Alpha, Beta, Omega

Chapter Eighteen

Weeks passed and Kali quickly found herself settling in rather nicely in Lawton. She got a job at a local bar and while waiting tables was drastically different than working at a bookshop had been she found she enjoyed it much more. It gave her a chance to truly interact with people. People who didn't treat her like there was something wrong with her. It was a wonderful and very welcomed changed.

Working at the bar also gave her the ability to watch over Samson, to ensure he didn't overstep his limits, but it seemed that having someone living with him, having someone to look out for, had helped curb the majority of his drinking issues.

She was working one afternoon when the bar was fairly quiet, only a handful of folk in for lunch, and had just finished wiping down a table when the door opened, a gust of wind rushing in, causing people to grumble against the unexpected chill. But with the wind came a scent, a very familiar scent, and Kali closed her eyes for a moment. A single name whispering through her mind.

Kay.

It was the first time since he'd been shot that she'd scented him.

Slowly turning she watched as his gaze swept the room before finding her.

Despite the warmth in his eyes she wasn't certain that she could handle speaking to him. She could still remember him just standing there as Thornton had accused her of cheating, of betraying their bond, and, even though he hadn't come right out and accused her to, even though she had risked her life to save his, he had still hurt her. And, even if it was petty of her, she wasn't ready to deal with that yet. Not when she'd finally started to get control of her life.

So she turned and headed back towards the bar.

She had just stepped around behind it, had just laid her cleaning cloth on the little shelf beneath the bar, when Kay was suddenly there. This close, only the width of the bar separating them, his scent washed over her like a wave and she shivered despite herself. Her every instinct screaming that her mate needed her. That he'd come here for her. She violently pushed those instincts away.

"Hey," he said as he smiled at her, a sweet, charming, upturn of his lips that had her heart skipping several beats.

"Can I help you," she asked politely, thinking it might be easier to treat Kay as just another customer instead of as her mate.

Kay didn't seem surprised by her reaction to him.

The look in his eyes told her that he'd been expecting something much worse.

"How are you?"

She blinked.

"I'm fine."

She really didn't know what else to say.

Kay gave a slight nod. "Thornton told me you were shot when you saved me."

She drew a slow, deep breath, remembering the fiery pain of the bullet ripping through her. How weak she'd grown, the more blood she'd lost, but she also remembered how strong she'd been, how determined she'd been to save him. She gave a slow nod.