Page 3 of Fur-Ever Home

The sinking pit of disappointment in my gut was nothing new. I'd felt the same way when I'd been kicked out of my wolf pack. When I'd sided with an omega over the alpha pack leader, even my blood family disowned me. All for an omega who wanted a year to find his fated mate before being forced to mate with me.

I'd been on my own ever since.

Life had gotten easier since Hank and I met five years ago. First, we'd sold a phone app to a venture capitalist firm, and then we'd used the money to buy NFT software to manufacture our own tokens. Crypto was our big moneymaker, though. On top of our commissions, we were making more money than we spent on things like private jets and European vacations. Hank was a genius with money!

I was just the chump who had trained all our salespeople to do what I do. Being dumped by my friends felt worse than being abandoned by my family. "He swore everything was fine when we left."

"Come on, Connor, it's not so bad. You'll land on your feet, like Hank said."

My eyes stung from the compliment, and I sniffled. Instead of defeat, something delightful caught my attention. I sniffed again and zipped my fanny pack shut so nothing would spill.

"Gotta run!" I patted Derek's shoulder and hopped from my stool, almost knocking it over in my haste. "I think I smell my fated mate!"

The other shiftersin the bar and the outer lounge must have heard my declaration. Applause broke out around me as I made my way to the restaurant's entrance to the airport proper. I gave a slight bow before stepping into the crowd scrambling for their gates. Weather delays always made the airports hectic, and harried folks did not good sales make.

I sniffed again, trying to determine the direction of the scrumptious omega who had captured my full attention and completely distracted me from losing my job.

Well. Almost. Hank's callous behavior still hurt, and hearing about it from Derek the newbie was even worse.

Fuck. I couldn't tell which direction he'd gone. I raised my nose in the air and turned a full circle, hoping my wolf nose would find him.

"Oof." Something hard and person-sized ran right into my back.

"Sorry," I said, "I'm looking for?—"

"You big oaf! Get out of my way!"

I turned around to face the most gorgeous human omega I had ever seen in my entire life. He had olive-toned skin, dark hair, and a smoldering brown-eyed glare as he knocked the handle of his aquamarine rolling bag against my fanny pack. "Move! I'm going to miss my flight!"

"What gate?" I asked.

"Fifty-nine."

The one halfway across the terminal. I grabbed the handle of his bag, but he refused to let it go. We both ended up dragging it behind us as we walked to the nearest moving walkway.

"If I miss my flight because you won't let go of my bag …"

"How much time do you have?" I asked.

"Twenty minutes."

"That's plenty of time."

I helped him onto the walkway and kept walking. He balked at first, almost falling flat on his face, but then he kept up with me as I weaved through the folks standing still or meandering along like tourists. Nothing against tourists, but I had a mission. I would get my human omega to his plane, and then I would do whatever I could to go along with him. Hell, I'd hitch a ride in the cargo hold if I had to. I was not letting him get away until he knew what he was to me.

When we reached gate fifty-nine, he relaxed a little. "Thank you for helping me … I don't even know your name."

I held my hand out. "Connor McKeeler, New Money International, the top provider for all your NFT and cryptocurrency needs."

He blinked. "That would be zero." He shoved his hand in mine. "Benjamin Satler, Financial Manager at Barclay Foods. Nice to meet you, Connor."

I kept shaking his hand, hoping his scent imprinted on me from such a small touch.

He cleared his throat. "Connor."

"What?"

"Give me my hand back."

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