Page 8 of Loving My Omega (The Perfect Designation Trilogy #2)

Chapter

Eight

MARCUS

S ighing, I rubbed my face. I’d taken off my glasses after ten minutes of reading through the first drafts of my Poetry students finals. I’d thought I had given them all the tools to craft their own portfolio of poetry, but apparently, I was mistaken. A few of them understood the assignment, but it was a select few. I’d need to send some more emails off.

We would have one more class before I required their finals to be in my inbox email or physical box by the end of day on the eighth. It gave me one last time to meet with them over these but some of them needed too much work for one class.

There was a knock on my door and I looked up. My door had been open since it was office hours, but I was surprised to see one of the math professors rather than a student. Standing, I reached out and shook his hand.

“Professor Min, correct? How can I help you?”

He chuckled. “Please, Ace is fine. I was just in Duke’s office but he said to try you.”

I offered him a seat, but he shook his head. “I’m just stopping by. I wanted to ask if you’ve been in contact with Colton Fisher in the past couple of days?”

My dragon roared and I reached down, grabbing my glasses quickly. Still, as much as the glasses helped make my pheromones less noticeable, it didn’t help my worry. Taking a breath, I looked back at Ace.

“I don’t have him in any of my classes.” I closed my eyes, thinking of the last time I spoke with him. “I believe I last spoke with him on Wednesday. He was here for a meeting with Duke.”

Ace frowned, nodding. “That’s what Duke said. Alright, thank you.”

“Is…something wrong?”

He narrowed his eyes for a moment. “Colton didn’t show up for his class yesterday according to Karen and didn’t even send a message as to why. He missed my class today with no excuse or anything. Even Gina said he didn’t say anything to her for this morning’s class either.” Ace chuckled. “Usually, we get a detailed email with exactly what happened, even with references or added proof as attachments. Then, he requests for the entire lesson plan scanned and emailed if we can.”

“That’s not like him.” It was all I could say without saying something that would give our relationship away.

Ace nodded. “I agree. Which was why I was reaching out to his other teachers. I just wanted to make sure everything was alright. It’s out of his norm.”

“I’ll see if I can reach him and find out what is going on.” I felt like I was going to shift in my office.

“That would be great. Keep me posted if you hear anything.”

I only nodded as a reply. Every single nerve was on edge right now. Colton rarely ever missed class. Even when he was dealing with his morning sickness. He’d come in for Duke’s test nearly passing out in the restroom after it. He was diligent to a fault.

The worse part was that I didn’t know what was going on. I’d been texting him and I even called and we talked on the phone on Tuesday. Wednesday, I used the opportunity to give him the gloves I bought. He hadn’t replied to my messages that night.

After that, yesterday, I got three messages from him with one to two words each. I didn’t think anything of it. The both of us were dealing with finals and I knew he was still going to work at the cafe early in the morning. My office hours would be until five today. Beau was also planning on flying out to meet me for dinner. If she was already on her way, then she wouldn’t be able to use her phone.

None of this was making my dragon any happier. He was all-consuming as he started to pace in my head while rumbling deep to voice his unhappiness. He wanted to leave now . We needed to check on our mate now . Anything outside of that needed to get out of our way.

I couldn’t go all Alpha on Colton. We’d talked about it so many times and I really was trying to be better. He also was putting in the effort to allow me to step up as well. If I came in storming now, it would either end in an argument or he would push me away.

Grabbing my phone, I shot off two quick texts to him. Setting the phone up on the table, I tried to get back to my work. After a few minutes, I looked at the screen. Colton hadn’t even opened them. Pursing my lips, I took a settling breath. Maybe he just ended up sleeping through class. He had been particularly exhausted as of late. I knew with how much food Colton was keeping down, it wasn’t enough to keep his energy levels up all day.

Flipping my phone face-down, I resolved to check on him later. It would be easy to swing by his apartment after dinner. I doubted Beau would mind sitting in the car for a bit. Or even coming in with me. Not that there was space in his apartment for two people, let alone three. Rubbing my forehead, I needed to not think about it. I’d already offered my own place. I just needed to be patient.

After about an hour, there was a knock on my door as Beau bounded in. “Why do you look like someone pissed in your cereal?”

I looked up at my sister and sighed. “Colton apparently hasn’t shown up for classes yesterday and today.”

“Your dragon must be worked up. Did you want to cancel?”

Shaking my head, I set down the story I was reading. I lifted my arm to show her and she gasped. Coming over, she kneeled down and rubbed my skin.

“Woah, Mar, seriously? If you’re that worried, just go check on him. You didn’t need to hang around here for me.”

“I had office hours. So, it wasn’t just you. On top of that, I know Colton would be mad if I cut my hours short because of him. I don’t want to go all Alpha on him. Right now, I will. I figured we could go have dinner and swing by his apartment after.”

She cupped my cheeks. “It’s nice to see you care so much about someone.”

I chortled. “I care about you guys.”

“Yeah, but Colt is a choice . He’s so sweet and soft. He acts like he’s not an Omega, but his personality is just so different from a regular shifter. It’s like he was made for you. I think he’s the only one who can put you in your place.”

Closing my eyes, I sighed. “I think…I think I may actually love him, Beau. I can’t…I can’t imagine letting him go. I’m so worried that when he looks at his future that I’m not in it. He could run and I might not be able to follow.”

Beau hummed for a moment before rubbing my arm again. “Maybe we should make it a quick dinner. Nothing fancy. Or if we go to that one place that Colt likes, you can bring him back leftovers.”

Nodding, the plan to provide dinner for Colt felt right. It felt right and it did settle my dragon a bit. We could take care of him. It would just be on his time, not ours.

“Let me finish up the last of this paperwork so I do stay till five and we can go.”

“Sure, sure. I’ll be over here, playing my games.”

Beau took up my office chair, putting her feet up on my desk as she pulled out her phone. I rolled my eyes, but pulled up the story I had been reading. This one wasn’t bad. However, partway through the middle, the theme seemed to get lost in favor of a happy ending. Grabbing my purple pen, I started to mark the pages and managed to slip into my editing mind.

“Alright. Let’s head out.” I tapped all the pages together to straighten them out.

“Sure, sure. Hold on. Let me take care of this level.”

Rolling my eyes, I stood and placed the papers on my desk. I turned back and nearly flinched when Ebony came into my office. She was smiling brightly as she handed me a stack of papers. Her hand tried to slide down my arm, but I moved away from her.

“I brought the papers that were in your box.” Her voice was a deeper purr and I’m sure she thought we were alone in my office.

Beau rolled the chair out, startling Ebony into jumping back. “Didn’t my brother already tell you he wasn’t interested? I’m pretty sure we sent a big fat no to your family’s request two or so years ago.”

I let out a sigh. “Beau, please.”

“No. It was gross having to witness that. Especially when you are currently seeing someone.” Beau smiled brightly, knowing the storm she was creating.

Ebony, on the other hand, was letting her pheromones slip out. Unlike me, she chose not to wear crystals. As soon as I smelled them, I stepped back into my office. I was not about to agitate Colton if I reeked of some other shifter’s pheromones.

“Ebony, please control yourself.”

“Is it true? Are you seeing someone?”

My eyebrow rose. “I don’t see how that is any of your business, Ebony. Please leave my office.”

“No, no. It is my business! I’m here, every day, helping you. I’m with you every day. I’m an Alpha-9. I don’t just get ignored. I choose who I want and I get them. That’s how it’s always been.”

I was completely taken aback. She’d made passes at me before. Come on a little too strong but I always thought I made our roles clear. Yes, she had come in with the intention of trying to woo me, but like most shifters, all they saw was my perfect designation. Nothing more. Ebony had been the same and I viewed our relationship as nothing but professional.

“Is that why you don’t want me as your assistant for the next quarter? Is that why you told me that I was going to have to go back to the science department? Because you have been seeing someone else ?”

My breath hitched. There was a manic level to her tone as her eyes darkened. Her pheromones were pouring out of her, and I covered my nose. Beau got up from the chair and walked over to her. Lifting my kettle of now cold water, my sister proceeded to pour then entirety of the kettle on Ebony’s head.

“You need to chill out. You don’t own my brother. You might be an Alpha-9, but that doesn’t make you good enough for an Alpha-10. An Alpha-10 chooses whoever they want. Don’t be mistaken.” Beau slammed the kettle on my desk. “My brother doesn’t want you. He’s never wanted you. Get it through your thick grounder skull and fuck off!”

Ebony shifted right in the middle of my office. Her teeth showed as she growled at me. Her hackles were up and I dug my claws into my arm. They broke through the skin and started to sink into my scales. My horns were already out and I was struggling to get ahold of myself.

My dragon wanted to rip this panther shifter to shreds. Not only did she think she could claim us, but she had the audacity to bare her teeth at us? She needed to learn some respect. Except that we weren’t outside. We were in my office. In a building. On school grounds. Ebony already violated the rules, but if I did, people would end up hurt.

“Yeah, how about not.”

Another voice came in from the hallway and I looked up to see Colton’s best friend. The one I was struggling with and how close their relationship was. He was wearing a winter coat and a beanie that only accentuated his dark rimmed glasses. Reaching out, he grabbed Ebony by the scuff.

Everyone was shocked. Mike was fairly tall, maybe nearing the six foot range. He held up Ebony and she turned limp. Walking forward with her, he nodded to the window. I blinked at him, not understanding what he was wanting me to do. However, Beau chuckled and stepped up. She opened the window to my office and popped the screen out of it.

“Thank you.”

That was all Mike said before he tossed Ebony out the window. The yelp that left her was loud and turned people’s heads.

“You…did not just toss a member of the faculty out of the window…” I blinked, looking out the window and down at the ground.

“It’s fine. She’s a cat. They land on their feet.”

I ran my hands through my head. “That doesn’t give you the right, Mr. Kirst! She could have gotten hurt. She could come after you for…”

“For getting rid of an out of control shifter so that no one got hurt?” He nodded to the lawn. “See, security is taking over. She can’t do anything to me.”

Beau burst out laughing. Holding her stomach, she actually started to snort as she roared. I shook my head, grabbing the screen and popping it back in place. These two were going to be the death of me, apparently. If they ever got together, the world would turn to chaos.

“How did you even do that? She’s an Alpha-9! You’re what…a Beta?”

Mike nodded. “Beta-7. It’s not always a matter of level. If a panther steps in front of a tiger, who do you think would be the more dominant one? On top of that, the scruff method works on any grounder. Cats in particular.”

I rubbed my eyes under my glasses. “Mike, why are you here?”

He hit his palm with his fist. “Right. Distracted. Colt needs you. Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

My eyebrow rose as I looked at him. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, Colt needs me. In order for me to get to him, I need you. So essentially, he needs you.”

“What do you mean? I just had a professor ask about Colton because he didn’t show up to class. No notice and no word. I was going to go after dinner to check on him…”

Mike headed to the door. “No. We need to go now. Sorry, Beatrice. Do you mind waiting for a little bit?”

Beau gave him a nod. “Do what you need to do. Mar, text me when you’re done. I’ll hang around for a couple hours.”

Why was Beau making a decision based on no information? Did the two of them know each other? This was something my sister did and I hated but then done to a far worse degree. Mike was in the hallway when he turned back to me.

“Are you coming?”

“I-I guess?”

Reaching out, I grabbed my keys and jacket. Throwing it on, Beau came with us as I locked my office door. We headed down the stairs and I still was flabbergasted as to what was going on.

“I am going to need a little more information…before we…do what exactly?”

“Save Colt before he commits suicide.”

My dragon roared and the horns that had shifted back grew to their full length. “ Excuse me? ”