“This is the ABO Facility, Seventy-one.” I keep my expression as neutral as possible.
I don’t explain about why the walls are metal. No point in frightening him straightaway.
He’ll learn.
He already has more strength than I was expecting, both physical and mental.
I can work with that.
He furrows his brow. “Seventy-one?”
“It’s what you’re called here. They call me Seventy.”
“My name is Bird.”
Bird.
It suits him.
My expression softens.
Suddenly, I remember the doves that would swoop through the blue skies above the rose garden. I couldn’t see them from the basement. When I was trapped in the dark, however, I would imagine them above flying free.
I would flap my hands, creating my own toys out of them that I would then hug to myself at night.
I developed magic tricks with paper doves. I never used real ones. I would never cage anything in the same way that I was.
“What do you call yourself?” Bird asks, eagerly. “Just because some dickhead is calling us by numbers, doesn’t mean that we need to.”
I hesitate. “Ro.”
Bird smiles. “Hello, Ro.”
“This facility is where Rogues are sent,” I clarify. “Where they’re held as prisoners.”
Maybe I do need to make sure that he understands.
“Rogues?”
“It’s what we are. They told me that you had a rare pheromone imbalance. They put you with me because…” Will Bird hate me? Reject me if I tell him? I steel myself. “…I am a Rogue Switch. I can transform between an Alpha and Omega.”
Bird cocks his head.
He drapes the blanket around his shoulders, before he scoots closer to me.
I tense.
“That is so…awesome!” Bird’s eyes light with excitement. “Hey, does that mean I get an Alpha and an Omega rolled into one? How lucky am I?”
“Lucky?” I repeat, confused.
Doesn’t Bird understand?
“I’m dangerous, Little Bird.” I grab him by the scruff of the neck. I yank him closer, until our noses are touching. “People fear Rogues.”
“People are dickheads.” To my shock, Bird tentatively kisses me. His lips are wet and delicious. “I’m all about Omega solidarity. I was raised in a pack with five Omegas and no Betas. As a Hotel Omega, I have spent the last few years around dozens of Omegas. You having both dynamics within you isperfect.”
Stunned, I barely dare move, as he purrs.
