“Oh come on, Opal, it was just a joke,” she responded. “Besides, you’re an omega now. You gotta get used to the terminology.”
It’slike a mountain of bricks comes tumbling down between us. A foundation I thought was strong since puberty, crashing down because of jealousy or hatred, or both.
I feel all the fight leave me. “You don’t like that I’m an omega,” I point out.
Cindy’s eyebrows raise. “I don’t care that you’re an omega.”
“That’s not true.” The memories are flooding in now, all the different ways she treated me after I presented differently from her. How our relationship changed faster than my anatomy did. “I’ve been trying to figure out why there was a disconnect between us and how long it’s been since we last understood each other, but it’s clear to me now. Everything changed after I presented.”
She crosses her arms, uncomfortable. “I’m not prejudiced.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her, too exhausted to fight with her. “You put me in a dangerous situation tonight. Not just because of my designation, but because of my condition. One that youknewabout and didn’t take any consideration for. I could have been seriously hurt. And it would have been all your fault.”
She flinches like she hadn’t thought of that. “Opal?—”
“No.” I cut her off, my palms spread towards her like it’ll physically keep her excuses away from me. “It doesn’t matter why, or how, or if you meant for that to happen or not. None of it matters. What matters is that I have to take care of myself. Which means I can’t be around you anymore.”
The second the words are out, relief floods every part of my body. Despite the way the stress has messed with my hormones tonight, despite the grief of letting go of this friendship, I feel relieved that it’s finally over.
Cindy stares at me, mouth open and eyes glazed with shock, but I don’t have the energy to care. “Don’t contact me. Take care of yourself.”
I turn around, ready to head out. I catch eyes with Sam, and his smile is small but full of pride. The sentiment sends something joyous throughout my whole body, because my prime is proud of me, and that makes every word I said worth it.
We get home,and there’s a new kind of tension sitting amongst us. The unspoken words are almost too much to bear as we all sit down in the living room. We all feel the exhaustion, smell it on our scents as they dull out into nothing, but we know there’s one more conversation to be had.
So, I sit up and straighten my spine as I profess, “I’m your scent match.”
“Yes,” Kit says, his face full of admiration. “We know.”
My eyes fill with tears as I look expectantly at the two alphas to our left.
Sam sits forward and takes my hands in his. “I’ve never been more honored to have another scent match.”
The dam seems to break as a few tears escape. “Really?”
“Yes,” he says. “I’m sorry about earlier. I’m sorry that I couldn’t control myself long enough to tell you how I felt.”
I shake my head before he finishes talking. “No, please. I’m sorry I freaked out. I’ve been waiting to tell you for so long, and when it finally came out, all of my fears spilled out with it.”
Thatcher leans forward, his usually grouchy expression turning soft and light. “How long have you known, Curly?”
A slight hiccup escapes as I think about that, wishing I could keep it to myself. But I’m not avoiding this anymore, so I have to get everything out on the table.
“I’ve known for a long time,” I confess, looking at Sam. “Last year, when we were helping Stacia move… I met you, and I knew then.”
“I remember that day, it was like a week after I met Kit.” His brow furrows. “You left suddenly because you had an emergency.”
“Yes. The emergency was really just me being frightened at what I discovered, but then it turned into a real emergency because I…”
Kit squeezes my hand, trying to ground me. “You went into heat, didn’t you?” he asks.
Thatcher scoots further to the edge of the couch. “Into heat?”
I open my eyes to look at my burly alpha, his brown irisesfull of concern. “I have a rare condition that causes me to go into heat. Without being bonded.”
“Oh. You have HHOS?”
I chuckle at that. “You know what that is?”
