“Well, she was a ray of sunshine,” Kit says in my ear. “That’s what you dealt with when you lived here?”
“They’re all like that.” I stare at the open door. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
We enter and make our way through the entry and come upon the living room. The second we cross the threshold, my omega whines in my chest. We could have gone the rest of ourlives without being in this living room again, the very place we cried ourselves to sleep many times because of how uncomfortable and lonely we were.
But when I see Cindy on the couch, those emotions subside until all I can see is the person who betrayed me.
“Opal!” she says happily, standing up to greet me. When she sees my pack behind me, her face lights up in excitement. “Did you work things out?!”
The reaction confuses me, but it also makes my blood boil that much more.
“Cut the crap, Cindy.”
Her face contorts with genuine surprise. “Excuse me?”
“Why are you pretending what you did is normal?” I ask as I take a step toward her. “You asked me to meet up so you could apologize, but instead you set me up on a date?!”
She finally has the gall to look sheepish. “I know.”
“You know?” I heave out a humorless laugh. “That wasfuckedup. And it was the worst time of my life. But I’m pretty sure you knew it would be that way, right? Considering you’re the one who picked the guy. You must have known he was an absolute creep.”
She just stares at me, taking no time to defend herself or the situation. The complete lack of empathy I feel from her is tearing me down inside, but I stand taller.
“Why did you tell him about my condition?” It’s the main thing I want to know. Everything else is so fucked up on its own, but telling some stranger—analphano less—about my rare disorder is borderline dangerous. My scent sparks with fear once more as I remember the words he said to me. It was obvious he was a pervert and only agreed to the date for one reason. “Do you know what he said to me? He told me he ‘hated redheads but would knot any bitch in heat.’”
“He saidwhat?!” Thatcher steps forward, but Sam pullshim back by his shirt. He instantly submits to our prime, becoming quiet in the background once more, but his outburst hit its mark as Cindy flinches, fear flashing in her eyes.
“Tell your dog to stay away,” she snaps, trying to assert some dominance, but it comes out flat as her fear continues to show.
I turn to look at her, showing a flash of teeth as I snarl. “Don’t worry about him. If anything happens to you, it’ll be done byme.”
“Who the hell are you, Opal? Why are you acting like this?”
The laugh I let out is unhinged, but also a little bit sad. “Me? Why are you being like this? Why the hell did you do that?! I could have been hurt!”
“All I’ve ever wanted was to help you with your condition,” Cindy says. “It seems like you just want to hide with your head in the sand, but you can’t do that anymore. You’re a ticking time bomb, and you’re going to be shit out of luck when it finally hits!”
I shake my head in disbelief. “So… what? You thought forcing it to happen by setting me up with creeps would do the job?”
“Creeps? They’re alphas, Opal. Don’t omegas like any alpha in front of them?”
I freeze, her words hitting me like shards of ice. Her expression is as serious as ever, and it makes me realize she sincerely believes what she just said.
“No, Cindy,” I respond, suddenly tired. “We don’t like any alpha in front of us. That’s not how it works.”
It’s like I’m seeing her through new lenses. Her crooked smile, the sordid movement, how her eyes keep jutting to the men behind me with fear. Then a memory hits me.
We were walkingaround the mall, doing what teenagers do with too much time on their hands. As we rounded the corner, Cindy pointed at an older gentleman walking towards us.
“Can you scent him?” she asked me.
Since I could now detect scents, I inhaled the air a few times and caught a touch of toffee. “Yeah, it’s like sweet caramel toffee.”
“Cool,” she replied, but when the man passed us, she pushed me into him, cackling under her breath as my body slammed into his. “Hey, mister. My friend is looking for a knot!”
The gentleman kindly pushed me away and I was mortified. I instantly wrapped my arms around myself, pushing past him to get away.
When Cindy caught up to me, I gritted my teeth. “Why did you say that?!”
