His Plaything (Omegas After Dark: Omega Auction #4)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Linus

My heat was coming, and I was more than a little jumpy.

I always got that way when it was sneaking up on me.

Most omegas did, and I know I’m not really special, like, at all, but I’d always imagined that my skin started to get more sensitive at least a week in advance and that my sense of smell heightened and made me alert to any alpha within a ten-mile radius.

Like the one sitting across from my desk in my bright and cheery classroom.

“Eddie is smart,” Mr. Wallace insisted, leaning forward slightly with a stern expression that bordered on bullying. “He’s the smartest kid in this entire class, I know. He’s starting to present as alpha, too, and I want that encouraged, not held back by a milquetoast omega like you.”

I smiled as best I could, keeping my hands folded tightly together on my desk, mostly to stop myself from reaching out and decking the aggressive father.

“Eddie is a lively lad and a joy to have in my class,” I said.

“He engages well with his lessons, but his reading is lagging behind the rest of the class.”

“He’s nearly seven. He should be reading by now,” Mr. Wallace insisted.

“I agree,” I said with a nod. “He struggles with new words, though and often gets upset. I think it might be time to have him tested for—”

“There’s nothing wrong with my kid,” Mr. Wallace growled, slamming a hand down on the desktop.

I jumped, my heart racing. The faintest bit of slick leaked from me, which had my face flaring hot.

I was not in any way attracted to or interested in Mr. Wallace, or any overbearing, know-everything alpha like him, for that matter.

But omega instincts weren’t particularly discriminating around their heats.

Heat plus alpha aggression equals breed the ever-loving daylights out of me.

“I understand,” I said, still trying to smile and be the sweet, compliant primary school teacher I was, “but with children like Eddie, it’s best to have them tested so we know what we’re dealing with instead of forcing them to suffer along without knowing why some things are harder for them than the other children. ”

“My Eddie can do anything,” Mr. Wallace said, pushing back his chair and standing.

My body tensed and heated again at the bald display of power, and I frowned.

More over my reaction to the jerk than what he was saying.

“If you don’t believe in him, then I’ll have him transferred to another section of first grade. ”

“It is your right to do that,” I said slowly, gripping my hands together even tighter, “but we’re deep into the second half of the year, and moving Eddie could be traumatic for him. Also, the school would want to speak to you and your omega first to make certain—”

“I’m the one who makes the decisions for my family around here,” Mr. Wallace cut me off. “I don’t take the advice of omegas. I’m going to go speak with Principal Jones right now.”

“Mr. Wallace, I really don’t think—”

Before I could finish, Mr. Wallace turned and stomped out of my classroom.

As soon as he was gone, I blew out a breath and deflated. “What an asshole,” I muttered, then immediately felt guilty for swearing in the classroom. Even though it was after school and no kids were there.

There was nothing I could do about Mr. Wallace.

Eddie was a good kid, but he clearly had undiagnosed issues.

And he wasn’t presenting as alpha. Kids didn’t fully present as alpha, beta, or omega until they were closer to ten, but I had a pretty good radar for guessing what they were.

Eddie was a beta, I would have put money on it.

But what could I do? Alphas like Mr. Wallace never listened to omegas like me. Heck, the only people who did listen to me, sometimes, were my first-graders.

Shaking my head, I got up and gathered a pile of picture books from the side of my desk to take back to the shelves in the reading nook.

My frustration got worse the more I worked.

I should have said something more to Mr. Wallace, defended Eddie.

I had been teaching for five years now, and I knew kids.

I knew what they needed and how to get through to them.

With a huff, I sat on one of the cushions in the reading nook so I could put the books away more comfortably.

I could deal with kids, but trying to convince parents that their babies weren’t as perfect and wonderful as they thought they were and that there was nothing wrong with testing for learning challenges required far more force than I had. It required much more courage, too.

I was just about done with the books, and nowhere near close to finished with berating myself for not having more of a backbone, when Tina, one of my colleagues, popped her head into the classroom.

“Was that Vince Wallace I saw storming out of your classroom a few minutes ago?” Tina asked in a voice like she was looking for gossip.

“Yeah,” I said gloomily, pushing myself to stand. “He thinks Eddie is a genius and an alpha and wants to have him transferred to a different class.”

“Eddie?” Tina blinked. “That sweet kid who is obviously a beta?” I wasn’t the only one with a sixth sense for how kids would present.

“Yep.” I wandered over to where Tina had helped herself to a seat on one of the low, small desks. The encounter with Mr. Wallace still had me squirmy, and unfortunately, Tina, who was also an omega, picked up on it.

“He does have that certain alpha something that makes the slick flow, doesn’t he,” she said, adding a playful growl at the end of her words.

I laughed, even though I didn’t find it particularly funny. “He’s absolutely not my type,” I said.

“Honey, he’s an alpha,” she fired back. “It doesn’t matter if they’re our type. When heat comes knocking, we answer the door to anyone and everyone.”

“I’d like to think that I’m a bit more careful than that,” I said, giving up and sitting on the desk across from where she sat. “I always hire Bangers & Mash for my heats.”

Tina snorted. “Why am I not surprised?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, trying not to be hurt.

“Just that you’re so…so good.”

“What’s wrong with being good?”

Tina shrugged. “You need to live a little, Linus. Haven’t you ever wanted to spend your heat with someone you just met on a dating app or that friend of a friend who you’ve had a crush on for ages?”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a crush on anyone. Well, anyone who wasn’t a celebrity on TV or a book boyfriend.

“It’s much safer to hire a professional,” I said.

Tina definitely wasn’t impressed. “Well, my heat is coming next month, and I just found out about this thing called the Dark Fantasies Club. I think I’m going to sign up for that and see if I can’t have a little fun.”

The squirmy feeling that was still rolling around in my gut pulsed harder. “I’ve heard of the Dark Fantasies Club,” I said, just a little hoarse. “My brother belongs to it.”

“Ooh!” Tina brightened. “Maybe you can get him to help you set up a profile or something.”

“Um, no,” I said flatly. “I’m not about to get involved in anything my brother is involved in.”

“You two don’t get along?”

I thought about the question for a second.

Did we get along? Lucas was my twin. My identical twin.

We’d done everything together growing up, and he was still a big part of my life now.

A big and sometimes annoying part of my life.

A part of my life that was downright catastrophic at times.

If there was such a thing as the good twin and the evil twin, that was me and Lucas.

Three guesses who was the good one and who was the evil one.

“We get along great,” I said. It was mostly true. “Our parents have retired and moved down south and our beta sister, Eloise, lives out West now, but Lucas and I are both still here in Barrington, and we’re close enough.”

“Then get him to hook you up with the Dark Fantasies Club and have a good time,” Tina said, getting up and slapping my shoulder before heading for the door. “I think you could use a bit of fun to shake up all that goodness.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” I said with a weary smile.

I wouldn’t take it into consideration. Not at all.

I stood and walked back to my desk, where I had a pile of worksheets to grade.

Lucas had been given all the bravery and excitement between the two of us.

Calling Bangers & Mash to deal with my heats was as funky as I got.

They were all professionals, but I didn’t know the alphas who showed up at my doorstep when I was so desperate to be fucked I couldn’t remember my own name.

Memories of my last heat started to creep in around the edges of my concentration, but I shook them off.

Compared to the things I was sure Lucas did, my heat sex was probably as vanilla as it came.

I didn’t really love doing it face to face with someone I didn’t know, and half the time I kept my eyes closed through heat waves and tried not to think about what my biology was putting me through.

I’d somehow closed my eyes and was thinking about that biology and nothing else when there was a knock on the door. I jumped, opened my eyes, and stared guiltily at Roger, another of the teachers in the first-grade block.

“Hey, Linus,” Roger greeted me, stepping into the classroom and rushing straight on to, “So I managed to score tickets to a big Evan Mercer concert on Sunday, and I’m going to be wiped out on Monday. Can you cover for me, put my kids in with yours? Just for the day?”

It wasn’t the first time Roger had asked me to cover for him. It wouldn’t be the last, either. From the way he strolled up to my desk with his hands in his pockets, it was clear he assumed I would say yes. Again.

Roger was in for a surprise.

“Actually, I can’t,” I said, feeling guilty down to my bones, though God only knew why. He was asking me for a favor, not the other way around.

“What’s this?” Roger didn’t look happy.