Page 3 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“Good to hear you're not too upset.”

“I'm really not. I need to find a job where I don't get harassed by drunk alphas all the time.”

“You really do. But you know... now that you're free, why don't you come down here for a bit? Take a break? You know Thanksgiving is coming up and I might have foolishly said that I would serve dinner.”

“You want to cook?” I asked in an incredulous tone to rile him up a bit.

“Hey, I can cook! I just don't do it very often.”

“I believe you.”

“You sound like you don't, but that's fine because you can just come here and see for yourself.”

“I don't know, man. Plane tickets aren't going to be cheap around the holiday.” And I liked my hometown of Oceanport, but it was pretty remote. I wasn't likely to catch some great discount. “I can't jet around like you, Mr. Popstar.”

“Don't worry about it. I never got you a present for your birthday last month. Just help me prepare this dinner and I'll send you tickets.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. You'd be doing me a huge favor, actually.” He coughed. “Also how do you feel about staying a week or so and babysitting for a couple of days?”

“Oh, is that why you're inviting me? You want to get away with your man?”

“It might bepartof why I'm inviting you.”

“All right, then I don't feel so bad about accepting your offer.” It might be nice to get out of the city for a bit, actually. It would definitely be nice to see Kade again, and my cousin, who was his mate. Admittedly, that had been a bit weird at first, but I got used to seeing them together eventually.

“Great,” Kade said. “I'll try to get you a flight for next week and then you can stay with us for a couple days before heading back to LA.”

“Sounds good. Mail me the details when you get the tickets. And don't put me on an early morning flight.” I wasnotan early morning person.

Kade laughed. “Like I don't know better. Okay, I gotta go. See you soon.”

“See ya.” Ending the call, I put the phone back in my pocket and headed on down to the subway. Maybe when I got to Oceanport I could relax for a few days. Or so I thought.

2

Zander

“Mommy! I want this!” The little girl’s cries grated on my ears as she reached for one of the picture books on the lower shelves next to the cash register of my bookstore—Tall Tales. She could have been no older than five, her grabby hands all covered in chocolate while her pleas fell on deaf ears. Her mother was buying two books from me (both about finding inner peace, interestingly), and ignoring her completely.

I saw this all the time. Adults who pretended their kids didn’t exist and kids who felt they needed to get ever louder to be heard. I didn’t judge—I knew I would make a horrible parent myself—but I did feel bad for the children sometimes.

I felt even worse for my books, though. Most of the time, it was them that took the brunt of the attack. Today was no different. The mother paid for her purchases, the little girl wavedCharlotte and the Caramel Bearat her to get some attention and, in the process, smeared chocolate all over the cover.

I sighed. “That’ll be twenty-five dollars, ma’am, and if you’d like to add this book for your daughter—”

“That won’t be necessary. She doesn’t like books.”

I raised my eyebrows and looked at the girl, still waving the book around. It certainly didn’t seem as if she had no interest in books. But I knew what it was like when your parents had a set idea of who you were before you ever got a chance to tell them. “You can have it for free,” I said. “Special gift on the house.” The way it looked now, I couldn’t sell it anyway.

“Are you sure?” The lady looked skeptical.

“Certainly. It’s a promotion. Just take it.”

“Well, thank you,” she responded with a tight smile. “Say thank you, Caroline.”

“Thank you, mister,” Caroline said, not as loud now that she could feel eyes on her.