Page 73 of Forget

“Okay, yes,” I sigh, reaching down to pull out my laptop. Everest was right, I do have rocks in my bag. “I’ll put an ad up for it.”

Working together, the three of us set up an ad for Omega’s Haven to find a website designer.

“I hate the weird limbo between the end of one year and beginning of the next,” I confess. “So many people take time off, which makes it hard to find help.”

“I know, but hopefully, this will find its way to the right person,” Wren says. “Now that Ambrose is dead to the world, and Shaw and Everest are probably having a beer, as they babysit the roast, spill the tea. What’s going on with you?”

“With what?” I ask blankly, scanning the ad one more time before hitting submit. It’s a general job post on one of Minneapolis’ newspaper websites.

“Wren and my heats overlapped and then you fell off the face of the earth too with yours,” Flynn reminds me. “What’s with this mystery scent that’s your scent match?”

“I still haven’t figured out who it is,” I admit, closing the laptop and putting it away. “I’ve been sleeping in my nest with the pillow and the doors closed too because I can’t sleep without it. God, I feel like a scent stalker. I only wear my pheromone scent blocker gel now when I leave the house, and don’t reapply when I know I’m done for the day, so I can get another hit. This can’t be healthy.”

“You’re an omega,” Flynn says in a deadpan voice. “Prepare to feel twitchy, and start looking for that scent everywhere. Ugh, you’re going to get pissy, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think so,” I drawl. “Do I look pissy now?”

“No, you look like you,” he admits. “How are you compartmentalizing yourself so well?”

“I’m used to it,” I sigh. “Alpha scent blocker gel, extra strength panties, the whole shebang are my norm since I’m so used to working as a bartender. I found out very quickly that I am aroused very easily.”

My last words are said in a hiss as my cheeks flame, and Wren and Flynn chuckle.

“That’s normal,” Flynn says. “I promise it is! You’re nineteen, so an alpha winks, and you’re going to perfume. Because our designation has their heats after the age of eighteen, it’s like an extended puberty.”

“See, I had so much going on while I was sixteen on top of my body wanting to jump every cute alpha in sight, I went the easy route,” I grumble.

“Meh, I don’t think it was,” Flynn says. “Survival of any sort is the best kind. You found what worked and I’m proud of you.”

Blinking rapidly, I nod. Shaw steps into the room, eyes growing large as he sees me.

“I’m getting the ice cream,” he mutters, turning and walking quickly away.

“My dad hands me the ice cream and plots the murders of people who made me cry,” I divulge, laughing as I swipe away at my tears.

“I already liked him, but I think he’s amazing now,” Wren says. “Too many people are mean to you, he’d end up having to kill a lot of people.”

“Dinner is in half an hour, don’t overdo it on the ice cream,” Shaw says, handing me a pint of chocolate fudge and three spoons. “Wren also isn’t wrong. People really need to stop underestimating you, Aisling. I am definitely going with you two if you’re meeting with that organization.”

Popping open the top, I sink my spoon into the dessert with a small sigh. I’m like an addict who needs her next hit, and I don’t even care. Sticking my spoon in my mouth, I pass the carton and two spoons on.

“I think it’s the idea that a young omega has the ability to create what you and Wren have that scares people,” Flynn says, taking the carton from Wren once she takes a bite. “No one likes to have their noses rubbed in the fact that they’ve been failing an entire group of people.”

“And that’s exactly what’s happened,” I sigh, glancing out the window as the Edison lights in the backyard twinkle as the snow starts falling again.

All I can do is hope that it stops at some point.

My phone buzzes as Shaw leaves us to chat, and I check my messages.

Dr. Alys:

Are you still available to have your session tomorrow?

“Shit,”I mutter. “How did I forget that was tomorrow?”

“What?” Wren asks, taking the carton back from Flynn. I love that they don’t mind my quirks. They both lean into them because they have their own.

It’s nice to be accepted.

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