Page 84 of One for the Money
I trail behind the other Alphas as we enter the lowly lit superstore. It’s well ventilated, so I’m not immediately overwhelmed with the smell of the hundreds of Omegas who shop here daily, but I do see several of them walking around the aisles. All of them are male. I would wager that there is not a single female Omega in the entire store.
This is the first time I’ve thought about how rare it is that we scent matched with one of the very few female Omegas there are. Dario and I must be on a twin brainshare again, because he leans over and whispers, “I always knew female Omegas were rare, but not this rare.”
“One in five, so not unheard of, but definitely not the majority,” comes a voice from behind us.
I turn around to see a handsome man, who’s tall and thin with long limbs that make him look vaguely bird-like. His hair is in dozens of tiny braids and falls to the middle of his back, and he has a little silver hoop in his nostril.
“I’m Wes. Can I help you all? It’s not often we get a group of lost Alphas wandering around.” That’s when I notice the name badge on his shirt and the small Omega symbol in the corner.
“Yes, please,” Quinton says enthusiastically. “We have a newly scent matched Omega. Her name is Alex, and she’s so fucking perfect. She’s a doctor. And she didn’t have a nest, and she built one in her trailer, and it was tiny because we don’t have a ton of space, but I helped, and she picked my pillow, and then it got destroyed by some of our roadies.”
Wes blinks several times, then turns away from Quinton and looks at Jude. “Can you uh, translate all of that for me?”
Jude nods tightly. “Our Omega had her nest destroyed and is currently in a makeshift one. We want to get her material to re-nest.”
Comprehension lights up in his dark eyes. “Got it. So this is an Alpha reset? We have several packages for that.”
“Alpha reset?” I can’t help but ask. “What’s that?”
“It’s common after a move, a traumatic event, or childbirth for Alphas to do a total overhaul of the nest for their Omega. How many are in your pack?”
Before I can tell him we’re not a pack, Quinton pipes up. “Four Alphas, one Beta, one perfect, beautiful Omega.”
Wes smiles at him indulgently. “Okay, we have a four Alpha package. It includes eight pillows, four blankets, a set of lights, a candle, three toys, and a gift card for the Omega and her Beta to come back and fill in any gaps.”
“We’ll do that one,” Jude confirms.
The Omega smiles at him and grabs a shopping cart. “Okay, great! Go grab the stuff, and I’ll meet you at checkout.Don’t hesitate to come get me if you get stuck.” He hands Jude a pamphlet that I’m assuming details everything that comes with the package, and then walks away to talk to another worker.
“Alright, so let’s go get some pillows!” Dario says excitedly, grabbing the cart from Jude and taking off.
Jude pats me on the back as he follows my brother. “Don’t look so excited, Dexter.”
I clutcha pale pink pillow to my chest. I don’t even like pink, but I just knew, the moment I saw it, that it was perfect for Alex, and I couldn’t stop myself from snagging it off the shelf.
Fucking Alpha instincts. How does this happen? What part of my hindbrain recognizes the pillows an Omega I barely know would like? Here I am, with a pink, furry pillow against my chest and a satin one in the same shade hanging from my hand.
The gold-toned blanket I picked out lies on top of the charcoal gray flannel one Dario chose. I toss both of my pillows into the buggy, avoiding eye contact with my grinning brother.
Jude is leaning against the cart as he argues with Quinton. “Just get the unscented candle!” he nearly shouts, throwing his hands in the air. “She’s not going to want other scents in the nest.”
“No!” the other Alpha insists, his eyes wild. “Unscented is impersonal. We should pay the upgrade fee to have our scents made into a candle so she can alwayshave them, even when we’re performing!” Quinton holds a massive box to his chest with an image of a four-wick candle on it. “It’ll be more special!”
Jude groans, scrubbing his hands down his face. When he drops them, his expression is blank, and he speaks slowly, as if Quinton is an unruly child. “It takes a week to make one of those candles. We won’t be here in a week. She just needs our clothes to have our scent in the nest. We can all stand to part with a couple of shirts.”
Quinton swings his head and stares down my brother and me. “Back me up, you two! Tell him this is the right call.”
Dario shrugs noncommittally. “I don’t know if I even have an opinion.” He takes one of the unscented candles off the shelf and smells it. “Huh, really does smell like nothing.”
“That’s the point!” Jude’s voice is loud now, and it’s clear he’s frustrated that they’re having a literal argument over candles, of all things. “So she gets the warmth and light from a candle but doesn’t have to deal with the extra scents overwhelming her nest.”
“She’ll want our scents in one,” Quinton insists. “She will! I know her best of all of us.”
“Why would you think that? Because you trailed after her like a puppy at her last nest shopping?” Jude snaps back. “You don’t know her like this. The unscented candle is the safest bet.”
“Safe doesn’t exactly scream my Alphas care about me and can take care of me, though,” Dario chimes in unhelpfully.
“See? Dario agrees with me!”
