Instead of starving, scraping my way through life, surviving on the bare minimum and living on the streets in between shitty little apartments and scummy landlords who didn’t always understand the word ‘no’.
Ava squeezes my hand. “I’m so sorry, Gabrielle,” she says softly. “I don’t know your story, but I hope you know that these doors are always open to you, whatever happens next. We never turn away an omega who needs us.”
I nod, tucking away her words. I won’t forget them.
I won’t make the same mistake again.
We stroll down a hallway, and I glance to my right. There’s some sort of session happening, a group of omegas sitting around and talking animatedly.
“That’s our Bonding class,” Ava says, amusement in her voice. “It’s rather popular.”
“Do all omegas match with alphas when they come here?”
Ava’s buoyant smile fades. “No. Some omegas… they don’t want anything to do with the alpha population. They prefer to stay here. We have longer-term living facilities upstairs, and if and when they’re ready, we support them to adjust to an independent life outside.”
Someone pushes a door open in front of us, a younger omega bouncing through.
“Ava!” she cries, laughing. “I’ve lost them again.”
I glance at Ava, who’s biting her lip to hide her grin. “Oh, no,” she says dramatically. “We’ll have to call Luc to come and find them. Again.”
There’s a bright, happy giggle from behind the omega, and a little boy darts out, running to Ava and wrapping his arms around her leg. He’s closely followed by a little girl with shocking white hair and purple eyes, her hand slipping into the omegas as she watches us warily.
I catch my breath.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a child, let alone two. With betas no longer able to have children, the population relied on omegas to hand their children over into a foster system that no longer exists, thanks to the Creed being abolished.
“You,” Ava scolds good-naturedly, bending down and popping his nose, “are supposed to be good for Molly. Do I need to call your fathers?”
“Noo!” The boy looks shamefaced. “I wanted to see you.”
Ava lifts him up, balancing him on her hip as she turns to face me. “And so you have. Leo, this is Gabrielle. Gabrielle, this little munchkin is Leo, and the other munchkin over there is Emery.”
They both wave at me shyly before Leo turns and presses a kiss to Ava’s cheek.
“Love you, mama.”
I think my ovaries just simultaneously exploded. These kids areadorable.
Briefly, I wonder what it would be like to have a child with my pack. A little pang of longing hits me, but I shove it down. Far, far down. Like down to the seventh circle of hell down.
Down, girl. I am in no way, shape or form ready to have any little Reyne babies running around.
As Leo runs over to the omega, her eyes lift up, catching on mine.
Recognition steals my breath away, her eyes widening. We both blurt out at the same time.
“Gabrielle?”
“Molly?”
My legs weaken as she takes a step forward, her face breaking into a smile. “It is you!”
I let out an oomph as she hits my middle, her arms wrapping around me. There’s a sniffle, and she pulls back, wiping her eyes.
“Where’d you go, Gabby?” she asks me. Her eyes search my face. “I never – you never came. I looked for you.”
The shame curdles my stomach. “I never meant to leave you, Moll. I’m sorry.”
