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She laughs softly. “I don’t need them to save me. I have you.”
I turn away before she can see the impact of those words and how deeply it slams into me. Fate. Destiny. Karma. I don’t know, but I don’t think any of us will come out of this whole.
five
Missy
Lukas pulls up in front of my house this time. I see the blankets that are our make-shift curtains shift inside the house. I know someone’s watching, I just don’t know who it is. Either way, I’d hoped to keep my family from knowing exactly what I’m doing.
I put my hand on the car door, only to have it open suddenly. Lukas stands there with his hand outstretched. I hesitate. It’s a simple thing, a hand out of a car, something they do in those romance novels I read. I take his hand and allow him to pull me from the vehicle. He stands there studying me.
“I want to take you out tomorrow. We’re going to make a statement and be seen.” He’s purring the words almost in challenge.
“Sure, lover,” I match his sultry croon with one of my own. “Can’t wait.”
Lukas has done a one-eighty. He’s going to give me whiplash with his sudden sweet and sexy teasing. The flirt isn’t strong with this one, it’s hard-wired into his DNA.
Lukas pushes his sunglasses up his nose and walks around the car. Darion’s jaw is working overtime. He doesn’t even look at me. But Seb turns to watch me. His almost mournful expression takes my breath away.
The car is gone before I can think of something to say. I turn and stomp up the stairs, hating the sound of cracking wood. I always think I’m going to plunge through and shred my ankle and calf. Elise and Muse are standing in the middle of the lounge room that is our multi-purpose bedroom, staring at me with huge, betrayed eyes.
“Who was that?” Elise snaps, putting her hands on her hips. She looks too much like my mother when she starts in on me like this. And she’s only fourteen. That frown hurts me, it’s the frown of an adult woman. There’s a hollowness to her face and a limpness to her hair that only hunger can put there. But it’s the anger in her eyes mixed with a desperate fear that causes my shame to spiral.
I throw the food at them. “Share it.”
“Missy, who were those guys?” Elise asks louder. She throws her long plait over her shoulder and stomps towards me, her hands on her narrow hips. She’s only just starting to get a woman’s curves, and I fear for her in this world we live in. It only strengthens my resolve.
I cast a look at the bedroom and hush her. “They’re my pack.”
Elise gasps. Muse freezes and almost drops the food, she’s a miniature version of Elise and my mother but with sweeter features, and she’s only eight compared to Elise’s fourteen. Their auburn hair is a colour I’ve always envied, and they all have the same exotic, deep green eyes, but on each of them it looks different.
On Muse, it’s cute, promising beauty in the coming years. Elise has tamed and subdued her looks down with her personality. Whereas my mother styles her hair to look like she just rolled out of a romp, and her eyes are slitted with a come hither look that only changes to derision when she lays eyes on her actual family.
“You have a pack?” Muse whispers. She shoves a bite into her mouth as she and Elise follow me out the back.
“You know I need one.” I say with a shrug.
The sun will set soon, but right now, our ratty backyard with its missing fence slats looks like the backyard of a condemned house.
As far as I know about my family’s ancestry, we’re betas. As far back as my ability to research can go, we’re betas. So, this omega part of me has to have come from my mystery father. But they don’t get it. How could they?
I’ve tried, but it can’t be explained. It needs to be lived and something only other alphas and omegas can know. I reach into my pocket and check my pills. I’ve got twenty-three pills left. Unless something terrible happens and stresses me, my heat will hit in less than a month.
I still need to find a way to get through that.
I shake my head as I swallow one of the pills. They should take the edge off the hormones and perfuming for a while.
“Are you going to explain?” Elise says, her face is red, and I startle to see her so close to tears. At fourteen years old, she’s already too wary of the world. She’s starting to understand just how deeply she needs to fear it, and I hate that for her.
“But…they’re so scary.” Muse says. There is something innocent in Muse that I need to protect for as long as I can. Her wide-eyed stares still see unicorns and dragons in fluffy clouds. She still laughs with joy. Her green eyes don’t have the same shadows the rest of us carry.
I sit down on the edge of the porch and start plaiting my hair. “They’re interested in me. It’s a trial period to see if we can work together. I will be their omega, and they will be my alphas.”
Gods, that sentence sends shivers down my spine. Horror, longing, terror, lust.
“But, Missy, they’re scary.” Muse whispers.
“I know, but they’re mine.” I say with confidence and tie off the plait.
