Everest's POV:

This guy is a liar; I can tell by how he hesitated when asked about his reasoning for being here. I know he's been here before, so does that mean we have to reintroduce ourselves every time?

Fuck, the hostel is going to have a hell of a time making me go back.

"This place look okay?" Matias asks me, stopping in front of one of the many cafes down the streets of New York City.

"It looks like every other cafe we've walked past," I deadpan.

Matias scoffs and opens the door for me. "I'll order coffees and you can find us a table."

"And have you roofie my drink?"

"We're in a cafe at one in the afternoon."

My stare is firm and unwavering. "So? You seem unorthodox."

With my past, I'm not the most trusting person ever. Besides, everyone here would look the other way, just based on how Matias looks. He is not the kind of guy to mess with and he definitely has already scared a few of the people in here.

Unfortunately for him (and for every other Alpha in my vicinity) I do not give a single fuck about them or what they think. The only reason I'm here is because Matias wanted to talk and I want to dig in to his past and know what happened to his mate.

His mysterious, dark aura doesn't scare me.

Well, a little, but I always fake it till I make it, so he won't see me sweat.

We order our coffees, which Matias pays for despite my huffy attitude, and we find a spot in the back of the cafe. No one should be able to overhear us back here, unless they're trying to be nosey.

Then again, we're in New York City, so people are nosey as hell and might try to dig in.

I don't care; I've got nothing to hide.

"Here," Matias says, handing me my drink after retrieving them from the counter.

I watched him the whole way so I know he didn't slip anything into it.

"Thanks," I mumble. "What do you want?"

"Wow, you sure know how to start conversation."

"I strive to please," I deadpan. "Now, back to my question."

Matias shrugs. "You seem different than all of the other depressed wolves in that group."

"Okay, I'm quirky and different, we got it."

"Goddess, you are a lot," Matias mumbles, sipping from his coffee cup.

I wasn't paying attention when he ordered, so I reach forward and open the cup, making Matias scowl.

"What the hell are you doing?" he growls, which makes my inner Omega cower but my expression only hardens.

"I wanted to see if you were drinking black coffee." I look in the cup and seeing a light brown, milky color. "Guess not."

Matias furrows his eyebrows. "You were with me when I ordered."

"I wasn't paying attention. So, how did your mate die? I know you were lying when you said he died; something else happened."

"He died. That wasn't a lie." Matias puts the lid back on his coffee and looks away from me, clearly upset.

I drink from mine before clearing my throat. "A lie by omission."

"Not really. I said he died, that's the truth. And asking how he died is prying."

"You asked me to get coffee because I'm intriguing. How about you answer my questions because I'm sitting here with you like you asked me?"

I don't want to be here, to be quite honest. My social battery is drained so I'd rather be asleep after a small crying session in the hostel. So, if I piss him off enough, he'll walk away and then I can.

Sadly, I feel as though Matias has enough tenacity to follow me down the streets and demand my attention. Even if I ignore him, he'd follow me back to the hostel.

I don't know why he's so eager for my attention, but he's an Alpha, so there's not always an answer for their weird ass actions. It's best to piss him off and get him to leave so I can go back to the hostel.

"He was killed," Matias eventually says, sighing deeply. "It was my fault."

Well.

Now I feel like an ass.

"Oh."

That's the only stupid response I can manage to push out.

"Yeah."

We sit in awkward silence for a few minutes, and I can tell Matias is trying to make eye contact with me, but I'm doing a pretty decent job of avoiding him.

"Why aren't you angry that your mate rejected you?"

My eyes flash up to his, and I don't see pity or maliciousness; simply curiosity and wonder over my situation.

"Because he's right," I reply. "I couldn't deliver and give him pups, so he got rid of me and found someone who could. What's an Omega that can't even do what they're meant to do?"

Matias just stares. "My mate couldn't have pups either," he says softly. "He was attacked when we were young, and the attackers made sure he couldn't do what they believed an Omega was meant to do."

His expression is soft, his eyes focused on his shaking hands. "I didn't love him any less."

"He was probably happy," I murmur, thinking about if I were in that situation. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. I'm sorry for yours, even if it was in a very different way," Matias says, a rare smile gracing his face.

My traitorous face heats up; it's been a while since someone has smiled at me like this. It's been a while since someone has been nice to me because they wanted to be.

"Now, where's your accent from?" I ask, making Matias' eyes widen in surprise. "Most people can't hear it, based on your expression, but there's a few words that have a weird edge to them. Like... you didn't grow up speaking English, did you?"

Matias seems shocked that I could figure this out without him saying anything. "You're observant."

"Most Omegas are. Especially the skeptical ones."

"I grew up in Italy." He doesn't seem comfortable thinking about it, but before I can apologize for digging in, he continues. "Cody and I lived there when we got together until I told him we should leave because my family was not healthy to live around. I've been here for six years."

I gape at him. "You left a whole country at nineteen? How did you afford that?!"

"I had a good savings account," Matias replies.

I narrow my eyes. "You're lying again. Well, not completely lying, but you're definitely holding something back."

"A story for another day," Matias says, a small smile curling at the corners of his lips. "Give me your phone."

"Please."

"Give me your phone, please."

I roll my eyes and hand it to him, and when he hands it back, I see his contact is in it. "Wonderful. Now I have someone else to drunk text that won't take me seriously."

"Or you could have a friend," Matias says, and he seems a bit hesitant.

"Do you not have any other friends here?"

"My job is done online... so, no."

My heart lurches a bit. "How long has it been since your mate died?"

"Three years."

"... damn, you got me beat by one year," I joke, and I'm grateful to see it breaks the tension and makes Matias smile. "The hostel allows visitors. We have game nights and movie nights, even though I don't usually go. You could come with me and we could be bored together."

Matias perks up. "You want to spend more time with me?"

"Oh, of course not. But, if the hostel thinks I've made a friend, they'll leave me alone and I won't have to go to those meetings."

It's clearly a joke, because this side of Matias isn't that bad. Well, it's better than the pissy side this morning, but to be fair, I did dump coffee all over him.

It was an accident and he did surprise me, but I could've been a bit nicer. I just usually act that way around Alphas to piss them off; especially the ones with the overly dominant aura who remind me of the dick that rejected me.

"That sounds like something I'd enjoy..." Matias seems to be in a kind of dreamy state, and I think he's just happy that someone is accepting him as a friend. "Do you have a job?"

"No, the hostel lets Omegas stay there as long as they need and I have not been the most stable one they've experienced, so I'm pretty much taken care of. I help out in the kitchen sometimes or change sheets for extra money to go out, but I don't usually go anywhere. I think this is the most time I've spent outside of my room since I was left in the hostel."

Matias raises his eyebrow. "Left in the hostel?"

"Oh, yeah. My mate didn't just reject me, he walked me to the hostel and left me there. Claimed that he cared about me and wanted me taken care of, but he needed someone who could carry his heirs. He's a CEO of a pretty big company so he couldn't have someone as useless as me."

"What a dick."

"Yeah, he's kind of an ass." I finish my coffee and stand up as a cramping sensation fills my lower gut. "This has been fun, but according to my calendar, I'm going to go into preheat today or tomorrow, and my cramps are telling me it's today, so I need to go back to my cave."

Matias' expression changes to a worried one. "Oh! Do you want me to walk you back? Just in case?"

"No, it's fine, if anyone attacks me then I can't get pregnant anyway and I'm a biter, so they'll back off eventually," I joke, but Matias just scowls.

"That's not funny, Everest."

I'm going to pretend it's the incoming preheat that's making his voice come across as hot.

"Fine, walk me back," I grumble, and Matias gets up and walks by my side. "And thank you, y'know, for getting me out. It's been a while."

Matias hums, and the low sound in his throat is definitely appealing.

I disgust myself.

"No problem, Everest. You seem like a good candidate to be my friend."

"Oh thank the goddess, I didn't even need a resume," I comment, smiling up at him as we walk toward the hostel.

I get a lot of looks from other wolves who can smell my preheat and mild discomfort, but humans look the other way because they don't know the difference between an irritated Omega and one in heat.

The hostel looms before me and Matias walks me inside and I show him to my room. I unlock the door and he awkwardly stands in the doorway before I invite him in.

"This is my cave, as I like to call it," I say, hanging up my keys. "I spent the most depressing time of my life here."

"Huh," Matias hums. "It's much cleaner that I anticipated."

I scowl. "Do I seem dirty?"

"No! I just know what depression can do to someone... my apartment is still a wreck."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Matias shrugs. "It's fine, I just need to get myself together. Do you need anything for your heat? I can go get whatever items you need."

"Nah, I'm okay. I'll request some stuff at the front when I see if anyone signed up to help with heat."

"Signed up?"

I nod. "Yeah, Alphas can sign up to help with our heats, so long as they complete a background check and an STD test. Since the hostel is kind of small, the checks are relatively quick."

"... You've had other Alphas help you before?"

"Not the first year, but once I started healing, yeah. The pain was a bit too unbearable."

Matias shifts awkwardly. "I could help."

"Don't feel obligated, we can be friends without sex," I say, because I don't want my only friend to feel like he has to fuck me to be friends.

The Alpha in my room shakes his head. "No, I want to help. If you want me to, that is. I just feel as though any other Alpha is just here for sex."

"What else is a heat for?" I deadpan. "If you want to, go ahead, I won't stop you. I just don't want you to feel like you have to."

"I'm doing it because I want to," Matias says. "Now, I have a background check to preform."

All I can do is sit on my bed while he takes off.