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Who was I kidding? This was Calla.
Calla, who was endlessly popular. She made friends everywhere she went. She’d been Homecoming Queen and on the cheerleading squad. She’d had a line of guys waiting to date her.
With her long golden blonde hair that hung to the middle of her back in loose waves, turquoise eyes, and full pink lips that all complemented her almost alabaster skin, Calla Dutton was the epitome of an omega. Graceful, poised, sweet, and soft—the four pillars of an omega.
Leaning back a fraction, I studied my former bestie.
Somehow she’d become even more gorgeous in the four years we’d been apart. Except for her eyes. The sparkle that always seemed to shimmer in their depths was almost muted.
Crew had said things for omegas had gotten worse. Was Calla feeling that? Though I couldn’t imagine her fathers or brothers letting anything harm the Dutton princess.
“Crew mentioned you were in college.” I tried to select my words carefully, like navigating a minefield blindfolded.
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m finishing up a degree in education.”
“Teaching?” That wasn’t too surprising. Calla had always loved kids.
“Yeah,” she answered, her mouth turning down. “Not that it really matters anymore. I’ll have to have my pack’s permission if I want to teach. But even then, they’ll only let me teach omegas.”
“Huh?” I cocked my head.
A spark flared in her blue-green orbs. “That’s the most recent change to education reform. Alphas are worried that omegas lack the authority to educate anyone except other omegas. Even then, we’re only allowed to teach classes specifically designed to help an omega transition into a healthy and productive pack life.”
My brows shot up at the condescension dripping like acid in her tone. “Are you serious?”
She gave a grim shake of her head. “Omegas are losing rights by the hour, Hazel. It’s gotten pretty bad, honestly. I mean, thankfully I have my parents. My dads are the best, but they all had to give written permission for me to attend classes, and one of them has to be on campus whenever I am in case I have a need.” She made air quotes around the last words.
A band looped around my chest, compressing my lungs. “What if you don’t have someone to give permission?”
Calla let out a wholly undignified snort. “Then you’re out of luck. You can apply to be sponsored by a pack or alpha onsite, but the paperwork and loopholes are absurd. The omega has to give up all rights to whatever pack sponsors her.”
My heart dropped. “I guess that means I won’t be going to college.”
Calla winced. “Shit, I’m sorry, Hazel. I didn’t think?—”
I held up a hand. “No, it was stupid. I mean, I spent the last four years in a bubble outside of society. I have a lot of stuff to deal with before I could’ve even considered something like college. Plus, I’m broke. Uncle Henry took all the money.”
“Asshole,” Calla hissed, looking like a pissed off kitten. “Did they arrest him?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I needed to ask Crew about that. And also about Logan.
Actually, there was a lot I needed to ask him about.
“Well, I know for a fact that you aren’t broke, if that helps,” Calla said, surprising the crap out of me.
The look I gave her was nothing short of stunned.
Giggling, a wide smile lit up her face. “I heard Pops telling Mom that your parents left their shares of the company to you. Henry couldn’t liquidate them because they went into a trust until you turned twenty-one, so he never got access.”
“I’m shocked he didn’t come back to try,” I muttered, picking at an invisible piece of lint on the duvet.
She scowled. “No way. Mom and the dads would’ve demanded proof you were okay before they let him get near shares of Upshine.”
“That’s true,” I murmured. My father had helped Kevin Dutton create Upshine Media from the ground floor when they’d been in college together. “I’ll have to figure out how to access it myself so I can start paying for stuff. Like clothes and whatever this massive hospital bill adds up to.”
“Uh, yeah.” Her gaze shifted away quickly, but not before I caught a flash of something that looked a lot like guilt. If that wasn’t enough, her sweet honey scent soured.
There was a sourness in her voice that sent up alarm bells. “What aren’t you telling me?”
