Lyla flung open the door and threw herself inside. The second I stood in front of the door, the dog started barking, putting herself between Lyla and I. A canine that big could rip an Alpha apart.
I stepped back from the door. “Lyla, please. I don’t want to lose you.”
She fervently shook her head. “You can’t lose what you don’t have.”
Fucking hell. She didn’t mean it. She was upset. I wasn’t going to give up. “There’s been a misunderstanding. We need to talk about this before it festers. I don’t hold to the old ways like my family does.”
She remained behind the dog, wiping at her tears. “But you do. Treating an Omega like a princess? Not an equal? And you let your family play matchmaker with you. I have no doubt there will be contracts and that the poor Omega will have zerosay in the matter. A true hero would stand up for her. He would stand up for himself.”
Air left my lungs like I’d been punched in the gut. Fuck.
Lyla rushed forward and slammed the door shut. I didn’t move. I couldn’t look away from the dark wood door. Everything I’d ever known about myself crumbled.
She was right.
Damn me. I was no hero.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - Lyla
I cried on Artemis for a long time. Maybe an hour. Could have been more. Time blurred, and she grew tired of me sniffling and went to patrol the suite.
Grabbing a blanket, I curled up on Mariska’s comfy reading chair. No more tears came. I was hollow. Even that throbbing ache from my heat became background noise.
I’d been ready to tell Ozzi that I was willing to give him and Jason a chance. I pushed away my fear of becoming like my mom and told myself that these two Alphas were different. I’d convinced myself that they were kind and open-minded, but I was wrong.
Ozzi’s family was matching him up with an Omega who he had never met. There was talk of dowries, good breeding, and houses. I’d heard of such things, but I never knew anyone, not even at Omega school, who went through it. But, then again, I was the troublemaker and brat. My few friends were also rebels, and we barely made it to graduation with the mischief we caused.
I’d always been angry for those Omegas who were forced into marriages. No one had ever tried it with me, but we were a sisterhood. We had to stand up for one another.
And Ozzi didn’t. He shrugged off his family’s actions as if they were an everyday occurrence. Even if he didn’t agree with them, he wasn’t doing anything to stop it. Here he was knotting me knowing full well he’d be introduced to an Omega at his parents’ house who could be his future wife.
What the fuck?
That wasn’t respectful. Not to me nor to the other Omega. I didn’t have to put up with that shit.
At some point with all my emotional ranting and raving, exhaustion took over and I fell asleep. I dreamt of myself as a child but I was Cinderella, doing all the housework so my mom could spend time with her mates. Then as me now, living with seven dwarves who had heads like Artemis. Finally, me in the future, old and alone, but still fighting against Alphaholes as Maleficient.
I woke up, nearly falling out of the chair, and took a minute to realize where I was and that it was in the wee hours of the morning. Also, I watched way too many Disney movies with the girls.
Artemis sat beside me and whimpered. I checked her food and refreshed her water without turning on any lights. The moon reflecting off the snow outside made the room bright enough. She showed no interest in the bowls, and then I realized what I forgot.
Crap. “I’m so sorry, Artemis.” I scratched her behind her ears. “Let me borrow some of Mari’s clothes and I’ll take you out.”
I was a bad doggie auntie. I’d made a promise to Mariska, I’d take care of Artemis. Though that meant leaving the suite and going downstairs where Ozzi would likely be waiting. Hopefully Artemis would be enough of a deterrent to keep him away. I wasn’t ready to see him. I never wanted to talk to him again.
Though, I guess, I’d have to tell him and Jason to leave Primrose House. Even if my heat wasn’t finished, I didn’t want them here anymore.
I pulled on a pair of Mariska’s sweatpants which were short for me, but I stuffed my feet into a long pair of woolly socks and they covered my exposed ankles. Then I dug out the Christmas sweater I made for her last year stuffed back in the top of her closet. It made me smile. My grinchy bestie.
Artemis sat by the door waiting for me. “Such a good girl.”
Because I didn’t want her tearing any Alpha’s arm off, I put on her leash and took in a calming breath.Be brave, Lyla.
I cracked open the door and peered into the corridor. The nightlight was on in the center of the hall near the top of the stairs. Everything was clean and quiet. No sign of any Alphas.
I scurried down the hall and then the stairs. Artemis’ nails clicked along the hardwood. Instead of turning toward the front door where I would see into the living room, I turned us in the other direction into the small sitting room and through the dining room, so I could slip into the kitchen to go out back.
There wasn’t a sound. Not a single snoring Alpha or chatter from the TV. Did Ozzi leave? Something in me said he wouldn’t. Neither he nor Jason were the types to give up easily. Yet, if he thought he was trying to show me respect, he might have left.
