Page 10 of The Omega Lesson

I can’t accept.

There’s no way I can claim a student.

And forming a pack? I wouldn’t even know where to start.

But…

He really wants me.

It’s such an unfamiliar concept, it takes me a moment to realise my dominant nature is rising, greedy to take what’s offered. As Mattie stares at me with hopeful eyes, my skin prickles with anticipation, my heart rate throbbing to a new beat. It doesn’t matter we’re standing in my office, or that his brother is looking on with a disapproving frown. The need to accept Mattie – toclaimhim - twists through my blood. It’s dark and primal, my teeth aching to leave my mark on his skin…

“What did I miss?”

I swallow back a frustrated growl, my head whipping around as a stranger steps through the door. Maybe I’ve got beasts on the brain, because my first impression is of a lean, feline body with hair as dark as a raven’s wing. But my next thought is that he smells like chocolate and moves like warm treacle. He’s an alpha – it’s in every confident line of his body – but there’s something else to this stranger that makes it hard to look away.

And the closer he gets, the more my mouth waters. Mattie is still the most alluring thing I’ve ever scented, but this guy is a close second. And I’m guessing he knows it, too, because as he comes to a stop next to Ben, he shoots me a cheeky wink. “Why do I feel like I just walked in on something I shouldn’t have?”

“Jesus,” Ben mutters, giving him a sideways look. “I thought you were staying in the car, Jackson.”

“Of course you did,” the other man smiles as he waltzes over to me, his hand extended. “But I’ve never been very good at doing what I’m told. I’m Jackson Lyall, but my friends call me Jack.”

One of the infamous Lyall brothers.

As the realisation hits, old memories surge to the surface. And I’m suddenly right back there, watching my brother Anton and Travis Lyall train at the state tennis centre. They were the top-ranking under-21 doubles pair, and everyone was talking about them making the national team. I was their overly-enthusiastic ball girl, spending hours crouched in the sun, watching Travis thwack the ball with the manly power of a young Thor. I lived for the ten minutes at the end of every session when he’d give me pointers on my serve. I was a pretty good player in my own right, but you’d think I was shooting for Wimbledon the way I studied his every move.

But the highlight was when he kissed my elbow after I took a spill chasing down a ball. I was showing off, sprinting across the court with my white tennis skirt flapping against my thighs. I was fourteen, all flailing limbs and flat chest, but whenever I felt his eyes on me, I grew about five inches in all the right places. It was as if my sparkling new Adidas sprouted wings… right up until I tripped over my own feet and face-planted in the gravel. Anton just sighed at the delay, but Travis was beside me in a flash. And then he’d gently brushed my wound off with the corner of his sweaty polo shirt and kissed the knobbly end of my elbow.

I was his. In that moment, I felt my heart shift to a different rhythm, beating in time with his panting, gum-scented breaths. I’m certain my teenage yearning was written all over my face, and for a moment, I thought I saw a spark of interest in his ink-black eyes. He leaned in, his breath feathering over my quivering lips… and then Anton shot an impatient serve into the back of his head.

Someone found me a band-aid and a cool drink, but I’d insisted on returning to my spot at the side of the net. My elbow throbbed, but it couldn’t compete with the wild fluttering of my heart.

And I was so certain we were headed for more, the next weekend I tucked a tube of lip gloss into the band of my tennis skirt. But before we could leave for the club, I got sick, clammy, feverish… all the hallmarks of presenting as an alpha. My dad eventually hustled me off to a boarding school that specialised in alpha females, and the next summer, Travis had given up tennis to work in his father’s office. I still went to the club, but all anyone could talk about was how Travis was now courting a beautiful blonde omega named Maddie Dove. And, to my dismay, I realised they weren’t talking about their future as mixed doubles partners.

I broke. I sobbed. Iached. My crush was deep, vicious, and all-consuming. But, over the next year, I patched myself back together, and Travis faded into distant memory. Or to be more precise, I locked those summers away, and did everything in my power to never think about Travis Lyall again.

But now my hand is engulfed in a grip that’s as gentle as a kiss feathering across a wound. Most alphas give off a competitive spark when they touch for the first time, but Jackson Lyall sends a delicious tingle up my arm. My elbow goes warm, as if I can feel the ghost of his brother on my skin, and I have to scramble to put my brain back together. “Oh. Hi. I’m Lexi Novak. I’m… Mattie’s English teacher.”

I brace myself for some reaction. More muttering from Ben, or a hint of recognition in Jack’s eyes. But Mattie is moving fast, grabbing Jack in a fierce bear hug that almost lifts the other man off his feet. To my surprise, he returns the gesture with even more enthusiasm. “Nowthisis a welcome!”

“I just can’t believe you’re home.” Mattie shoots Ben a reproachful look. “If I’d known you were coming…”

“Oh, don’t blame him,” Jack grins, linking his arm through Mattie’s. “I wasn’t sure I’d make it. There was a last-minute issue at the lab, and then the plane out of Singapore had a technical issue. A little flashing light on the dash, according to the helpful flight attendant. As if that’s just what you want to hear at forty thousand feet. Anyway, it sounds like I got here in the nick of time.” His dark eyes are bright with curiosity as he looks my way. “Or am I mistaken that you just asked your teacher to be your alpha?”

Seems like I’m not the only one who eavesdrops at doors, but Mattie gives him one of his sunshine grins. “I did! Soon as I graduate and get my trust, we can make it official.” He cocks a brow at Ben. “And before you tell me I have to be twenty-one to get the money, there’s a loophole if I form a pack. I checked with a lawyer, just to make sure. He said there’s nothing to stop us, although it would be best if Lexi wasn’t still my teacher when we... you know, mate.”

This last part is no doubt meant to be reassuring, but my cheeks feel hot and my head is reeling. Trusts? Lawyers? Mates? And Mattie wants to make it official when he graduates in less than six months’ time?

He hasn’t even met your daughter yet…

The realisation is sobering, and as he pulls me in for a hug, I glance at his brother. He’s watching us closely, and under all his disapproval, I can sense a strong protectiveness in Ben Cliff.

My anger dies away, because I can’t really blame him for being suspicious of me. Plenty of alphas hook up with rich betas, and I have first-hand experience of being cast aside when an available omega comes along. It makes sense he’d be concerned for Mattie. I mean, the guy came expecting a parent-teacher meeting, and so far, he’s been hit with a sex show and a plan to slice up the Cliff family fortune.

I’m about to tell him I understand his reservations when he says, “Sounds like you’ve thought of everything, Matthew.” He turns his brilliant green gaze my way. “Welcome to the family, Lexi. We should go out tomorrow night and celebrate.”

Mattie is watching him closely, but he pulls a face at that. “She’s busy.”

“I’m going to the Old Boys’ Dinner,” I explain. “Well, I’m working the event. Writing an article for the school website.”

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