Chapter 2
2
CONNOR
"No, I don't want to buy an NFT of the United States constitution," the woman sitting beside me at the bar said.
"How about the USS Constitution? I've got NFTs of that, too!"
"No."
"I recognize that tone," I said. "You don't realize the potential! NFTs are an investment for your future, your kids' futures."
She rolled her eyes, picked up her drink, and moved to the only vacant seat at the bar, three seats from me.
"Better luck next time," Derek said. He had the easier job on this trip, selling cryptocurrency wallets. All we had to do was corner the single alphas and betas and share the benefits of squirreling away hundreds of dollars until they became thousands of dollars. Boom, sale, sign-up, and twenty percent commission for us.
I pulled up a picture of the USS Constitution on my phone. It had a rainbow patina and a beautiful twilight sky in the background. "Maybe I should have led with this," I said. "It's beautiful, don't you think?"
"Maybe you should buy it." He winked.
"Maybe I will." Except I knew the truth. The non-fungible token wasn't worth a penny. It certainly wasn't worth the twenty dollars I'd been asking from that woman.
"That's not even the Constitution." Derek pointed at the hull. "It's the Iowa. Besides, sun's going down over the ocean, so it's on the west coast."
"How do you know? The sun could be rising."
He laughed. "The title of the NFT is literally "'Sunset over the Iowa.'"
I clicked my phone screen off and shoved it back into my fancy black leather fanny pack with a huff.
"You look fucking ridiculous," Derek teased as I zipped the pack shut.
"I told you it would be harder for me to make a sale at the airport. I travel light."
Derek shook his head. "You're a mess. That suit looks like you slept in it. And no tailored cut in the world will help you pull off a fanny pack."
"It's practical!" I grinned as he sipped his Long Island Iced Tea. "Do you know how many omegas I've coaxed into bed with this thing? They love how parental it looks."
He paused mid-sip and choked. A little dribble of tea came out of his nose.
I unzipped my pack, rooted around for the travel tissues I kept in there, and handed him one. "See?"
"Parental," he huffed between bouts of coughing. "You are a hoot, Con. It's too bad—" He cut himself off with a hard swallow and took a long drink from his tall glass.
"Too bad, what?"
He sighed. "You'll find out when we get back to Phoenix, anyway. The boss is downsizing. He said he gave me the crypto assignment because he wanted me to win."
"This was a … a competition?" I'd been helping Derek with his sales, thinking I was doing it for our employer. Derek was the newest hire on the team, while I'd been working with Hank since the beginning. Hell, adding cryptocurrency to our NFT business had been my idea!
The sinking pit of disappointment in my gut was nothing new. I'd felt the same way when I'd been kicked out of my wolf pack. When I'd sided with an omega over the alpha pack leader, even my blood family disowned me. All for an omega who wanted a year to find his fated mate before being forced to mate with me.
I'd been on my own ever since.
Life had gotten easier since Hank and I met five years ago. First, we'd sold a phone app to a venture capitalist firm, and then we'd used the money to buy NFT software to manufacture our own tokens. Crypto was our big moneymaker, though. On top of our commissions, we were making more money than we spent on things like private jets and European vacations. Hank was a genius with money!
I was just the chump who had trained all our salespeople to do what I do. Being dumped by my friends felt worse than being abandoned by my family. "He swore everything was fine when we left."
"Come on, Connor, it's not so bad. You'll land on your feet, like Hank said."
My eyes stung from the compliment, and I sniffled. Instead of defeat, something delightful caught my attention. I sniffed again and zipped my fanny pack shut so nothing would spill.
"Gotta run!" I patted Derek's shoulder and hopped from my stool, almost knocking it over in my haste. "I think I smell my fated mate!"
The other shifters in the bar and the outer lounge must have heard my declaration. Applause broke out around me as I made my way to the restaurant's entrance to the airport proper. I gave a slight bow before stepping into the crowd scrambling for their gates. Weather delays always made the airports hectic, and harried folks did not good sales make.
I sniffed again, trying to determine the direction of the scrumptious omega who had captured my full attention and completely distracted me from losing my job.
Well. Almost. Hank's callous behavior still hurt, and hearing about it from Derek the newbie was even worse.
Fuck. I couldn't tell which direction he'd gone. I raised my nose in the air and turned a full circle, hoping my wolf nose would find him.
"Oof." Something hard and person-sized ran right into my back.
"Sorry," I said, "I'm looking for?—"
"You big oaf! Get out of my way!"
I turned around to face the most gorgeous human omega I had ever seen in my entire life. He had olive-toned skin, dark hair, and a smoldering brown-eyed glare as he knocked the handle of his aquamarine rolling bag against my fanny pack. "Move! I'm going to miss my flight!"
"What gate?" I asked.
"Fifty-nine."
The one halfway across the terminal. I grabbed the handle of his bag, but he refused to let it go. We both ended up dragging it behind us as we walked to the nearest moving walkway.
"If I miss my flight because you won't let go of my bag …"
"How much time do you have?" I asked.
"Twenty minutes."
"That's plenty of time."
I helped him onto the walkway and kept walking. He balked at first, almost falling flat on his face, but then he kept up with me as I weaved through the folks standing still or meandering along like tourists. Nothing against tourists, but I had a mission. I would get my human omega to his plane, and then I would do whatever I could to go along with him. Hell, I'd hitch a ride in the cargo hold if I had to. I was not letting him get away until he knew what he was to me.
When we reached gate fifty-nine, he relaxed a little. "Thank you for helping me … I don't even know your name."
I held my hand out. "Connor McKeeler, New Money International, the top provider for all your NFT and cryptocurrency needs."
He blinked. "That would be zero." He shoved his hand in mine. "Benjamin Satler, Financial Manager at Barclay Foods. Nice to meet you, Connor."
I kept shaking his hand, hoping his scent imprinted on me from such a small touch.
He cleared his throat. "Connor."
"What?"
"Give me my hand back."
"Oh." I let him go, and he tugged his bag over to the line already boarding the plane. I approached the gate agent's desk. "I need to get on this plane. How do I do that?"
The woman behind the counter stared at me blankly. "What? You can't be in here without a ticket."
"I was flying to Phoenix, but now I want to go to … wherever this is going."
"Atlanta," she said.
"Cool. I've been there plenty. What can you do for me?"
She shook her head, but she pulled up the available seats on her console. "We've got two seats in First Class. We planned to bump a person from business class, but?—"
"I'll take them both."
"Both?" She stared at me blankly.
"I like to stretch my legs," I said. I stretched my arms over my head and looked as intimidating as I could, which was probably more like a cuddly wolf pup waking from a nap. "And I need to book a connecting flight to LA." I'd driven past the giant Barclay Foods building often enough. It was right by the coast highway between San Diego and Los Angeles. I hoped my mate worked there, not at some subsidiary. Financial Manager sounded important enough to be on the main campus.
"There's no connecting flight. There's a flight to Denver still open, and one seat on a flight from there to Orange County airport."
"Close enough. I'll take it."
She rolled her eyes and gave me an amount around a full month's salary. I suppressed a grin and handed her my business credit card. Hank could make one final purchase for me, if it meant holding onto my fated mate.