Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
ARBOR
My fingers press against my swollen lips as I open the door to my loft in the city just south of Wolverston.
It’s cold when I enter, the AC on full blast, a much-needed relief from the humidity outside.
The thought of it—of Glenn showing up in my space, his shirt off, his chest glistening with sweat and water.
I swallow, my throat clicking. Sore. From his dick.
Oh my gods.
My body flushes red, and I smell that vanilla scent roll off me. It’s quickly sucked away by the air purifiers I have placed all over the loft.
Vince, my ex, always hated coming over and smelling me.
“You smell strong today. Go shower.”
I bought far too many to help mask it. It helps. But I can’t change who I am.
Part omega. Part fae.
Something that used to be forbidden. And yet, here I am.
I pull off my tie and shirt, letting my skin breathe. Everything feels overheated, overly sensitive.
Fucking Glenn, I think as I pull my belt off and toss it onto a chair.
The pendant that is supposed to suppress the strongest of my scents sits against my chest. But it’s not working as it should.
It’s supposed to make my scent more palatable for the masses, for everyone except the fae.
Without it and the purifiers I have littered in the spaces I frequent, my scent would be overwhelming.
But it seems the pendant doesn’t work at all for Glenn. He can spot my emotions from a million miles away.
Or maybe he’s just special.
No, I can’t contemplate that. Not right now. I grab a bottle of wine from the fridge and pour myself a glass.
Gods, yes. Luna Blanc Cellars makes the best fucking wine.
I love this sparkling brut.
The bubbles tickle my throat as I walk to look out the large windows overlooking the city. Loneliness swells inside of me as I stand in this cold, stale room, surrounded by bland art and bland colors. A designer picked all of it out.
She obviously didn’t know what I really liked. I’d love to have something homier, more colorful. Perhaps something to appeal to my fae side. Colorful, shiny, warm.
But at the time, I had just moved from a small city in the north, and I wanted a place that was furnished.
I hate it.
Vince loved it. But then again, he would. He was bland and boring. I don’t know why I stayed with him for so long.
I finish my wine, the bubbles from the brut soothing my throat. I should eat, but the thought of cooking for myself makes me depressed. I’m not really any good at it. So, I just pull up a delivery app and place an order for something that appeals. Soup and salad.
And ice cream for later.
I really should hire someone to cook for me, but I don’t have that much money.
Everything I have now, I’ve scrimped and saved for. Hiring a cook, even to come once a week, might put me over budget.
And I just paid off the credit card bill from the Heat Hunt.
I hate being in debt. Hate feeling financially insecure.
The idea of not having money to pay for things makes me break out in hives. It’s why my accounts are currently well-funded, but I won’t touch them.
It’s why I take my job so seriously. I refuse to give anyone a reason to fire me. I don’t want that insecurity in my life. I already have enough of that at the moment.
I turn on the TV, Fated Match coming on the screen.
Oh hell, I think. Fucking ridiculous. I sit down and watch it, unmoving until the doorbell signals the arrival of my food.
I half-expect the delivery driver to leave it on the doorstep and go, but when I open the door, a young guy is outside, the bag in his hand.
He’s about as tall as me and just as lean. Cute even.
“Arbor?” he asks.
I sigh, not in the mood for conversation. “Yep. That’s me.”
The guy hands me my food and then shifts on his feet. Something about him has me pausing.
“Do you need something?”
“Shit, yeah, if you don’t mind. Can I use your bathroom? The restaurant’s was broken.”
I stare at him, trying to conjure up his name from the app, but come up empty.
“I’m not going to murder you or anything, just… I don’t feel like going into the gas station, the one on the corner. The alpha that works there always tries to get me to bend over, and it’s gross.”
My eyes soften, and I pull the door open wider. “I fucking hate that guy. He’s such a creep.”
“I know. He’s the worst. I’m Owen, by the way. It’s my second day on the job. I realize this is not okay.”
I lead him through my loft to the bathroom.
“It’s fine. I get it. And nice to meet you, Owen.”
He grins, and then the door shuts behind him. I make my way back to the kitchen, opening the bag of food and setting it on the table.
Owen appears a moment later, looking refreshed.
“Thanks again. Please don’t report me. I need the cash for an escort, and I can’t afford it without a second job.”
My eyebrows rise, wanting to know the whole story, but not wanting to spend the time with a stranger. Not tonight. But as an omega, I get it. He needs an escort for his heat.
If I had regular heat cycles, I’d also be hiring an anonymous escort. It’s safer than soliciting a random alpha.
Except—that’s exactly what I’ve been doing with Glenn, and at work, no less.
I’m so fucking fucked.
“I won’t tell.”
“Thanks a bunch. You have good karma coming your way.”
And with that, Owen is gone, almost like I conjured him up.
I eat my dinner on the couch, turning up the volume on the TV and watching the two mates on the TV scream at each other.
Maybe they shouldn’t have bitten each other so soon. That’s never a good thing. They barely know each other.
Eventually, my food is gone, and so is my wine, forcing me to shower and slip into bed. I stare at the ceiling, refusing to close my eyes because then I may see Glenn standing there. So fucking hot.
I feel my slick coat my hole, and I sigh, reaching over to the bedside table and pulling out a dildo. This one has an inflatable knot.
I’m hoping it will get me over this little infatuation I have with one of my employees.
I can’t be with an alpha.
“Don’t allow anyone to claim you, my strong boy. You may be an omega, but never allow them to make you weak.”
Those words from my mother are why I won’t ever allow an alpha into my life like that. It’s been drilled into me from a young age. Instead of poems or stories at night, she’d just say these warnings over and over.
And the way she and my father fought, the screaming, the fighting, the way he’d lord her omega nature over her, how he resented her for not being fae like him—for birthing an omega son…
I quickly learned that she was right. She was just trying to protect me from myself and my urges.
It’s why I’ve only ever dated betas, like Vince. They can’t really give me what I need, but they also don’t have the power to make me feel less than.
I kick my pajama bottoms off and spread my legs, pushing the dildo inside of me, inflating it until I sigh in relief.
My cock throbs between my legs, and I can’t help but reach down and stroke it.
My mouth opens in a guttural moan, my fist tightening as I arch my hips up.
The knot in my ass aches, and all I can think of is Glenn replacing it with his own.
How good he felt when he was inside me. It’s that simple thought that has my cock erupting quickly, my cum filling the palm of my hand.
I should have known it would be quick. Everything with Glenn is. He makes me crazy—hot and completely on edge.
I better not go into heat anytime soon. I know some full-blooded shifters can go into heat every couple of weeks or even days.
Fuck, that sounds terrible. But I think my fae blood keeps it at bay, and it comes about once every two months.
Plus, I have a serum that my shaman friend, Attie, made me.
It’s helped keep my heats to just a day or two. Any longer, and I’d lose my job.
And I refuse to be out of commission for too long.
If only he could make me something to take my fae scent away entirely. Blending in with the shifters is already hard enough as an omega, without my fae scent drawing unwanted attention.
I turn onto my side and pull the covers up to my chin, trying not to let myself worry about such things. I’ll keep my job. I’m getting everything done that was not done previously. And Glenn is a fantastic site supervisor. I’ll stop messing around with him, and everything will be fine.
I’ll be just fine.
“I’ll be fine,” I say softly and then close my eyes, wishing for sleep to take me quickly.
“Fuck, it’s really coming down,” I murmur to myself as I turn into the dirt parking lot of work. My car, which I’d just had washed, is now covered in mud as I come to a stop in front of the work trailer.
Of course, Glenn is already here, his shirt soaked, looking like a rugged fucking model.
It makes my dick instantly hard, my hole clenching around nothing. That dildo I pulled out of myself earlier this morning did nothing to abate the neediness building inside of me.
It was bad when I first glimpsed the site supervisor on my first day at the job. But gods, now that I know he can fuck, and have felt him inside of me in every way, it’s eclipsed everything else.
I want him again.
“Fucking gods. Could you be less attractive, please? It’s getting ridiculous now,” I say to myself, glad he can’t hear my insane ramblings. It’s not like he can help it. He was just born that way.
Suddenly, he steps out from under the awning and jogs toward me, the imprint of his cock visible in his pants as he moves. He really shouldn’t be this good-looking with such a big dick. It’s really not fair. It leaves nothing for the rest of us.
The knock on my window has me jumping slightly, and I roll my window down as far as I can without letting in the deluge of water.
As I do, I sense something in the air, something fragile and foreign.
Something almost magical. Just for a moment, before it fades, leaving me to wonder if I imagined it.