Page 10 of Unmarked
I’ve avoided him since the day I arrived in this city. Filed him in the same mental folder as the OMB database and my unpaid parking tickets.
Too rich, too powerful, toodangerousto ever be in my orbit.
And yet -
Lately, he’s been around. Not just in news articles and gala coverage, butin my actual orbit.
Not in the gala circuits where he’s expected, but in the wrong parts of town. The café near my building. The lobby of a coworking space I sometimes shoot in. Passing me on a street and making my whole body seize up like it knew.
We’ve never spoken. Never even looked at each other.
But I’vefelthim.
That quiet, electric buzz in my spine. That bone-deep pull that feels way too personal to be random.
I tell myself it’s just instinct. Biology. A blip in my wiring.
But it feels more like fate’s playing matchmaker and laughing her ass off.
Lucian doesn’t look at anyone. He doesn’t need to.
The betas in the room orbit him like he has his own gravitational field; giggling and preening, just about managing not to drool.
He ignores them with the vague disinterest of a man allergic to small talk.
I can't help but watch him as he moves.
Not toward the bar. Not toward the stage.
But toward the man in the charcoal suit near the center table.
The one surrounded by subtle security and discreet deference.
The OMB board member.
My pulse stutters.
I know I shouldn't stare, but I can't seem to look away, either. Lucian extends his hand - all cool, calm, and rehearsed - and the official grips it like they know each other well.
The thing is, the OMB isn’t just some admin department. They’re the ones who keep the system running. They register and then track every single omega. They monitor their locations, keep track of their cycles, and place them with alpha matches deemed appropriate by scent if they don't get a move on and find a match for themselves.
All in the name of safety and order.
Nobody really knows how it works. Not from the outside.
All we really know is that that once you’re on their radar, you don’t get off.
And by the looks of it, Lucian Vale isn't just connected to them. - he’sfamiliarwith them. Comfortable. At ease.
Of course he is.
The Mask stays in place, but I can feel the tremble just beneath the surface as Lucian lifts a glass of something expensive and amber. He nods to the board member before he says something quiet that makes the man laugh.
And then -
His scent finally hits.
God.
