Page 26 of The Accidental Assassin's Mate

“Did. He died.” I conveniently neglected to mention Sutton.

“And you support yourself now?” He was fishing. Of course he was.

“If you can call scraping by supporting myself. Some days I think I should find a pack, but mine doesn’t want me back.” I leaned in and faux whispered, “I mated the wrong species.”

That got me a nod of understanding, and our conversation ended as a few people came in behind me, young and filled with giggles. They had no idea what was about to happen.

I didn’t either. But at least I knew the end game and was prepared.

“Drinks are around the corner.” An alpha I hadn’t met ye, pointed.

“Thanks.” I wove my way through the few omegas, having no intention of drinking anything.

Pretty quickly, I noticed the omegas wore the same necklace. If this were a regular nightclub, I’d have thought it was a trend. But it wasn’t a regular nightclub.

And these omegas looked broken, fake smiles plastered on their face, but also fear just below the surface.

“Hi, I’m Rave,” I said to a group of omegas, forcing a smile.

They nodded.

“I like your necklace.”

They looked to each other before one said in a very low voice, “Thanks. It was a present.”

“Cool. Can I see it?” Maybe I could figure out what was off about them.

The omega shook their head. “No. It stays on all the time.” They paled and rushed to add, “I mean, I don’t like taking it off.”

“It stays on,” another put in.

“Well, it looks great on you. I’m going to grab a drink. Want one?” All of their hands were empty but each declined.

I went to the bar, grabbed a drink, and pretended to sip. It smelled not quite right. The contents would stay in the glass, as I’d already planned, but at least I had a prop as I wandered through the crowd again.

The music was loud like at any club, but the energy in the room wasn’t right.

I found a couple of omegas without necklaces. Like me, they were hoping to find their match. And, unlike the other omegas, they seemed happy to be there.

“There are hardly any alphas,” one whined. “I could be at Stan’s for dart night. They might not have forever alphas there, but I’d at least know I’d come before the night was over.”

Dating was weird.

“They said the alphas come later,” an omega with red hair explained. “They follow the human model—give the omegas free entrance, free drinks, and appetizers, then the alphas show up.”

“What else did they tell you? Because they’ve given me no information.” I didn’t want to sound like I was prodding, but also, I needed to prod.

“Not much.”

“I tried to leave because it was boring, but they gave me this.” A brunet held up a gift bag. “They said, ‘Stick around. It’ll get better.’”

“Can I see? I didn’t get mine yet.” Assuming it was meant to be a favor.

Inside the bag was a necklace like the others wore, but thinner, with a slip-on clasp.

“Did you get one too?” I asked the others.

Only a couple had.

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