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But I know immediately it’s not Noah standing at the door. It’s someone different—most likely Gran with another cup of tea that she’ll insist on watching me drink.
I press my eyes tight and try to appear asleep, struggling to keep my breathing even as the shuffling sound of light footsteps moves toward me.
“Faker,” laughs a throaty feminine voice.
Not Gran.
My eyes pop open. Stella’s standing over me, her hair pulled back tight from her face causing her features to appear even more pointed than usual. She’s dressed for the hot day in a pair of frayed jean shorts and a black tank top that fits tightly over her slightly rounded, pregnant belly.
I sigh loudly before flopping on my back. “I thought you were Gran.”
“Nah, but she caught me in the kitchen stocking up on food and told me to come check on you,” she quips, kneeling beside me, her green eyes dancing over my face.
“I’m surprised she didn’t force you to bring me a cup of tea.”
She barks out a loud laugh. “She tried! But I told her that I wasn’t going within three feet of another cup of stinky tea for as long as I live.” She pauses to flash a wide smile. “I’m mated now, and neither she nor my mother can make me do anything I don’t want to.”
I can’t suppress my smile. A few months ago, Stella ended up calling to one of the new alphas—a good one, though. Memories of my encounter with Cass flash through my mind, and my smile fades.
No, Nick’s nothing like him. I don’t know him very well, but he loves Stella despite the fact that she’s not precisely an easy omega—actually, he seems to love her because of that.
“Do mated omegas not wear proper dresses, then?” I ask—the screaming matches she and Isolde used to have about clothes are legend in Sage House. “If your mother sees you in shorts, she’ll have you released.”
“I’d like to see her try.” She shakes her head ruefully and nudges my arm until I scoot over, my body pressed against the wall. She slides into the narrow bed next to me and stretches her leg up until her bare foot hits the top bunk. “Nick says he likes to see my legs.”
I chortle, snuggling closer to her. We spend a few moments in comfortable silence, staring at the bottom of the top bunk and thinking our own thoughts before she speaks again.
“I heard you took a tumble today.” I glance over to see her staring at me, her eyes laced with worry.
I smile halfheartedly. “Two, actually.”
“I guess not everyone can be as graceful as me.” She smiles before her eyes grow serious again. “What happened?”
“I fell when I was walking home on the path and then in the entryway earlier,” I say the words matter-of-factly, not wanting to mention any of the alphas that were involved.
She turns completely on her side and rests her hand under her cheek, studying me.
“That’s all you’re going to tell me?”
“Yes.”
She rolls her eyes. “Well, you look like shit—sick, actually.” She rests her hand on my forehead. “And you’re hot! Is this some sort of beta-heat thing? Is that why you fell?”
I shake my head. “No.”
She’s not done, though, and pokes me in the arm sharply. “You sure you don’t have a beta beau you want to tell me about? That Oli, who picks the weeds in the garden?”
“No.” I scrunch my nose before breathing out a laugh. “You know I don’t, Stella.”
Her eyes darken, and every ounce of good humor fades from her demeanor.
I know she wants to say something about my “crush” on Noah. Earlier this year, it was the source of one of our biggest fights. It was about the same time she mated with Nick, and I didn’t cover for her when she snuck out of Sage House to be with him.
When I told her that I just couldn’t lie to Noah, she went off on me. I’m pathetic for mooning over someone who will never want me, she’d said. That I’m wasting my life away.
She eventually apologized, but I haven’t forgotten. Not because what she said wasn’t true, but because she acknowledged my feelings for him at all. Hearing it from her mouth, it did sound pathetic and impossible.
I didn’t like the way that made me feel.
