Page 23 of A Snowy Escape

“Georgia.” She dips her fries in a horrible combination of mostly mustard with a tiny bit of ketchup, and I know my face must be a mask of horror.

“How did you end up here?”

“That’s kind of a long story,” she says, studying my face.

“I’ve got time, but no pressure.”

“Let’s see…” She hums. “Okay, I grew up in Georgia. My mom died when I was seventeen. My older brother and his omega took me in. They let me stay with them as they built their pack, but it was awkward, and I knew I’d overstayed my welcome.”

“Did you grow up in a pack?” I ask before taking a bite of my burger.

“Yeah,” she says, her head bobbing. “I mean, kinda? One of my dads died when I was three. The other passed away when I was fifteen. My mom kinda lost her will to live after that. I’m the youngest. My older brother was already settled down. My older sister was nineteen. I guess our mom felt like she’d raised us. Also, she was just crazy depressed…”

“I’m sorry,” I say sincerely. “That must have been difficult on all of you.”

“It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure.” She grabs her bottle of water, taking a long swig. “Anyway, I knew I had to get out of my brother’s house before the baby was born. They’d already asked me to move into the garage apartment, and I totally understood why. My brother’s omega, Leslie, is great, but it was hard on her to have an unbonded omega around her other alphas, especially while she was pregnant.”

Well, damn.

I ended up snowed in with an omega.

What are the chances of that?

They have to be astronomically small.

Jesus Christ.

No wonder she kept a few feet of space between us. She was probably hoping I wouldn’t pick up her scent.

I can’t believe she didn’t lose her shit when she found out she was going to be trapped with an unknown alpha for a few days.

“Anyway, they wanted me to head out and start my own life, but I had no luck with being matched.” As Abby fidgets in her chair, I have the urge to stretch over and pat her bouncing knee. “I must have sniffed five hundred scent cards, and none of them clicked. I finally got desperate and tried an app for alphas and omegas who wanted to find a connection outside of going by what nature said was a compatible scent.”

“How did that work out for you?”

“Not very well.” She laughs mirthlessly.

Echo must sense her owner’s distress because she comes over and rests her head on Abby’s lap. She wasn’t told she could leave her mat, but I would never correct her under the circumstances. Her need to comfort Abby supersedes any command.

“I met a guy that I really liked,” Abby says softly. “He came down to Georgia for two weeks, and we clicked. We’d been talking for months. When it came time for him to head back to New York, he asked me to come with him…”

I stay quiet.

Is that where she’s headed now?

Or she’s already been there and is now trying to get back home to Georgia?

“My brother told me not to go with him,” she finally says. “Austin said he got bad vibes. I was stubborn. I felt terrible about the strain I was putting on his pack, and I was determined to make things work with Tommy. Only, once we made it up here, he started acting a lot differently than he had when we hung out together in Georgia. I, um, packed up my stuff in the middle of the night while he was at work and stole his dog on the way out the door.”

My jaw falls.

That story took a turn I wasn’t expecting.

I would freak out if someone stole Shadow.

I don’t react because something in my gut tells me there’s more to the story.

“I’m not a monster, I swear,” Abby says quickly. “I didn’t plan to take her with me, at least not at first. I barely know how I’ll take care of myself, let alone feeding her and handling vet visits. I just couldn’t force myself to leave her behind. I was afraid he would take his anger out on her when he came home to find me missing. Okay, maybe I am the bad guy…”