The Memphis air was thick with the smell of fried food and desperation, a scent Elvis Presley knew all too well. It clung to his clothes, his family’s small house, his very future. In a world where an omega’s worth was measured by the alpha they could attract, his prospects felt as narrow and worn as the tires on his old truck. An alpha was more than a mate; they were a key—a key to stability, to respect, to a life beyond the grinding poverty that was the only inheritance his family could offer.

Then he met her.

She was an oasis in the dust, a vision that made every cheesy love song on the radio suddenly make sense. She was an alpha, and not just any alpha—unbonded, which was a miracle in itself. She was attractive in a way that was both intimidating and utterly captivating, with a scent like honeysuckle and expensive, clean leather. And she was loaded. He’d seen the car she drove, had heard the quiet confidence in her voice that spoke of a life untouched by the gnawing anxiety of an empty cupboard.

But it was more than that. Her personality was a quiet charm that drew him in, a calm strength that made him want to confess all his hopes and fears. She seemed like a loner, which he understood. It made her interest in him, a seventeen-year-old omega from the wrong side of the tracks with nothing but a guitar and a head full of dreams, feel even more like a divine intervention.

Now, sitting across from her in a restaurant so nice he was afraid to touch the heavy silverware, the reality of the moment was almost too much to process. The soft glow of the candlelight danced over the crisp white tablecloth and the polished surface of her water glass. He’d spent hours getting ready, polishing his shoes until they shone, carefully sculpting his hair, choosing a shirt that hinted at the man he hoped to become. This was his chance. This was the open door. He could feel the weight of his family’s hopes, the sheer, dizzying possibility of a different life, and the frantic, eager beating of his own omega heart, all warring inside him. He looked at her, at the calm, assured way she held herself, and knew he would do anything, be anything, to keep her looking at him like that. The words left him in a low, earnest whisper, laden with all the hope and ambition of a boy who saw his entire future sitting right in front of him.

“I sure do aim to be the finest omega you’ve ever laid eyes on, ma’am.”