“I want to see this project through,” I said.
“You could work remotely. You’d have those pricks waiting on your every Zoom call, dancing to your tune to get you to notice them.”
“I’d go mad if I…”
My voice trailed away as he shook his head slowly.
“It’s already happening, Sage. You got a job here, of all places, and then you stayed. The changes started the moment you went out on that date, maybe before.” He frowned slightly. “I don’t know how it happens, or who or what steers shit this way, but it always does. Alphas find omegas. Omegas choose the alphas that they decide deserve them. If you’re gonna stick around, embrace that shit. Don’t make the mistakes so many betas do, thinking omegas have no power. Every single one of you make us show you exactly how good it’ll be if you accept our bond, and in doing that, we become the men we’re supposed to be.”
Silence settled in the room, broken only by the bunny rabbit thud of my heart.
“We’re here for you, Sage,” Riley said, reaching across the table and taking my hand. “Gideon would very much like for me to take a range of samples and a complete medical and psychological history, but somehow, I scrape by only giving him what people are prepared to share. Still, I won’t let anyone go through this on their own. It’s a terrifying thing. Everything you thought you knew about yourself is shifting and changing.”
Her fingers tightened around mine.
“I went through it on my own.”
“Ahem…” Candy cleared her throat conspicuously.
“I went through it almost on my own, except for this bitch, who kept shoving me at the alphas like a pig to the slaughter,” Riley shot back.
“Someone needed to. You kept dithering around, thinking ‘should I jump on into the sea of monster dick or shouldn’t I?’ When the answer is always yes, dick. Yes, yes, yes!”
Candy did a very plausible imitation of Meg Ryan inWhen Harry Met Sally, slapping her hands down on the table to punctuate the words, throwing her head around in ecstatic abandon.
“How have you not found a mate yet?” Haze asked drily. “I can’t imagine why any man would knock this back.”
“Because no man, no men, can keep up with me,” she said with a self-congratulatory smile. “I pick them up, suck them dry, and then leave their pathetic husks behind.”
“And somehow, we’re back to talking about your sex life. What a shock,” Riley said, then scribbled down a number on the back of a business card, pushing it across to me. “That’s my private number. If you need help, need out, or just need to vent, give me a call. This pamphlet also outlines some of the things you can expect, and there’s a bunch of links on the back to some good websites, including a forum we moderate.”
I stared down at the brightly coloured graphics, showing an ordinary girl, who could easily be me, standing next to a freaking huge wolf.
“Just…avoid shifting. You might not have a beast, but if you do, call us immediately.”
With that, she got to her feet, her entourage moving with her. Riley’s hand landed on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze before she walked out.
If I were doing my job, I’d have walked her out, thanking her for her time. I’d have offered her and her party something to drink when they arrived. Bugger it, I wouldn’t have engaged in a personal discussion about whatever the hell was going on with my body in the workplace. I was trying so damn hard to keep a lid on every fucking thing, but as soon as I felt like I was in control of something, another road block appeared. My fingers gripped the edge of the table, my knuckles bleaching white as I just sat there, feeling like all of the different elements of what had happened since that date with Lucien were hitting me over and over, like a series of body blows.
A growl formed in my chest, vibrating out, refusing to be held down, growing, growing, becoming something much bigger than I could contain, trickling out from between my teeth, filling the air of the office, and that was when I saw it.
I kept my nails clean, on the short side, and covered in a nice clear lacquer so they looked polished enough for the workplace, but also were short enough to be practical. Right now, though, they were becoming something else altogether—darker, harder and with a vicious curve. These were claws.
I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Sage?”
Beau appeared at the door as if summoned, taking in me, then my hands, before sweeping in and slamming the door behind him.
“Talk to me, omega. Tell me what’s happening.”
25
This wasn’t the voice of the smooth-talking man who was the darling of the tabloid media. His face looked drawn, his beautiful hair a mess, and his eyes? They were bright, bright metallic silver.
“Give me your words, omega.”
There was a bite to his voice now, a command that hadn’t been there before, which dragged a frustrated little growl from me as I was forced to do just that.