She talked so much about it on the drive over to the club that I started to get worried that I’d made a mistake setting this up at all.

But then, we got there, and she wasn’t even finished a fourth of her drink before she was eyeing the dance floor with a glint in her eye that looked downright eager. Before I could say anything, she whispered something to Ilse, who gave me a look of near triumph, and seriously? She had an omega, what was she doing with mine?

The two women went out on the dance floor together and they were there for a long time before Aurelie came back to me, giggling and happy and scenting like a field of wildflowers, and pulled me out to dance with them.

---