Prologue
Tristan
Three weeks ago
I pull my glasses off and rub my head. My red curls hang in my face.Maybe time for a DIY haircut?
The letter from my landlord sits open in front of me on my beat-up kitchen table.Another rent increase.
I sigh. Someone stole my bike last week from outside the museum. Now this. I’m barely scraping by as it is.
I used to love this city. Odd that it was only nine years ago I moved here, fresh out of college and wide-eyed. But now... I guess I’m over it. Give me a little hut in the woods and leave me alone. Everything here seems so loud. Somuch.
My old laptop plays a music station, unnoticed in the background. An ad comes on.
“Test today! And all your problems will melt away!” The happy jingle declares.
The Omega Concord ads run constantly, trying to get more people to do the testing program.Gotta keep the aliens happy or they’ll invade and take whoever they want.
I glance at the clock on the microwave. Time to get to my second job. I stand, closing my laptop and grabbing my work apron.
The ad plays again inside my head. The aliens had been clear that omegas were not expected to do anything... except keep the aliens happy using their body.
No job. No taxes. No retirement plans.
You know what? When my shift at the coffee shop is over, I’m gonna go do that testing. Having a bunch of aliens that want to get me off and take care of me can’t be worse than this, right?
Chapter One
Azane
“Already?” I type frantically into my handheld. I untie my long blue hair as I stare at the screen, waiting.
The secretary at the Concord office replies quickly. “Yes. Your matched omega is scheduled to arrive in six rotations. Please bring your entire pack for the arrival at three spans past lunch meal, in our Citradoth office.”
Fuck.
I mean, not fuck. This is good. Incredible.
Holy stars. An omega.It’s amazing.
Another message. “I will send out the information packets. They should arrive tomorrow.”
Tugging my hair over my shoulder, I begin to braid it as anxiety curls in my gut.
“Hey baby.”
Inken. My second and best friend.Oh no. Ohhhhh no. How do I tell her? She’s gonna flip.
She kisses the top of my head and sits next to me, leaning back on the couch and tossing her leg over my lap. “What did you want for dinner? Maybe a picnic in the woods?”
She smiles beguilingly at me, and I grin back without thought. Her smokey blue skin against mine, soft and yielding, though my pack mate and lover of many revolutions is neither.
“Ink, I have some... news.”
“Mm?” she mumbles as she sits up and places a hand on my arm in concern.
My skin looks very purple next to hers as I stare at her soft touch.
