Page 29 of The Faceless Omega

She had to wet her mouth to find her voice. “I felt totally, completely normal on the way to work that morning. She badgered me on the bus, even jabbed me like she was pushing something on me, then disappeared. And then … a few hours later, my heat hit.” Thathadto be impossible. Brinley swallowed again, harder. “She—that woman—was aFate?”

Lennox’s frown faded until his lips had twitched in the upward direction. He rubbed his thumb over the side of her neck. “Congratulations, baby. Not many people can say they’ve met a living goddess.”

Brinley groaned and slumped against him. “I’m going back to bed. Wake me when life gets normal again.”

Lennox chuckled. “Nope. We have a lot to do today, and if Fate herself is on our side, there’s no reason not to move forward.”

Brinley let her fingers curl into his shirt. “Shouldn’t we be worried about Matilda?” All the crazy stuff aside, she still wanted to throttle the bitch.

A low hum vibrated his chest and Lennox gave her a brief, comforting squeeze. “I don’t think so, no. I have the distinct impression she’ll be losing interest in us today.”

She didn’t comment on that, because she suspected she understood his meaning. The angry part of her was downright happy about it, but she knew that would fade. She knew some type of guilt would follow. So she allowed herself a moment, while she could acknowledge the feeling, to remind herself the guilt wasn’t hers, either. She hadn’t made Matilda do any of the stupid things Matilda had done and she wasn’t responsible for the consequences of those actions.

She snuggled closer to Lennox’s side, breathing him in. Ultimately, she would always choose to keep him with her, and living.

Lennox rubbed his hand over her side. “We should get started,” he said. “I want to set you up on all of my accounts, we need to get you out of that apartment, we need to talk about what you want to do for a public marriage, and in the next day or two you’re going to have to meet my family. Before all of that, I have to teach you the security system.”

She caught herself gaping up at him again. He was running full-steam ahead. She supposed she wasn’t actually surprised by that, but she’d been too distracted to think about any of it, either. Finally, she dragged in a breath, rested her hand on his chest, and said, “Whatwewant to do for our marriage ceremony, you mean.”

He smiled warmly. “I’ll be there every step of the way.”

Epilogue

Four Years Later

Asalonelygirlstruggling to understand herself, bouncing in and out of foster homes as if she were cursed, Brinley had dreamed of nothing more than stability. She’d fantasized about a brighter, friendlier, warmer world in which she had a place where she belonged, a place where she mattered. Eventually she’d thought maybe she would play a part in creating that world, if only in some small way.

As a bonded omega, wife, mother, and businesswoman, Brinley recognized it might be unrealistic to say she was having any impact on the state of the world as a whole. But she had certainly found her stability. Even on the hectic days.

She lowered herself into the seat across from the stiff-shouldered younger female whose face matched the photo in the file she had skimmed not an hour earlier.Not that today’s allthathectic.Birthdays were always a little extra in their household. Lennox was over the top in everything and she suspected he was teaching their toddlers to be much the same. She was hardly one to complain, though.

Brinley cleared her throat before she could lose herself in reflection and offered a smile to the woman who’d applied to intern under a team of their more seasoned agents at Eureka Destinations. “Good afternoon, Ms. Todorova. I’m Brinley Mitchell, I’ll be conducting your interview today.” She paused just for a beat. “Would you like anything to drink before we begin?”

The other woman shook her head briefly. “No, thank you, Mrs. Mitchell. Ma’am.” She cleared her throat. “Tanya’s fine.”

Brinley kept a tight rein on her ill-placed amusement. She wasn’t actually more than a year older than Tanya, and having long-since lost her need to bother taking daily hormone suppressants, the awkward social dynamic between them was reversed what it would have been under other circumstances. Because one deep breath was enough for Brinley to be sure that Tanya was, of all things, herself an alpha—an alphashifter. But Tanya was a civilized shifter, and in this place, Brinley had all the power.

Well, most of it.

Brinley pushed those thoughts aside, inclined her head, and dove into the reason they were both seated at the understated mini conference table. “I know you’ve been through this in your earlier interviews, but if you would humor me, I’d like to hear from you why you’re interested in this position.” Tanya’s education background was vastly different, not that Brinly didn’t understand how a person could be compelled to change career interests over time. It was still relevant.

Tanya nodded. “Honestly … it was my friend’s idea at first.” She offered a tight-lipped smile. “My best friend travels way more than a person should, and Eureka Destinations is her favorite company to use whenever she goes somewhere unfamiliar. Which is at least once a year. So when her bestie—me—was looking for a better work situation at the same time as she happened to hear about an employment opportunity opening up here, she more or less walked me through the door herself.”

This time Brinley let herself grin, just a little. “That is sweet,” she said, “but I’m forced to ask, doyouwant this position? Because I’m sure you understand, there are people who do.” She’d interviewed four just that morning and had another five lined up before dinner.

Tanya nodded again, sharper. “Yes, ma’am. I might not have considered it on my own, but sometimes we all need a push to see what’s good for us. That’s the benefit in another perspective. And now that I’ve learned about it, and paid attention, I’m very interested in pursuing this opportunity. That’s why I’m taking up your time today.”

Fair enough.

Brinley flipped open the slim folder she’d brought with her and proceeded to dive into the questions she’d prepared for the interview. It was her job to test the final string of applicants, and later she would sit down with the department head and argue for whichever candidates she wanted pushed through. She almost always won those arguments.

The hour passed quickly and the door swung open while Brinley was in the middle of thanking Tanya for coming in.

The alpha female’s eyes widened with visible surprise and her shoulders stiffened again.

Brinley scrunched up her lips and tilted her head back as Lennox rested a hand on her shoulder. “You’re interrupting.”

He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You looked about done.” He inclined his head toward Tanya. “Thank you for coming in, Ms. Todorova,” he said smoothly. “Someone will be in touch in a few days.”

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