Without doubt, if I step an inch out of line, I’ll get a similar speech. As if I would. I’m signing up for everything and anything, including the writing course I have been desperate for.
The only shadow on my day is the realization of what the lingering scent on the blanket means. Because it’s not just a scent. It isthescent.
The scent stirs the same obsession in me as Rye’s did—whoever owns it is my scent-perfect Alpha. Realisation, or maybe it’s acceptance, brings a tide of sadness. It’s rare to find a connection this deep. Rarer still when it is not reciprocated by the other person. Given the fact he didn’t leave me any indication he was similarly affected, like a note or way for me to connect with him, it’s an easy assumption, he’srejected the notion of us being compatible already. In my heart of hearts I know—just like with Rye—that even if he hadn’t, there’s no reality where I could entertain our compatibility. Not even for a second. The bond both Alphas represent is beautiful but that doesn’t soften the painful blow of knowing we’ll never explore it.
My phone buzzes, almost like the universe is confirming those two serendipitous events are done.
“Brody,” I answer as quickly as I can. I swallow the tickle in my throat, grabbing some water the nurse left so I don’t start coughing.
“What have you done?” he hisses. There’s no volume to his anger, but it’s still as vicious as I expect it to be. Despite the distance, and even though it’s a phone connecting us, I can feel his rage as if he was pinching my skin.
I dig my hands into my blanket, drawing comfort from the texture and the mysterious scent. The rhythmic motion soothes my anxiety, offering a brief reprieve so I can work to placate Brody as best I can. Keeping my voice as calm as possible, I speak slowly, careful not to add more fuel to the fire. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I went to the place you said, and then my next memory is waking up in the infirmary at Unity.”
Nothing I could do or say would calm Brody. He strikes out. “You got in the wrong car!”
“What? That’s impossible. Someone would have said. And if it was the wrong car, how did they know where to bring me?”
I hear him snarling under his breath. I backtrack a hundred miles an hour and start doubling down on being as submissive as possible. “I don’t mean to challenge you, Brody. I’ve been really sick with the flu. I didn’t do anything but what you said. I’m sorry. Please.”
He hangs up on me.
I shudder in relief and physically sag in exhaustion.
In the next hour, I get another ten calls. I let him vent. Whether right or wrong, I take each cutting remark. I don’t flinch when he screams abuse so loud I’m worried the nurses outside my door will hear. I take it. With my face buried in the scent of a different Alpha.
If you ever needed proof of the healing virtue of compatibility between designations, it would be my current situation. A stranger’s scent gives me the courage to take the endless stream of abuse from my Alpha who was promised to me but openly abhors me and viciously raped me months ago.
Another staff member comes in a few hours later, bringing my food tray for the evening. I try to mute Brody’s latest screaming, but clearly, I don’t do it well enough.
Within seconds the nurse from earlier comes back in without her trolley, though she’s still got that same steel eye expectation in her eyes. “Simona, electronic devices need to be switched off now, please.”
“Fuck you,” Brody hisses at both her and me, and then he disconnects the call.
Knowing he heard the nurse telling me to turn my phone off gives me a plausible excuse for doing just that. I know I’ll still get a mouthful of ugly anger when I speak with him—which worries me—but I can’t deny that as soon as I power off my phone and the overhead light, I roll to my side with the biggest smile on my face.
Chapter
Five
SIMONA
Iend up staying in the infirmary for another few days which is fine because I think I’m the only student at Unity this early in the new year. And while the solitude, and break from Brody, is almost heavenly, it gets to the stage where I’m getting more and more restless.
I guess in my boredom, I offered to help one too many times, because then Omega Mother Beatrice is paying me a visit.
“We usually do our student welcome in an office.” Her lips purse together.
She’s not being intentionally rude. I think she’s just one of those people who has a lot to say but wants to do it her way. I don’t react to her statement in any way. I just wait.
“It sounds like you are getting better, which is good. Other students will start to arrive shortly, but you may feel more comfortable staying in the infirmary until the other girls sharing your apartment get here.”
“Do you know when they will?” I ask, keeping my eyesdown. Out of habit, but also because she’s passing me a Unity satchel and I don’t want to drop it.
“We’re expecting Heidi Holmes tomorrow. Then I believe the other two, Raney Grady and Tristan Cameron, will arrive soon after.”
Four students in an apartment is odd, it’s usually only groups of three. And the way she waits, it’s almost like she thinks I may recognise the names of the girls, but I don’t.
“We deliberately placed you with those three students, Simona. They are quite strong young women.” Omega Mother Beatrice pauses and waits until I peek up at her. Her eyes are pinning me in place, silencing me, demanding my full attention. “We’re also aware of your circumstance. Your family, along with your intended, have been overly vocal regardingtheirexpectations surrounding your time with us. I know it was previously explained to you by one of the nurses, but your time here is aboutyou,becoming the best version of yourself. The staff and board will not be involved in what happens outside of our Collegiate, but inside, you are here for a reason. And while the young man suggesting he is your Alpha, as well as both his family and yours, may be wishing they’d read the enrolment contract a little better, they have also agreed you will remain with us for the entirety of our Omega program. Use both the time with the women we’ve housed you with and your time with us wisely.”
