Page 98 of Chosen Beta

Whatever we learned about each other last night, he’s gone back to the Alpha-hole stranger who looked at me with angry eyes when we met.

He shakes his head, not saying a word.

I move past him, yank the door closed and lock it while he’s uncomfortably close and blatantly fuming at me. His heavy breathing is weirdly satisfying.

He pissed me off when he refused to get out of the room last night.

Getting him to feel some shred of that same ignored anger makes me feel better.

He can’t stand me, and I don’t want to be around him.

That’s how things need to stay.

I don’t know him.

I don’t know his pack mates, either.

All I do know is I have an important job to do, and I can’t let anyone keep me from making sure I’m doing everything I can to protect the Omegas under my care.

So, I steel myself for another day spent cutting through administrative red tape, and I slip my phone into my pocket as I move away from my bedroom door.

Owen falls into step behind me.

I stop and turn to him. “Don’t tell me you’re coming with me to my office?”

He grunts and nods.

Typical caveman Alpha.

“Fine. You have paperwork to fill out, anyway.”

It would be stupid to let my emotions get in the way of having the staff I need in place at the academy, and, so far, I haven’t had any red flags raised about his company.

I need to be smart about the choices I’m making.

The reality is, I don’t know this guy and I shouldn’t have automatically believed he must be trustworthy, just because he’s a part of Ezra’s pack.

He helped remind me I have enemies.

I don’t know where those enemies might come from, or what tactics they might use.

Refusing to leave my side as if I need that kind of protection from anyone is weird.

Pete left my office when I asked. He respected my need for privacy.

Owen doesn’t want me out of his sight, or out of earshot.

I don’t know what that’s about, but I intend to find out.

I lead the way down the stairs and along the medical wing’s corridor, forgoing my morning coffee because I’m too irritated to have to stop and deal with anything extra.

Owen catches me up and holds the door open for me that leads out to the reception area.

It feels like an empty gesture. He might be polite about little things like that, but he’s not the courteous type in general.

I lead him across the reception area toward my office, slowing down only to sort through my keys. When I get to the door, the breath is knocked out of me as he wraps his arms around me from behind and lifts me off my feet.

Shock scrambles my brain.

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