Let Me Find Your Omega - Ashe Moon Page 0,19

“her grades need to be very good.”

“I’ve been working on getting her to focus. She’s really smart, I know she can do well. Maybe if she has this as motivation, she’ll be able to.”

“She’ll also need a background in divination. Some kind of training. It’s very important.”

“Well, shit,” he muttered, shoulders drooping again.

“But…”

“But?”

“Maybe I can be the one to teach her.”

“Hounds of hell, Kole. That would be amazing. You’d do that?”

“It’s not often you meet such a dedicated and passionate student, especially at her age.”

“I’m sure she’d love that. But…” He fidgeted.

“Oh, no, no. There wouldn’t be a fee.”

“What? Don’t be crazy. Either I can afford your fee or I can’t. You’re not going to teach her for free.”

“It wouldn’t be. She’ll become an assistant. She’ll stop by on a more regular basis, helping me clean and prepare. And she’ll learn through experience. It would be lovely to have an assistant.”

Markos considered this. “Are you sure?”

“Oh, yes. I have no doubt she’ll learn well. And as long as she’s able to keep her grades up at school, I think she’ll have a fair shot at the academy.”

“Her grades,” he said, pushing his fingers through his hair. “She’s got a parent-teacher night coming up, and I’m not looking forward to dealing with that shit. The worst part about those isn’t the lecturing I get from the teachers, it’s the judgment I get from the other parents.”

“Judgement?” I suddenly realized what he meant. “Because you’re a single alpha?”

“And single alpha fathers are good for nothing. Archaic clan dogshit, right?”

I nodded. “I think you’re doing a wonderful job.”

“Thank you. All parents at Elise’s school don’t think so. If an alpha has a kid but no mate, no one wants anything to do with them. I’m sure Elise has to put up with that at school. The kids saying stuff, you know? Who could blame her for tuning out? Anyway, I think your offer is great. I’ll discuss it with Elise at home and give you a call.”

“Let me give you my cell number,” I offered. “Please, call any time.”

I walked Markos out, and as I was locking the front of the office I took a glance up the street in the direction of the café and caught a final glimpse of him before he disappeared from view. There was that feeling again. A little nip of curiosity. My keys slipped out of my hand and clattered onto the ground.

Am I attracted to Markos?

I dealt in the business of attraction and didn't even know what it felt like. But this felt like…something.

Oh, no.

When my mentors had said I would have to sacrifice love to maintain my special abilities and avoid all personal romantic pursuits, it’d been such an easy decision. There hadn’t been even one occasion when I’d needed to temper my feelings, because I simply hadn’t felt that way for anyone before.

Why now, out of nowhere? Why him?

My mind immediately filled with reasons—he’s cute. He’s a great dad. He’s interested in what you do. He’s cute.

But maybe the biggest thing was that I detected no judgment from him.

I scooped up the keys and tucked them into my bag. No, no, no, wait, I thought desperately. What was I thinking? I was being ridiculous. I was interested in him because of the vision I’d seen! Whatever else I might’ve felt was pointless, and there was no reason to think about it further. I wasn’t about to get lost in a cloud of fantasy about something that could never happen, and that I honestly didn’t feel that strongly about anyway.

I was a reader. A divination artist. An expert of the mind and spectral realm. Controlling my emotional energy was my power, and dropping this feeling would be no problem at all.

Shifting to wolf form, I bounded onto the wolf run and joined the paw traffic of the other people running home for the day.

6 Markos

Elise bombarded me with a stream of questions as I walked in the front door, none of which I could make out because she was talking so fast.

“Take a deep breath before you throw up,” I said.

She latched onto my waist. and I dragged her along as I made my way to the kitchen to drop my stuff onto the table. The oven was on, and I could smell rosemary chicken roasting inside—one of my brother’s specialties. He and Jillian were on the couch watching the television.

“Dinner should be ready soon,” he called out. “You’re right on time.”

“Thanks for taking care