Page 17 of An Omega for the Lycan Prince

“Thank you,” I look at him, scanning his face. He looks nice, almost gentle. Older than me. Probably an Omega. Liam said his name, but I’m not sure if I got it right. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Emerson, Miss Annalise.”

I don’t quite understand why he addresses me so formally, but I assume he does it out of respect, for I am Liam’s mate. Hence, I just nod politely. “Thank you, Emerson. It was nice meeting you.”

To my surprise, he just looks at me for a moment, then smiles warmly at me. I turn back to my…

Shit!

I forgot! I found my mate! For an instant, I forgot to panic. What the heck am I even doing here?

“You are interesting,” Liam interrupts my thoughts while leaning back in his seat.

“I don’t necessarily agree,” I point out.

He raises an eyebrow. “You don’t?”

“Exactly,” I repeat. He keeps looking at me for a while, not saying anything. It makes me shift around in my seat. “Do you want some bread?” I finally ask.

Again, he raises his eyebrows. Boy, give me a little more to work with here. “It’s a sushi place, Annalise.”

Right, I forgot, no bread. “Maybe you would like something else?” I inquire, desperately trying to diffuse the awkwardness.

“Are you worried about my culinary needs, or is there another reason you won’t stop offering me food? Non-available food on top of that?”

“I am-” I pause, staring into his intense blue eyes. The heck with it! “I am just trying to make conversation,” I blurt out. “Come on, help me out here.” I point at myself. “I am just a normal girl having an innocent date with a normal guy.” I pause, frowning a bit. “Only, we just found out we are mates, so the date isn’t innocent. And you aren’t normal. But the rest, I am sticking with the rest!” When I see the waitress approaching with our food, I breathe out a sigh of relief. “Thank goddess. Food. It will make me stop rambling.”

Liam offers me one of the small bowls of rice and hands me some soy sauce. He lets me choose my favorite pieces of sushi first. I decide to ignore my former insecurities and just dig in. Better to come off as gluttonous than a crazy nutcase.

“There are not many people who can look me in the eye,” he finally explains while taking a few salmon sushi pieces. “You can. You are not scared. You made my always serious driver smile. That’s why you are interesting. It was supposed to be a compliment.”

For a moment, I am confused by his words. He is just… trying to be nice? “Thank you,” I say. I offer him some wasabi, but he shakes his head. “You are not taking any wasabi?”

“No,” Liam says shortly.

“Why?”

“It’s green.”

It’s green? What kind of explanation is that!? I can’t hide my giggle.

“Do you find me funny?” he says in his usual matter-of-fact tone.

“No,” I chuckle. “But your answer is. I could understand you not liking the color of oatmeal, but wasabi?”

“What’s wrong with oatmeal?” He wants to know.

“It looks like vomit?” I offer.

He huffs. It’s almost like he snorts… like he… chuckles. “Did you just laugh?” I ask, intrigued.

His expression freezes again. “No.”

“You absolutely did!” I blink in surprise. “You can laugh!”

He furrows his brow a bit and stares at me, his eyes darkening. “Weird,” he says after a while.

“Are you upset that your Alpha status doesn’t work on me?” I ask carefully, remembering a very similar moment with Finn and later Alpha Cedric.