Page 4 of Omega Chattel
“I am farm trained. So what? And no I didn’t stick around. That’s why I tell you I can be good for you. First time and all. It will cost a little more, but I’ll be good. I swear.”
I could hear his stomach growling from where I stood. He was hungry. Tired. A curl of fear swept through his gaze before vanishing as he again blinked those big dark eyes at me.
Tonight was not a good night for me. I was not in rescue mode. The Omegas I already had at the house were a handful. As for sex, I had come to find Kee and no one else. Without Kee, I made use of the farms.
Now this little Omega stood in front of me with his puppy eyes and his growling stomach—
No. It was not going to happen. I didn’t like virgins. Not for my Burns and not for any time in between. At the farms I always paid for the older ones. And Kee had been well broken in long before I met him.
“Four walls. A roof. The farms aren’t prisons. Why run?” I asked him. Surely starving and selling himself in a world that led to hard risks and no hope for glamour from those Trench shadows was worse than anything he came from.
But every Omega had their sad story. Here was another about to begin. I wanted to turn away. Ineededto turn away. I didn’t have time for this. But something kept my boots rooted to the spot.
“I hated it there, that’s all.” He shuffled his feet.
Well, he was going to hate it more on the streets. But I didn’t tell him that.
“Are you even eighteen?”
He brightened a little at my question. “I turn eighteen tomorrow.”
“Great.” I faked my smile. He was surely not having a happy birthday from what I could see.
Again, something tugged in my chest. Maybe it was his sweet look. Maybe it was his fresh, cookie dough scent.
I was the complete opposite of those Omega-hating Alphas who think all Omegas are trash, or good for only one thing. For one thing, I had a heart. But if I tried to rescue every Omega I saw, I’d need a farm myself. I was rich, but not that rich.
I could only handle three or four Omegas at a time. Right now I had three, not counting Kee. Two were lovers and took up only one spare room. They studied hard and were learning accounting. I’d eventually find them both a job and sponsor them, remaining their financial guardian since they weren’t allowed to have bank accounts of their own.
My other Omega guest had his own room, and was studying to be a legal secretary. He was smart enough, he might actually make it to licensed paralegal.
And then Kee had a room, but he was in and out so often—mostly out—and studied nothing. I had to come to terms with the fact that he was not really living with me.
“So, well, uh,” the boy stuttered. It was annoyingly cute. He put his hands on his hips, elbows out, and cocked his hip. “I’m Alli. Should we talk price, or not?”
“Oh, well now. Look at you. Now I’m inclined to think you’re lying about being a virgin.”
His eyes widened in shock. “I am one!”
Of course I could see he wasn’t lying. He wasn’t street smart enough for that yet. But I said, “Uh huh. Growing up with all those cute Omega boys. I’m sure you’ve fooled around.” I knew I was being hard on him, but I was stupidly missing Kee. And I didn’t need to be bamboozled by another hard luck case.
The muscles hardened beneath his eyes. “I just—what do I need to do? I mean, either you believe me or not.”
“Some advice if you’re going to sell yourself down here. Make sure of your market first.”
“What? You came to the Trenches. You were talking with those other boys. I saw.”
“I was looking for someone.” I looked him up and down, tightening my gaze. “Not you.”
He shuffled from one foot to the other. “So why are you talking to me—“
I shushed him with one hand raised fast to his face. “Let’s get something straight here. You followed me. You thought I looked like a good prospect to—what?—rob? You’re too little and too young to take on an Alpha like me, so you’d do it coyly, through seduction. You’d get to my house and do whatever was necessary to get what you need. Steal it. Maybe even put out for it.”
“I’m not a thief!” he countered. “Fine. I get it now. You’re not in the market.”
I let out a chuckle as his face screwed up all cute and even more child-like. I didn’t like them young, but damn, all those tangles of brown hair, and those fawn-colored eyes, and resting behind that was look a spirit of a boy who’d had enough of everything but was still desperate, still hungry. That drive could change a person, make them trip an old man for an apple.
“You need to learn a few things if you’re going to survive on the streets,” I said.
