Vinny’s home just so happened to be the one I was willing to work in for free.
That was to say, Iknewwhen omegas were sick.
Even the stubborn ones.
Especially the stubborn ones.
And Violet was as stubborn as they came.
She wasn’t the loud, tell-you-no-to-your-face kind. She was quieter than that. The kind who nodded, smiled, said thank you, and then pushed herself twice as hard just to prove she could.
If I let on that I knew she wasn’t well, she’d burn herself out trying to convince me otherwise. And that was the last thing I wanted right now.
So instead of calling her out, I redirected her.
Told her to get dressed. Said Vinny would be up soon and could use help picking out clothes. Framed it like a task, not a trap. A little nudge that just so happened to lead her straight to Vinny’s room.
Even if I hadn’t known Violet, I still would’ve done it, because I knew what bond rot looked like in omegas.
Fever. Lethargy. Loss of appetite. That sudden, undeniable pull toward a specific alpha.
I’d always seen it in rejections. But neither one of them had rejected the other—not completely.
Still, I knew that once she was surrounded by Vinny’s scent, her body would take what it needed long before her pride could stop it. She’d crawl into bed beside him and pass out. And she’d feel better.
And judging by the fact that she’d been picking his outfit for–I stopped stirring the pancake batter to check my watch.
An hour?
Yeah. She was definitely asleep.
“Where’s Violet?” Skye whined, slicing strawberries like it was manual labor. “If I have to work, she does too.”
“Mi cielo, you’ve eaten more of the berries than you’ve put in the bowl,” I pointed out.
He froze, a strawberry halfway to his mouth… then popped it in anyway.
“Yeah, but if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t even be awake right now.”
“Oh, as soon as the day is started and breakfast is done, you can go take a nap,” I said, snorting softly despite myself. I flicked a bit of batter off my fingers into the bowl. “You’re growing a person, Cariño. You’re allowed to be tired.”
Skye huffed, clearly unconvinced, but he kept slicing instead of arguing. I took that as a win.
“You want me to go find her?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Well, yeah.” Skye popped another berry into his mouth. “She didn’t look good earlier, so she’s either slacking off or sick again.”
I hadn’t considered the possibility she’d gotten too sick to make it back.
Slacking off, sure. Sneaking into Vinny’s bed and pretending she’d only meant to rest for a minute? Absolutely. But too sick to move?
That sat wrong in my chest.
Still, I didn’t think her bond rot was that bad. Not yet. Even if her scent wasn’t as strong as it should be, it was still there. And Skye, Serena, and I could still feel her through the pack bond—her needs, her emotions, that faint pull that said alive, breathing, here.
Bond rot took omegas slowly, but it wasn’t gentle.
When they were too far gone, it erased them. Their scent. Their bond threads. Their pulse.
