Page 3 of Such a Shy Omega

I tried one more time. “We can make those changes here, just fine, and not betray half our staff.”

“But we can’t make maximum profits that way. Everyone else is doing it.”

“How much money do you need to be happy?” He’d never been like this until recently. His new mate might have something to do with it. They were living a different lifestyle, more suitable to the rich and famous than his old ways.

“I want to be a billionaire.”

Of course he did.

We resolved nothing at our meeting, and I left the folder Doug handed me on the conference table. Patel and Scott were still undecided, Doug was adamant, and I was disgusted. It was our new way of being. And it sucked. I really missed the old days when we lived on pizza and Mountain Dew and dreams.

Chapter Three

Heath

Since Grant wanted me back in a couple of hours, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I always hated that saying. Who wanted to kill birds with stones anyway? Not me, but I found myself using the saying anyway.

I had a few things to do in town. One being a visit to my new bank. I’d set the account up online, but you had to visit the branch in person to verify identity. If I moved my legs fast enough, I would just make it in time before they closed.

The summer blistered outside and I wasn’t looking forward to leaving the air-conditioning, but there were things that needed to be done. I got on my phone on the way out of the club and made a list simply to get all those things out of my head and onto paper—or digitally out of my head as it was.

That’s when I ran smack dab into a wall.

A wall of alpha.

I took a second, closing my eyes and humming from the way his scent wrapped around my chest and made me feel like I’d stepped into a home I’d never known. His scent was tobacco and dark cherries and oak. There were more mingled in, but those were the scents that hit me first.

“I’m so sorry. I almost made you lose your balance.” His large hand gripped my elbow, sending tingles rushing along my skin.

“No. Me. Sorry.”

It would’ve been nice if I could’ve formed a full sentence in front of this god.

He chuckled low and dark, stirring up all kinds of reactions from my body. “Hello. What’s your name?”

I looked down, thinking my name was on my shirt, but I’d taken the tag off in the booth.

“I have to…” Before saying anything else, I ducked out of the club through the front entrance and started walking with new fervor. Get away from the alpha. Get away from anyone. Especially one who hooked me with just his scent and that beckoning voice. Nope. I wouldn’t be reeled in by any alpha tricks.

And I knew them all.

Never mind that the man I’d run into was the handsomest and sexiest alpha I’d ever seen, and really never mind the way my wolf called out to him from inside me.

My wolf was just needy. Alpha Ramsey said all omegas were—that was why it didn’t matter about Fated mates. We were all walking horn dogs. Funnily enough, I thought the same thing about alphas, in general.

They all wanted one thing and one thing only. Not a mate but a breeder. Not a partner but someone to take care of them. Cleaning. Mopping. Cooking. Nothing more than an employee position if you asked me.

I arrived at the bank and verified my identity. Not that I really wanted to. I wondered if Ramsey would track me through my social security number or through my identity. Either way, Cuffed paid by direct deposit, so I had to have an account. If Ramsey showed up looking for me, well, I would have to cross that bridge when I arrived at it.

Sighing, I looked in my wallet. I had enough to get me through the next week or so until I got paid, but not in an expensive way. I had to watch my pennies. Freedom was worth it.

I ducked inside a convenience store and picked out a banana and a chicken salad sandwich. Not much, but I’d lived on less under Ramsey’s rations.

Outside the store, there was a bench and, though it was hotter than the devil’s breath out there, I didn’t want to return to the club with my measly dinner, making people worry or give me looks of sympathy. There were plenty others in this world who needed the sympathy of others. Those who hadn’t escaped like I had.

“That’s not enough for a thin omega like you.” A man sat down next to me.

So much for a quiet dinner.

---