“Dont use your therapist voice on me.”
“Then don’t fucking call me.”
I sigh aloud. Gia knows that’s tantamount to an apology.
“I am on the edge, Gia. Of losing it. Of losing control.” My voice is quiet, as if the beast might hear and leap out if I say it too loud.
“I see,” Gia says with equal gravity. “What was your last dose?”
I give my second-to-last.
“That’s ten times what I prescribed you,” Gia says flatly.
“I know. I can count.”
“But you wouldn’t have called me if… Mor, what did you just take?”
“A whole bottle.”
“Well, that’s why you sound like shit.” She’s quiet for a long moment, analyzing. “Mor, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the suppressants.”
“Then how thefuckdo you explain this?”
Gia picks her words carefully. “You’ve been experimenting on yourself for a long time.Morethan fifteen years, Mor.”
Gia is one of the precious few who know just how far back my work on the formula goes.
“So? Our longitudinal studies show great results.”
“They aren’t on scrapped formulas. Higher thanrecommended dosages. That stuff we tried in the early days… that was some toxic shit, Mor.”
The fog makes it harder for me to filter my reactions. I let out a long breath. I hate thefemale alphas stick togetherbullshit, but Gia and I always have.
“But you’re fine,” I say.
“I’m not sitting there with a treat balanced on my nose,” Gia says with a laugh.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“C’mon, Mor. YoulikeJamie. It’s all over your face on every one of these fireside chats.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I see you’re tapping again, so yeah, I think I know what the fuck I’m talking about.”
Shit. She shouldn’t have been able to see that. “It’s just a reaction,” I grind out. “Because he’s an omega. Theexactfucking thing this entire PR campaign is about preventing.”
“Do you seriously think if you were both betas there wouldn’t be a spark here?”
“We’ll never fucking know, will we?” I snarl.
“You must really be slipping, Mor, because I can’t remember the last time you said youdidn’t know.”
The growl in my chest is deep and primal.
Gia returns with one just as vicious.
And then I… I back down. My shoulders slump. I flop back onto the bed, and I feel like I’m sixteen again.
