Page 13 of Such a Shy Omega

Maybe my wolf was right. Was this my mate? Was this how it felt to be seen and loved by someone who was meant for you? Chosen from the beginning by Fate to be mine?

The alpha laughed at something. My body swayed forward, and I almost changed the lighting pattern to a strobe with one flip of a switch.

I had to concentrate.

The rest of the shift passed in a blur between my actual work and the job I’d made of watching Erik.

“Good shift,” Grant said, pulling me from watching the scene below.

“Yeah. I hope I did all right.”

“You’re really doing amazing, Heath. Go on. Get out of here.”

“Thanks, boss.”

I grabbed my bag and my jacket and stopped outside the booth door, needing to steel myself. I’d never had a drink with an alpha. Never been on a date. Never did much of anything.

Now, here I was, going to have a drink with an alpha my wolf was calling to.

Boy, how my life had changed.

Chapter Twelve

Erik

While I waited for Heath to finish his shift, I went to the bar and got a lime and tonic water then returned to sit with some of the owners and their mates at the conversation area. It was such a comfortable location, I couldn’t imagine why I hadn’t come for such a long time. Sure, I’d been busy at work and tired at the end of the day, but nothing new about that. At some point, my work friends/partners had begun to move in a different direction in their thinking, and I had more in common with the people at Cuffed.

Talon and Liam were discussing the plans for the little garden, and I settled on one of the leather chairs, interested in how that was going. I’d never been a daddy or a little, but I kind of loved the fact that they were planning to let others use the playground equipment some of the time.

“Kind of letting our inner child free,” I blurted out without intending to speak at all.

The two looked and me and burst into laughter. “I guess so,” Talon agreed. “As if it isn’t enough to have a wolf taking up space in there, we have a child too. No wonder I’m getting a belly. The child is growing.” He patted his flat abdomen and grinned.

“It’s not because you and your mate are cooking more at home,” Jabez leaned over and put in. “They’ve been watching a lot of cooking videos and trying out recipes.”

“Also, you don’t have a belly,” Liam added. “But either way, you’re willing to work off some of those risottos on the swings.”

It was so funny to think of wolf shifters who could get out and run miles in their four-legged form needing exercise, but while we were naturally more fit than humans, we could benefit from moving our bodies.

They went back and forth, working out details, and Hirsch came over and cuddled next to Liam. They were so sweet together, the alpha and his omega, and although I was happy for all my friends and their mates, usually I had the tiniest bit of jealousy as well.

But not tonight. I was taking Heath out for a drink. Heath, who my wolf was hinting at being our mate, and who I was more attracted to than anyone I’d ever met. I felt like they should all be envious of me. If they knew.

But now was not the time to say anything. This wasn’t seventh grade where I might brag that I was having tacos after school with a cute shifter from another pack. Instead, I brought the conversation back to where it had been. “I’ve been thinking about these outdoor spaces, and I have an idea or two, if it wouldn’t be butting in where I don’t belong?”

“Not at all.” Talon leaned back so Jabez could be part of things without leaning to see past him. “We’ve had a lot of members with suggestions, some good, others impossible.”

I chuckled. “Mine could go either way. What are you planning to do to make the outdoor spaces usable at night?”

From their expressions, this wasn’t something they’d put much thought into. But Liam’s eyes lit up. “Since I’ve been dying to do a garden with flowers that bloom at night or put out their scent at that time…”

“Like what?” Jabez asked. “I always think of gardens as a daytime experience.”

“Moonflowers, evening primrose, night-blooming jasmine, mock orange, I could go on and on.” He probably could too. “If we make the outdoor spaces accessible after dark… Oh, and the bridges between the buildings on the second story. Imagine looking down as you cross and seeing the flowers glowing. The scent of jasmine wafting up to you. Gardenias, some of those are amazing in the dark and…”

He did go on for quite a while until a server came over with some plates of apps they had ordered before I arrived, interrupting him.

Then he looked around, cheeks darkening. “I get excited.”

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