Page 9 of His Pretty Omega (Sweet Alps Mates #7)

But I’d had five years of being the baby before my younger sister, Gilly, had come along.

And even though I loved her dearly, I didn’t always like her, and I was still a bit salty about having my throne usurped.

I knew my family would support me, though I’d probably see some disappointment in my mom and dad’s eyes.

But only for the fact that I wasn’t mated, like my siblings, before I popped out a grandbaby for them to love on.

My parents excelled at being doting grandparents to my two nieces and I knew they would absolutely adore my child.

“And the alpha dad?” Bennett hedged carefully, “Do you think he’ll want to be involved?”

Rubbing at the slight headache I had, probably due to all the throwing up I’d been doing and the fact that I knew I was slightly dehydrated, I grimaced. “Yeah, about that.”

“If he’s a dickwad, he doesn’t need to be involved,” Bennett assured me. “But I know how you felt when I didn’t tell Shay I was pregnant right away. I know you, Seth, you’ll want to tell this guy. But that doesn’t mean he needs to be involved if he doesn’t want to. We’ve got this.”

“It’s not that.” Picking up my cup, I took a sip to have something to occupy myself.

“I…” Blowing out a long breath, I looked at the pattern of the tiled floor, feeling slightly ashamed.

I rarely, if ever, felt ashamed about anything I did, but I had never imagined I would be in the predicament I found myself in.

Sure, I had a lot of fun as a single omega, not ready to make any commitments to a mate.

Settling down with an alpha had never really appealed to me, honestly.

I liked having my own career, coming and going as I pleased, and doing things on my own terms. If I wanted to get laid, I went out and did it, no strings attached.

The alphas never needed to worry about anything beyond one night with me .

And I was always, always careful to keep up with my birth control.

Usually I had a-wrap-it-up-or-get-the-fuck-out policy for the alphas, but I was pretty sure I remembered this alpha and me skipping over that part.

Yeah, I definitely remembered we had. Even if I hadn’t remembered, the fact that I had dried cum on me the next morning, and it was still dripping out of me, was a clear sign.

“I have no idea who he is,” I admitted, feeling my cheeks heat. “No name. No way to contact him. It’s the guy I hooked up with on New Year’s. The guy I was with at the hotel when you went into labor.”

Bennett just nodded, and there was no censor in his green eyes, but he did have his thinking face on. “Maybe Jamie can find him. Or Becks?”

Jamie Sinclair used to work for the government, as did Sweet Alps’ current sheriff, Grayson Beckett. Both men were also mates of good friends of ours. “I feel like they can find anyone. They have tons of resources.”

“Maybe,” I hedged, though I wasn’t too hopeful.

It wasn’t like I had a lot of information for them to go off of.

What did I say? He was a really hot Latino, with a great cock, and he was fantastic in bed.

From what I could remember. Because I’d been slightly more than tipsy and might have gone into a weird, early, shortened heat?

That might have melted my brain for a bit?

Possibly, from what I could remember. Yeah, I didn’t think that was enough for them to find the guy.

“Wait! I have this!” Grabbing my discarded cell phone, I quickly thumbed through my pictures. After a minute of frustrated scrolling, I muttered, “Goddess, I take a lot of pictures of your kids!”

Bennett shrugged, unapologetic, “I have cute kids.”

“Facts.” Shoving my phone in his face, I exclaimed, “I found this on my phone when I was looking through all the pictures I took of Brodie in the hospital, after you had him. I don’t even remember taking this picture.

” At Bennett’s raised eyebrows, I scowled, “What? It was New Year’s Eve. I drank a lot, okay?”

Bennett grabbed my arm, taking my phone and holding it away from his face so he could focus on the picture I had found the day after I had left hottie McHottie sleeping in the hotel room.

Okay, in my defense, I had left a note. Not much of one, but it had to count for something, right? Right. It totally counted.

The picture was of the two of us, looking rumpled and mussed in bed, both of us smiling like idiots.

It showed us from the waist up, both our naked chests visible.

My head rested in the crook of the arm he had wrapped around me, while he took the picture with his other arm.

A memory niggled at my brain each time I looked at the picture–which was more times than I wanted to admit–of me laughing and telling him his arms were longer, and he should take it.

Bennett’s brow furrowed, and he used his thumb and finger to expand the picture, focusing on the alpha’s face, his long hair tousled, his lips curved into a wide, happy grin.

Then my bestie started laughing, startling me.

I didn’t like the fissure of anger that shot through me, thinking my bestie was laughing at my… my…

Mate , my cougar supplied in his not at all helpful way, and I gulped.

It wasn’t the first time my cougar had insisted the man was our mate.

Could he really be my mate? As much as I didn’t want to believe it, I couldn’t deny the undeniable attraction I felt for him.

The pull. The electricity that raced across my skin when he touched me.

The way he had smelled, the rich musky scent enough that it had started my slick gushing.

I had brushed it all aside, coming up with plausible excuses for it all.

But the heat that had turned my blood to fire, that had muddled my thoughts, my insatiable need to be filled by him…

to be knotted by him…it had felt like I was in heat.

I had brushed the notion aside when it had flittered across my buzzed brain, knowing my heat wasn’t due for months and months.

But…could he–we–really be fated mates, like my cat kept insisting?

“Seth!” Bennett jerked me out of my thoughts, as he tried to grab my phone back because I had yanked it from his hands.

But I stubbornly held it above my head, out of his reach.

I wasn’t tall by any stretch of the imagination, but Bennett was even shorter than I was.

Sitting on the cold floor, it was well and truly too high for him to take back and laugh more at the only picture I had of my nameless alpha.

“What?” I snapped, because…because…Goddess, was this what Bennett had felt the times I had been shitty to Shay, when I thought he was causing my friend emotional pain? Wow, I needed to think more about how my actions affected others.

Bennett gave me a wide-eyed look, “I know who that is! In the picture!”

“Wait, what?” Bringing the phone down, I stared at the picture on the screen. The picture that still caused butterflies to take flight in the pit of my stomach each time I looked at it. Which wasn’t that often. Really, it wasn’t. I looked at it a normal number of times. Absolutely normal.

“That’s Alex,” Bennett told me quietly, “the lawyer that helps out with the pro bono cases for abused omegas. The one I referred Shay to when he first got to town. I can’t believe you went all the way to Hollow Ridge and hooked up with Alex Ortega.”

Bennett worked at the hospital here in town in an administrative role.

It was how we had met, actually. I had been working at the hospital at the time, fresh out of nursing school, and he had just started his job there.

Bennett had some big, long-ass title, but the gist of his job was finding services for patients in need.

Whether it be a rehab facility, nursing home, in-home nursing, or something more.

He worked closely with abused omegas and the local shelter, helping them get free of their abusers and get a fresh start.

“Alex Ortega?” I repeated the name slowly, seeing how it felt on my tongue. “Shay’s lawyer?”

Alex.

I liked it. It was a strong name. And sexy.

Just like him , my cat chuffed.

“Are you just going to repeat everything I say?” Bennett asked, unwrapping another candy bar, swinging the chocolate covered bar at me when I gave him a look.

“Don’t judge me. I haven’t had breakfast and I’m starving.

Producing enough milk for Brodie takes a shit ton of fuel. Breastfeeding is hard work!”

“His real name is Alejandro, but he goes by Alex,” Bennett kept talking before I could respond, chewing his cookie and caramel bar at the same time, moaning in joy as he swallowed.

“Alex lives here in Sweet Alps. Seth, he’s like the nicest guy.

If you’re going to get knocked up by a total stranger, you could definitely do worse than Alex.

I mean, not that you want a mate or anything, but… ”

Nibbling on my lip, I stared at the picture, like I didn’t have it memorized already. But now I knew his name. And I knew what he did for a living. And where he lived. What were the odds that we both lived in Sweet Alps, having met in a completely different town?

Fate , my cougar yawned, already bored with my drama. Asshole cat.

“Bennett, can I ask you something?”

He nodded, “You know you can.”

“How did you know you and Shay were mates?” Maybe what I was really asking was how had they known they were fated.

“You know we’re more than just mates, Seth,” Bennett sat back next to me, scooting his butt on the floor until his back rested against the vanity. “You know we’re fated. Is that what you want to know?”

Nodding, because I couldn’t say the words out loud, was all I could do. I had never put much stock in the fated mates folklore. Until a bunch of people around me started finding their fated mates. Until Bennett had found his.

“I knew the minute I touched him,” Bennett told me quietly, his voice taking on a wistful tone. “He was unconscious and I touched him and my entire world changed in that instant.”

“But how exactly did you know?” I pressed, because I needed to hear it from someone that I loved. Someone I trusted with my life and all its secrets.

“It was like electricity shot up my arm,” he told me, even then his hand ran up his arm, as if remembering that night.

“And something inside me just knew. It’s hard to explain, but for a few seconds, it was like my world just shifted.

And I saw him, and Lucas, and a bit of our future I think.

I think when you meet your fated, your soul just knows.

Like oh hello, there you are.” He shrugged, “I’m probably not explaining it well, but like I said, it’s hard to put into words. ”

“Mmm,” was all I mumbled, but it must have been enough for Bennett, since we knew each other so well.

He turned his head and gave me a long stare. “Seth, do you think that you and Alex are–?”

“I don’t know!” I wailed, throwing my hands up into the air.

“But there were sparks. So many sparks. And need…want…I don’t know.

And I swear there were times I thought maybe I was in heat, but yet, not.

It’s all so confusing! Because I still just get flashes of parts of that night.

I remember a lot, but also I feel like I’m missing something.

Could that something important be that we were fated? Gah, why did I drink so much?”

“Seth,” Bennett said my name softly, “you need to tell Alex about the baby. You need to go see him and find out.” He fiddled on his phone and then mine dinged with a text message.

When I glanced at it, I saw it was from Bennett.

“That’s his contact information. At least his office address and phone number.

I’m not sure where he lives in town, but you need to go see him. You owe him that much.”

He was right, I did owe Alex that much. And I owed it to myself to find out if he was–we were–fated.