Cam snorted. “I don’t hate you that much. Ben got back from the store a few minutes ago and took pity on us.”
Cam and I couldn’t cook for shit and depended on our pack brother for meals. We had subsisted on takeout when we first left our community since none of us had learned to do anything around the house growing up. Ben had discovered a love of cooking and domestic shit. It was another one of the many reasons I was glad we got out of that hellhole. Seeing him bounce around the kitchen in a frilly apron was the biggest fuck you to our pack fathers I could imagine. I didn’t know how he managed to be so fucking cheerful all the time, but it made me feel like I had at least succeeded in protecting him from the damage Cam and I sustained growing up.
“Glad he’s home already. I just got a call from Amirah at the Designation Center,” I said, shooting off a text to Ben. I glanced up from the phone and saw Cam still, a shocked expression briefly crossing his face before he composed himself.
“Is this what I think it is?” he asked.
“Yeah, it is,” I said. “Ben will be here in a minute. I’ll let you know more then.”
Cam and I stared out the window, looking out onto the courtyard and wooded area beyond the house, the food forgotten until Ben bounded into the room.
“What’s up?” he asked. “Do you not like the pasta? I’m trying a new recipe.”
I cleared my throat. “Oh, no, I’m sure it’s amazing, like everything you make.”
Ben practically glowed with happiness.
I ran my hand through my hair. “Amirah called,” I said, jaw clenched.
Ben furrowed his brow. “Does she have a job for me?” Ben’s experience with computer programming and hacking made him invaluable to the Alliance.
“No,” I said, steeling myself before I continued. “She wants us to interview with an omega tomorrow.”
Since the Designation Laws passed, we hadn’t done any omega interviews, refusing to participate in an oppressive system. We’d already experienced far too much of that in the traditionalist community we grew up in.
We met Amirah before the Designation Government took power, back when she was the newly appointed director of the now-defunct Omega Center. We stayed in touch and were one of the first packs to join the Alliance. We provided funding and technical support to the movement—technical support being a nice way to say hacking, encryption, and security. We were currently backing certain politicians who were preparing to propose new legislation to push back against the Designation Laws. The last time we saw her, Amirah asked if we would be open to omega interviews if an omega needed a progressive pack option, and we’d agreed. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I wasn’t so sure.
The three of us longed for an omega to complete our pack. We had been together since my family moved us to North Woods from England when I was fourteen. We’d been inseparable for the past fifteen years, leaving our community together and starting our company. I could feel through our bonds that my brothers were lonely. As alphas, we were meant to have an omega to cherish, love, and care for. I hadn’t let myself believe it could be possible for us unless we moved to a more progressive province, but our Alliance work kept us here.
“This is good, right?” Ben asked, looking between Cam and me. “Amirah knows us. She knows what we’re like as a pack and what sort of omega we could bond with. This could be what we’ve been waiting for. Why don’t either of you look happy?”
I glanced over at Cam, who I knew shared my skepticism.
“Amirah kept it pretty cryptic over the phone since we never know who might be listening in. All she said is there’s a twenty-three-year-old omega in pre-heat who’s doing pack interviews tomorrow and asked if we could come in at two o’clock.”
“Twenty-three?” Cam asked, leaning back in the leather chair, his brow furrowing. “Unusual for an omega that age to not have had a heat yet. You think she might have been using suppressants?”
“That would be my guess,” I responded. “If that’s the case, she probably doesn’t even want a pack. They’ve increased arrests lately for people supplying black market suppressants. I’m not going to force someone to be our omega.”
Growing up, it was drilled into our heads that omegas were essential to alphas but never equal to us. We were told that when we bonded with an omega, we would be highly possessive and protective, so much so that we wouldn’t be able to control our behavior. We had seen some terrible things—omegas being isolated from family and friends, forced into having sex and babies. And then, of course, there was Cam’s sister. My throat felt tight as I thought about her. Even though we all wanted our pack to be complete, we refused to change our values, to change ourselves. It seemed safer to stay unbonded. We didn’t want to control an omega; we wanted an equal partner.
“But she’ll be forced to choose a pack,” Ben exclaimed. “And if we don’t interview, she might be stuck with a terrible pack that will take advantage of her.”
“We can’t be sure that she’s been on suppressants. Some omegas are just older when they have their first heat,” Cam said. “I think we owe it to Amirah to at least do the interview. We should go in without any expectations, and we need to be prepared for it not to work out.” He directed that last part at Ben.
“So, we’ll court her?” Ben asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “If it all works out,” he added when he saw my scowl.
I sighed. “Not exactly.” This was the part I was most nervous about. “Apparently, she’s going into heat in the next few days. If she selects us, we’ll bring her home the next day.”
“Shit, that’s quick,” Cam said, leaning forward. “They want us to bring her home and help her through her heat? Is that what she wants?” His tone was fierce, and I knew he was thinking of his sister.
“We’re not going to force her into anything,” Ben said as he paced around the room. “What happens after her heat?”
“I guess we’ll see if we’re a good fit for each other? If we’re not, at least this would be a safe place for her to live. We could put her in the pool house if it became an issue,” I said, trying to keep my tone matter-of-fact.
Ben growled, and Cam and I looked up, startled. I couldn’t remember the last time I heard Ben growl.
“We’re not going to put an omega alone in the pool house. That’s cruel,” he said.
