Page 13 of The Feisty Omega

I winked my approval. Irian lowered his eyes, smiled a small, conspiratorial smile and tucked into his meal.

I should have been enjoying my meal. It was Christmas lunch, after all, and the most elaborate spread we’d have all year. The betas and omegas had worked hard to prepare a feast for the entire pack.

But instead, I spent a lot of the meal watching Irian dodge Mar’s clumsy attempts at courting him. Yes, I knew exactly what was going on. I grew more and more furious as the meal progressed.

“Are you okay?” Dar asked quietly, as he passed me a platter of steaming potatoes.

“Can’t you see what’s happening?” I hissed.

He nodded. “I see it.”

“He’s too young! He hasn’t even started the transition yet!”

“They’re simply making their intentions clear. They won’t make a move yet,” he assured me.

“Better fucking not!”

“They can’t. You know that. You’ve got until he’s 19 to figure this out with minimum fallout.”

“Fallout?”

“You don’t really think they’re just gonna roll over and let you have him?”

I didn’t speak for a moment. Dar’s words had shocked me. Was Dar right? Is that where I was heading with this? I didn’t know. We were friends. All I knew was that I had this overwhelming sense that I should be looking out for him. Protecting him from predatory alphas was one of those things. He should have a right to choose.

“It’s his life,” I gritted my teeth. “Shouldn’t he get to choose?”

Dar sighed. “He’s an omega. You know not everyone thinks the way you do. Especially that generation. Anyway, maybe he has chosen, maybe he knew this was gonna happen all along.”

“Fuck.” But I really didn’t think so. Irian was smoothly handling the situation at the top end of the table – I forgot that as the only child of two influential parents he’d probably had a lot of experience at handling social situations - but every now and then he shot me a glance. When he turned them on me, his big brown eyes shone, the look he gave me a little soft and a little hopeful, the corners of his lips curling ever so slightly. At the same time, he was still a little shy it seemed, because he didn’t hold my gaze for long before he dropped his eyes back to his plate.

I didn’t know what this was, or what it might become. But I did know the Goddess wouldn’t have placed him directly in my path if he wasn’t meant to be there.

Chapter 06

IRIAN

I was getting fed up with this guy continually putting food on my plate.

What the fuck was wrong with him? Couldn’t he take a hint? If I’d wanted something, I would’ve served myself.Honestly!I really wanted to tell him tomind his own fucking business,but I couldn’t. We were the guests of the Pack Alpha, who just happened to bethis guy’s dad, so I had to make nice. I knew how to do it, it wasn’t the first time I’d been out with my parents and had to pretend to be interested in the people around me. I could make conversation and smile pleasantlythrough my gritted teeth, when really all I wanted was to be sitting in that vacant seat next to Tal.

Tal, who was gonna include me in his friendship group, and had made me feel like I belonged.

Tal, who kept glaring at this guy sitting next to me. What was his name? Mark? Mel? Something like that. I hadn’t paid attention when we were introduced, firstly because I was unhappy about being forced to change seats, and secondly, what the hell?

Though I refused to show it, I was annoyed and humiliated. How dare my mother compel me in public like that? It was embarrassing, especially in front of Tal’s friends who were all older than me. Made me lookweak. I was already at a disadvantage being an omega, I didn’t need anything more added to that.

Lunch dragged on. Eventually Marvin, or Mel, or whoever he was, gave up putting food on my plate (thank the Goddess!) which I was grateful for as it was getting hard to come up with polite or semi-polite reasons to refuse it. At the rate I’d been going, there would have been nothing I liked eating.

And the truth was, Ilovedvenison, of course I did, so I was not happy at all that I didn’t get to eat any. Still, I was not having some guy feed me –what the almighty fuck?Who did he think he was – my mother?

I glanced across at Tal and caught his intense gaze. For some reason that I wouldn’t investigate now, knowing he was keeping a watchful eye over me made me feel better, calmer somehow. I gave a little twitch of my lips which I hoped Tal recognized as a smile, then dropped my eyes to my plate again as the warmth rushed into my cheeks.

I felt my mother’s sharp eyes resting on me and reluctantly I turned and made conversation with Mal to avoid a confrontation with her.

We’d barely finished Christmas pudding, when the screeching of chairs dragging over the concrete floor alerted me to Tal and his friends getting up from the table. My heart sank, thinking I was about to be left behind, but Tal strode over, his footsteps ringing confidently on the hard floor.

“Hey, Irian. Are you done? The guys and I are gonna head outside. Wanna come with?” he asked in a loud voice.