Page 27 of The Heart of Winter

Was that too much to ask?

The only things that gave me any real distraction were my dance practices and sketching new scenes for my T-shirts. It was my only creative escape.

About a week into the job, I finally decided to go down to the cafeteria for the first time. Just for a change of scenery. To see some different faces, because I already knew the ones in my office way too well.

As I stood in line, I noticed something interesting.

Another alpha had just walked into the room.

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. It took me a second to remember. Of course, I wasn’t the only alpha in the company. Winter’s brother, Skye, was here too.

It truly felt surreal to see him at DevApp. But he looked nothing like me. When he entered, every head turned. He was the kind of alpha no omega could ignore.

Strikingly handsome, almost annoyingly so.

Taller than me, more muscular, and dressed like he’d just stepped off a runway.

Yet somehow, it didn’t look forced, he carried himself with an effortless kind of elegance. Sophisticated yet masculine, striking the perfect balance. His hair was styled in that calculatedly messy way, dark chestnut strands falling just right over his forehead.

Looking closely, I could see the resemblance to Winter. They had similar noses, and then there were the lips: full, sensual, almost identical in their definition. But Skye’s coloring was definitely more approachable, or at least, that’s probably how most people saw him, especially compared to Winter’s.

I had no doubt he had zero trouble getting any omega he wanted spread wide in his bed. Guys like him always had it easy.

But it was a different case. His eyes weren’t on some omega.

The entire time he sat at his table, he was locked onto one person, some weird-looking beta. The kind of guy I wouldn’t even glance at. Actually, the kind I’d usually go out of my way to avoid.

Shaved sides, barbed wire tattoos across his cheeks and temples, screaming ‘I have a troubled past’, piercings in his ears, nose, eyebrows… even at the corner of his mouth.

And yet, Skye kept staring at this oddball.

I’m not saying the guy was ugly, his features were sharp, very attractive, but the whole ‘edgy’ aesthetic? Way over the top.

I had no idea how someone like Skye could be into someone like this beta. Enough to actually take a job here just to win over this ‘bad boy’?

Too ‘bad’ for him, pun intended. The beta seemed to already have a boyfriend. He was sitting at a table with another beta employee, and that little mousy guy was gazing at him with the sweetest, most adoring eyes.

Funny. Looked like some kind of love drama was playing out.

Not that I had a clue what was really going on. And to be honest, I had no desire to find out. Other people screwing up their lives wasn’t my business. Folks tend to do ridiculous things for romance, right?

For a brief moment, my gaze met Skye’s. Like everyone else, he probably knew who I was. There wasn’t a single employee here who hadn’t heard about ‘the boss’s kid’.

Not much I could do about that. I just sat down and started eating.

Winter and the other high-ranking managers never showed up in the cafeteria, their assistants brought them their meals instead.

Good. That meant it was a safe space.

I finished my lunch and went back to my office.

The rest of my day was spent making icons.

Same old, same old.

***

But that same day, something new happened. When my working day ended, I headed to the parking lot toward my car.

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