Let Me Find Your Omega - Ashe Moon Page 0,2

lighting candles and incense and arranging the large energy-focusing crystals in their appropriate glyph pattern around the divination chamber.

Some people's lot in life wasn't to find a mate—but despite accepting my lack of love as my reality, I couldn't deny the quiet urge that tugged at me from somewhere deep inside. I was an omega, and lately, the wish to have a child of my own had begun to grow into a steady, thrumming pull.

2 Markos

I scribbled "Saturday special! Try our spicy chicken melt sandwich!" onto the whiteboard sign and then turned it to show Elise, who was eating her breakfast of toast and eggs at one of the tables. My brother Ivan and Jillian, my sister-in-law, were in the back getting everything ready for the day. And by getting everything ready, I mean debating about how the kitchen should be arranged.

Elise gave me a thumbs up, her cheeks plump with food. Outside, two customers were already waiting to be let in. Moving the shop to this neighborhood had been a risky move, but it seemed to be paying off. The rent was expensive—we were in a high-end part of town, but I'd managed to find a spot that also happened to have apartments up above, and we were close to many big offices which meant a lot of traffic. We could charge more, and business had been steadily picking up since opening up a little over a month ago.

Most importantly, I was able to transfer Elise into one of the best schools in Mir. It wasn't easy being a single dad, but there was nothing I wouldn't do to make my baby's future better, and I knew that all the sacrifices and difficulties of moving into the Fulmun District would pay off. Elise already was making friends in the neighborhood—none her age, of course. She'd charmed the lady who worked in the healing clinic across the street, and she'd excitedly told me about the fortune-teller she'd been visiting for the past week. Elise was just that way; never had gotten along well with kids at school, but she loved hanging out at the grown-up’s table.

"Sweetie, when you're done eating, can you go unlock the door and put the sign out for me?"

I went behind the counter to open the register while Elise took the sign and the set of keys from the table and went to the front door.

"Good morning, welcome!" she said brightly to the people waiting outside as she set up the sign on the sidewalk. "We're open now."

As I was taking orders, I saw Elise's face light up. She waved to someone I couldn't see and jumped up and down excitedly. "Hi, Kole! Hiii!" She stuck her head inside and called, "Dad! My friend is here!"

"Just a minute, sweetie," I called, and I turned to take the orders of our first customers. I got the quickest glimpse of someone with dark hair greeting Elise outside before I had to shift my attention to my console, tapping in the order of a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel sandwich. The next customer came up to the counter, and Elise came inside dragging her friend behind her by the hand.

"Welcome to the Wagging Tail, what can I get..." My voice trailed off for a second as my brain sparked and I lost myself to a billion distracting thoughts that coursed through my mind, all echoing pretty much the same thing: hounds of hell, that guy was cute.

Elise tended to make friends with folks older than I was, so it surprised me to see that this guy was my junior by what I had to guess was around ten years, putting him in his mid-twenties. He was an omega with wavy dark hair, thick-rimmed glasses, and nearly all-black clothes that were flowy and airy on his trim frame. He glanced around the store with a sleepy, shy look, and I could immediately sense that he was an introverted type. I felt my heart pump a little faster and scolded myself for it. The truth was that I didn't often meet people I found attractive, who ticked off all the superficial boxes right off the shake of the tail, and because I'd been single for, well, since Elise's mom, my immediate bodily reaction was silly and embarrassing.

But he was extremely cute.

My attention snapped back to the customer standing in front of me, who was staring at me with a puzzled look on his face like he was wondering if my