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Sighing heavily, she grabbed one of my hands. “Hazel, the truth is, Crew told us to take it easy with you. We don’t want to stress you out.”
I jerked away from her. They’d all been talking about me? Saying what, exactly?
Probably something along the lines of, poor little clueless Hazel.
I jumped off the bed, humiliation and frustration burning in my chest. “I spent the last four years being told what to do, how to act, who to be. I’m exhausted, Calla. I just need someone to be straight with me and tell me the freaking truth.”
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Okay, Haze. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
I reluctantly joined her back on my bed, feeling exhausted by my outburst. My chest burned with barely-suppressed fury and heartache.
“You are, in fact, quite wealthy,” she began, drawing in a slow breath. “The company has done really well, and Pops made sure your parents’ shares—your shares—were taken care of.”
“So, I’m not broke?” New possibilities exploded in my brain, a kaleidoscope of colorful dreams.
I wouldn’t have to depend on anyone except myself. Maybe I couldn’t go to college, but I could get myself an apartment or a house, maybe a cat or dog, and spend the rest of my life in peace and quiet. Hopefully somewhere close to Calla.
Her lips tipped up. “No, you’re definitely not broke. But it might be better if you were.”
My head snapped up so fast I felt a couple of vertebrae pop. “What?”
“Hazel, you’re an omega, and while that money may technically belong to you, you can’t do much with it when you don’t have a pack or an alpha.” She nibbled her bottom lip.
My breath caught. “Meaning what?”
“The new laws say omegas can’t own property themselves. Only alphas and betas can.” A guilty, almost pained look, flashed in her eyes. “Hazel, you’re worth a lot of money to the pack that bonds you.”
The room started to spin. “No.”
She flinched and forged on. “The law went into effect last year in half of the country, and it was made federal a few months ago alongside the education act, and a plethora of new pack guidelines.”
“How can they do that?” The absolute unfairness of it made me want to scream.
“A lot of the country supports the platform President Anders ran on. They’re calling it the Pack Reform Acts. Those are just a few of the highlights that were signed into effect, but there’s more.” She glowered. “A lot more.”
Was this what Crew had been alluding to? The reason he’d been so adamant about protecting me?
A whimper slipped from my lips as flames licked up my spine, scorching my skin and leaving me dizzy. Emotions pummeled my mind until I felt the edges crack and something primal slip out.
“Uh, Hazel?” Calla’s eyes were huge as she watched me. “Your scent…” Her fingers wrapped around the duvet, crushing the soft fabric.
My soft fabric.
“Get out,” I snarled, barely holding down the urge to shove her off my bed and away from my things. Her lily and honey scent was thick, saturating the space with a smell that was wrong and downright offensive.
Calla almost reached for me, then scrambled off the bed. “Hazel, I’m going to get help, okay? You’re having a heat spike. It’ll be okay.” She turned and ran from the room, taking the lie with her.
I collapsed into tears, my chest heaving with sobs as sweat beaded on my neck and something trickled between my thighs.
Calla was wrong. This would never be okay.
I would never be okay.
25
Rhett
I stalked back down to the pack suites floor of the hospital, annoyed and determined as Jude’s plea echoed in my brain on a loop.
