"I presented as an omega late," I say with a heavy sigh. "Really late. I was twenty-seven."
Perrin's eyebrows lift, and Raff’s juice pauses halfway to his mouth. Even Adam goes still.
"I thought I was a beta my whole life. I grew up beta. Even my labs as a teenager showed my hormones levels in line with a beta." I stare into my coffee. "Then, three years ago, something happened, and my body just..." I search for the word. "Changed. Overnight. I woke up in heat, and I had no idea what was happening to me. I thought I was dying."
Odette's expression doesn't change, but her eyes soften by a fraction.
"After it passed, I started taking everything I could get my hands on. Black market heat suppressants. Scent-neutralizing sprays. Scent patches. Anything to keep my dynamic hidden." I swallow.
“Is that why your heat ended so quickly?” Perrin asks, his voice soft, and genuinely curious.
"Probably." I wrap both hands around the mug, needing something to hold onto. "I’m sure I've destroyed my system. My cycles are unstable. They spike quickly and burn out fast. I've been chemically overriding my body for so long that nothing works the way it's supposed to."
“That’s not smart,” Odette says simply. And while I know she’s right, it's not like I had any other choice.
"Why not see a doctor to get proper meds?" Raff asks.
"Because the second a doctor flags me as a late-transitioned omega, I'd get reported." I look up at him. "They'd put me in an omega processing center. They'd see my age and immediately force me to mate the first alpha that showed interest. I don't have any family to pledge to take care of me, so I'd lose my entire life. Everything." My handstighten around the mug. "I didn't have a choice. It was the meds or a cage."
My bond flares, and I feel Cliff's emotions hit me like a gust of wind.
It’s a dark sensation, filled with territorial fury. It’s like the idea of me being mated to someone else has set something off inside the alpha that he's barely keeping off his face.
I know that alpha-omega bonds form fast. I've read about it, studied it, prepared for the possibility the way you prepare for a disease you hope you'll never catch. But knowing it and feeling it are two very different things.
And this alpha met me yesterday.
He doesn't know my middle name or where I grew up or how I take my coffee. And right now he's sitting beside me, radiating a fury so fierce it's making the fine hairs on my arms stand up, all because I mentioned the possibility of belonging to someone else.
It should terrify me. And it does, a little.
But mostly, it makes me feel less alone.
"It must have been really scary to hide like that for so long," Perrin says softly, his brow creased with a gentleness that catches me off guard.
Cliff's thumb strokes across my knuckles. Raff's fists are curled, but his eyes are soft. It’s like he’s angryfor me…I think.
Adam takes a sip of his coffee, but his expression stays completely blank. I can only assume his hatred for me is growing by the second.
And I get it. I do.
I showed up out of nowhere and tore through his pack like a wrecking ball.
I put my hands on his mates without permission.
Then hispack alpha mated me without his consent or a conversation or even a proper introduction.
Whatever trust exists in this pack, I smashed it in an afternoon.
Adam has every right to hate me, but that doesn't stop it from hurting.
“Alright.” Odette looks at Cliff. "What's the plan then?"
Cliff straightens in his chair, looking right at Raff. "You and Perrin are going to strip the van."
The alpha nods once.
“Every panel and bolt,” Cliff says firmly as he turns to Perrin. “I want it unrecognizable by tonight.”
