Page 13 of A Real Alpha
“The line isn't around the block,” I said, speaking before she could say anything.
“Well, it'sout the door, same difference.”
She finished the latte she was making and turned to give it to the customer before returning to the till. I tried to quickly get through the drink list that had piled up. It didn't take long to get through the orders and the line finally started to dwindle—until there was one, large alpha left, lingering back.
Normally people did that when they were still trying to decide what they wanted, but this guy wasn't staring at the menu, he was staring atme.
“Can I help you?” Sage asked.
He glanced at her and then came forward, if only to look at us a little more closely.
“I'm looking for someone,” he said in a gruff voice. “Wondering if maybe he came in here. It would have been yesterday, a male omega with a baby.”
“Oh,” Sage replied at once. “There was?—”
“A lot of people in here yesterday,” I said, cutting her off. “It would be hard to remember one omega.”
He gave me a piercing look with eyes a very particular shade of blue, just like Roscoe's, and I swallowed.
“You would remember him,” he continued. “He wasn't wearing a coat or anything. He had a baby in his arms. No carrier. A reusable shopping bag...”
He waited, searching Sage’s face for some sort of sign.
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t see him.”
He looked at me.
“Me neither.”
For a moment, the man didn't budge. Eventually, he gritted his teeth, nodded, and walked out of the shop.
Sage glanced at me. “You want to tell me why you're hiding this omega in your apartment right now?” she asked under her breath.
I opened my mouth to ask how she knew, but before I could, she gave a pointed look to the bags I'd left strewn across the floor. The large baby seat box was hanging out the top on clear display.
I sighed.
“I don't have any good answers,” I admitted.
“Oscar!” she chastised. “Come on. You don't even know this guy. His alpha is looking for him.”
“That guy isnothis alpha,” I growled, surprising myself with the intensity of my feelings. Connor didn't belong to anyone, least of allhim.But a possessive voice in the back of my head screamed,mine, mine, mine!
So maybe my motivation wasn't so innocent either.
I swallowed and glanced around, lowering my voice. “Look, they're not mated and there's a reason Connor ran away to begin with.”
“Oh, he has a name now?”
“Yes, and heisin my apartment—because whatever that alpha did was bad enough that Connor was planning on sleeping in the alley out back with a newborn baby. Icouldn'tallow that.”
“You and your bleeding heart,” she sighed. “But I get it. Someone needs to take care of that omega. Might as well be you.”
Relief filled me.
Sage was a badass alpha herself who had found her fated mate early. The knowing look in her eyes suggested she had a better idea of what I was feeling than even I did.
Chapter 5
