Let Me Find Your Omega - Ashe Moon Page 0,24

would be strange to wear what I wear to my readings, I think.”

“Do you have to dress nicely for those banquets?”

“The traditional divination robes, yes. It’s quite formal.”

“Wear those!” she said. “I always have to dress up nice when we go out to dinner.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile. “Thank you for your advice.”

“No problem,” she said, and she gave me a thumbs up. “Ask me any time.”

I was a little relieved that I wouldn’t have to go out looking for new clothes—I only owned a few outfits, all pretty much the same, except for my formal divination robes I used for banquets and the occasional ceremony. I liked wearing them, but they were far too dressy to wear normally. This would be a wonderful opportunity to break out the formal wear—and maybe even impress Markos.

8 Markos

I was early, so I stayed in my car to wait until Kole let me know he’d arrived. I caught myself looking in the mirror again and turned my attention to the bag on the seat. I’d brought Kole a gift, something small and not very exciting, but I wanted to make sure he knew how much I appreciated everything he was doing for Elise. I hoped I wasn’t going too far by giving him a present. I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea or anything.

That was what I was telling myself, at least. This wasn’t supposed to be a date, but in the back of my mind, I kept wishing that it was. I’d spent enough time avoiding romance—wasn’t I ready to try again?

Maybe if things went well…

Cut it out, Markos, I thought, irritated. As usual, my imagination was going to all sorts of places. I was getting ahead of myself, thinking about scenarios that would never happen. I tried my hardest to rein my thoughts in, but it seemed like every time I quieted one, a new one popped up.

Why would he be interested in you?

Are you sure you’re alpha enough to handle an omega?

You don’t have time for that right now.

You’d never be able to please him.

I gritted my teeth and rubbed my forehead. “Enough,” I grumbled. “Stop. Thinking.”

My phone vibrated. Kole was almost here. I scooped up the gift bag and stepped out of my car into the cool evening air, narrowly avoiding a wolf bounding by in the wolf-run lane. She shot me a look as she passed, and I waved apologetically. I walked around the corner to the restaurant and went inside to the table I’d reserved for us. I watched the entrance for him—this place was always busy, so I wanted to make sure he didn’t miss me when he came inside.

It was impossible not to notice him when he did arrive. My jaw hit the table. In fact, pretty much everyone around was looking at him. He was dressed in the most extravagant formal robe, deep purple with black velvet accents, with a wide-brimmed hat designed to look like it had wolf’s ears like he was ready for a costume party.

He looked oblivious to how crazy his outfit looked until he started glancing around the restaurant looking for me and noticed that everyone was staring. I watched as his face went a shade of pink. I waved at him and he hurried over to me.

“Oh no,” he murmured, pulling the sides of his hat down so far, the entire thing nearly swallowed his head. He dropped into the chair, his robe spilling across the back and onto the floor. A waiter nearly tripped on it as he walked by with a tray of food. “Oh no, oh no.”

“I like it,” I said, unable to keep down a small laugh. “You look amazing. What is this outfit, though?”

He looked up, and his face was now ruby red. “This is my formal banquet outfit, from the reader’s guild,” he said matter-of-factly, and I could tell he was doing everything he could to keep his composure and hide his embarrassment. “I thought I ought to dress nicely… I’ve never been out to dinner before.”

“It’s an incredible outfit, really,” I said. I was laughing, but I quickly realized that Kole was much more embarrassed than he was letting on. People were still looking at him, and though Kole didn’t strike me as a person who usually cared what other people thought, I got the feeling that he was really uncomfortable. “Hey.” I reached over and patted his arm, and when he looked at me I could see in