Page 23 of Omega's Reluctant Mate
Still, things were tense. Zaya and Cadence had questions, and I didn’t have answers. I couldn’t tell them when—or if—I would mate Corey. There wasn’t even a plan that would lead me in that direction.
“Hey.”
I looked around and saw Wes standing near the stairs to the patio.
“May I come up?” he asked.
I nodded. “Sure.”
He climbed the stairs, walked over, and took a seat in a patio chair.
We sat in strange silence for a moment before he finally spoke.
“Did Zaya tell you about how I first met Cody?”
I blinked, wondering where the conversation was going. “No.”
He chuckled, even as Reginald appeared and asked if he’d like something to drink.
After asking for a lemonade, Wes continued. “We’d courted his boss to beta test a new application for us, but Cody kept reporting tons of bugs. I decided to come out myself to see what was going on in real time, rather than go back and forth with troubleshooting. Well, I’d arrived that morning, and was sitting in his boss’s office when he walked in. We both felt it, then he bolted.”
I sighed and scrubbed a hand down my face. I could see where the conversation was going, but it had to be a different situation.
“Cody fought it hard. He was adamant that he wasn’t going to mate me, and wouldn’t tell me why. He just insisted that it was better for both of us.”
“You’re mated now though,” I countered. “So it all worked out.”
“We’re only mated because a potted plant fell on my head.”
I choked on a sip of lemonade. “What?”
Wes smiled at me and rubbed his head. “Right here. I saw it fall off this wall partition in the house, and it was going to hit Cody. I pushed him out of the way, but it got me instead. Knocked me out good. And Cody? It scared the shit out of him. See, long story short is that he felt fated mates were a curse in his family, the alphas always dying tragically and leaving the omegas alone. He thought he was protecting me from an early grave.”
Wes picked up a glass and took a sip of his own lemonade. Then he stared at me. “So who are you protecting? Yourself, or him?”
“Um… What?”
“People don’t fight fate without a good reason, it’s too painful. It tore me apart every day that I saw Cody, and the agony he was in. And the rejection? That fucking hurt man. But I couldn’t leave either, he was too important, even when he was hurting both of us. I’m assuming that’s why you came back. That pull is undeniable.”
Wes took a deep breath. “So, I’ll ask again. Who are you protecting: yourself, or him?”
I leaned back and draped my arm over my face. “Tell me, what happened when you first saw Cody? Before he ran I mean. How did you feel?”
Wes sighed happily. “It was like a dream come true. I’d already sort of met him through online conversations, but apparently that in-person meeting is what really makes the connection click. There he was, and I just knew.”
“What was the first thing you wanted to do?”
Another silence, and I shifted to look at Wes, who was studying me.
“I wanted to pull him into my arms. He was mine, and I needed that connection.”
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees as I stared at the ground. “I didn’t feel that… at all.”
“What do you mean?”
I blew out a long breath. “I’ve always known I was a bit different. In high school and college, when all the other alphas were trying to knot as many omegas as possible, I just wasn’t interested. It wasn’t that I didn’t want sex, I just thought I wanted it to mean something. I could agree that a man was handsome, but the thought of taking somebody to bed without some deeper connection?” I shook my head. “Back then it didn’t matter, even when others teased me about it. I used to be comfortable with it. Then…” I shuddered. “Then I started having those feelings that I had a fated mate.”
“Ok?” Wes tried. “I guess I still don’t get it. Plenty of people choose abstinence for whatever reason. Maybe they want a real relationship first, or want to wait for the right person. Especially when they feel like they have a fated mate.”
