I'm not him.
I've never been him or wanted to be like him.
And some days, I think that's the problem.
"Étienne..." Cal starts, his voice soft with an apology that isn't his to give. He's half-risen from the couch, one hand extended like he wants to physically stop me from leaving.
I don't wait to hear it.
I turn and walk out of the living room, down the hall, past my bedroom door with its pathetic little note asking people to knock first. Past the bathroom we'll apparently be sharing with an Omega whose scent is still lingering in my memory like a song I can't forget.
I push through the front door and step out into the evening air.
Behind me, I can hear Cal's groan through the still-open door.
"See what you did? Hurt our goalie's feelings. Coach is gonna kick your ass if he lets those pucks go right through during tomorrow's practice because you annoyed him before a crucial training week."
I don't stay to hear Rafe's reply.
A walk. I need a walk. Need to clear my head before I say or do something I'll regret.
Merde.
The campus is quieter now, the golden hour light casting long shadows across the pathways. The buildings of Valenridge University rise around me like monuments to ambition and privilege, their brick facades glowing warm in the fading sun. Most students are either in the dining halls or their dorms, settling into the routine of another evening.
I shove my hands into the pockets of my hoodie and walk without direction, letting my feet carry me wherever they want to go.
The path winds through a small courtyard with a fountain at its center, the water catching the light like liquid gold. A few students sit on benches nearby, talking in low voices, but they don't pay me any attention.
Good. I don't want attention right now.
I want to understand why that Omega's scent is making me lose my mind.
The thought surfaces unbidden, and I can't push it away.
Mabeline Mae Rose.
I didn't catch her full name until Cal said it in the locker room, but the moment he did, it clicked into place like a puzzle piece I didn't know I was missing. Mae Rose. MaeBell. The girl from their past. The one Rafe and Cal apparently tormented when they were children.
The one who looked at me today like I was part of that nightmare.
Except I wasn't.
But how would she know that?
I kick at a loose pebble on the path, watching it skitter into the grass bordering the walkway.
To her, I'm just another face from sixth grade. Another Laurent. Another potential enemy wearing familiar features.
She doesn't know that I spent most of that year in a different school district, only visiting during holidays when my parents forced Bastien to include me in whatever he was doing. She doesn't know that by the time I transferred to their school in seventh grade, the damage had already been done.
She doesn't know that I'm not my brother.
But why would she? We look alike. Same eyes. Same dark hair. Same last name stitched across the back of hockey jerseys.
Here's the truth that I've never told anyone:
I've never been attracted to an Omega before.
