10
Felix
The worst of the shaking and crying ended a few minutes after they began. Elijah asked me to sit down while he prepared me a warm drink, so I curled up on the couch with River. I wasn’t sure if he was even allowed there or not, but he seemed to know I would appreciate a furry body to pet, so I let him stay.
Elijah returned with a steaming mug of hot chocolate dotted with marshmallows. I opened my mouth to offer him help, then remembered the last time I’d intervened to his annoyance, and sat back.
Elijah touched the coffee table surface, pulled it closer to me, then carefully put the mug down. “There we go. I see River’s made himself comfortable.”
“He’s soft,” I murmured. “Please don’t make him go away.”
“I won’t.” Elijah smiled. “He’s allowed on the couch when you’re having a bad day.”
He sat on the other side, putting a strong arm around my shoulders. His natural scent surrounded me, musky and comforting, and I allowed myself to lean against his chest.
“Now,” he said, “did you want to continue?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m all cried out, anyway.”
“Good. Now what’s all this crap about you being useless?”
My stomach sank, but at least I didn’t have the intense emotional energy to burst into tears again.
“It’s just how I feel,” I mumbled. “Alphas impregnate, omegas get impregnated. That’s how it’s always been. Without that, I’m just . . . nothing.”
Elijah’s arm tightened around me, his bicep flexing powerfully. “Never say that, Felix. You’re not your biology. You’re a fully realized person.”
“I don’t feel like one,” I admitted.
“So, is that why your ex-mate kicked you out?” Elijah asked, spitting pure venom when he saidex-mate.“Because you couldn’t bear children?”
I flinched. “Yeah.”
“Hm. If I ever meet that asshole, I’ll give him a piece of my mind,” Elijah growled.
I felt a hint of guilt when I imagined Elijah chewing out Larry, but pushed it aside since it was never going to happen anyway.
“It’s not really his fault,” I said. “The whole arrangement was for kids, so . . .”
“What? What arrangement?”
With a grimace, I realized I hadn’t told Elijah about that part yet.
“Um. It was kind of an arranged mating,” I mumbled.
Elijah’s voice was deadpan. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
“Those still happen?” Elijah asked, bewildered. “I thought they were just a thing in history, or in movies . . .”
I rubbed my arm, feeling self-conscious. “It wasn’t a very formal thing like it is in the media. My parents were always poor, and when they found out their son was an omega, they thought their best chance at giving me a good life was to arrange a mating with a well-off alpha. That way, I’d give him a child and I would never have to worry about money.”
Elijah frowned suspiciously. “That sounds like a one-sided deal. What was he supposed to get out of it?”
Even though Elijah couldn’t see my face, I lowered my gaze out of habit, feeling ashamed about what I was going to tell him.
“I was offered to him as a good house omega,” I explained. “The kind of omega who does what he’s told. Who doesn’t cause trouble. Who sits in the home and cooks and cleans, doesn’t talk back. That sort of thing.”
