Chapter One
“Oh, no. This is an absolute shit show.” Billy Henderson looked at his screen in shock, but the blue box’s message didn’t change. “Why did you do that?” He shook his fist at the unrepentant screen. “Three weeks of work, twelve to sixteen hours a day, and all you can say is ‘debug lines blah, blah, blah.’ I’ve debugged until the D’s not got a bug anywhere near it. What more do you want?”
Leaning back in his chair, Billy ran his hand over his chin. Thank goodness, as an omega wolf, he had barely any facial hair, or he’d look like a wild man of the woods. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d paid attention to personal grooming. His bracelets jangled as he pushed his glasses up his nose with his finger, but no matter how he looked at it, the screen’s message didn’t change.
His eyes narrowed as he saw a flashing light in his taskbar – his message icon.My friends know I’m busy working.But then he looked at the date and time on his computer and his eyes widened again. “Double shit. No, no, no. Where did the week go?” he yelled as he fell out of his chair in his rush to get up.
It was too late. The pounding on his front door had already started. Billy stood in the middle of the room he’d crafted purely as his office space, frozen with indecision.Answer the door… change my clothes… grab a hairbrush at least…But then the yelling started. Cece could be particularly loud when he wanted to be.
“I know you’re in there, Billy. Shift your butt. The taxi’s waiting.”
Billy ran for the front door. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said as he yanked it open. “I was busy working… I have to debug…”
“I knew it,” Cece said to their other friend Tristan. “Didn’t I tell you he wouldn’t even be dressed?”
“I’ve got clothes on,” Billy protested, looking down and quickly brushing some chip crumbs off his dark pants. “I didn’t even know what day it was. Look, the program…”
“Nope.” Tristan came up, and he and Cece grabbed Billy’s arms. “We came prepared. Have you got your keys? Your wallet?” He patted Billy’s butt pockets. “Yep, he has, and he’s got shoes on. That’s a bonus. Let’s go.”
“Guys. Guys.” Billy knew his protests were useless as he found himself dragged down his footpath and bundled into the back of a waiting cab. “I thought we were friends,” he huffed, trying to straighten out the wrinkles in his shirt.
“We are your best friends. Your only friends if you want to be pedantic about it,” Cece said firmly. “And as your friends, and fellow omegas, it’s our job, nay, it’s our duty, to pull you out from that cave you call an office once a month. You promised. Once a monthmin-i-mum.Tonight’s the night. Did you forget it’s the Omega Hearts get together?”
“I didn’t forget about the event.” Billy looked back over his shoulder, but his house was already history. “I picked out a new outfit for it.” He huffed at Cece’s raised eyebrows. “I did. It’s still in my closet with the tags on. You didn’t even let me change my shirt.”
“It doesn’t matter. Those alphas are hardly going to care about the color of your shirt – just how quickly they can get it off you by the time I’m finished with you.” Tristan pulled out a makeup palette from his purse, shoved it in Cece’s direction, and then grabbed a hairbrush and some spray. “Don’t move, Billy. Come on, Cece. It’s miracle makeover time.”
Billy sat back, letting his friends fuss over him. He had no illusions about what he looked like. Next to his friends, he was “the other one,” the friend others drew straws to get stucktalking with while the lucky ones were chatting up his hot friends. Not that Cece and Tristan ever saw him like that, but Billy wasn’t blind.
Cece had just refreshed the highlights in his blond hair – hot pink streaks, which really suited his light tan. As an otter shifter, he had his pout down to an art and always looked incredible. Tristan, a honey bear omega, had golden curls that fell like an angelic glow around his shoulders, which always seemed to attract an alpha’s protective instincts.
Billy’s hair was short, functional in that it covered his head, and was a dark mass of brown waves. Or it was. Billy eyed Tristan coming towards him with a hair mascara in bright blue.I’d better remember to wash that shit out before I go to bed,he thought with a sigh. He’d been caught with nasty streaks all over his pillowcases… after the last Omega Hearts get together, actually. It was red streaks that time.
Cece must’ve been thinking about his last outing as well. “You need to make an effort to put yourself out there this time,” he said firmly, coming at Billy’s eyes with a liner pencil. Taking off his glasses and closing his eyes was automatic, and Billy felt the pencil nib brush against his eyelids with swift, sure strokes. “Alphas like to be approached. It helps them feel adored.”
If his eyes hadn’t been closed, Billy would’ve rolled them. “Beautifully well-packaged, tidy, and accomplished omegas like you and Tristan can approach alphas because if any of them rejected or ignored you, and we all know they wouldn’t, you’d just sashay off to the next one. Small male omega wolves who look like me lurk in the corners, watching all the world’s beautiful people having a lovely time while worrying about their lines of code.”
“You won’t know how an alpha will react to you if you don’t try.” Tristan had apparently finished with his hair. “I’m sure we allagree that meeting our fated one, the alpha who takes one sniff of our cute asses and never looks at another omega again in their lives, is the dream we all aspire to.”
“But meeting alphas in a neutral setting, being friendly, and accepting future dates is a great way to meet other alphas who could be the one,” Cece added excitedly.
Guessing his friends had finished primping him for now, Billy smiled and opened his eyes. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, guys, I truly do. Unfortunately, some of us, or should I say one of us, doesn’t have parents who are prepared to take care of their omega son until they find their fated one. In fact, if you recall, words like ‘abomination’ were used by those same parents to describe said son as they kicked me out of their house. If someone wants to date me, they’ll have to wait until I’ve finished my project first. Freelancers only get paid when they complete the work they’re contracted to do.”
“You’ll find your one,” Cece said, patting his arm. “You wait and see. I bet you’ll be the first, although wouldn’t it be super amazing if we all met our mate on the same night?”
“There’d need to be a new crowd in then.” Tristan laughed. “You’ve already seen and dated every eligible alpha in Frankton, Cece.”
“Then I’ll go around them all again. Maybe they’ll have made new friends by now.” Cece’s confidence was inspiring, and as the bar came into view, with it’s gaudy sign outside proclaiming it was “Omega Night,” Billy felt his heart lift, and even his wolf perked up at the idea of being out for an evening.
I’ll stay for an hour or so and then head out into the forest,Billy decided. His long hours hadn’t been fair on his furry half, either. He figured that even if the alpha meant for him was in attendance, it wasn’t likely that he’d notice Billy.
Omegas turned out for the Omega Hearts events in droves, always looking amazing, and they carried a lot less worries than Billy did.
But as much as he complained about going out, Billy did have fun watching everyone else have a good time – he’d enjoyed doing it before. The promise of a run afterward was the icing on his cake.
Chapter Two
“This is an absolute shit show.” Cord glared at his friend, Bullet, as the man placed a glass in front of him. His wolf was edgy under his skin, and his head was aching from all the noise and mix of scents in the air.
