He smiled. “Youare a very good listener.”
“I know. Now,practice on your own or practice with family. I will see youtomorrow morning.”
Shedouble-checked the kitchen and waved goodnight to the pile ofbodies tangled in the living area, the babies held carefully by thefathers, and the omegas cuddled on the floor.
She was out thedoor and on the road in ten minutes. She yawned. It had been anexhausting day.
Chapter Two
Haravin went throughthe next two weeks in her normal routine but then came the mostdreaded day of all. She had the afternoon off to have her annualcheckup.
She went andsaw her doctor and got the bloodwork done through meditation andcalm that let the needle penetrate her skin. As soon as the needlewas withdrawn, there was a gold flash, and she quickly covered herelbow with gauze. “Got it. Thank you.”
The techsmiled. “You left a urine sample?”
“Yup.”
“Great. You arefree to go.”
She smiled andgrabbed her purse, walking through downtown and getting herselfsome ice cream because she had been a good girl to do personalmaintenance. She looked at her fingers. Maybe she could get amanicure in before she returned to work the following day.
She hummed toherself and walked over the bridge, where she found out shecouldn’t drown. She had sat at the bottom of the river for twohours before she had walked out and returned home. It seemed thatlife had something in mind for her, and death wasn’t in thecards.
Haravin walkedslowly, and when she got her ice cream, she looked to see how farshe had gotten and grinned. The museum. It had startedeverything.
She worked onher ice cream and smiled at the security guard. “Can I bring thisin?”
He nodded.“It’s fine as long as you don’t touch the exhibits.”
She beamed.“Thank you.”
It wasn’t fair.She had probably urged him to break a few rules, but it was a verynice cone, and she didn’t want to waste it. Coaxing people to lether get her way wasn’t something she did often, but today, shewanted her ice cream cone.
She paid forentry and, once again, got her way. She only had about ten minuteswith her cone left, so she licked and walked through the exhibitsand past other folk who had the afternoon to spend in a museum.
Haravin walkedand saw the same exhibit that had been there that fateful day. Shestared at the objects from the Wonder Islands and admired thejewels, the throne, and the examples of clothing made ofsurprisingly fine-woven cloth.
A voice spokefrom behind her. “Are you supposed to be eating that in here?”
She winced.“Technically, no, but I asked when I came in, and they let me.” Sheturned and blinked. Face-to-face with an obvious omega with richbrown skin and icy white eyes. The dark blond hair was cute.Diamonds marched on the outside of his ear, and he wore a necklacewith one large stone at the base of his throat.
She absentlyran her tongue around the edge of the ice cream, and he blinked.She blushed. “Damn. I didn’t mean to do that. I will throw itout.”
She took a fewsteps toward the outer gallery, and he caught her arm. He pulledher in close and smiled. “It would be a shame to waste it.”
He leanedforward and licked it, raising dark brows. “Huh. That’s reallygood.”
He leaned inagain and swiped a huge dent in it.
“Hey.” Shelaughed and tried to keep up, and then they were in a lick fightand only paused when it was down to the cone.
A deep voicemuttered, “What the actual fuck.”
The omega withher laughed. “That was fun. Where did you get the ice cream?”
“Out front.Kiosk on the left.”
“Thank you,miss. I am guessing that you know an omega?”