Page 25 of The Rejected Omega

“When's the last time you ate? Is your blood sugar low? Are you sick? What do you need?”

There’s a part of me, buried deep, that exults in this treatment—his care and attention.

This is how it could be.

A minute more, and I find my way back to normal—or as close to normal as can be expected in his presence.

Connor’s expression is tortured. “You don’t need to worry. I’ll ask them to assign a different tutor. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you any distress. I just—wanted to see if we could be friends again. To find out where we went wrong.”

I nod but don’t speak, then take a tentative sniff. He smellsgood, far better than any other alpha, but his scent isn’t sending me down a panty-soaking spiral like it would if my suppressants weren’t working. And if he really is going to school here, I can’t expect to avoid him like I have since high school. Maybe it’s better if I can control our meetings—then I can monitor how well the suppressants work in close proximity to him. Better than randomly running into him on campus and being surprised when their effectiveness has failed.

Connor is standing up and gathering his things before I manage to speak.

“Wait.”

He looks back, all earnest concern.

“Dr. C’s my advisor. I need a stunning letter of recommendation, and you’re a local legend and a board member’s kid. I’m not jeopardizing that. I’ll tutor you.”

He frowns, then gives me a slow nod. “If you’re sure.”

“Don’t make me second guess myself.”

A small grin creeps onto his face.

“Alright, Crane. I appreciate it.”

“We’ll start next week. Same time, same place.”

CHAPTER NINE

I usethe rest of our tutoring session to go yell at Mac. He’s already waiting when I blow past his secretary and storm into his office. There’s a half-empty glass of bourbon on his desk, next to the bottle it came from.

“What the fuck, Mac?”

He throws up his hands. “I didn’t know, Lana.”

“Bullshit. You keep close tabs on him. You always have.”

“And he’s gotten better and better at avoiding them.”

“I’m supposed to believe you didn’t know he was coming?Enrolling at my school?”

“It doesn’t matter if you believe it, baby. It’s happening. But for what it’s worth, I didn’t know.”

“You need to fix this.”

Mac groans and reclines in his wingback leather office chair. “What do you expect me to do? He’s a grown alpha with a mind of his own. You know damn well he’s never listened to me.”

“Craven has me tutoring him! This could blow up our faces.”

Mac smirks. “He came back because there’s unfinished business between you two. Did you think he was going to let you go?”

“He did!”

“He gave you time. And took some of his own for his brain to catch up with his dick. Maybe you should just let this play out. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Really? You're asking that, when you know firsthand? And what happens when he discovers you helped me hide?”

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