Al lifts his hands. “Yeah, I know. English is fucking hard.”
“You promised, once no more hospital, Al tell me or I the truth about Ray. What he do to Red?” They all danced around my question when I first asked and Cal-ee refused to tell me the other times he visited. I know Ri-ckon explains things to me slowly so I can understand, but not even he wanted to talk about it.
All I know is that Cal-ee put Ray in prison because he did something wrong to my ohm-ga. And somehow that’s why the slimy man told other alphas to attack me. I plan to find out.
I throw my sleeping clothes into my alcove in the wall and stand in front of Al. Interestingly, I sense a small amount of challenge from him, but I understand it better now. Alphas like Al and me can never suppress it entirely. I think we’re born this way.
“Talk,” I say, leaning on the wall opposite his bed.
Al sighs and rubs his shiny scalp. “Look, I think your pack are trying to protect you here—”
“No,” I interrupt. “They can’t talk because it hurt my ohm-ga.”
He wobbles his head like it’s not held on properly. “That too.”
“Zack—me—must learn to not be a dog. More thoughts is good.” And it’s true. Thinking used to make my head hurt, butnow I have ways of connecting thoughts. I no longer need to beat my head against a wall because of the internal pressure.
Al snorts. “You really are one of a kind. Okay. Let’s see if you can follow.” He crosses his legs and leans on his knees. “You know how your omega has a special scent?” The alpha taps his nose. “Well, during heats, omegas produce more of that scent. It’s thicker and stronger, and comes from channels near the collarbone.” His hand moves to the long protrusion in his skin below his throat.
I nod. Mine’s scent is strongest there, which is why I bonded her close to the source.
“Well, some people get needles—those are the sharp bits of metal that the nurses put in your arm in the hospital—and stick them into the channels when an omega goes into heat, and they sell that scent to other people.”
I growl and touch my fingers to the spot in my elbow where the drip needle came out of. Red had rows and rows of tiny dots like these on her chest. “Needles leave scars?”
“Yes, when used often.”
I walk toward the door, the growing irritation in my veins forcing me into movement. “Why? Why people sell scent?”
Al sighs. “Because it’s valuable. It makes money.”
“Why?”
“It’s like a drug, or medicine.” He groans and rubs his chin. “The haze makes people feel good and helps them have great sex.”
I stop walking to stare at him. Faint connections lock into place in my mind. “So, Ray stuck needles in my ohm-ga to get scent?”
He nods, but the look on his face tells me that’s not all. I didn’t like the needles the nurses put into me, especially the one in my elbow that I kept ripping out until Cal-ee told me to leave it alone, but surely the nurses didn’t break the law.
What am I missing?
“There’s two more parts to it,” Ray says. “First, some omegas ask for the needles and sell their own haze scent. Your omega said no, but Ray and his people took it anyway. That’s breaking the law.”
I curl my hands into fists. “Red say no?”
“Correct. Omegas should always have a choice. But the second part is worse.”
I stiffen, feeling in my alpha heart that a terrible understanding is on its way.
Ray sighs. “An omega produces the most haze when they orgasm . . . I’m talking about when they have sex.”
I nod. My pack smells best when quivering and leaking in our bed.
“The alpha you’re talking about wanted to get the most possible scent out of your omega. He did something horrible and illegal, which we call rape. He had sex with her to make more haze.” Al watches me closely, his face tight. “Even though she said no.”
An icy spasm runs through me, shocking a twitch from my hands. “He asked, and ohm-ga said no, but he still . . .” My brain pools like runny eggs. “He still put his cock inside her?”
Al’s upper lip curls. “That’s correct.”
