“Eugh,” Bitsy says, her nose crinkling. “Imagine the drool.”
“Yes,” Leigh sighs. “The drool. That’s the only lesson of mine you’re going to remember, isn’t it?”
“Hey, I’ve made like three soufflés since you taught us how to. Not nearly as good as yours, but they didn’t do that weird thing Junie’s do. Raw, burnt and with a huge crater in the middle. Juniper, I adore you, but your soufflés are a disaster.”
“I hope your newest alpha likes to cook, too?” Leigh asks.
“He’s no slouch, but he’s just as happy to eat spicy instant ramen with me.”
Leigh actually smiles at that. “Miss Rose, I thought you would end up with the alphas your father chose for you, and I used to hope they’d be decent enough mates to you, but you’ve ended up with some truly wonderful alphas. I am so very happy for you.”
She’s right. When I first met Leigh and chafed under her outdated concept of an omega’s role in a pack, I had hoped the alphas my father would solicit my mating contracts out to upon my graduation would be kind to me. How naive I’d been back then. My father had no hesitation in signing me away to a monster, and yet I escaped. I escaped Rad and his bite at Yule, and now I’m mated to three of the men I love most in the world.
If only I didn’t still have a sinking fear that all of it could be taken away from me.
* * *
Alyssa poutsabout not being able to throw me a mating party, but we have so much studying to do. So very much. Saints above, I cannot let myself fall this far behind again. Not even if the entire world is on fire.
Which, with the way things are going, it probably will be.
We crash the library as we do for all our midterms and finals cram sessions, the Omega Girl Gang and our mates, loves, and friends surrounding us. We take turns going on coffee runs, quizzing each other and swapping notes and flash cards. Cassian helps me catch up in Intermediate Spellcrafting, testing me until I can cast every single intermediate casting circle in our textbook, while Alyssa and I trade off quizzing each other on the new potion recipes we have to memorize.
When it’s Alyssa and Darika’s turn to hit up Ciel for more coffee, the omega returns with a dozen cupcakes and the cheekiest, most self-satisfied grin.
“Happy mating, girlie!”
Though my newest mate isn’t here to celebrate with me, and we still have so much studying to do before midterms finally start, we all take a few moments away from our work to enjoy Alyssa’s absolutely amazing strawberry cheesecake cupcakes.
“You know, Cass,” Bitsy says thoughtfully. “I used to think you were a complete and total dickhead.”
Cassian cringes and quirks an eyebrow. “Thanks for the candor, Bitsy.”
“I was totally going to hex your dick tiny. But you’ve been a good mate to Junie. And you’ve been good to my bestest Bells. So, I guess what I’m saying is you’re not all that bad. Just don’t stick a knot in my girl Junie’s mouth and we’ll be good.”
“I—” Cassian stammers.
“The drool,” Bitsy says in a stage whisper.
“Bits, can you not mortify all of my mates, please? Ian just about died from humiliation at Yule.”
“Hey, I haven’t mortified Luca yet.”
“If anyone gets to mortify Luca,” Darika grumbles. “It’s me.”
“Hey, Momo,” Luca says with a wicked grin. “How’s the painting class going?”
“The painting class isamazing,” Alyssa cuts in. “You two should join us! I’m sure the teacher would let a few more students join late.”
I shoot Luca a look of warning and shake my head behind Alyssa’s back.
“That’s such a thoughtful idea, Lys,” I say. “Maybe once midterms have passed. Saints, we still havesomuch studying to do.”
“Shit, girlie. Yeah, we do. All right, get your butt over here so I can reteach you six units of Omega Seminar.”
We study through the weekend, and by the time Monday rolls around, I feel prepared for my midterms, if not completely confident.
Headmaster Langford has canceled our Intermediate Casting midterm and bemoans how disrupted our casting instruction has been.
