Page 17 of Ginger Omega
“Perfect. It looks good, too.”
“Go sell the loaf,” he joked. “And we have the ribs too.”
“On it.” I pushed through the swinging door into the front and approached my first customer. “Hello, I’m Katie, and do you have any questions about the menu?”
“No, but I understand you have some lunch specials?”
“Yes indeed.” I loved this part of the job. “We have some incredible baby back ribs, grilled to perfection with a house-made ginger teriyaki. We serve that with jasmine rice and a little side salad with sesame dressing. In addition, our old-school bacon-wrapped meat loaf with whipped potatoes and succotash.”
“Lima beans and corn?” he asked.
“Exactly.”
“I haven’t had that in a hundred years.” Since he was some kind of cat shifter, he might not be exaggerating. “I’ll have the meat loaf, although the ribs sound good too.” He handed me the menu. “With coffee.”
“Right away.” The man had been so happy when he placed his order, I was smiling, too. When I turned away, a grin that quickly disappeared when I saw a familiar and unwelcome face standing in the diner doorway.
Oh, hell no. They’d found me. The face belonged to a beta from my former pack, and I could only hope he hadn’t seen me yet. He was also the last male they’d tried to mate me to, but in that case, I had not even allowed him to try. He repulsed me, and had been cruel to me ever since I was a young child. I slipped back into a corner as he approached the front desk and placed an order with the owner. A to-go order. Could it be possible that he had not seen me? That he might not?
He started to turn toward where I hid, and I ducked low and almost crawled to the ladies’ room door. He couldn’t come in here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay in here forever. I had tables waiting for their food and orders to be taken. Dishes to clear away. How long could I hide?
Opening the door just a little, I peeked through and saw the male, Marco, taking his package from the other server and paying. He was almost out the door when his phone rang and he stopped to take the call.
Straining, I tried to hear what he had to say, but without getting closer—something I was not brave enough to do—it wasn’t happening. Members of the pack rarely went far from home, and I couldn’t come up with another reason why he might be here besides looking for me. Marco rode a bike, one of those big, loud ones, and finally he hung up and went out the door. Daring to move, I crept toward the front window to see him mounting his bike. It roared out of the parking space and I let out a long breath.
“Miss? We’re waiting for our food?”
I dove back into work, my heart still beating double-time and the fear I’d had when I left home fully back. Somehow they’d followed me this far, and how long would it be before they actually found me? Marco had not taken my refusal to accept him well, and I doubted he’d just take me home. His cruelty was never discouraged, and he would punish me to the fullest extent of omega law.
As in, kill me after doing whatever else he chose first. There would be nobody to stop him.
“Katie?” I turned to see Holt standing behind me, Poe and Vaughn behind him. “Is everything okay? Who was that guy? Did he bother you?”
“No, I never even spoke to him. I’m fine.” I was not fine at all, but there was nothing they could do about it. After all, I belonged to my old pack, and they would have to turn me over if asked. It was the law. So, why couldn’t I imagine them doing that?
Chapter Fifteen
Karissa
Thank the Goddess for the alphas who had for some reason taken me under their wings. They sat down at a table and ordered food, allowing me to lie to them about being fine without demanding I tell them more. They all had the meat loaf, telling me it was the best they’d ever had—except for Vaughn’s—and staying to have dessert.
From the moment they arrived, I started to feel better, safer. But also worse, conflicted. They were being so kind to me, opening their home even, and my wolf was convinced they were our mates, no matter how often I told her we would never be able to bond with them. She was having none of that. A simple creature, she knew what she wanted and needed and didn’t care about bureaus or rules.
Theyweremy mates. I knew that, too, but nothing could come of it, so why pretend? I hadn’t even told them my backstory, and I needed to. But I also didn’t want to. If it was not going anywhere, why bring it up? Besides the fact that I was forbidden to mate, I’d gotten to that place in a way no alpha would accept. Soiled goods. The only reason the other alphas after the first even attempted to mate and mark me was because they were ordered to and offered some sort of gain within the pack. I’d never understood the persistence in trying to get me mated, beyond the alpha wanting to grow his numbers. Could that be all of it?
I stopped by their table to refill their drinks as often as I could without neglecting my other customers, but as it got busier and the early dinner crowd began to arrive, I became more occupied.
“We’d probably better give up the table,” Poe said when I filled his water for the eighth time. “It’s getting busy, but we’ll be back for you at the end of your shift.” He took my hand and held it for a moment. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Yes.” I tried to smile, but I suspected I wasn’t succeeding. “I appreciate your giving me a ride, but you don’t need to come back. You must have better things to do, and I can walk home.” They’d given me a ride to work, but they really weren’t that far away. If not for Marco’s visit, I wouldn’t even be praying they would insist.
“Don’t ever say that. You are more important than anything else. I just wish you could bring yourself to trust us enough to tell us what is wrong, but we’re patient. We can wait.” Holt gave me a nod.
Vaughn, who didn’t like crowds, I’d learned, and almost never came to town, put an arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “We can wait to take you homeandfor you to be all right to share what has you so scared. What you’re running from. We all have our demons, omega.”
“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to tell them my story. I looked bad in it, soiled goods and a complete failure at my sole reason for being born. “I’ll see you in a little while, then.”
As the dinner shift went on, I saw them passing on the sidewalk and lounging on the blue bench across the street. It wasn’t until I was untying my apron and tossing it in the dirty laundry bin off the kitchen that I realized that there was no reason for them to wait instead of just coming back for me. Unless they thought I needed protecting without being told.
