Magnolia’s phone rings and she quickly picks it up to answer.

“Hey there, sweetie,” He could hear the twinkle in Hermosa’s voice and she just knew that his silence moments ago had meant something. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she drops her head and swivels her chair, facing away from the door. Levi seems to have taken that as an invitation. The sound of his footsteps seeming louder to her ears. His scent becoming stronger as well. From the corner of her eye, she watched him sit down on the seat that was positioned right in front of her table. “I hope I didn’t surprise you that much. Levi Arketa would be your first well-known client.”

She sighs, frowning. “If I ask why me, would you give me an answer that won’t make me mad?”

“If you know it will, why are you still asking?” Hermosa laughs and a low rumble echoes through her chest. Rolling her eyes, she tightens her hold on the phone. She was feeling that twitch again like she wanted to throw something. To cause a scene. Hermosa just had a way of making her frustrated. “As you are aware, Levi is a special case. He is a very famous online. His books are spread out in the top five web writing platforms and getting quite an audience. All non-exclusive contracts. Each novel at about 10 million reads. A lot of publishers want him to sign with them, not to mention the TV and Film production companies.”

“And you want me to have him sign exclusively with us, right?”

“You’re really too smart for your own good, sweetie!”

She swivels her chair and faces Levi. She tried her best to ignore the irrelevant hammering of her heart against her chest when she realized he had already been staring at her. She could not tell just how long he was doing it, but probably long enough that she should have noticed. His pheromones were all over the place, awakening something inside of her, her more primal side that wanted nothing more but to pounce on him and make him hers.

Just pheromones. Just instinct. Nothing more, nothing less.

Magnolia thought that her sensitivity when Levi was around was due to the fact that she had just been re-classified. Her wolf had lied dormant and believed she was an Omega. Like other things, waking something up from deep slumber often made one hunger for something that they never had when they were asleep. For her Alpha side, it was the innocent-looking Omega that was looking at her like she had the answers of the universe.

Without bothering to answer, she drops the call and faces the Omega.

He was sitting straight, his foot dangling from the chair. His hands placed perfectly on top of his lap, he was humming to himself, looking at her expectantly. Magnolia finds herself staring at his face again, the mole on his face, how thick and long his lashes were. Everything about his face just screamed Omega. Unconsciously, she finds herself trailing her eyes along the length of his neck. Levi noticed, but he did not comment. Instead, he craned his neck to the side, as if inviting her to make a move.

Magnolia clicked her tongue, annoyed with that.

“Well, it seems that Sir Hermosa is assigning me as your Literary Agent. If you’re uncomfortable-“

“I’m not uncomfortable. I would love to work with you.”

Magnolia ignored the fact that Levi drawled on the word ‘love.’

“Alright, now that’s settled,” She opened one of her table drawers and grabbed the sample contract. When she had been promoted, it was one of the things that she was forced to memorize. Despite not wanting to, she found herself reading and memorizing every paragraph and line like her life depended on it. “The sooner you can, you should pass your manuscript to me. It should include a 1,000-word synopsis, as well as a plot outline that has no more than 2,500 words. If you need help with editing, I’ll be more than happy to assist you with finding an editor.”

Levi nods, then he opens his mouth. His words were tumbling with one another that Magnolia thought it was a miracle she even understands what he was rambling about. “Will there be a deadline? How long does the word count need to be? Is there a certain font, margin, and spacing I should do while making the word document? Do you need a hardcopy or a softcopy? Should I email it as well to you? How many copies will you be needing? Should I give one to you and to Sir Hermosa? What about-“

She lifts her arm up, stopping him from talking. Then she massages her temples, the number of words he had said in the span of a few seconds was already bouncing inside of her head, and she just knew that it would cause a massive headache.

“Just leave your number and your email so that I could send the instructions to you.”

Levi gasps and Magnolia flinches. She almost slapped herself in the face. For someone who claimed they were smart, she really knew how to say the wrong words. She was not at all careful with how she spoke, had she offended him? Was that why he had gasped? And why does she feel the same way as she did when she had sent him to the clinic? Like she wanted to kneel and ask for his forgiveness all over again.

When she opened her eyes and looked up at him, she realized it was much worse than she had imagined. The Omega was blushing furiously, looking down on his lap. He was fiddling his thumbs and biting his lips to stop himself from smiling too widely. For some odd stupid reason, Magnolia feels a rush of blood that seemed to be directed over to the tips of her ears and her cheeks.

Her lips twitch, “It’s not-“

For the first time in a long while, Magnolia Franzen found herself at loss for words. That was so unlike her that she managed to stop the gasp from coming out of her mouth. Her heart was hammering against her chest, making it harder for her to stare and talk to the Omega that was still not looking at her, that was still blushing, that was still assuming that she had asked for his number. She feels her lips twitch, and she knew it was nothing but annoyance. She wanted to throw something again.

Just this time, she was torn whether that something she wanted to throw at him was her stapler or herself.

“It’s not what you think,” She clears her throat. Forcing herself to stay as professional as she could. The thoughts and mental images popping inside of her head were time-consuming and irrelevant. She had made the decision to ignore all of it completely. Now all she had to do was find a solution on how to stop the hammering of her chest, and the incessant sweating of her palms. “I asked for your numbers for business purposes only. It would seem beneficial in this case if we spent less time talking and answering questions, and more on writing the novel and making it better as well as correcting plot holes and other errors.”

Levi did not look up, there was still that all-knowing grin on his lips, “Sure.”

Magnolia chose to ignore how annoyed she was that he seemed way very happy that he had caught her off guard. She also chose to ignore the other thoughts that were running through her head. She really needed to read more on Omegas and Alphas. These impure thoughts and actions that came from the pheromones and her instincts were just way too much. She could already tell that it would ruin the career that she was trying her hardest not to fail at, despite wanting no more than to return to her boring secretary job.

“Here,” Levi hands her a piece of card. His calling card. And Magnolia felt her jaws clench. Even his calling card screamed Omega. It was scented, made from colored paper, and the font was in the script. His name ‘Levi Arketa’ was printed in the top right corner, just below it was the title ‘Novelist.’ Positioned at the center was his cellphone number, phone number, fax number, and then his email address. A small flicker of joy passes through her head when she reached his email. His email address was theoneandonlyleviathan@pmail.com. “Everything that you need is right over there.”

Magnolia all but grabs the card, careful not to let her skin touch his fingers.

“Thanks. In the sense of professionalism, questions regarding the novel will only be entertained during the morning. I am available from 9 in the morning, until 4 in the afternoon. It would be beneficial to both of us if you remember the times where I will be available since that is the only time that I can entertain your questions.”

She was rambling, she knew.

“Alright, does that mean you will be entertaining ‘other questions’ during the night?”

Magnolia felt blood rush to her cheeks again, but for the sake of her hammering heart, she chose not to answer. Which probably was the right thing to do, since she could see Levi’s eyes stuck on her cheek. Another mouth-watering grin on his face.