Page 12 of Omega's Runaway Love
I stood, done with the conversation. “No. I won’t do this. It’s my life and you’re not going to force me to mate before I’m ready.”
Papa crossed his arms. “You will be able to accept or reject potential matches, but we do expect you to participate in the process. You will meet them and give them serious consideration as potential mates.”
“I refuse.”
Dad sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’d hoped that you would be more willing to take your future seriously. But I guess that expecting you to act like an adult was too much.”
“We’d discussed the possibility of restoring your access to the plane and funds, had you been open to finding a mate,” papa said. “But your attitude makes it clear that we can’t trust you to be reasonable about this.”
“So you’re just going to keep me here until you can badger me into taking an alpha I don’t want?”
“We didn’t…” dad started.
“Yes you did!” I shouted. “I’m a prisoner here until I get sick of it and give in. Well fuck that bullshit. I’m out!”
I stormed out of the room, even as my parents shouted after me.
*
“Go away,” I responded at the knock on my door.
“It’s me Zaya,” Nate said.
I sighed. “Come in.”
Nate walked in, strode to my bed and took a seat on the edge.
I scooted over and relaxed as he pulled me against his side.
“It’s not fair,” I said after a few minutes. “What gives them the right?”
He sighed. “I’m on your side, but I think they think they’re looking out for your best interests.”
“Can you talk to them for me?”
“I already tried. They’re dug in right now. I think you’re just going to have to go to a few of the meetings. Show up, don’t make a fuss, and maybe they’ll ease up on you.”
“But I don’t want to do this at all,” I mumbled.
“I know, but I don’t think you have a choice. Not unless you’re willing to walk away from any financial help. You know they’d cut you off.”
I sighed. Was I ready to go without access to the family money? My sponsorships were good, but were they enough to make things work if I had to rely on them alone? Would I continue to make enough money to support my team?
I squeezed my eyes shut. What was the correct choice? What was best for me, for my employees, and for the alpha I was sure was out there?
“Nate?”
“Yeah?”
“What would you do?”
He hugged me tighter. “I don’t know, Zaya. I just don’t know. Our circumstances are very different. And…” he paused. “Dad and papa can’t use the same tactics against me. I’d always known I was eventually going to take over the company, and when you decided to do your own thing, that meant that they had to temper some of their more demanding instincts with me. But I also headed off this kind of confrontation. When they started making noise about me settling down several years ago I told them why that was a problem for me.”
“You said you had issues before…”
He stiffened slightly, and was silent for a long enough time that I thought he was angry with me.
“Zaya, do you know the term demisexual?”
