Page 15 of Fever

Motherfucker. She bailed.

I cross the house in two strides and step outside, only to run right into Christy. He screeches, drops everything he’s carrying, and flails his arms before I catch him, righting him. Today, he’s wearing a turban on his head. A thick slab of eyeliner or eye shadow—I don’t know what the fuck that is—makes his brown eyes bug out. He opens his peach-glossed mouth.

I glance at his shoes. “You’re gonna break your legs.”

“Not if people aren’t running into me.” He sniffs and waves a hand before his nose. “Good Lord. Fever is upon me. Don’t tempt me, pretty boy.” He pinches his nose.

Christy is a male Omega with an affinity for male Alphas. He smells the scent reserved for my Omega.

I give him a black stare. “Seen Leah?”

He lifts a bundle of clothes. “Delivering her clothes, shoes, and new haircare products.”

“She’ll get hair things on Thursday.”

He lifts the bag. “I’ve spent the day researching. What do you think about this?” He points at a bottle.

I stare at it. “I don’t know. My mom wears her hair natural.”

“Your mom?”

“Yeah.”

Christy sighs. “I’ll ask Leah.”

“Who is where at the moment?”

“With Anna in the main break room. I am disturbed that you don’t know where your Omega isat all times.” He giggles as he pushes past me and enters the apartment, then stops and turns around. “Pheromone overload. You smell good, Hordesman.”

I press a hand on the wall and slide the door closed, then proceed to the office building in the Stronghold, climbing all the way to the top and walking straight for Raven’s office. The doors slide open, and I stand there like an idiot, having just realized I walked here on autopilot instead of stopping at the cafeteria. I’m losing my mind.

King Tayseer, who is my uncle, turns away from the window. Raven lifts his head from the hologram on his desk. “Yes?”

“Fucking autopilot.” I spin around and glance at Raven’s secretary, Tamika, on my right.

“Morning, Sotay,” she says.

“Morning, T.”

“The girls are downstairs.”

“Thank you.” Apparently, everyone but me knows where my Omega is, and I’m just walking around lost like a Telean in a combat cage. Passing the pussy lift, I take the stairs and emerge downstairs, where Dreikx pours inder, a Telean drink. In the same way that humans need coffee, Teleans need inder to wake up or, in Dreikx’s case, to stay awake.

“Where is she?” I bark.

“Put a little more force into it,” he deadpans. “My eardrums are not bleeding.”

I take a deep breath and count to ten. My uncle Loven taught me that. Otherwise, Dreikx might have died many years ago.

Dreikx points upstairs, then hands me two cups. “You just missed them. The princess takes her inder with sugar. I don’t know about the new Omega. Sugar is upstairs. Tamika will show you where.”

I glare at him.

“Off with you.” He waves me away and sits down at the table with Mike, his head of communications.

Mike sips his inder. “Good luck.”

“Why?” I ask.

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