When I hesitate, Lauren’s perfectly lined eyes widen. “Wait,ishe a secret pervert?” She groans, rubbing at her temples. “Goddammit, even the alphas that seem decent end up being awful.”
“He’s not a pervert. At least I don’t think he is. He’s…” I take a moment to brace myself before continuing, hating to admit the truth aloud because that makes it all the more real. “You know how I went back to the omega clinic on Friday?”
Her brows pinch together, confused by what must seem like a strange shift in topic. “Yeah…”
“Well…” God, this is embarrassing, but after that conversation with River, I realize I’m so far out of my depth with this situation that I need another opinion. Someone who knows about packs and has a healthy relationship with their inner omega would be ideal. “The doctor I saw was one of the people who helped me with my heat.”
When I don’t continue, Lauren’s eyes widen. “Helped you orhelpedyou?”
A furious blush erupts on my cheeks. “The latter.”
“Holy shit! Wait, what?Really? And they booked you an appointment with him? Isn’t that against professional protocol or some shit? How did he even end up working your heat?”
Her deluge of questions has my omega wanting to go hide somewhere. Preferably my nest, which, to my chagrin, I still haven’t made. Dammit, I should probably do that. Lauren and Rekha told me that would help regulate my new instincts, but I keep putting it off.
“Crap, sorry. Didn’t mean to overwhelm you,” Lauren says with a sheepish smile when I stare back at her like a deer caught in headlights.
“No, no, it’s fine.” I shake my head and take a quick sip of water. “Long story short, I went to the omega clinic when I went into heat and he was the doctor I saw that confirmed what was happening. I thought it was just my heat hormones that were making me insanely attracted to him, but turns out, he’s my scent match. At first, they only had one person available as a heat minder for me, but then I, uh, I begged for the doctor, Ambrose. And he’d already realized he’s my scent match, so he couldn’t leave me while I was… in need.”
Lauren’s jaw drops more and more as I give my synopsis. “He’s your scent match? Camille, that’s incredible! You know how rare it is to find that, right?”
“I mean, I guess?” I knew it was a big deal tofind a scent match, but assumed it couldn’t be that rare if I stumbled upon mine within hours of revealing as an omega. “It’s not that uncommon, is it?”
Lauren shakes her head at me in disbelief. “I keep forgetting how little you know about this stuff.”
When I wince at the reminder of how clueless I am, Lauren reaches out and places a hand atop mine to reassure me. “That’s not a dig at you! Most betas not involved with packs pay little attention to this stuff. Especially since scent matches are even rarer with betas. Anyway, to give you some context, one of my clients is the head of an omega-led company that’s putting together a global database, a sophisticated algorithm, and some new scent emulation tech to find people’s scent matches. Even with all that technology and research on their side, they have less than a 7% success rate for the people who are part of the pilot program. They calculate the odds of running into your scent match on your own as 2-4%.”
Now it’s my turn to gape at her. I’m starting to understand why River is willing to have his packmates court me despite all the issues it poses and his general dislike for me. Ambrose finding his scent match is a huge deal, and from what the alpha doctor said about him, River is the kind of mate that wouldn’t want to keep him from something so rare and special.
“Wow, I didn’t realize that.”
After my harrowing morning and discussion with River, I was leaning toward telling them I’m not interested.
Now… I’m not so sure.
I’m not one to put stock in fate or destiny, but lately I’ve been defying the odds left and right. It’s hard not to see it as a sign pointing me directly to this pack.
Lauren sits back and takes a sip of her iced coffee, smilingat me. “You’re lucky! You should think about entering the lotto or something.”
I scoff. “I’m definitely not lucky. You haven’t heard everything yet.”
She sobers and sets her glass down. “Shit, okay. Continue.”
“When I went to my appointment at the omega clinic, Ambrose told me about our scent match. He also said he’d spoken with his pack and they wanted to court me. Turns out, my other heat minder is his packmate.”
A little squeal bursts from Lauren. She claps a hand over her mouth and gives me a sheepish look. “Sorry!”
I laugh, because it’s nice to have someone else react to how absurd this whole situation is. “I know!” I exclaim. “I thought it was a joke or something. But no, it was the truth, and Ambrose invited me over to have dinner with his pack and meet their third pack member.”
“You went, right? Please tell me you went!” Lauren’s eyes sparkle with excitement, clearly forgetting that the whole reason we’re discussing this is because I’m having a crisis.
My stomach clenches and the salad I’ve been picking at threatens to come back up. “I went. And I met their other pack member.”
I pause to take a sip of my water, and that’s all it takes for understanding to dawn on my savvy coworker’s face.
Her jaw goes slack. “No.”
“Yep,” I reply weakly.
