Page 10 of Briggs
“You absolutely should talk to him,” Dr. King said. “He’s an enforcer, and he knows things have happened to others that are here on Treasure Ridge. I’m not sure what all he knows about you, other than you are an omega that happens to be his mate and you work here in the omega clinic.”
I blinked at Dr. King. “Oh. Yeah. He might have already read my file.”
“It’s possible. You won’t know for certain unless you talk to him.”
“Do you think he’ll be upset? Or worse, disappointed?”
“He’s just discovered he’s been gifted a mate,” Dr. King said. “I know of no alpha that has ever been disappointed when they’ve been gifted a mate. I’m sure there have been some, but Briggs did not look as if he was one of them. In fact, he seemed as if he was quite excited about meeting you and getting to know you.”
“Really?”
Dr. King chuckled. I could only stare off toward the doorway where Briggs had gone. It wasn’t fair that such a gorgeous alpha had been stuck with me. Why would the fates do that?
“Would you like me to go talk to him? Would that make you feel a bit better?”
It took a moment for my brain to register what Dr. King had said. When it did, I nodded. Maybe if Briggs understood a bit about me first, he wouldn’t be so disappointed, and I wouldn’t have to see it. Dr. King left the break room and disappeared into the hallway. I could once more hear voices out there but couldn’t understand what they were saying.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I looked down at my lunch that I’d been eagerly waiting to eat, but now my stomach was saying the last thing I needed was to eat. No, my body was saying go to Briggs and talk to the alpha. I knew I could do that. I talked to alphas every day. Even if an omega came in for an appointment alone, his alpha almost always showed up before the omega was brought back to see Dr. King. That meant I was around alphas and was forced to talk to them.
But they belonged to other omegas. They weren’t interested in me even a little. I was just the omega that Dr. King was stuck with, who couldn’t use a computer very well. I was trying, and now that Dr. King knew and realized what my issue was, he had offered suggestions for helping me learn how to use computers. There were others that could tutor me, or if I really wanted, I could go back to school and not only complete my high school courses but also learn computers at the same time.
That had been the most tempting. Until now. Suddenly, it hit me that Briggs was given me as his mate. Me, the omega who didn’t even finish high school. Actually, I’d never been to high school. We had all been homeschooled in the pride, and learning about computers was definitely not in the curriculum.
Footsteps pulled me from my thoughts, and when I looked up, expecting to see Dr. King, I saw Briggs. He truly was a gorgeous alpha. When Dr. King came in behind him, I relaxed.
“I’ll grab my lunch and leave the two of you in here to talk about a few things,” he said as he stepped around Briggs. “If you need me, Todd, I’m going to be just across the hallway in my office.”
I nodded slowly. He was leaving me in here with Briggs. I wondered if Briggs was his name or a nickname. Oh. Maybe it was his last name? It sounded like it could be a last name.
Dr. King left the room, leaving me alone with my mate. He offered a smile and took a step forward before he stopped and held out his arm. “Do you mind if I sit?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m sorry, I should have said as much.” I took a deep breath and let it out as Briggs took the chair that Dr. King had been sitting in not too long ago.
Briggs sat, then smiled before he held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Briggs James,” he said. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
My first thought to that was nope, not a last name. But maybe still a nickname? He continued to stare at me while I looked from his face to the arm that was stretched out to the middle of the table. I finally remembered my manners and reached for the hand. It was warm, much larger than mine, and had a few calluses on it. Did he spend a lot of time in his shifted form? I had a few spots on my own hands because I’d spent so many years being forced to be in my cheetah form.
“Hi,” I remembered to say. Instead of shaking my hand—the position we were in with the table between us made that a bit awkward—he gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m Todd Nelson.” I took a deep breath. “I’m…umm…it’s nice to meet you,” I said.
“I’m glad you feel that way,” Briggs told me before he let go of my hand. “I understand you will take some time for things, and I want you to know that I have no issues with that. But I’d liketo get to know you if at all possible. Maybe take you out on a few dates or something? I can make sure we’re always with someone else until you feel completely comfortable around me.”
My mouth opened a little. Did he know? “You know about me?”
Briggs shook his head. “Very little, actually. I wasn’t on the mission that rescued you. But I was actually just in New Mexico looking into your birth pride today, ironically.”
My eyes widened. “Why would you do that?” I asked. “There’s nothing there.”
Briggs chuckled. “There’s more there than you know, but those issues don’t appear to be pride related. But the council needs to know more about your pride because there seems to be some issues with them and the fact that they haven’t registered anyone since the forties. Did you know that they never registered you or your siblings? Or any others?”
I shook my head. “It wouldn’t surprise me. They were very paranoid. I’m not sure why either, but we never left the house.” I shook my head. “We did, but only at certain times, and very little. It was stupid hot down there, so I didn’t mind staying inside too much. But it sucked that we didn’t go to school, or shopping, or really go for pride runs. It was a big adjustment when I came here and saw how things normally are.”
“I’m sure we’ll talk more about your pride if you want, but I’d really like to get to know you better. I want to know all that I can about you. Are you all right with that? Can I take you out on a date tonight? We can bring someone else if that will make you feel better.”
I was about to say yes when I remembered that I couldn’t. “I can’t,” I said. “I promised my brother, John, I’d go running with him this evening.” I sighed. “He’s fourteen, and I don’t think he’d understand that I can’t go running because I met my mate.”
Briggs smiled. “I don’t mind. If you’d like, I can join the two of you? I can bring someone else, too, to act as a chaperone if that will make you more comfortable.”
I wanted that, and my cheetah was shouting at me to agree. But would my brother be all right with that? “Are you sure?” I asked.
