Shattering.
My whole body jerks with a violent tremor so strong my spine bows like the letter C.
A sound rips from me. Something tight snaps inside me, and pleasure floods through my whole body, and then something else fires off inside me.
And…
I feel my own mating teeth push their way out of my gums.
I let out a cry of shock that twists into a sound I’ve never made before.
I realize what it is. I just let out my first AO sound ever.
It’s a request for permission to mark back.
Alex, whose teeth are still buried in my gland, lets out a sharp gasp and answers with a high, uneven noise, positive but shaky, urging me to return the mark.
I can’t believe this is happening. We’re teenagers. Our teeth should still be hidden deep in our gums.
But I do it anyway. I lower my head, bring my chin toward my chest, pull down the edge of Alex’s T-shirt, and sink my teeth into his gland.
Now we’re locked in a bite lock, each of us buried in the other at the same time, my head spinning like I’m on a carousel. Nothing else exists…
My arms wrap around Alex for the first time without a trace of fear, a rush of endorphins and ecstasy and disbelief taking over everything, breaking the last bits of fear and resistance and uncertainty… I pull my teeth back.
Alex lifts his head too. I can barely see straight. It’s like I’m drunk, everything swimming in a red pink haze, and I want just one thing. For the first time in my life, I want the simple pleasures a body can offer.
"I want to be close to you, really close, Alex, if you’re willing," I whisper, my throat tightening with emotion, longing, hope… hope that the future will be good.
Alex smiles wide, a smear of blood still on his lip, and raises his hands to cradle my face.
"I want the same thing…"
ALEX
Starting from the end of my sophomore year, a wonderful period begins in my life, because Bay and I are finally together. Something in him has changed so much since the day we marked each other on our glands, as if the whole world flipped upside down, like someone touched him with a magic wand and something inside him rebuilt itself. He opens up to me even more while our feelings bloom like spring flowers.
We’re practically inseparable, always walking hand in hand, spending every possible minute together, and we’re so unbelievably happy that the entire past just melts away and disappears.
The newspapers report the death of the three Hansons, their car falling off a cliff, but we don’t talk about it much. I only say they got what karma owed them, and Bay agrees.
This year Bay and I are already enrolled in a different high school, Franklin High, so we say goodbye to the one that was the stage of our first meeting but also brought us so much tragedy. We leave it without regret, even though the principal still can’t get over losing Bay.
We’re supposed to spend part of the summer again at Bay’s uncle Van’s house and also at his other uncle Timothy’s. Themen have a tradition of sending their kids to visit relatives to build family bonds.
At the beginning of summer, though, they always spend some time together, and of course I’m invited every day, and the Nolans’ favorite tradition is their music sessions on the patio.
Everyone plays an instrument except for me and Storm. I help at the grill, flipping steaks while I listen to the others play and have fun, and I don’t mind, because at least I have a challenge here too: chess matches with Winter, Bay’s older brother. And this guy is unbelievably ambitious. He just finished his degree and is supposed to start a full-time job in two weeks at a company called DevApp, belonging to the Lowens family, which does software development. Winter’s drive and stubbornness make him a good opponent, so while he’s home, I make the most of it. He’s the only one who actually makes me work for my win. Sometimes we talk during our games, and I think he believes it’ll distract me. He mentions once that the company’s boss, a man named Jacob Lowen from the famous billionaire family, has obvious hots for him, though he hides it well and keeps himself in check, but Winter says he feels it loud and clear. He adds that Jacob Lowen is the rarest omega type, called a gamma, a true anomaly among omegas because he’s an actual hermaphrodite. Two of his kids were actually sired by him and birthed by his husband, who’s also an omega. We talk about it for a moment because everyone considers it a wild phenomenon and a real curiosity.
I love these evenings on the patio, and I love this family. They accept me and like me as if I were one of them. I have a great relationship with Bay’s dad, who is almost like a friend to me or an uncle, rather than just my boyfriend’s parent.
That evening Bay and I walk through the garden, talking about what waits for us at the new school. Supposedly they havea great music band, and a few people who used to be in it even made small music careers.
At one point I say, "I feel like you’re going to have a huge fan club there, and then you’ll forget about me," and I pout a little, tilting my head in a teasing way.
Bay’s expression turns serious. He pulls me closer and says, "Never. No one will ever replace you, Alex," running his fingers through my hair. We kiss, and it quickly turn into something much wilder and more intense. I grab his hand and pull him toward a cluster of bushes on the left side of his parents’ property.
Bay laughs but runs after me, and I try to slip deeper between the green clumps so we can have a little more privacy.
