Page 70 of Their Lethal Pet

“But you barely know me,” she rushes out, her cappuccino cup rattling in her hand. “I… But… Oh.” She blanches. “Monsters Night. Mates. I…”

I take the cup from her before she can drop it, and gently set it down on the table. “Alina?—”

“No, I get it. Monsters Night is all about brides and grooms. But it happens… so fast? I just… I didn’t…”

“We didn’t attend Monsters Night to hunt for a mate,” I tell her.

Her brow creases. “What?” she asks, like she didn’t hear me.

So I repeat my statement before adding, “We used Monsters Night as a cover to sneak into this realm. We didn’t come here to find a mate; we came here to find the essence my brother originally detected in this realm. But then my soul sensed you…”

“We also saw you briefly before we even came here, almost like Orcus’s dimension power was locked on to you when creating the portal window,” Flame adds.

I nod. “Yes. I found you easily a second time, too.” Something Flame and Reaper just learned last night.

Fortunately, neither of them gave me too hard a time about it.

“My soul has been drawn to yours from the moment I first saw you,” I go on, wanting her to know the full truth. “I suspected you might be an Omega then, but I thought it was impossible. Then we arrived and I immediately felt your presence. I also… sensed your distress.”

It’d been in her scent. A slightly sour note to an otherwise beautiful bouquet. My inner predator had roared, furious that something or someone was harming our ideal mate.

“All thoughts of our mission fled the moment I scented you. I had no choice but to find you. However, none of us originally came here with the goal of taking a mate. And like Flame already said, we’re merely speaking our intentions. That doesn’t mean we expect you to instantly accept us.”

“We’re more than happy to work for it,” Flame adds with a smile. “Trust takes time.”

Reaper snorts. “One night in bed with us and she’ll be begging for eternity. I personally think that’s a quicker solution to the whole courting scenario, but fine. Delayed gratification has its perks.”

Rather than wait around for a reply, he blinks out of sight and reappears in the kitchen.

Alina’s cup seems to have magically gone with him.

If she cares, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she’s too busy gaping at me, and then at Flame, and then me again.

“What if I’m not really an Omega?” she finally asks. “What if…? What if it’s just a fluke or something? I’m human. I was born in a village. I have human parents. I… I can’t be a… afae.”

I’m pleased that she’s referring to our kind asfaenow, notmonsters.

“It could be a genetic manipulation,” Flame tells her. “From what we’ve gathered, the humans in your realm have been, well,altered, for lack of a better term, to suit supernaturals.”

“What does that even mean?” she demands, her voice going up an octave at the end. “Altered how?”

“We don’t know,” I interject. “But when I meet with the Monster City Queen, I plan to ask her about that, and Chicago.”

Alina stares at me like she did the first time I mentioned my plans for talking to the Monster City Queen about Chicago. It’s a look that says she still can’t believe I plan to ask about that. But beneath the surprise, there’s a hint of hope.

She wants to trust me.

She just isn’t sure if she can.

If I’m right about her being an Omega, her soulalready has faith in me to protect her unequivocally. Because that’s what Alphas do—they protect Omegas.

Which is why so many of my kind have lost themselves in other fae realms. Wefailed. Our Omegas are gone. Our purpose left with them. Now, we’re forced to survive without our other halves. Live in a world where our Alpha souls are starved for a connection that doesn’t exist.

Only, my salvation is seated beside me.

Watching me.

Studying my eyes.