1 Chapter 1
“Hey, Rafe?”
Rafael Vargas popped the three capsules into his mouth and choked them down. Ignoring the lump in his throat, he concealed the open bottle in his palm as he turned around to answer.
The newest intern at Caldwell Cyber Security was leaning against the door frame of the break room, watching him. Cute little girl—at five foot nothing, wearing over-sized glasses, she looked all of twelve years old. Of course, from his lofty perspective of twenty-eight, all teens looked like babies.
She scowled as if reading his condescending thoughts and said, “Caldwell’s about to pop. Wants you in his office—like now. Must be something big.”
Probably not. Rafe’s blustery boss lived for melodrama. “Okay, thanks. By the way, do you need help with the Gaston Industries project?” Over time, Rafe had found himself in the position of mother hen to the interns who rotated through the company. Janet was his favorite. Maybe because the judge had sentenced her to probation and arranged an internship after they caught her hacking the police computer network. Lawbreakers should stick together.
She rolled her eyes at his offer of help. “Of course not. That project was way too easy.” A smile of pure mischief brightened her face. “Maybe you should find something a little more challenging for me. I’m kind of dangerous when I’m bored.”
Rafe chuckled at the girl’s rock-solid self-confidence. “Don’t get too cocky. You’ve still got a ways to go to beat me.”
She treated him to a low, mocking bow and murmured, “I salute your greatness, oh digital god,” as she backed into the hallway and fled. Smart ass. And very skilled. She might well outdo him in the next few years. But at least for now, he was the resident expert.
He filled a paper cup with water and drank enough to send the capsules on their way. Thank God his late mother had been the resident expert in the biochemical compounds of herbs. Without her teaching him what worked to help dull his omega hormones and how to prepare it, he’d have been snatched up long ago. Or he’d be half insane from so many years of full-strength chemical suppressants
He took an appreciative sniff of the pill bottle before replacing the cap. Another benefit of the pungent herbs was to mask his omega scent from any overly curious alpha nose. The perfect pill. Too bad she’d never found a cure for the loneliness that went along with hiding who he was.
He tucked the bottle into his pocket, poured a cup of coffee, and headed to his boss’s office.
Rafe stood in Caldwell’s doorway and watched as the man dug through a file drawer, breathing hard. Janet was right—the boss did look like he was going to pop.
The man glanced up from his task. “There you are! I sent that new girl—what’s her name?—to fetch you ages ago.” Frowning, he added, “You know, I’m still not comfortable having her doing her community service in my company.”
Before Rafe could yet again reassure his boss of Janet’s value, the man continued, “But that’s not important now.” Caldwell straightened, took a deep breath, and announced, “We have a situation.”
Rafe sat down in one of the guest chairs, idly wondering what had prompted this summons. Most often, a “situation” was nothing more alarming than a client postponing a scheduled service visit. Caldwell never failed to overreact to little things but seemed oblivious to the important stuff.
When Rafe first started work there, he’d been extra vigilant. The boss, despite being laughably dramatic, was an alpha. Even with the suppressants and the herbs, any other alpha might have seen through Rafe’s masquerade. Not this one. This one was too wrapped up in himself and his business to pay much attention.
Rafe offered what he hoped was a calm smile. “Who needs help, boss?”
“It’s the government.”
A trickle of unease seeped through him. Anything to do with the people who fifteen years ago had confiscated all omega children to be raised on breeding farms scared the shit out of him. Keeping his tone casual, he asked, “And what do they need?”
The man pointed a chubby index finger at him and said, “You.” Grinning, he added, “It’s about time.”
The trickle burst its dam. They must have found out he was an omega—a wild, unbroken, unmated omega. Damn. Damn. Damn. Fighting the impulse to run, Rafe took a moment to breathe—and think—before he did something stupid. If Caldwell knew, the man’s reaction would have been explosive. So they hadn’t identified him as omega.
But had they found out Rafe was the hacker responsible for the raid on the omega breeding farm? Rafe swallowed a panicked laugh. Didn’t really matter. If they arrested him, the suppressants would wear off in a matter of days. Then he’d be headed to his own omega farm for training in how to be a submissive little breeder for some grunting alpha.
