Page 15 of Alpha's Two Omegas

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. I’ll ring you when I’m there. Put your phone on vibrate in case you don’t hear it over the music.”

It just went to show how easily I crumbled because I did exactly what Alder said and didn’t even get a chance to ask where he was coming from or whether I’d interrupted anything.

I stood near the doorway for ten minutes, waiting, and then Alder turned up. I tried not to notice how great he looked, all lean and fair-haired and handsome.

“Hey,” I said, sounding really smart.

“Are you ready to come home? You can stay a while longer, if you want.”

“No, I want to go home.”

And the word ‘home’ felt so good to say. The last place I’d lived had been a mere house and actually I’d avoided going there as much as I could because, yeah, I wasn’t that happy about being near my ex-housemate.

Alder and Ty’s house felt likehome. The kind of cosy, safe place I could look forward to going back to each night.

Alder clapped his hands. “Great. We’ll get the bus and that way Ty doesn’t need to come out in the cold.”

I smiled. “Didn’t you say it wouldn’t be a problem for Ty to come and collect us?”

“It’s not! It’s just that, while there are two of us, it’s ok. I don’t want you walking around on your own, though. I know the alpha who mugged Waggoner was caught, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other unsavoury types lurking around, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I looked at him, trying to work out whether he would be offended if I asked my question.

As always, Alder seemed to know what I was thinking. He raised an eyebrow. “Do you have something to say?”

“Um, I was just wondering…”

“Yes?”

“What about you? Isn’t it dangerous for you to walk around alone?”

He shrugged. “I’ve taken some self-defence training.”

I didn’t think that made it ok for him to wander round on his own at night, but I didn’t want to say so. Alder must have seen my look because he added. “And by ‘some’ I mean ‘a lot’. Trust me, if someone meets me down a dark alleyway, they’re the ones who should be scared.”

For some reason, when Alder said it, I believed it. He struck me as someone who could look after himself.

He’d already move on, though. He asked, “Did you have a good time with your friends?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t sound that sure.”

“I did! It’s just it was very loud tonight and I couldn’t talk over the noise.”

Alder chuckled. “I bet.”

“I’m sure it’s not normally that busy.”

“It’s not,” said Alder. “Milton has been complaining about staffing issues for weeks but they’re being slow to hire someone. I think they caved when he threatened to leave. If Milton goes, that whole place will fall apart. For a start, he’s the only one who can control Jared.”

“Who’s Jared?” I asked.

“The omega with the big smile.” Alder nudged me with his shoulder. “The cute one.”

I blushed, remembering that I’d thought exactly that earlier.

Unfortunately, Alder noticed. And, as I was starting to expect from him, he dug deeper. “So what kind of people are you into?”

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