Page 166 of Stolen Omega

It’s the Alpha I need to work on. He’s going to be much harder to crack.

He’s so tense. So rigid. He’s sitting across the room with Zoey right now, ignoring her sweet perfume because he has a job to do. He’s not used to breaking rules, or ignoring laws, but he’s going to have to bend a little before we can become something real.

“I’d like to speak to your Alpha,” I tell Russ.

“Uh …” He looks at the other table.

“He’ll have to deal with me eventually,” I add.

Russ gets up. “I’ll just … Wait right there.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I call after him.

He goes over there, and Archer gets up, leading him away from the table so they can speak out of earshot of our mate. Zoey turns and smiles at me before she gets out of her seat and walks over and sits down in Russ’ seat.

“How are you doing?” she asks, a sympathetic smile on her lips.

“Well, my hands are going numb, but I like him.”

She blinks at me. “You do?”

“He seems … receptive. I think he can feel the connection we have. If he’s not sure about it, it’s because of Archer.”

“You have a connection with Russ?” She sounds pleasantly surprised.

“I felt something with Archer, too, but that could just be because he’s meant to lead us.”

“Wow.” She glances back at them, and her dark eyes are dreamy when they fix back on me.

“I’m assuming Archer doesn’t believe a word you’ve told him?”

She smiles wryly. “I don’t think he can wrap his head around all of this. It’s like everything he knew just got thrown out the window, and dealing with this new truth is like asking him to accept something he doesn’t understand. At least, not yet. I think he needs time.”

Well, that’s something we have plenty of. Not that they’ll be thinking that.

I’m sure Archer expects to be taking his true mate off the island soon.

I’m surprised he hasn’t announced we’re going already.

“Yeah,” I agree with her. “It might take time to sink in.”

“I’ve told him you’re not a criminal,” she says. “He doesn’t seem ready to believe that, either.”

“That’s okay,” I tell her.

What Zoey thinks about me matters more.

Her other Alpha will come around.

“Could you do me a favor and check on Dale? I don’t want him to feel like I’ve abandoned him, but I doubt Archer will let me go wandering around while he’s so suspicious of me.”

I saw him with Cameron before I was led in here, and I need to know he’s okay.

Who the hell knows how the guy’s going to react to being invited into our pack?

I would have rather spoken to him about it myself, but I don’t know if I’m going to get the chance.

Dale doesn’t deal with conflict well. I know Cameron’s been good for him, and he probably gets it, but I also know he’s not my biggest fan so it’s entirely possible that he doesn’t want anything to do with a pack that has me in it.

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