Page 3 of Outback Mate
“Now, now, Mary, Poppy didn’t mean any harm. Let me fix this.”
Mrs. Frame’s eyes widen. “Fix it? You can’t fix it. It’s ruined!”
My aunt reaches for her, but the Beta jumps back and rips off the black protecting gown.
“Mary, please!”
The Beta storms to the door, her sensible shoes squeaking on the tiled floor. “Good luck getting any more business once I leave a review!”
She flings the door open, and a gust of air blows in from outside, making the short hairs at the top of her face stand straight up. I grimace. Yeah, there’s no saving that fringe. The only solution is to wait for it to grow out.
“Well, that wasn’t ideal,” Aunt Jo sighs.
“I’m so, so, so, so, sorry,” I whisper, dabbing at my stinging eyes.
She leans down, offers me a hand and pulls me off the floor.
“It’s okay,” she assures me, patting my face reassuringly. “I’ll fix this, and Mary will forgive me. Eventually. Maybe. But what I’m really concerned about is you, Pops. Your eyes, they look like someone lit them on fire. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I mutter, embarrassed. The tears tracking down my cheeks aren’t only from the echoes of pain.
I’m not fine. I’ve been kidding myself.
My aura sickness is out of control. Silly, clumsy minor mistakes used to be funny. A quirky trait. Now, it’s affecting not just me, but my aunt and her business.
I’m cursed.
I can’t live like this anymore.
I’ve been avoiding it for too long.
It’s time to find a cure.
The catastrophe barely fazed Kirsty, too used to my antics to be upset, and she’s happily flipping through the latest copy of Omega Weekly.
A small advert at the bottom of the classified section catches my eye through my streaming tears.
“Kirsty, could you read out that ad for me?” I ask in a small, defeated voice.
She must take pity on me because she dutifully reads the text.
“Small Outback town seeks eligible Omegas.”
Chapter One
Poppy
Everything that could’ve gone wrong did.
First, I plugged the wrong address into my GPS, and I didn’t realise my mistake until I was an hour down the highway in the wrong direction.
Then, my air conditioning clunked out, blowing hot air into my face, causing my eyes to water and my mascara to run. Winding down my window cooled me down, but whipped my hair into a bird’s nest.
Then, I dropped the sandwich I packed for lunch, spilling mayonnaise down the front of my nice dress. I put extra effort into my appearance to make a good impression on the Alphas living in the small town of Bodella.
My aura sickness is definitely pulling out all the stops to prevent a potential match. Lady Unlucky is waving her cruel wand to make this as difficult as possible.
I channel Aunt Jo’s positivity and think it must be a sign I’m on the right path. My intuition is telling me I’m going to find a mate and a cure in Bodella.
