The Omegas Second Chance

Chapter 3

Levi

"I swear to god, Josh, if you don't have the files on my desk by noon tomorrow, it's going to be your ass on the line." I growled into the phone before I slammed it back onto the receiver.

I hefted my back against the back of my chair and felt it rock while I ran my fingers through my inky hair. I needed a coffee or a whiskey, maybe both. Definitely both. I looked at the empty desk outside the glass walls of my office and sighed. My last assistant quit after a rather blown-out-of-proportion type of situation. I had a temp filling in until the new assistant could start next Monday, but I was dying without the help, even if it was someone to bring me a coffee or organize my calendar. I desperately needed help with my calendar.

Everything was jumbled. Meetings were getting missed or pushed back, client portfolios were getting lost or mixed up, the list goes on and on. I am a damned good lawyer, but if I wanted to continue being one of the best in the Midwest, let alone Tamino Falls, I needed someone to handle the mundane aspects of my job and day to day work. I needed to focus my energy on the clients, the cases, and the law. The more minutes I spent worrying over my schedule and emails and fetching a coffee was less time that I had to help an innocent person get off of a bogus charge. It was one less minute I had with a potentially million dollar deal for the firm. I needed the new secretary to start, and I needed them to start as soon as possible.

I wasn't the one to hire her either. I didn't even know her name. I only knew it was a woman because Christina, my sister, who manages our HR department, hired her and told me that 'she' would start Monday. She was not too pleased with me at the moment, since I was apparently the reason my last secretary quit without notice. I hadn't meant to scare the damned woman off, but if you're going to work in a firm full of Alphas then you needed to have somewhat of a tough personality. It's safe to say that I'm glad she didn't work out with us, but I was feeling the effects of her vacating her position with us tremendously.

My stomach grumbled, and I decided I was hungry enough to put my work on pause for a moment for food when a knock on the frame of my office door tinged. I looked up to see Patrick leaning against it with a frown on his face and a crease in his brow that signaled that he had something on his mind, and it was puzzling him or bothering him. Perhaps it was both.

"You going to lunch?" He asked, and I nodded as I stood and picked up my suit jacket and shrugged it on.

"Yeah. Want to go to your place?" I asked and he shook his head.

"No, I've been pulling doubles for a few days, and if I smell pizza for even a moment more than I have to, then I might shift in the middle of the street in a tantrum." He said with a chuckle. "Marios' daughter is in the hospital getting her last chemo treatment, so I gave him the week off to spend with family, and I've been filling in where I can to help out the staff."

Patrick ran his family's restaurant in town, and he was doing a damned good job at it. He kept me on retainer for business purposes, knowing I would always have his back and never steer him wrong for the gain of a dollar. We have been close since our freshman year in high school and even went to the same college. While I went for my law degree, he went for business.

"Alright. We can get takeout then, and you can tell me what's got your panties in a wad." I said jokingly as I brushed past him and walked towards the elevators.

My phone dinged, and I pulled it out and saw a text from Rachel and rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth. She was not taking the breakup that happened 6 months ago very well and was still resorting to calling me and texting me every single day. I wanted to break the damned thing and change my number, but that would f**k up my whole f*****g world with work and family and everything else.

"Why don't you just block her?" Patrick asked as he caught up with me as the elevator doors slid open at a snails pace.

Truthfully, I didn't have an answer as to why I didn't block her number. I can't tell you if it was because I liked seeing how much she was spazzing over losing me and breaking my trust or if it was because a part of me is scared to close off that chapter of my life.

Rachel and I had been high school sweethearts and I thought we would end up being a mated pair even though she wasn't an omega. Rachel was a beta, and she was in the same social circles as me, my family, and our friends. She had a mean streak and could be shallow and vindictive when she wanted to be, but she was beautiful and back then that's all I really cared about.

Over time, I realized how lackluster our relationship was and how there was no depth to us or our relationship. There was chemistry between us yes, but if I asked for a deeper conversation other than the weather or what Chanel perfume she bought with my money or which designer dress she wanted, or new fancy purse hit the market or anything more than just s*x and my limitless credit card, then she came up empty and flat.

It wasn't until I came home early one night to her getting railed in my bed, in the penthouse that I pay for by an associate from a rival firm, that really pushed me over the edge. I kicked her out and broke up with her that night and haven't spoken to her since. I couldn't tell you where she was or what she was doing and truthfully, I didn't care. My parents weren't happy, but they were supportive of me and my happiness. I can only say that I'm grateful that I hadn't taken the final step to fully mark and mate her despite all of her tantrums that I hadn't done so yet. Thank god I hadn't. This whole situation would have been a nightmare if I had.

As we stepped out and made our way down the sidewalk towards the row of stores and restaurants, I sighed and relaxed into the breeze I felt blowing. I needed to let my wolf out soon as the itch to shift was growing with each passing moment. I did love being in the city, but stationing my office here in Tamino Falls was the best choice. I was in a relatively populated area, but it was suburban enough that there were plenty of places to shift and get away from the pollution and chaos of cities like Times Square or San Francisco.

"So...I ran into someone last night." Patrick started, and I raised my brow at him.

"You get laid?" I asked as this was generally how he started off the conversations about his escapades. He shook his head and I noticed the color of his usually fair skin was even paler than usual. I slowed my walk down until we were standing still.

"What is it?"

"You remember Shayna Penza? Well, apparently her name is Shayna Akers now."

I ran through my memories for the familiarity of the name Shayna Penza when our time in high school came flooding back. Images of a small blonde girl on her knees with milk in her hair that we poured all over her, and images of a girl running out of the school in tears and images of her shrinking herself into her desk to make herself smaller and unnoticed flickered through my mind like a slideshow. There were so many memories that popped up and flashed through my vision that I had to shake my head to clear my vision. I swallowed hard and audibly before nodding.

"Yeah, I remember her."

She left right after high school. Her whole family besides her grandmother packed up and moved out and away from Tamino Falls and I never heard from her again. Not that I would, since I was probably one of the reasons she left. I never got the chance to apologize or even try to make amends for the way I treated her during my stupid teenage years. I was an asshole now, yes, but back then, I was a straight criminal with the way I treated people. Perhaps that's why Rachel and I got along so well back then up until we split. I was cruel and an asshole then. Now I was just an asshole.

"Why?"

"Well, apparently she's back. She's got a kid and uh well, I..." He spoke and paused as if he was sorting through his words and trying to carefully pick what he wanted to say. "I don't want to assume, but I think she might be in trouble or something. Something didn't seem right. I was covering for Mario, remember? Well, I delivered to the old rickety house on Fourth Street and apparently that is where she's staying."

Rickety house? I thought to myself. That was the house where all the local teens liked to hang out and drink and f**k while they partied on the weekends. What was she doing there? Her family comes from money, the same as mine. Surely she could afford better than that.

Patrick must have read my thoughts and sensed my wolf's concern for an omega staying in a not-so-safe area or house and continued on.

“She looked like she had been beaten to hell. I don't know, man, I just got a bad feeling. Maybe she's running from something or someone.”