“Are you okay?” I ask him, pushing to my feet. “I’ve made this all about me. How are you holding up? You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”
He waves me away. “I’m fine, Onion. I have good days and bad days, like anyone.”
This doesn’t seem like a bad day. Calvin wouldn’t keep something this big from me, would he?
“You’re not getting sick, are you?”
Omegas who meet their scent matches, then lose exposure to them, or have an adverse reaction to long-term heat suppressant use, are at risk of developing Foresaken Omega Syndrome, or FOS. We have a whole unit devoted to it in designation biology class. It’s a devastating illness, but a lot of Omegas can heal from it. Most Omegas are fortunate to often have several scent matches available to aid pheromone treatment.
Scent matching is not a one-and-done type of deal, despite what some fairy tales may suggest. Everyone has multiple scent matches somewhere out there. It’s all about whether you can find them. There are billions of people inthe world. Of course, there isn’t only one person out there for everyone. That would be a statistical improbability.
Scientists have been trying for decades to determine what causes scent matching and whether there is a way to predict or root out its cause, but they’ve come up short. Honestly, it’s not a well-researched field from what I’ve been taught in school. There isn’t much money to be made in the study of scent matches, so the government isn’t funding it.
It’s estimated that most Alphas have three or four matches out there, and Omegas can have up to ten. Which sounds like a lot, but there are billions of people in the world. Running into one is so rare that most don’t wait to pack up.
But Calvin was lucky. He was scent matched to his whole pack—all five of them. It’s one of the reasons, aside from their moderate fame, that the media loved them.
Of course, the downside of finding scent matches is that if you lose them, FOS becomes a major risk.
“I’m not getting sick,” he insists, wrapping his elbow with mine. “I have a little cold. Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Are you sure?” I let him lead me to the kitchen, where Dad is sitting down to breakfast. “You’d tell me, right?”
“You know I don’t keep secrets from you.” He ruffles my hair like I’m still a child. “Now, go eat. You have school.”
“I amnotgoing to school!” I stop dead in my tracks and try to flee back to my room. “I can’t face everyone! Not yet!”
He puts his hands on my shoulders and shoves me into my seat. “If you don’t go, you’ll be showing them all that you’re ashamed of your designation, and you’re not going to do that. Female Omegas are so rare. You’ll be sopopular now. I know this feels like the end of the world, but it’s not. All of the Alphas are going to want to talk to you, all of the unpresented girls are going to want to be you.”
I scowl into my cereal. “No, they’re not. No one wants to be an Omega.”
Dad pushes a glass of orange juice to me. “Then they’re stupid. Being an Omega is a blessing, not a curse.”
“Both of you? Ugh!” I roll my eyes, fully embracing the petulant teenager stereotype. “Seriously. It’s not that great. People think that you’re incapable of complex thought when they find out you’re an Omega.”
My Omega father stares at me with a straight face. “Not capable of complex thought? I’m a mathematician, Ariana.”
“Yeah, but you’re different.”
“It sounds like you have the prejudices against Omegas that you’re trying to claim everyone else has.” Calvin lowers himself beside me with a mug of creamy coffee. “Promise me you’ll give it a real chance, little Onion. Don’t let your fear keep you from living.”
“I’m not,” I insist, taking a bite of my cereal and talking with my mouth full. “I’m not afraid of being an Omega, I just don’twantto be one.”
Dad reaches out and pats my shoulder. “You’ll think otherwise when you find your pack. And when you build your first nest.”
My ears perk up a little bit at that. Building a nest does sound fun. I like to be cozy, and what’s cozier than a pile of blankets and pillows that I can burrow in?
Calvin drains his cup of coffee and places the empty mug on the table. “How about this? Go to school, and when I pick you up, we can go nest shopping.”
“You promise?” Excitement about my designationblooms for the first time. Maybe it won’t be all bad. There’s got to be some good parts of being an Omega. My best friend Marlie presented two months ago and says she loves it.
“I promise.” He leans and kisses my head before nuzzling against my cheek. “You’ll see. Being an Omega is a blessing.”
“You seriously believe that? Even though…”
“Even though I lost them?” Calvin takes my hands in his, pulling me to my feet. “Yes, even though I lost my Alphas, being their Omega for any amount of time was better than never knowing them. You’ll understand one day, when you find the people for you. And I’ll be right by your side, welcoming them to the family. After I make sure they’re good enough for you, that is.”
“You promise?” I repeat.
