Page 99 of Broken Omega

“It was like a couple minutes, out in a forest,” he says. “I was fifteen. I think you would have been slightly younger. You really don’t remember?”

I shake my head. “What happened?”

“Nothing, really,” he says. “We were both kind of in shock. Then, your dad called on you, and you rushed away. Mine came and found me. He’d thrown a frisbee for the dog. I was getting it back when I saw you. We had to leave, but he mentioned I’d wandered too close to the Corvina Estate, so I worked out who you were.”

None of it rings any bells, but finding out I met him once definitely makes more sense than thinking my brain randomly cooked his image up for me to dream about.

“I can’t believe I don’t remember it. I had dreams about you for years.”

“I guess that means it was meant to be,” he says, giving me a little stab of guilt with his earnest.

Ugh. I like this guy. Why did he have to show up now, when I’m ready to bust out of this place?

“You’ve been applying to come here for years, right?” I ask, trying to remember what Edith told me about him. Maybe he’ll say something creepy and that’ll put me off. I can only hope.

He nods slowly, pushing the food around on his plate. “It took a while to get approved.”

“That would be because this place has insane standards,” I tell him. “It’s totally cool if you’re a creep or a douchebag as long as your parents have way too much money and enjoy giving regular donations.”

“Yeah, my parents don’t have money,” he admits. “I own a data science company, which is basically just me analyzing spreadsheets for businesses who want to make more money.”

He’s downplaying it, but I can tell he likes what he does. There’s a little hint of pride in his tone.

“You know, that’s kind of all I ever wanted. To run my own business,” I admit, as the waitresses take away the appetizer plates and provide fresh champagne.

“Really?” he asks. “Doing what?”

“I have a few ideas.”

“Well, when you know what you want to do, I can probably help with the setup stuff,” he says.

“That would be awesome.” I give him a smile, trying not to think about the fact that I might never see him again.

I can hear Ember’s creepy date causing trouble with the guy sitting beside her, but I force myself to ignore it. We’re not close enough for us to flirt with each other’s dates like we’d decided to, and I’m splitting my attention way too much. That guy is an asshole, but Edith is the one in charge here.

All he’s doing is being mouthy. He won’t get away with anything more than that.

Ember’s safe, and I’ll find a way to get her out of here once I’m out.

Kellan … well, I should probably forget about him.

I need to hide amongst Betas when I’m out of here.

Hooking up with an Alpha would be a terrible idea.

My father would find me too easily. Especially if it was the last Alpha I was seen speaking to.

Sorry, Kellan. I like you, but this can’t happen.

The waitresses put bowls of soup in front of us, and Kellan asks for a glass of water.

Here it is, I think as I look down at the bowl.My best chance at an escape.

I knock the bowl over as innocently as I can manage, tipping half the contents onto my lap.

I let out a pained gasp that’s completely real. The soup is hot enough to hurt.

It’s definitely not hot enough to leave me with a third-degree burn, but I stand quickly, tugging up my skirt by the split to make sure everyone who’s looking catches a glimpse of the wound I made earlier. That blistering skin is glistening. It looks damn good.

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