Page 123 of Chosen Beta

“Owen’s here,” Pete announces, a second before the office door opens.

I jump down from the filing cabinet. “Finally!”

Oh, wait, that sounded kind of rude.

Lana looks amused, thankfully, but Pete’s shaking his head at me.

“Uh, I’m not really good at sitting around being quiet or whatever,” I admit.

“Seriously, you can all leave,” Lana suggests. “I have a lot of work to do and honestly, it’s a distraction having you guys in here. No offence.”

“Pete’s staying,” Owen tells her, in that arrogant almost-a-command Alpha tone of his.

Oh, she doesn’t like that tone. I can see it on her face.

She sighs. “I don’t need …”

“Let us worry about what you need,” Owen interrupts. “Do you have a spare skeleton key?”

“Uh … no. I only have mine.”

“Can I have it?” Owen asks.

Hah.He thinks he can walk in here and tell her what to do and she’ll give him whatever he needs. It’s not going to be that easy. She’s not a walkover.

She frowns at him. “What for?”

“I need to check out the building, do a risk assessment.”

“There are places you should avoid,” she starts, sighing softly. “Alphas aren’t supposed to be here unless it’s necessary. There are too many Omegas in the building. This is why we only hire Beta security.”

“I know,” Owen holds out his hand. “You have my word that I’ll be careful. I only intend to walk around the outside of the building, and the common areas. I know the levels with the inhabited rooms are off limits.”

She still doesn’t seem certain, and I can feel her annoyance that he’s being bossy about it.

“I’ll do the assessment, if it’s important that it’s not done by an Alpha,” Pete offers, making Owen glower at him.

It’s not something Pete’s been tasked with while Owen’s around, but when he’s busy it’s the kind of thing that still needs to be done. He’s not completely new at it.

“No,” Owen says, before Lana has a chance to say a word. “It needs to be me.”

“You guys are going to drive me insane,” Lana mutters.

She gets to her feet and takes her keys out of her pocket.

“Erika on reception can give you a map of the building. They’re in her desk drawer. If I hear anything back about you setting foot on the first floor …”

“You won’t,” Owen assures her. “I only need the key so I can open any doors that might be locked on the ground floor areas while I’m walking around. Classrooms, and whatever else. I need to see what this place looks like to know how to protect the people who live here.”

Lana takes a strange looking key off her chain, and hands it over to my Alpha.

“Don’t even think about trying to make a copy of that. I want it back before the end of the day, too, otherwise I’ll be cancelling the contract I signed for your company to be here, and I’ll have my existing guards’ body-search all of you before they walk you out of the academy grounds and you’ll be banned from ever coming back.”

She’s being completely serious.

Protecting the Omegas here means everything to her.

Owen straightens up as he takes the key out of her grasp. “You have my word.”

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