All in the Risk - Part 2 Sneak Peek

*Thank you to the top tier patron who used their monthly prompt for a continuation of the story and wanted to share. The full chapter will be up this weekend.* 

Three weeks had passed since the conference, and Lena privately planned to exit her marriage with the deep and ever growing fear of hurting someone. No matter how she rehearsed breaking the news to Michael, it never resulted in the confidence she needed to be honest with him.
 

Lena spent time in front of the mirror reciting the words she would have to say - I’m unhappy – but she always heard Michael’s push back, his snort of disbelief, and the rant he would inevitably launch into when she worked up the nerve to talk to him. The veins at the side of his forehead would come to the surface, throbbing into a headache that was all her fault. Michael would tell her so, and then he would compare their situation to all of the other tawdry messes he had heard about over the years. He might even blame it all on the fact that she was an omega.

She routinely dwelled on it until the point it was unhealthy, but sneaking around with Kara was thrilling. It felt so good when she and Kara were alone in her office and Kara raised up her skirt to play with her cunt. Having regular sex changed her pheromones, heightened them to a degree she never experienced before, and she took full advantage. She wore provocative clothing to work, four inch heels and tighter blouses that she opened the second Kara was close enough to feel her up. 

Lena had become almost dependent on Kara’s touch, on her compliments and thoughtfulness — on the alpha’s knack for making her feel like the only person in a room. She soaked up all of Kara’s attention and returned it in kind with several gestures – flowers that covered Kara’s work station, expensive chocolates, and catered lunches for the entire office. It might have been wrong to show favoritism, but no one seemed to notice that these lunches all pandered to Kara’s tastes.
 

Kara often spent her lunch hour standing wide-eyed in front of the buffet Lena ordered, and her nights with the same slack jawed look on her face when they were alone and Lena was naked. They never discussed the obvious hindrance to their relationship — Lena’s marriage, or how desperately she wanted to be free of it.

 

When Lena did finally speak of it to someone, it was the last person she would have expected.
 

It was on the first Thursday of the month, when Lena regularly met her mother for lunch. Lena tended to avoid her the rest of the time, but Lillian insisted on this one obligatory opportunity to catch up — and whenever Lena tried to get out of it, her mother made it a point to visit more often. Naturally Lena had learned over the years that it was easier just to put up with the appointment.

 

Lena had just sat down at their usual table in the Rose Room at the Wilshire hotel and removed her sunglasses when her mother’s eyes landed on her and narrowed in curiosity. 

That look was enough to inspire anxiety, and Lena immediately grabbed for her compact mirror in her purse to check her face for smudged lipstick.
 

To her dismay, it wasn’t just her make-up that her mother had been staring at shrewdly. Lena’s dress had shifted ever so slightly, and near to her collarbone was a purple-red mark in the faint shape of Kara’s mouth. 

As Lillian tucked her napkin into her lap, she glared pointedly at Lena and gestured with her glass of wine as she announced, “You’re having an affair.” 

Lena hated that her mother was extraordinarily perceptive — that she jumped to conclusions with just as much skill and precision as a six foot basketball star jumping to sink balls into hoops. 

She steeled herself for a lecture, but Lillian shocked her by breathing out, “Thank Christ.”

For a woman whose only brush with religion involved re-zoning downtown churches to make room for her own ever expanding business empire, Lena was doubly surprised by the way Lillian cast her eyes heavenward.

 

“You’re happy about this?” Lena blurted, and dragged her chair in a little closer to the table with a wary glance over her shoulder at another couple that was sitting nearby. 

“Oh, Lena, I never wanted you to marry that selfish, egotistical prick,” Lillian confided and sipped at her wine as if offended Lena would even consider that her own mother might think this was a scandal. “Are you ready to divorce him?”

That question bothered Lena more than she wanted to admit, because she was ready. She could barely stand sleeping next to Michael after spending a night with Kara, but she held off breaking up their marriage because of guilt and a fear that they would experience an ugly parting of ways. 

Lena must have hesitated for a second too long because her mother scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Treat this like a business deal, Lena, because that’s really what it was from the start. You know how to be aggressive when you need to be, so find a way to end your contract with him on peaceful terms—or drag him through the mud a time or two. I really wouldn’t mind that approach, either.”