Page 3 of Omega's Reluctant Mate
Ididn’t need to look up from my computer to recognize the man standing at the edge of my peripheral vision.
“I’m almost done reviewing these reports, Papa,” I stated, anticipating his question. “I’ll have them over to you within the hour.”
He made a noise, and I thought that was the end of his visit. But when his shape remained in my field of vision for several more seconds I glanced up at him.
“Was there something else?” I asked, making eye-contact.
He frowned. “When was the last time you took a vacation?”
“There was that conference in Las Vegas last month.”
“Nathan,” he replied, voice dropping. “That was a conference, not a vacation.”
“I don’t take vacations,” I replied, scowling. He knew that, so why was he asking?
Papa made his way from the doorframe to one of my guest chairs. He sat and stared at me for several seconds.
I turned from my screen to face him fully, waiting for him to continue.
He finally sighed. “Your father and I are worried about you,” he admitted. “You’ve always been the type to keep to yourself, unlike Isaiah. But you’ve become even more isolated since he mated. I’m not asking you to go clubbing or anything like that, but…” He paused and ran a hand through his graying blond hair—the same blond hair that both Zaya and I had inherited, though I’d gotten my father’s stronger build, rather than Papa’s slender one. “You seem to go from home, here to the office, and back. Gerald says you almost never leave at night, even on the evenings that you don’t join us for dinner.”
“I have nowhere to be,” I stated.
“And you don’t see that as a problem?”
“Should I?”
Papa huffed. “You’re in your thirties, and as far as I’m aware have never seriously dated. Don’t you want a mate? Children?”
I growled under my breath. “We’ve discussed this Papa. I know I’ve got a fated mate out there.”
“And you haven’t done a thing to find him.”
“Because I don’t want to find him. I can’t be the alpha he needs.”
“I think that’s his decision.”
“You know what will happen if we meet. He’ll be driven to mate, but I won’t be.”
“You don’t know that.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “But I do, Papa. I don’t think things will change just like that. Zaya dated around before finding Cadence, and had a normal sex life. Having a fated mate didn’t make him…” I sighed. “It didn’t make him like me.”
“What if your fated mate is waiting for you?” Papa asked, switching tactics.
“Nobody waits forever.”
“Nathan…”
“I’m not discussing this any further,” I stated.
“Fine. But you still need to get out. I appreciate a good work ethic as much as the next man, but this is too much. You live to work, rather than the other way around. There needs to be something else in your life beyond coming into the office, then going home to work in your office there.”
“We’re in a growth phase,” I argued. “We just onboarded Morningshire Industries as a client and I should keep an eye on that.”
“There will always be something. Businesses grow and they have crises. If you’re only ever responding to the latest thing here, then that’s all you’ll ever do. Surely you know that by now.”
“But…”
