“Found someone special?” she whispered, her eyes gleaming. “It’s all right, you know. I won’t tell your father.”
Greg eyed her. She always said that, and he mostly trusted her. Except for the time he’d wanted to go out with a fellow alpha to prom night. Dad hadn’t been happy when Mom told him about it. “Yeah, well,” Greg said. “Maybe another time.”
Her shoulders sagged. Greg pulled her into a hug, careful to keep his hands off her—the same hands he’d touched Dale with. “The basketball team voted me as their MVP last week.”
Henrietta’s eyes lit up. Bernard stepped over to clap Greg on the shoulder. He was tall and tanned, muscular like Greg, and Greg liked to think their similarities ended there.
“Very good,” his dad said, looking down his pointed nose at Greg. “I expected no less from you.”
Bernard Hastings was ambitious, goal-oriented. The sort of person you’d find at shareholder meetings, raising shrewd questions about business expenditures, demanding answers when company profits didn’t meet their targets.
Three decades ago, Bernard had scraped together money to put himself through school, crawling up the social ladders so he could emerge as a leader. Then he’d started his own college, built it up into a respectable institution, and earned a place as one of the top-ranking alphas in Meadowfall.
Greg was proud of his father for that. But Bernard would also cast Dale aside because he’d think Dale wasn’t a good enough omega, and Greg didn’t want to subject Dale to that.
Whatever he grew up to be, it wasn’t the head of Meadowfall College.
“The omega scent smells familiar,” his dad said, eyes narrowing. “I seem to have encountered it recently.”
Greg froze. The college president held quarterly meetings with his faculty staff. Of course he’d have smelled Dale at one of those. And his father would terminate Dale’s employment the moment he found out they’d slept together. Shit.
“Lots of people around with that scent,” Greg said, shrugging. His heart thumped.
“Who was it?” Bernard leveled a look at him. “It’s one of those I’ve smelled time and again. I should have a name to match to it.”
“You must’ve remembered wrong,” Greg said. “Guy on the basketball team. Ivan.”
There was no Ivan on the team, but his father didn’t know that. Bernard nodded and turned away. Henrietta eyed Greg speculatively, as though she wanted to know more. Greg swallowed the whisper of guilt in his throat. He didn’t like lying to her.
Greg stepped away from his parents, grabbing a bottle of deodorant to mask Dale’s scent. It sprayed light and cool on him, minty, and he discreetly spritzed more into the surrounding air. The more he hid Dale’s scent, the better. “Why are you guys here, anyway? Could’ve told me you were coming.”
Of course, it would be nice if they didn’t have a key to his apartment, but they were the ones paying for his lodging.
“You’ll be graduating in two years,” his father said, eyeing the basketball posters on the living room walls. “I’ve been expecting news about a bondmate. You’re aware that your job prospects improve greatly with an omega at your side.”
Greg shrugged. “Lots of alphas get jobs without being bonded.”
“I don’t care for the majority of alphas, Gregory. I’m concerned for you. Why present yourself as a common alpha when you can be better?”
Not this again.
Four years ago, Greg had wanted all that his status could offer him—fast cars, his own house, money to travel the world. He’d made plans with his best friend: they’d go on hot air balloon rides, buy neighboring houses, and visit all the comic conventions around the world.
“I don’t care about being better than everyone else,” Greg said.
“Is this about Tony again?” his father asked, eyes narrowing. “He wasn’t even your bondmate.”
“He was my best friend!” Greg snapped. So what if he and Tony knew they’d never be mates? They’d still been best friends. They’d cosplayed for years, and they’d talked about how their lawns would bleed into each other’s, and they’d have a fence around both their houses.
Greg wasn’t ready for that kind of relationship again, not when he couldn’t save his best friend. He’d brought his candle to the vacation cabin, lit it by the window, and a stray breeze had pushed the curtain right into the candle flame.
In one night, Greg’s dreams for his future had burned down to ashes.
“Regardless, he wasn’t your bonded omega. You should have drawn a line in that friendship. There’s no point spending so much time with a person if they aren’t of use to you,” Bernard said.
Rage bubbled in Greg’s chest. He looked to his mom, but Henrietta shrugged and glanced away, her lips thinning. She’d never stood up for him in front of his dad.
Greg loved his mom, but gods, if his parents could understand him, maybe even sympathize with him for once. His mom had, back when Tony died. His dad had told him to move on.
“Your mother and I have raised and clothed you.” Bernard studied him coolly. “We expect to see you succeed with the education we’ve provided. Don’t let our efforts go to waste.”
Greg thought about a professor huddled in his lab coat, Dale Kinney with regret in his eyes, and said nothing.
His mom stepped closer, slipping her arm around his back. “If you’ve been pursuing an omega, you should think about bonding, dear,” she said kindly. “Or your father will bring out the list he’s prepared.”
He frowned. “What list?”
“Potential bondmates. Omegas. Brightest students in the college,” Bernard said. “I’ve contacted the professors to come up with lists of candidates.”
The idea hovered around Greg’s mind, not sinking in. “Okay, and?”
“If you haven’t found one, we’ll match you up with an omega we think is best,” Bernard Hastings said. “That is, if you and Ivan decide not to pair off.”
What? “You’ve never said that before. You said I can choose my own.”
“You’re taking too long to decide, Greg,” his
