<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ff99">Val beamed at him.  "Great!"  He rose from the concrete barrier, brushing dust off his pants.  "Is a burger okay with you?"  Looking at the omega, Val was fairly certain that <i>any</i> food would be welcome, but his dad and pops had raised him to be polite.  "I think you'll like Ty, and the other omegas in my building... good group of people.  Nadine on the first floor is a sculptor... there's a pair of painters on the second, too.  They might ask you to sit for them, if you're willing... Daisy's always looking for new models, but she's polite enough to ask first, at least."<br/>
<br/>
He was trying to stay casual, but he was flooded with an odd mix of relief and excitement.  Relief in that this was a situation he could help -- he knew <i>how</i> to help an omega, thanks to a very proactive Pops and being surrounded by them.  There was relief too that he'd be able to nail Alex for something, because the slimy bastard deserved it.  This wasn't the first regulation Val had caught him breaking, but it was the first one serious enough to have real consequences.<br/>
<br/>
The excitement was split too.  There was the excitement of a hunt, the investigation to come that would result in -- he hoped -- Alex's arrest and punishment.  But a small part of him that he wasn't proud of was excited to spend time with such a beautiful omega.  It didn't bother Val that the omega was a Shaxi, or that he was a prostitute -- neither of those things registered as more than identifying characteristics.  But <i>beautiful</i> did, and Val was man enough -- and alpha enough -- to admit, at least to himself, that he was a little thrilled by that.</span></span>