Page 14 of Second Shooter

Win smiled and got her purse. After thinking about it, she took her car to the café. She might as well do some errands on the way home.

She was enjoying the attentions of a cat named Achilles when Lyric came in with two other women. One was a beta with a lot of magic around her, and the other was another Elite omega. An elf.

She got to her feet and looked up at the other elf. “You are... Keres? This is Wren. I saw you at the wedding.”

Wren reached out for her, and Win shook her hand.

When Keres reached out, Win shook her head. “No offense, but if your touch does what it is supposed to do, there will be a bit of a mess.”

“Scars stretch.”

“Not when Stronghold Elite makes the bites.”

Keres blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah. I tried once about five years ago. Hurt like hell.” She bowed with a slow flourish. “Hello. Nice to meet you.”

Keres chuckled. “Nice to meet you. So, you know what you are.”

“Oh, yes. All of my siblings are Elite omegas. My parents had a sixth sense about it and adopted us all so we couldn’t be handed over on demand. They moved here with me and then brought in my sister seven years later, and finally, my last sister was brought home. My auntie worked at a lab and got our genetics tested one by one. None of our files have information. We were all hospital surrenders.”

Wren blushed. “Sorry. I have a discovery enchantment going right now.”

“No problem. Shadow mages haven’t attacked me, so I am not too concerned with information transfer.”

Wren froze. “How do you know that?”

“I can see it. I see the energy of the soul.” She nodded. “I can see the shadows around yours.”

Lyric said, “She isn’t kidding. She did some photos of the wedding guests, and you can see their other faces. It made for an amazing pack photo with the bride and groom.” She got her phone out. “I put it on my phone.”

She brought up the image and showed it to Wren and then Keres.

“Whoa. Those are lovely. Can you do one of me and my mates?” Keres smiled.

Win smiled. “Only if your regular photographer bails. I don’t like to arrange things. It feels like folks are waiting to pounce.”

“Oh. Right.”

“I suppose I could try. The result isn’t as good as me going in cold, though.”

A staff member came around with a large tray filled with drinks and pastries. “Ladies. Park it.”

Keres smiled. “Hey, Persephone. You got away?”

“Yeah, but this is an illusion.”

Win looked and blurted, “You are one, too.”

Keres chuckled. “She is. She is restricted, though. But she’s my twin sister. She has her own den of enhanced alphas and her own omega.”

“But... she’s an omega.”

“She was stunted as a teen. She’s going to finish her evolution this year. She isn’t the only elf omega that has alpha mates. They suit her very well.”

Persephone set the tray down. “They do and are at home with the babies. I needed a break, and this was an excuse.”

Keres chuckled. “Well, you do have four at the same time.”

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