A flash of anger rips through me, an emotion that has no place for a day like today, so filled with royals and the proper etiquette that’s required. “I don’t want to be more. I wantthis. If you didn’t think this was the right path in life, why send me to finishing school when we didn’t have the means?”
Mom pulls in a deep breath. “One day, when you have children, Emery, you will understand.” She kisses the top of my head and smiles down at me with tears in her eyes. “You can have this, Emery, and you will be a wonderful omega to any alpha. But please don’t lose sight of the art exhibition and everything you can gain from that going well.”
Ah, I see her concern. That being an omega isallI want. Mom thinks—and probably Dad, too—that I want my life to become fully about supporting an alpha or a whole pack of alphas. That all I will be is one who raises their pups and serves them dinner and cleans a house that I turn into the perfect nest.
And yes. I cannot argue that that’s not what I want. To love so unconditionally and be loved in return, to create a tight-knit family so full of warmth and love… it’s everything.
So is art, my first love.
“I’m not going to give up on art.” I look at both of my parents. I have Dad’s blue irises and the round shape of Mom’s innocent eyes. Today my parents look both excited for me, but also so very tired. Worried. “And an omega can have a job outside of the manor.”
“Not a royal omega,” Dad counters. “When you become part of the royal family—anyroyal family—you become theirs to mold however they wish.”
My eyebrows rise. “And as a royal omega, I can affect actual change in the world. I can do good. Combine that with my love for art and I see a lot of possibilities before me.” I pause, considering if I should say the next words.Time to be brave. Today calls for it. “I love you both, and I wish you could both see the vision I have. I wish you could trust me.”
Mom pulls me in for a hug that I return lightly. “We seeyou, and that’s enough. We hope they will, too.”
They.The ever-present, ever-vague “they” that’s haunted my finishing school years. Mom means the royals at large. Alphas and their packs. It’s a world we could have never touched without the Omega Finishing School.
I’ll show my parents it was worth it. I’ll become the best royal omega Ravencroft Hall has ever seen, and then I’ll ace my art exhibition. Everything will fall into place. They’ll see that soon.
I hug Mom tighter and then move to hug Dad, too. “Today will go perfectly, just you watch. I love you both. Thank you both for everything.” I turn to Eloise. “And you, too. Thank you for being my best friend.”
Eloise nearly launches herself into a hug as well. And then Mom and Dad leave again and make their way to Ravencroft Hall for the Selection process. Eloise stays by my side as I finish getting ready, but there’s nothing really more to do but touch up make-up and try to remember everything the Omega Finishing School taught me.
Show wisdom. Be nice.
Be interesting, but not too off-beat.
Curtsey and use correct titles.
And, most importantly, be the perfect omega.
I can do this. I know I can. And I’ll prove it by walking out of Selection today with a whole pack of alphas to call my own.
I hold my chin high as Eloise pulls her car around and we make our way toward Ravencroft Hall.
CHAPTER 2
Ranier
“Couldyou at leasttryto look a bit more put together?” my sister Helena hisses from near the door to our ready-room at Ravencroft Hall. She stands there in a navy-blue dress cut just below the knee, her arms crossed, and her blue eyes narrowed and locked on Bastion as he stumbles into the room.
Bastion’s brown eyes crinkle as he cringes. He scrubs the side of his head, messing his short-cut blond hair, and turns from her. “No need to be so loud, Helena. For fuck’s sake.”
“No?” my sister presses. She gestures wildly at an antique grandfather clock in the corner where our youngest sister, Dorthea, sits reading children’s books on her tablet. “You are all expected out in the hall in thirty minutes and you look like you’ve come straight from a bar.”
Bastion groans at the high-pitched screech in Helena’s exasperated voice. There’s a shadow of facial hair that needs to be shaved to be ready, but honestly, today, I don’t even care. Let Bastion be his full hot mess self for everyone to see.
“Oh, my god,” Helena continues. “Youdidcome straight from a bar, didn’t you?” Then she turns her wrath on me. “Are you even trying anymore? Father is going to cut you off if you don’t pick an omega this year. Or did you forget that part?”
“Not at all,” I reply as evenly as possible so as not to stir her further. How could I forget our parents cornering me like the child I no longer am and demanding our pack doesnotreject an omega this year? How could I dismiss the threat of cutting me off and disowning me? Yet I still can’t find the drive.
I open my mouth to say as much but Helena swipes a hand through the air.
“Don’t, Ranier.” Her eyes are stormy blue pools. “I understand better than anyone the weight they’re putting on you, but Mom and Dad know best. You need to accept whoever the Council assigns you all this year.”
Wyatt, who has been lounging on a chaise this entire time without saying anything, finally snorts. “Why don’t you just take lead in the family, Helena? You’re always ordering us around as it is.”
