Page 43

As a beta, there’s actually a good chance that if an alpha challenged him, that absolutely would be true.

So, this is my first time walking through town.

In the middle of the night. Accompanied only by another omega who, despite her harsh glares, certainly will not be able to protect either of us if we happen to come across a malicious alpha.

I wish I could say the town is charming, but the fact of us being alone, coupled with the blizzard around us and the eerie way the streetlights hardly cast any light on the road, it’s really not.

Maybe during the day. Maybe during the rare, slightly warm afternoon here.

Staying as quiet as possible, I follow Aurora down one alleyway then another, trusting she knows where she’s going. Wondering if she came and did this by herself before. To suppress her heat.

Then it occurs to me that this likely is not a one-time thing. Surely, it must wear off. Or will there be a way for me to reverse it, if I ever do want to have a child?

After that thought, it occurs to me that I don’t know that much about it at all. Is it possible for me to get pregnant outside of a heat? If this operation goes wrong, is there a chance that it will sterilize me?

I really should have asked more questions.

I should have thought about it more.

But my heat is so close that it was now or never for the operation. As we turn down yet another street, I take a deep breath, try to steady my hands, and walk a little closer to Aurora.

That means I bump into her when she stops suddenly, and she sends a mighty glare in my direction, lifting her hand and knocking four times on a blood-red door in the alleyway. For some reason, the color of the door sends a shiver down my back. It shouldn’t. It’s just paint—it doesn’t mean anything.

Still, I can’t seem to relax my shoulders as Aurora lowers her hand and we stand together in the alleyway, braving the snow and shivering against the frigid wind. It whips and whistles through the rest of the town, and although the weather wasn’t great for walking, at least it means there’s nobody out here to see what we’re doing.

We wait long enough for someone to answer the door that I start to wonder if we should just leave, but finally it opens a crack, and a single eye stares out at us.

“Borealis?” the voice from the crack asks.

Aurora leans down, tipping her head so the hood nearly completely covers her face. “It’s me.”

“Did you bring the money?”

The princess falters for a second. “Of course I did.”

At that, the door wrenches open, and the person on the other side reaches out, grabbing us and hauling us through the doorway. I’m instantly hit with the smell of blood—fresh and old, layered like a fragrance through the space. It rushes into my nose and turns my stomach, and I try to cover my face with my cloak inconspicuously.

I try not to let the fact that it smells like blood in here bother me—doesn’t that make sense? Wouldn’t a doctor’s office smell like blood, too?

It’s what I have to assume. I wouldn’t know. I’ve only seen a doctor once in my life, when I was very sick, and they came out to the farmhouse to test me and prescribe Theraflu.

We’re standing in a small, dim room with a single low-hanging, flickering light bulb. The room stretches down into a hallway. I think I can faintly make out the sound of someone crying, the noise soft. Almost like it could just be the creaking of the floors, but it’s more haunted than that.

I’m just making things up, I decide. I’m seeing this place through negative eyes because my fear is coloring it. Aurora came here, too. Everything should be fine.

“Money.” The beta demands, sticking out his gloved hand for Aurora to, apparently, deposit the cash she brought.

She holds it close to her chest, leaning back and trying to look down the hallway. Not for the first time tonight, I creep in closer to her, as though her bravado alone is going to be enough to protect the two of us.

“Where is the doctor?” she asks, after apparently not seeing whatever she was looking for. Turning her attention back to the man, she says, “I’ll give you the money after I talk to her.”

“Not her,” the beta says, grinning. “Him. You’re looking at him.”

Aurora’s brow furrows. My stomach tightens at the thought of that—this man poking around inside me. No, I don’t like the idea at all.

“What happened to Dr. Trinity?” Aurora asks, her voice lowering to a hush. Something flickers across the man’s face, something that says he most certainly knows what happened to the other doctor, but he won’t be telling us.

I can sense the trepidation coming off Aurora. It doesn’t make me feel great about the operation.