Page 26 of Christmas Heat
That gives her pause for a moment. She had no idea. She had never had sex. Should she write that? Would that disqualify her? Did they want an experienced person?
She had never given much thought to sex, assuming when she finally had her first heat, she would go to a heat clinic or her scent would finally attract a mate to her. Maybe a mate who would take care of her. Either way, sex had never seemed like much of anything to her except a necessary chore or a means to an end.
Nothing extreme,she finally writes.
Desired financial compensation? One year's tuition. $47,586. Due in September.
The sight of that number sinks her stomach. There was no way anyone would pay that for, what, sex? With her?
She knew she was nothing special to look at. Her mousy brown hair was waist length, curly, and tended to frizz in any humidity. She was small, without much in the way of curves, but there was no muscle or tone to her either. And her face was plain. Not ugly, but not pretty either, just average.
An omega's scent should be something special, something that would draw alphas to her, but she didn't even have that. She smelled like the cheap shampoo she used and the no name scentless body lotion that came in a tub.
She sends the email and stays on the bench, unsure what to do now. She is about to get up to go back to her apartment when her email dings again. Gwen's response was immediate.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Interested?
I have just the pack for you. I'll give them your email and you can get to know each other before meeting for a date. xoxo Gwen.
No sooner than she's finished reading that email than her inbox dings again with another message. Her eyebrows furrow as she looks it over. The email just a series of numbers, not giving away any information about who this pack might be. But they were awfully quick on the draw, she could tell that much.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Arrangements.
Hello, Lottie. We received your email and information from Gwen. It's nice to hear from such an impressively accomplished young omega. An acceptance to a graduate program is no small feat.
Gwen has told us she thinks you would be a good match for us and we are interested in meeting you for a date, although we are aware you are likely wading your waythrough many other offers from alpha packs and we appreciate your consideration of our bid.
We are an established pack with connections in many parts of the business world. Although we are not looking for a permanent connection at the moment, we would value any of your time that you may offer us and we hope that this arrangement might benefit both us and you. We have recently experienced an upheaval and would benefit from the moderating influence of an omega.
Perhaps we should share some more about us personally? We each have our own graduate degrees from a few Ivy Leagues you may recognize. We enjoy travelling, culinary excellence, and reading. And we also quite enjoy clever women. We look forward to hearing back from you.
She rereads the email twice. They sounded... nice. Nothing like she would have imagined a pack of alphas looking to purchase an omega's time might sound like. Not domineering or sexually suggestive or demanding anything. No unsolicited photos of their knots. And they were educated as well, so they understood what she was doing. Maybe they could understand her lifestyle. Was this real? Could it be real?
Looking for "the moderating influence of an omega" was a very nice way to put that they were looking to balance their hormones by having sex with her for money. Having sex with an omega did have a scientifically proven benefit to alpha physiology and hormonal regulation, but they put it in such a refined and respectable way it didn't even sound threatening to her like she thought it would.
Maybe she really could get through this. Yeah, she could do this. She coulddefinitelydo this. She told herself that until she was able to click reply on the email and formulate her own response.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Arrangements.
Thank you for your email. You've put me a bit at ease, if I'm being totally honest. I've never done anything like this before and, in the interest of full disclosure, I was quite worried about the sort of response I was going to get. I'm from a small town in the Northern Provinces and the sorts of alphas I have encountered in the city have been... different.
Travelling is an expensive hobby. Where are your favourite places you have visited? I know nothing about culinary excellence, and I expect I could burn water if I tried hard enough. Reading, however, is something I could talk about for hours. What genres do you read? Please don't tell me it's all autobiographies and economics.
Lottie
She reads her email over, hoping she doesn't come across as too unsophisticated or needy. Both of those things would turn a pack off from her, right? She couldn't afford to do that, not with this pack. Not when she had first-hand experience of what all the other packs likely would be like.
All the alphas at the bar seemed to be interested in was groping her or making sexually suggestive comments that made her nauseous. Maybe this pack would be nice and wouldn't make her feel cheap. Wouldn't force her to do... she didn't even know what awful things some of them would ask her to do for that amount of money.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Arrangements.
There's nothing wrong with autobiographies and economics, but the occasional fiction novel does grace our desks. By far, Italy is our favourite destination. Perhaps you might enjoy visiting it with us in the future. Let's discuss this in person. Gwen will contact you with the details.
Her heart stops as she reads the short email and she forces it to restart on sheer willpower. Discuss it in person? Panic builds in her chest. It was happening so soon. She hadn't even expected to get a response so quickly, let alone talk with a pack, let alone meet them for adate!