Page 99 of Altius
Jacobi tiptoed back down to the ground level and raised his brows at her. She mouthed something I didn’t catch before heading to her suite.
“Yes, I’m available for an interview. Just let me pull up my calendar.” She closed the double doors with a decisive click behind her.
“Who was that?” Wyatt asked.
Jacobi flashed a knowing grin as he started up the stairs once more. “Oh, no one special. Just the human resources department of Garroway Forest.”
“Fucking perfect,” Wyatt spat, crumpling the PheroPass paperwork and throwing it on the table.
Cal provided context for the rest of us. “They’ve got one of the best omega athletics programs in the country. It was Morgan’s first choice for her fellowship.”
Alijah slumped in his chair. “Oh. What if she…”
Wyatt stalked around the kitchen island, his restless pacing the physical manifestation of our collective emotional state.
Joaquin let out a low whistle and refilled Cal’s coffee. “We’re fucked, boys. In more ways than one.”
Twenty-Three
Morgan
“Oh, that’s cute.” Alijah stopped in front of a resale shop downtown, peering through the window at an indigo cardigan embroidered with silver stars. “Would that work for Kelsey?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Not sure about the size.”
“Won’t know unless we try.” Hooking our arms together, Alijah pulled me into the shop.
He’d been like this all morning. Friendly and open, the perfect shopping partner—as if our weeklong sex-fest had never happened.
His normalcy irked me, except that it shouldn’t, which only made it bother me even more.
An amused Joaquin took his sweet time following us inside, carrying his mate’s shopping haul and one bag of gifts for my parents, wearing his customary aviators and a winter coat.
Would he notice if his aviators went missing? They didn’t seem to be branded, but that didn’t mean they weren’t expensive. Did he put his leather jackets away for the winter? Could I bribe Wyatt to steal one…
Groaning internally, I paused in a quiet corner of the store, leaning against a pillar while Alijah chased down a sales assistant.
Heat hangovers were the worst, and my omega’s obsession with stealing clothes from the guys—notmyguys, thank you very much—had yet to wane. I was all kinds of sore and running on fumes.
At least I didn’t have a headache.
Joaquin stopped beside me, resting an elbow on a jewelry case, and said, “You don’t have to humor him.”
“But I appreciate the help.” Straightening my glasses, I gave him a wry smile. “Shopping’s not my strong suit.”
I would have been in major trouble if I hadn’t discovered a gift idea list on my phone last night.
Couldn’t remember starting it or what some of the notes meant, but at least it reminded me that Rory wanted a 3D printer, and I’d won both the make-up set and spa sessions Piper wanted at the ballet’s fall gala silent auction.
Alijah returned with the sweater, beaming as he held it out. “Isn’t it pretty?”
It was. And very much Kelsey’s style. After checking the size tag, I nodded with satisfaction.
“Perfect.” Draping the sweater over my arm, I added, “At least it gives her something to open Christmas morning. Can’t gift wrap a piano.”
“She plays?” Alijah asked, perusing a display of winter hats.
“Mhm, and very well at that. Used to practice on Jacobi’s piano. Know she’s been missing it.”
