For The Love Of The Omega

TWO

Ryan cries out in alarm and drops my wrist as if he’s just been burned.

“You b***h!” he snarls. I cradle my wrist to my chest, shaking my head.

No, no, no, no, no, this can’t be happening, I think. This is the absolute last thing I want. I hate Ryan with everything I am.

“But…but Marcella,” I say weakly, as if it means anything or could stop this from happening. “This has to be a mistake.”

“It’s not a mistake,” Ryan growls through clenched teeth. The girl backs up a step.

It’s true, of course. Every wolf knows it—the Mate Bond is never a mistake.

Most couples who Bonded were happy about it. For them, it was like finding that missing piece of their soul. It’s a romantic concept, I suppose, not to mention a comforting one. Who wouldn’t want the comfort of knowing they’ll never have to worry about spending a lifetime alone? Yet, I’d still had questions the first time I’d learned about the Mate Bond when Ryan’s mom had sat me and Marcella down to give us “the talk”. Namely, I wanted to know—did either Mate have a choice in the matter? And, what if they hated each other?

Now I am finding out. We have no choice, and it doesn’t matter that we hate each other. We are Mates, and Fate—or whatever’s out there—has spoken.

It’s like living in a nightmare.

I stare down at my wrist, momentarily forgetting to breathe. Marcella is the one person in the world who seems to actually care about me, including me in her friend group at school when we were kids and never distancing herself from me in the pack despite presenting as an Alpha herself. The thought of the betrayal she’s about to face fills me with a sick dread. I wish more than anything else that I could undo it.

I start opening our channel, only for Ryan to snatch up my wrist again. A wave of anger flows into me through our Bond. My knees buckle under the weight of the dizzying emotion, and I want to throw up.

“Don’t,” Ryan barks at me. I flinch away from him. “Don’t say a word to your sister.”

“Why?” I gasp.

Ryan doesn’t answer. Instead, he shoves the girl aside and yanks me through the door. I glance back in time to see her hastily blinking away the tears that are gathering in her eyes. My stomach churns again. She doesn’t deserve this. Neither of us do.

I almost trip down the stairs as Ryan drags me behind him to the living room. Marcella brightens when she catches sight of me and begins lifting her hand to wave me over. Her smile twists into a frown when she sees Ryan’s hand clamped around my wrist. I open the channel. It doesn’t matter what Ryan wants at this point—I have to protect my sister.

Marcella—

Her head tilts incrementally. My eyes widen, pleading. She has to feel the desperation coming through. It’s impossible for her not to. And yet she stays where she is, looking in confusion from me to Ryan and back. Dread coils in the pit of my stomach.

What’s going on, Ari? Marcella’s inner voice wavers. I close my eyes in shame.

Go. Leave now. Trust me. I—

“Puget Sound Pack,” Ryan’s voice booms out. A Beta shuts the music off. All eyes turn to Ryan.

All, that is, except for Marcella’s. Her eyes are still on me. Despite my desperate pleas for her to leave, to not have to see this, she stays where she is.

“Tonight, a Mate Bond has been formed,” Ryan continues. I stare at the floor, unable to face my own sister’s public betrayal. “It has not been sealed, nor will it be. Arianna Creedence.”

Ryan drops my wrist and turns to me. I look up at him, forcing myself to meet his eyes.

“Ryan Rockwell,” I hear myself say.

“I hereby reject you as my Mate.”

Gasps from the crowd, and among them, a choked sob. No words, only Marcella’s crushing, overwhelming sorrow through the link. I clutch my chest and double over. Ryan smirks. He must think it’s about him, that I’m mourning his rejection and what could have been, but I’m not. I don’t want to be Ryan’s mate. I just want my sister back.

I open my mouth to accept Ryan’s rejection, but a hand roughly yanks me back. Between Ryan strolling away with one of his cronies and the whispering around me, I already know that the pack is too scandalized to care about Dad’s angry red face in mine. He jabs a finger in my chest.

“What the hell did I just watch?!” Dad growls. “Do you realize what you’ve done?!”

“I didn’t do anything,” I snap. “He initiated the Forging! He rejected me!”

And now he’s free to be with Marcella, but I know he won’t be. The thought flashes through my mind, but I clamp my mouth shut before I can voice it.

“You’ve just humiliated your sister in front of the entire pack! You’ve humiliated me!”

Your poor, poor pride. “I tried to warn her—”

“It shows,” Dad snarls. A betraying whimper escapes me, the wolf coming through. I avert my eyes. “Get in the car. Now.”

“Yes, Dad.”

The crowd parts to let me through. Pausing at the door, I look back over my shoulder. Dad’s nowhere to be seen—he must already be tracking down Ryan or Silas to do a little damage control.

Outside, I break into a jog. The sooner I can shut myself in the car, away from prying eyes, the better. Maybe I can fall asleep, wake up in my room, and put this entire horrible night behind me.

~

When we get home, Dad sends me straight to my room. I gladly oblige, wanting to be alone so I can process the entire night in peace, away from judgement and blame. It all feels so surreal. I have to remind myself that it happened. It all happened—the Mate Bond, the rejection, my family’s reproach. And where does that leave me?

Curled up on the floor, arms wrapped around myself as if I’m about to fall apart. My breaths come in ragged gasps. The weight of the entire night has finally come crashing down on me.

Hours later, I clamber to my feet and shuffle into the kitchen for a glass of water. I feel broken—exhausted, sore all over, sluggish. My mind is groggy, the world around me a blur. Soft footsteps and an equally soft gasp. I don’t have to look up to know it’s Marcella—I can recognize her scent, like rosemary.

But I do look up. The scorn in her eyes breaks me to the core.

~

Marcella hasn’t spoken to me in three days. She leaves the room as soon as I enter, refusing to even be anywhere near me. I try to be understanding, but my nerves are rapidly fraying. She’s not the only one who has been wronged. But she won’t listen, and so I give up trying to talk.

My only respite from pack drama is my job at the local pizza place. The fast pace of juggling customer orders never fails to distract me from werewolf stuff; even during the slower moments, there’s cleaning to keep my mind occupied. I almost wish I could live here. At least my job allows me to pretend I’m normal. At least my coworkers don’t judge me for being the Late Bloomer Omega with a former Rogue for a dad. They don’t know about any of it, so they can’t.

I know they’d judge me if I were to tell them what I am, so I don’t. Having any kind of relationship with a human will always come with its own set of complications; the older wolves in the pack had made that abundantly clear to Marcella and me when we’d started kindergarten. They’d gone so far as to warn all the pups against forging any relationships with humans. Even back then I’d felt alone, so I ignored them.

Jay, one of my coworkers, finishes locking the door and turns to me with a smile.

“Me and the others are heading to that new karaoke place tonight. You wanna come with?”

I perk up with a smile, only to get a whiff of a familiar scent—something strong, sharp, and bitter. I can almost taste it. Just over Jay’s shoulder I catch sight of a familiar silver car. My heart sinks as I see Ryan getting out.

Sighing, I shake my head. “No…I-I actually have some stuff to do tonight…”

It’s a weak excuse, and Jay and I both know it. The others do too.

Ryan knocks on the door. He jerks his head toward the car. Jay looks over at me, eyes questioning, and I shake my head. I couldn’t possibly explain any of it to them.

Jay unlocks the door for me and I step outside. The lock clicks behind me with a jarring sort of finality.