Page 48 of The Omega's Fake Mate

Nick

The sun had already disappearedbeyond the horizon by the time we reached Crystal Bay, but my mind was still wide awake, my heart pumping adrenaline through my blood as we approached the gated community.

“Hand me my wallet,” Zander said as when we got close. “It’s in the glove box.” He looked just as alert as I felt. So far our trip had been pleasant, but that could all change in the next few minutes.

As I dug through the glove box, we rolled up to the guard posted outside the community. He looked unfriendly, eyes squinting at us as Zander lowered his window.

I held my breath. This was the man who was going to decide whether or not all our trouble had been worth it. Whether or not I got to see my brother today. Knowing what was expected of omegas in these parts, I handed Zander his wallet and kept my mouth shut. And I hated every goddamn second of it. How could Rhys stand to live here?

“Who are you?” The guard asked, looking only at Zander. Of course. He'd know from our scents alone that Zander was alpha, and as such, naturally the one in charge.

Zander took his ID out of his wallet and showed it to the guard. “Alexander Kerner. This is my mate, Nicholas Kerner.” He nodded at me. “We're here to visit his family. You know how it is. You gotta keep your omega happy or they become hysteric and pretend to have headaches.” On the last words, he laughed, as if sharing a private joke with the guard. I knew this was an act, but it still made my skin crawl.

He was acting like exactly the kind of alpha I did not want to date.

But it worked.

The guard laughed along with him. “Oh yeah, I heard you would be coming. You two are newly married, yeah? Let me give you a word of advice.” He leaned in to Zander. “Take some time to break him in properly. You won’t regret it.” His laugh was dirty and made me feel like a whole bug infestation breaking out on my skin. Beside me, Zander tensed too. Not obviously enough for the guard to grow suspicious, but just enough for me to know he was hating this as much as I was.

Sorry for dragging you into this.

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Zander said, nodding at the guard.

The asshole didn’t seem to notice the cold glint in Zander’s eyes; he simply waved us through.

I’d never been so happy to see someone in the rear-view mirror.

“I’m sorry,” Zander said as soon as we were out of earshot, laying his hand over mine.

My eyes darted to our hands. The bugs had left my skin now. Instead there was only a gentle tingling where Zander and I touched. “It’s all right,” I made myself say. “You had to get us in.”

“I still feel like an ass.”

I shook my head. “I know you’d never treat me like that. If we were together in reality.” Which we weren’t, so I really needed to get a grip. Zander didn’t mean anything by squeezing my hand. He only wanted to reassure me.

“Yeah. If we were together in reality...”

Did I imagine it or did his voice sound wistful? “Not like that would ever happen, right? I mean, can you even imagine that?” I laughed, trying to play my question off as a joke. How was he going to react? I needed to know.

“We were sort of together once,” he said, looking at the road instead of me. We were driving into town now, between the first houses of the community. Glancing at the GPS told me that we were almost there. Not even five minutes before it was show time.

“I don't know if that counts,” I threw in. “I mean, we were children. It was just... “

“Just what?” Half of Zander's attention was on the road, but I could tell the other half was focused solely on me.

“It was just puppy love, wasn't it?”

One of Zander's hands left the steering wheel and went into his hair. “It didn't feel like that to me,” he admitted.

“No?” My mouth ran dry.

“You should know. I told you.” He gave a short laugh, as if the memory somehow amused him in a bitter sort of way. “I called you from the phone box outside my gran's store, you know. Because my parents didn't want me to call you anymore.”

“I...” Really didn't know what to say.

“You're speechless.” Zander smiled at me. “That doesn't happen too often.”

How could he still be smiling at me now—after the way I'd ignored him all those years ago?