Page 28 of Ruffled Feathers

I asked her more questions, watched her face light up when she spoke of things she enjoyed, her anger at the cockfighting ring, her joy at the rescue animals and their antics. She was enchanting.

We were now on the third course of the set tasting menu, something she seemed to be enjoying, if the sweet little noises were anything to go by. She spoke to me animatedly, but I didn’t miss Truett swapping out his full plate for her empty one. She didn’t seem to notice, but it prolonged her happy food noises even longer. I might pay for dinner, just because they’d made her emit those sounds.

While I might be learning everything there was to know about Otillie-James Baler, she’d also managed to pull more than a few facts from me, as if she were a CIA spy. Like the fact I also had no Alphas, and wasn’t being courted. My career had kept me busy, and I couldn’t risk an Alpha making me quit my job.

Truett scoffed at the idea. “Why would any Alpha make you quit? You’re a fucking great lawyer, and they’d want you to what? Sit at home in your nest, fussing with the house all day?” He snorted. “Ridiculous.”

My heart pounded in my chest. Every Alpha I’d gone on dates with since I’d designated had basically insinuated that if we Packed up, I could quit my job and do whatever I liked with my days. Like they’d be doing me a favor.

Truett was the only one who seemed to understand being a lawyerwaswhat I wanted to do with my days.

I looked over at this Alpha I’d spent far too many years challenging. I enjoyed riling him, but I’d also had more than one late-night fantasy about him too. Was he interested in me like that? Were he and Edison Chalmers looking for an Omega, or were they happy with Otillie-James?

Did it have to be an either/or situation?

As the night progressed, a plan formulated in my mind—one where I got the girlandthe Alphas, and we all lived happily ever after.

Fourteen

Otillie-James

Strat Wilmington was charming, sexy, and as our night went on, my body got warmer and warmer under his unwavering attention. I didn’t think any designated person had paid me this kind of attention, ever.

It was like he wanted to know everything about me. Maybe it was professional curiosity, but as the night went on, the casual touches got more and more frequent, until my skin felt like it was electrified.

Maybe I was just being sensitive. Possibly I needed to get out more. Because there was no way this gorgeous Omega was flirting with me. I must be misreading his body language.

“Tell me more about your Lancelot,” he asked lightly. “You said he’d been unhoused when you met him.”

I stiffened, ready to defend Lance again. Actually, Truett had thrown in that little tidbit earlier in the night, and had completely ignored me when I kicked him. “He was. Now he lives with me. He saved my life, and I owe him for that.”

But Strat didn’t seem to judge. “We all owe him for that. What’s he like?”

My cheeks flushed pink. “Kind. Quiet. Maybe stoic would be the right word. Polite. Disciplined, definitely. He was a formerMarine, I believe.” Polite, to an aggravating degree at times. “Handsome,” I added, and Strat’s eyes danced.

He grinned. “I’d like to meet him one day.”

“You should come around this week for dinner,” I offered. “We’re having a cookout with friends on Saturday, if you want to join us?”

He gripped my fingers and squeezed lightly. “I’d love that.”

I bit my lip as I looked down at where his long fingers covered mine. They were pretty hands. The kind of hands you fantasized about running over your body or fisting silk sheets.

Fuck, what waswrongwith me? If I was getting my period, it needed to skip to the chocolate-bingeing, hot-water-bottle stage already, because my libido had gone off the rails.

We were interrupted by the server coming over to artfully compile the dessert course on the table in front of us. Right there, on a shiny piece of plastic, they put elaborate chocolate swirls, biscuit crumbs, fresh fruit, and that was just the garnish.

Truett bitched under his breath about fancy restaurants, but I knew he had a sweet tooth and would be diving into this table dessert as soon as the server left.

Strat’s eyes danced with delight. “I am absolutely going to devour this. I love sweet things.” He held my gaze as he said the words, and I realized he actuallywasflirting with me. This wasn’t me misreading signals at all.

Strat Wilmington wanted me.

Holy shit.

I’d never had an Omega flirt with me before. I was Unshown. Omegas weren’t interested in Unshown.

It wasn’t that the Unshown were badly treated. After all, we made up sixty percent of the world’s population, though only six percent of the upper class of society. No, we weren’t badly treated—we were just Unshown.

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