Page 34 of The Mating Game
And I’m realizing how much that thought angers me. The possibility that there might have been someone with less scruples than me whom she could have found herself with. Someone who would haveusedher.
My alphahatesthat.
I immediately feel guilty when her eyes go wide with shock, but the very real fear I feel when she’s imagining it keeps me from apologizing. Her mouth parts, her eyes going to the floor as she considers the question.
“I didn’t know, okay?”
This gives me pause. “What?”
“I didn’t know this was going to happen!”
“Like…” I struggle to think of reasons as to why that might occur. “Like you’re off schedule?”
She snorts, rolling her eyes. “Like thereisn’ta schedule. Or…there wasn’t. I guess there is now.” She throws up her hands. “I don’t know!”
“You’re going to have to give me more than that.”
“Listen,” she says with a huff. “Two days ago? I woke up a beta. The same way I’ve woken up for the last twenty-eight years. The same as my parents and my brothers and everyone else I know in my family. Then suddenly, after Satan’s sky ride of a flight and the worst flu symptoms I’ve ever had, some random ER doctor is telling me that, surprise! I am apparently a shifter. And not just any ol’ regular shifter, but anomega.”
My nose wrinkles. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“You’re telling me,” she scoffs.
I eye her incredulously, earning me another roll ofhereyes.
“It’s called ‘late presentation,’ ” she tells me.
“And that’s…a thing?”
“Apparently.”
“Huh.” It’s definitely nothing I’ve ever heard of, but then again, she’s only the second omega I’ve spent any real time with. So what do I know? “And that causes you to…”
I wave my hand aimlessly, hoping she’ll throw me a bone so I don’t have to say it.
Her brow cocks. “To throw myself at the first guy I can get my hands on? Apparently.”
Her phrasing leaves a sour taste in my mouth, because I’mthinking of the possible scenario where someoneelsemight have been around last night. Again, my alpha hates this very much.
Fucking hormones.
“To be fair,” I say, clearing my throat. “It beingustrapped in the lodge probably isn’t making things any better.”
Her head tilts to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Because of what I am.”
She looks lost. “And…you are?”
“An alpha,” I answer flatly. “My pheromones are going to make yours go haywire.”
“You are?”
“You didn’t know?”
Her eyes go wide. “I had no idea. How would I have? I didn’t even know whatIwas two days ago.”
“But you said…”
