It was true—I was pregnant. The clinic even printed a picture of my little boy or girl to take home with me.

What was I going to do?

Ma was grim-faced all the way home. Probably thinking of all the ways I’d derailed my future. I was too far along to even think about an abortion, which meant I was committed to this for at least the next four months. And probably longer.

We shifters had a saying for someone who was absolutely determined to keep something—that they were trying to hang onto it like an omega with a baby. I didn’t think that had kicked in for me yet, but at the same time, I kept sneaking peeks at the ultrasound and wondering what this little blob would be like when it finally came out. And if I didn’t keep a firm grip on my thoughts, they seemed to drift to this idyllic picture of me in the sunshine streaming through an open window, rocking a sleeping baby.

But babies were expensive—there was no way I was moving out into my own apartment now. My earning potential was ruined until this stupid omega bond wore off. If it ever did—I’d never known anyone where it had. Though, I’d never known an omega who hadn’t gone right ahead and mated the sire of their pup.

And even if the bond did fade, my schedule wasn’t going to make it easy to find someone to look after the baby. I’d be stuck working all the shitty, low-earning shifts.

Oh, Lysoonka, couldn’t you have just hit me with a bolt of lighting or something instead? It would have been kinder. I guessed I should have petitioned the Lady of Wolves at the right time of the moon.

Da met us outside the Alpha’s office. He kissed my mom on the cheek and hugged me, then stood back and shook his head. “He’s waiting for us,” was all he said though.

I swallowed hard, feeling thirteen again and about to get scolded for swimming in the lake with the alphas too close to my season.

The Alpha’s office was cool and a little dim. The windows had shades on them that let you see out but kept most of the light from coming in and heating the place up. A big wooden desk sat with its back to a wall of bookcases filled with ledgers and I wasn’t sure what all.

And behind the desk sat the Alpha. I’d met him a few times—he usually welcomed the new blood to the public houses on their first night, before they would even be allowed to meet clients. I remembered him talking about humans and shifters and the ways we were the same and how we were different. How important our jobs would be to the pack—if it wasn’t for the public houses, Nevada Ashes would have been just ashes in the end. We’d barely survived being Rogue’s Hollow, and that was something that we could never forget. I’d been proud to have been chosen from that year’s crop of young shifters who’d applied to work the front of house.

I wasn’t so proud now.

The Alpha stood up, all six-foot-four of him. He was lanky but his bones were all well-covered in muscle, visible even in the shirt and tie he always wore. “Sit down everyone,” he said, then pressed a button on his phone. “Could you call Verena and ask her to drop by when she has a minute?”

His assistant’s voice came back through the speaker. “Right away, Alpha.”

He grunted and looked over at us all, still standing frozen in front of the desk. “I don’t bite,” he said mildly and raised his eyebrows.

“Funny,” Da commented, but they were old friends.

I didn’t find it funny. If all he wanted to do at this point was bite me, I’d take it and count myself blessed.

Da showed my mom into a chair in front of the desk, then got one for me from the corner and took the one that was already there for himself.

The Alpha folded his hands together on top of the desk and looked at all three of us. “So, we have a problem. Is it that bad a problem? It wouldn’t be the first time someone got pregnant accidentally.”

“We don’t know who the sire is,” Da said quietly. “He was a client. We think.”

The Alpha sat back in astonishment and squinted at me. “That’s not possible.”

Ma held out a hand and I put the ultrasound picture in it. She set it carefully on the polished wood of the desk and pushed it across until it sat right in front of him. “I’ve never known Salem to be untruthful. If anything, he leans too much the other way,” Ma said, and there was something in her tone…

The Alpha smiled and sent her and Da a look that implied a story I wasn’t aware of. “Yes, I remember that about him.” He picked up the picture and stared at it for a moment, then handed it back to my mother. “Salem, it’s okay if you got carried away with one of the alphas here in the enclave. It’s also okay if you don’t want to mate him—I won’t force that on anyone, but especially on an omega, given how vulnerable a mating makes them.”

I watched him numbly, trying to wrap my mind around what he was implying. Did he think I’d been careless and was now embarrassed that an alpha had caught me in heat? A little flame of anger suddenly blew into being inside me and I fanned it desperately for the sake of the strength it could give, even if it was only for the few minutes we’d be in this office. “I didn’t let myself get caught unaware. I was escorted to and from work as we’re supposed to be, I never left the third floor while I was on shift. I don’t know how this happened!” My voice broke a little on the last sentence and I had to take a breath and look away before I started to angry-cry in front of them.

“Salem is just about the youngest of our front of house workers to be raised to the blue level. He does hold himself to a high standard,” Ma said. I wondered if the Alpha caught the tension in her words and I knew she was thinking of the same thing as I was—shifting for David hadn’t been professional at all.

“And you’re really convinced this was a client? How did a shifter get past our doors during November?”

“I don’t know,” Ma admitted. “The best explanation we can come up with is that he took something that changed his scent. Salem remembers thinking he smelled an alpha up there occasionally, but nothing certain enough that it couldn’t be shrugged off as a problem with the air system, or just his imagination.”

Da broke in. “No one else smelled a strange alpha, but Jacinta was working reception and she’s in pup, so she probably wouldn’t have noticed if there was a hint of alpha around.”

“We’ve narrowed the likely suspects down to three,” Ma said, and took out her tablet. “Of the three, the most likely one is this David Walker, because it was around him that Salem said he thought he smelled a strange alpha.”

The Alpha took the tablet, then looked up as his office door opened. “Hello, love,” he said, and his entire appearance changed. The edges of his expression softened and his body language relaxed. And then I remembered that his mate was an omega.

Why did he ask her to come?

She held out her hand to me. “Salem, why don’t we go for a walk and you and I can talk about this, omega to omega?”

I glanced at Ma and Da. They nodded at me and Ma patted my thigh. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.” I could smell that she was still a little angry with me, or maybe just with the situation, but it had faded and now worry and heartbreak were the top notes in the scents that drifted around my parents. I nodded and got obediently to my feet and kissed them both on the cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered and then left with the Alpha’s Mate before I could break down in front of them. I’d caused enough chaos in their lives today, they didn’t need guilt on top of it. And if I was old enough to work the houses, old enough to choose this life, then I was also old enough to accept the consequences.

It had been a good run, while it lasted. I hoped I’d find some way back onto the path before the end.