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“It’s not?”
She presses her lips together before she looks back at me. “I meant with all of this. I live in the city, and you guys live in the valley. I have a job out here. You have jobs out there. What do we do?”
“I think we have a discussion with everyone and try to work out the best solution,” I admit. “Are you happy at your work? Do you like living out here? We probably have a lot of questions to start asking ourselves.”
“Am I happy at my work?” she asks, frowning. “I don’t even know how to answer that.”
“Why don’t you know?”
She shrugs. “I … It’s not what I wanted to do when I started looking at careers, but trying to live as a Beta was going to mean compromise. I knew that. If I wanted freedom, I had to pick a career that wouldn’t cause me to out myself as an Omega.”
I blink, and the golden glow disappears from my vision.
“If you wanted freedom? I don’t understand.”
“My choices after high school were taking suppressants and learning to live as a Beta or being sent to an Omega Academy to wait for the right Alpha to come along and choose me as his mate.”
“Fuck,” I murmur. “That’s a really shitty choice.”
And I had no idea it was what she’d had to do.
Suddenly, I understand why she’s reluctant to be marked.
“If we mark you, you’ll be our Omega, and you won’t be safe to work.”
Because everyone will know what she is, and Omegas are a rare commodity to creepy Betas and shithead Alphas who think it’s okay to buy and sell them as if they’re not living, breathing human beings. We don’t work where she works so we can’t be around to protect her all the time.
She sighs. “I thought this life was what I wanted, but it hasn’t turned out to be what I’d hoped.”
“What was it that you originally wanted to do?” I ask, curious now.
She flushes a little. “It feels silly to admit it, but I wanted to be nurse. I wanted to do something that mattered. Something that would make a difference. Of course, it’s the kind of job where emotions run high, and you can come into contact with Alphas a lot so that makes it practically impossible for an Omega to carve out a career in that field. There are too many chances you’ll be detected. Besides, it would be unethical to lie about it when it could have an adverse effect on patients. That’s the part that stopped me from pursuing it. I couldn’t justify lying to everyone constantly while doing such an important job.”
“Writing for a magazine is pretty far away from becoming a nurse.”
“It’s about as far away as you can get,” she agrees. “But that’s why it was appropriate. I get to work alone and from home a lot. I might be in the city, but I don’t have to deal with too many Alphas, and I have easy access to suppressants.”
“So, you could kind of write from anywhere, if it’s not your dream job?”
“I could …” she starts. “But I am also kind of up for a promotion right now.”
“While you’re not at work?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not exactly not at work,” she says, giving me a wry smile. “Scarlett’s filling in for me.”
“Uh, what?” It sounds like the plot of a crazy Eighties movie or something. “She’s filling in for you? Like at your work, right now?”
“It’s not half as insane as it sounds,” she assures me, wincing lightly.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She nods slowly. “I’m still cramping up a bit. I’ll be fine in a second.”
“Do you have painkillers or something? I can go get them for you, if you tell me where they are?”
“It’s not that bad. It’s passing already.”
I’ll have to keep a close eye on her. She’s too quick to brush off pain.
