The scent of another omega wore on Mia’s frayed nerves the way it always did. She didn’t blame the other woman—it wasn’t as if she were the reason for Mia’s annoyance—but that didn’t change the fact that Mia had done this too many times.

“What do you mean they aren’t in?” The omega’s smile dropped from her painted red lips.

Mia brushed her hair from her face and tried to act sympathetic. She wasn’t, not anymore. Her bosses might be useless womanizers, but they were unfailingly honest. This omega knew, as all the others had before, that the three alphas Mia worked for weren’t looking for a commitment. Still, women of all types would see the men’s expensive cars, their fifty-grand watches, and believe they were the woman who would finally score the three bachelors.

They’d show up at the office, and Mia had the unpleasant task of sending them away empty handed.

“Look, hun—”

“Sophia,” the omega snapped. “I have a name.”

So did all the others. It doesn’t make a difference. Mia shook her head and scolded herself for the unkind thought. “I don’t know what you expected, but they aren’t the staying type.”

Sophia blew out a noisy breath, seeming to deflate “I just thought they’d change their mind once they got to know me.”

And maybe they would have if her bosses ever got to know any of the women who filled their one-night-stand evenings. Still, none of that changed that they wouldn’t be getting to know her, because that was not in their plans. They never spent a second night with any of their women.

“I understand.” Mia reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty. “Take this and go buy yourself lunch. Find a cute guy and forget about them. You can do better.” She deserved better.

Sophia took the folded bill from between Mia’s fingers and tucked it into her pocket. “Yeah. You’re right. I don’t need this.” She straightened her back, then nodded a silent thanks before the clicking of her heels took her from the room.

Which left Mia ready for a hell of a nap.

It wasn’t just that she had to put up with the after-effects of her bosses’ love lives, but having the omega around as well.

She’d perfected the art of going unnoticed, of fooling all those around her into believing she was the beta she claimed to be. The only ones who could find her out were other omegas, but she’d gotten good at even tricking their noses. The right scent combination in perfumes and lotions and she blended into just another beta.

Still, when one came to the office, it prickled Mia’s nerves. Would this be the one to see through her ploy? To ruin everything she’d created as a life for herself?

Not even the three alphas she worked for knew—they were the last people she could let find out—and hiding her designation from people she worked so closely with for six years felt like an empty achievement.

“She gone?” Dax poked his head out of the back office, his short hair styled without a hair out of place, his lips curled into a slight smile. Of course he knew she was gone, but he enjoyed his jokes.

“You know, it was never part of my job description to deal with your groupies.” Mia turned her chair to face Dax as he left his office.

His navy suit was cut perfectly, showing off his lean figure and his boyish face. Despite being the oldest of the three alphas, he looked the youngest. Part of that had to be his childish sense of humor. Best of all, his green eyes shone bright in a way that was entirely unfair. It was hard to blame omegas for falling for him.

“It’s not my fault that our lives only have room for one woman in them, and that’s you,” said Shepard when he came out of his own office. He had a similar sense of humor to Dax, except Shepard tended to go for sarcasm and could deliver snark with only a hint of a smile. His dark hair was messier than Dax’s, but it also made his blue eyes stand out.

She rolled her eyes and turned her chair away from them. She’d learned not to listen to their flirting. They flirted with anything that moved. It was a default mode they couldn’t help, as though innuendo and charm were their native language. If Mia hadn’t been aware of what bullshit it was, she might have even been tempted to fall for it.

Thankfully, she knew better.

She wasn’t the one ‘woman in their lives’. She was their office manager. She’d helped to keep their law firm open and profitable for six years. It meant she wasn’t just a groupie for them, but a valued part of their day-to-day lives. She set appointments, dealt with clients, even did some of the work of a personal assistant, setting up cleaners and landscapers and things like that for their home.

In short, Mia kept their lives and business running smoothly.

“Stop harassing her,” came the last of their voices, smooth and deep. “The last time you bothered her too much, she ordered us nothing but vegan food for lunch for an entire month. If I never taste vegan bacon again, I’ll consider it a win.” Hart strolled out from his office, his black pin-striped suit showing off that he was larger than the other two. He had on a yellow tie—the one Mia loved because it brought out his honey-colored eyes set against his dark skin. He always looked effortlessly put together, his hair buzzed to his scalp. He didn’t smile like Dax did, not even a crinkle in his cheek like the one that gave away Shepard’s jokes.

“I notice you three scuttle out here as soon as I chase away the big bad woman you’re all hiding from. Pathetic.”

Dax dropped himself into one of the chairs in the waiting room. “Didn’t you see the line of ‘security’ in your job title when you applied?”

“I doubt you needed security from one little girl.”

“That’s because you didn’t see how she tied up poor Hart the other night. She seems sweet until you hand her a flogger.” Dax lifted an eyebrow as if waiting for a reaction.

Mia didn’t even flinch. She might have, years before, but she was an adult and she had grown used to the three trying to get a rise out of her.

“Maybe pick your bed mates more carefully in the future, then.”

“I miss being able to make her blush,” Dax complained with an exaggerated sigh.

Shepard caught a little of her hair and tugged softly, the way one would do to a younger sister. “We bugged her too much, and she’s developed a tolerance.”

Mia smacked his hand away and didn’t even bother to glare. Giving them anything only encouraged them to continue acting like spoiled children.

“You two are impossible,” Hart said. “Come on. Let’s leave her to work.”

“Don’t forget, you have a meeting at three with the omega, Tesh.”

Dax pursed his lips. “That case is going to be a mistake.”

“You always say that about anything that can’t be handled in a day or two,” Shepard shot back.

“And I’m usually right. Some cases are just trouble.” Dax shook his head, managing to retain that youthful charm despite his complaining.

Mia stayed out of it, her gaze back down on her work as she listened in. They bickered often, but she’d learnt early they also worked it out. Somehow the three alphas had formed a friendship that worked, though Mia never understood how.

Dax and Shepard would argue, with Hart playing referee, until some consensus was made. Dax usually didn’t care for the dangerous cases, but when Tesh had walked into their office with a bloodied face and a cowering child clutching her hand, Mia had known Dax would cave. He didn’t care for bringing trouble to their door, but even he wouldn’t leave an omega like that on her own.

So they’d taken the case, because dissolving matings was a messy business at the best of times. Tesh’s ex, Mack, being a violent and abusive man made this situation that much worse, and the alphas had softer hearts than they liked to admit. Mack was a walking disaster, and Mia had seen him once when he’d shown up for a mediation. He’d walked in as though he owned the place, his gaze hard as it had locked on Tesh.

Mia had slid an arm around Tesh’s to offer reassurance, and it had again reminded Mia why she avoided alphas as she did. Maybe not all of them were like Mack, but was it worth the risk?

After the first few mediations, Mack had decided to go after Tesh again. That time they had been able to file a police report, but nothing had come of it yet.

“The police have everything they need to arrest him. I don’t understand what’s taking so long,” Dax pressed.

“He has friends, like most low-lives. They might hide him for a while, but the police will find him eventually.”

Dax went to argue more, though there wasn’t a point. Sometimes Mia suspected he just liked to make sure he was heard, even if he knew he wouldn’t win. They’d taken the case, had Tesh and her son in a safe house with a friend, and the police were dragging their feet because a bloodied omega wasn’t high on their list of worries.

Hart spoke up before Dax could continue. “If we don’t go, we’ll be late for the meeting, and I don’t want to annoy Mia any more than you both have today already.”

Mia hid the smile at that, at the way the alphas might pick on her but also treated her as though she were the boss rather than their employee.

With that, they were gone. They’d make the meeting—despite their behavior at times, they were competent and hard workers—then they’d be off to find whatever new woman they wanted to share for the weekend.

A woman Mia would likely have to deal with later, an omega. Funny that despite not being able to consciously pick omegas out of a crowd—alphas couldn’t tell the designation of others from scent alone—they still managed to sleep exclusively with omegas. It was impressive, really, given how few omegas there were in the world. Beyond that, their type had seemed random at first, at least until she’d really paid attention.

All their conquests had one thing in common—they looked nothing like her. Blondes, redheads, women with black hair or perhaps a brunette, but only if she had a pixie cut. Blue eyes, green eyes, hazel ones. In short, they seemed to like everything except for brunettes with long hair and dark brown eyes.

Mia sighed as she stared at the tasteless statue on the table by the door, that of a half-naked woman in a slinky, barely-there dress. It had been there since she’d started working at the office, and Mia had spent more than a bit of time staring daggers at it. Just another reminder of all the other women in the alphas’ lives.

She enjoyed her job, but sometimes watching the males she secretly loved sleep with every omega they could find wore on her.

Too bad she could never tell them the truth, about her, about how she felt, about any of it.

They’d only break her heart if she did, and her mother had made sure she understood how dangerous that was.

* * * *

A banging on Mia’s front door later that night made her wake in a rush, her heart pounding.

She pulled on her robe and went to answer.

She lived in a small one-bedroom that sat on an acre of land. She’d picked it because close neighbors increased the odds someone might discover her status as an omega, but times like this—when someone showed up out of nowhere, and she lacked anyone nearby—made her rethink it.

Of course, the last thing she expected to find when looking through the peephole was Dax standing there.

She flipped the lock then opened the door, finding Shepard and Hart behind Dax. “What are you doing here?”

Dax didn’t answer, and that was when she realized his gaze wasn’t on her face.

She yanked the edges of her robe closed to hide the silk and lace negligee she wore. She might not have anyone to wear such things for, but that didn’t stop her from enjoying them. If she had to wait for a man to wear nice lingerie, she’d never get the chance.

Dax jerked his gaze up as if caught, though he didn’t look all that sorry. “You have good taste,” he said instead of pretending he hadn’t been staring.

“I’m sure you didn’t show up at god only knows what time—”

“It’s two-thirty,” Shepard supplied as though that tidbit of information made a bit of difference.

Mia gave him a sharp look before continuing, “I’m sure you didn’t come over at two-thirty in the morning to comment on my outfit.”

“I should have.” Dax curled his lips into a smirk that implied whatever their reason for coming over, it had turned into tormenting her.

Hart pushed Dax to the side and moved past him, offering a chiding glance to his friend—not that that had ever stopped Dax from doing anything. “You need to pack a bag, Mia.”

“A bag? For what?”

“The meeting we had tonight didn’t go according to plan.”

“What does that mean?”

Hart didn’t answer right away, and Mia recognized the look on his face. He didn’t like to tell her bad news or worry her.

Dax never worried about that, so he spoke up from behind Hart. “Well, Mack took a shot at Tesh and us. It seems he figured out where we were meeting. The police don’t care a lot about one abused omega, but shooting up a café must be where they draw their line.”

Mia reacted on instinct. She looked over the alphas, head to toe, while she just barely managed to not pat them down for injuries. Hart’s face was pinched in unhappy lines and Dax’s hair was more mussed then usually, but otherwise, they looked unharmed.

Shepard snapped his fingers, drawing her attention back to his face instead of obsessing over the idea they might have been hurt. “We’re fine. His aim with a gun isn’t all that great, as it turns out. Now, how about that bag so we can go?”

“Go where?”

“Safe house,” Dax said. “A nice place, middle of nowhere. No one will be able to find it.”

“You’re going to just hide out?”

Shepard shrugged. “We are going to go for two weeks. Now that this is a something the police believe is worth their time, they seem to be putting in a bit more effort into finding him. Once they do, he won’t be getting out for a while.”

“So you’ll leave. I don’t understand what that has to do with me.”

Hart answered. “If he’s willing to come after us in a crowded cafe, don’t you think he’d do the same to you?”

A sinking in Mia’s stomach made her feel ill. She’d dealt with issues in the past, since it wasn’t as if they hadn’t become involved in dangerous cases before. Still, this was the first time they’d shown up and told her she needed to leave.

A sound in the distance made all three men pause, then look behind them. That sure sold their worry.

Maybe they were overreacting, but they clearly felt it was serious.

The sound quieted, telling them it wasn’t anyone headed their way. When it went silent, Shepard released a rough exhalation. “Who needs cardio? That works to get my heart going.”

Mia crossed her arms, keeping her robe closed around her. “This is insane. I am not leaving in the middle of the night because someone threatened you.”

“Yeah, you are,” Dax said. “Because there isn’t a chance we’re getting somewhere safe while you sit back here in danger.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, you don’t tell me what to do. That hasn’t worked since the first day when you tried to force me to take your car because you said mine was a death trap.”

Hart set his hand on the doorframe, looking down at Mia with that expression he used, the one that was all steel. She’d seen it before when he was dealing with a difficult client, the face of a man who was done joking around. “This isn’t a game, Mia. You will pack a bag and come with us or we will take you with us, and you’ll have nothing. Those are your only choices.”

Mia gulped as she stared up at Hart, his absolute confidence washing over her. She tried to keep it hidden, tried to force her reaction down the way she’d done for six years, but he’d never looked at her like that before.

It was clear Mia would be going with them—over Hart’s shoulder if she pushed her luck much further—and she wasn’t sure she could resist them.

Which meant she would be stuck with the three of them, in the middle of nowhere, in close quarters.

I’m screwed.