Page 11 of The Omega Switch: Part 2

He looked… different. He'd always been intimidating, broad-shouldered and powerful enough that most people instinctively stepped aside when he walked through a room. Now he just looked exhausted. His dark curls had grown longer than I remembered, there were shadows beneath his eyes that hadn't been there before, and he'd lost weight. His muscles were still there, but leaner. He’d lost enough weight that the sharp lines of his face looked almost severe. And it looked like he hadn't slept properly in months.

Our eyes met. He didn't smile or call my name, but his eyes brightened, and he looked almost hopeful. He lifted one hand in a safe gesture, then slowly crossed the street and stopped several feet away, leaving enough distance between us that I could have walked away without brushing past him.

"Ivy." His voice, deep and comforting as always, still held a strain. My throat tightened.

"Ronan. What are you doing here?" I asked, my body warring between wanting to get closer and wanting to pull away. His shoulders visibly relaxed at the simple greeting, as though he'd been bracing for me to ignore him.

"I know this is probably the last thing you wanted today," he said hesitantly.

I folded my arms.

"You’re right about that," I said, my voice flat. "You're the last person I want to see."

One corner of his mouth twitched. "I deserve that." He said. Then Ronan, the huge mountain of a man, hung his head like a shamed puppy.

"May I talk to you?" He asked. I stared at him for several long seconds before letting out a laugh.

"Seriously?" I asked. After all these months, he had finally tracked me down. He nodded, and Mara looked between us, her body tense. "You really think you deserve to talk to me? I could have you removed from this neighborhood. You have a lot of nerve." I said, biting back a sneer.

"I know. I won't keep you long." He said. He looked awful. Like he was worn down from the inside out. And still, a part of me hated that I noticed, and that I cared. I sighed.

"Fine." Hope flickered across his face so quickly it almost disappeared. "But you're not walking into my shop smelling like that," I said, and he froze.

"What?" He asked, sniffing under each arm.

"I don't want your scent all over my space," I said through gritted teeth. I could barely handle seeing him as he was, much less smelling that scent that called out to everything in me and clouded my judgment.

Understanding immediately crossed his face. Without another word, I reached into the tote bag hanging from my shoulder, pulled out a travel-sized can of commercial descenter, and tossed it toward him. He caught it.

"Clean yourself up, then we can talk," I ordered. It was strange giving an order to a fully fledged massive alpha. But he did exactly as I said.

"I will." He answered with a nod.

“And don’t get comfortable. I don’t want to speak to you for long, and I don’t want you trying to convince me of anything. I didn’t want to see you, and I don’t want any pushback from you. As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than Arabella." I said, for good measure.

"Of course." He replied, looking even more distraught. Mara gave him the eye, stepping closer to me.

“I’ll be nearby. And I’ll be right by the emergency button in case you get any ideas.” She warned him. Our neighborhood had an emergency button inside each store for the safety of the omegas - that’s how many there were in this community. Ronan nodded, and Mara crossed her arms.

He sprayed himself thoroughly without complaint, covering every trace of chocolate, marshmallow, and Alpha until all that remained was the neutral, almost sterile scent of the descenter. Only then did I nod toward the empty chair inside my store, right in front of the big window where I was sure Mara would watch him like a hawk. I opened up the door and let him in. He looked around, amazed at what I had created.

"You can have one cup of tea. Then, I need to get on with my weekend.” I warned him. His expression was grateful.

"Thank you," he said. I braced myself for the conversation - part of me wanted more than anything to hear more of their stupid excuses, and part of me wanted to never see them again. Mara quietly squeezed my shoulder as she left

"I'll give you two some space," she said.

Once she'd disappeared, an awkward silence settled between us. Neither of us seemed to know where to begin. Deep down, I always imagined seeing them again. But the concept of seeing them again felt almost impossible. I held too much pain in my heart to face them again. After what went down, I couldn't think of a way where I could move past what happened. Finally, Ronan wrapped both hands around the mug I’d poured him.

"I've thought about what I wanted to say for months." He admitted, his deep voice gravelly as he looked into his cup. I noticed that his dark, thick beard was grown out, longer than the close crop he usually wore.

"Alright. But I don’t know why that would matter. Nothing that you say can undo what you all did to me." I said, my eyes lingering on him longer than I wanted to admit.

"I understand. And I still don't know what to say." He said with a sigh.

"Then maybe start with what you know," I said, shrugging. "Because you aren't getting anything from me." He nodded slowly.

"We know everything." He said. “We know Arabella stole your compatibility profile. We know she stole your perfume, and that your family grew the company on your work."