Page 42 of The Omega’s Nest

He left because he couldn’t watch my father drink himself to death. I’ve always thought he sounded quite noble. Romantic, in a tragic way.

“With no prospects beyond surfing, right?” Carl continues as I just stare at him. “And you’re fucking tiny. Male omegas are already a high risk for pregnancies, how are you gonna guarantee Leo kids? Huh? Did you think about how selfish you’ve been?”

I drop my gaze because he’s hit my Achilles’ heel. I’ve always been selfish for Leo’s attention, his affection. Being the centre of his universe is the greatest feeling in the world. But Alpha Hale is wrong when it comes to male omegas and pregnancy. Sure, we need to have caesareans, but with modern medicine most of us survive, as do our children.

“I can have kids, if Leo wants them,” I murmur.

He scoffs. “It’s not going to get to that.”

I look up. He’s moving for my vanity, pulling something out of his pocket. He drops two white pills onto the dresser.

“In World War Two, spies carried these when they went behind enemy lines. Just bite down on the capsule and this will all be over.”

He looks over his shoulder at me. “If you love Leo, you’ll let him go. Free him of a bond with a whore.”

I flinch.

When he turns back fully, his expression is kind. It multiplies my unease. It’s the strangest expression I’ve ever seen on his face, probably because I’ve never seen it.

“Do the right thing, Adrian. End this. For Leo,” he says, his voice heavy with alpha command. It hurts my head, like a pressure coming from the outside, but he can’t actually command me. I’m Leo’s. And now that I’m bonded to another alpha, no other alpha can ever command me again.

He walks out. My eyes are drawn to the little white capsules. Did he just tell me to kill myself? I suck in a sharp breath. I’m not actually going to consider this, am I?

Would it be better for Leo, though? Will it keep him safe?

I drift over to the dresser and stare down at the pills. Two white capsules. They’ll be potassium cyanide. I know what he was referring to—we learned about it in history at school. Some soldiers still do it, especially in countries where omegas are allowed to fight. We’re not allowed to here because, as Cammie puts it, our country is a backward hellhole run by small dick alphas. But omegas can join the military in a lot of other places. They carry the pills, in case they get captured.

I touch one with my index finger and roll it over. Why did he leave me two? To make sure the job got done? I pick one up and look at it. A calm comes over me. This might free Leo.

Tales of destiny and fated mates say we can’t live without each other, that the other one will die shortly after their mate dies. But look at my parents—my alpha and omega lived on. Sure, my omega didn’t die, and my alpha hardly had a good life, but they survived apart. And as far as I know, my omega father is still alive. “France,” my alpha told me when I asked where he was when I was a kid. “Back to his people. It’s better there.” His eyes shone, his lips quivered, and I never asked again.

Could I really set Leo free?

Leo thrums down the bond at me—the same anger, fear and exhaustion, but it’s threaded with a question. It feels kind of like curiosity.

I can do this for you, I think at him. Make it all go away.

I know he can’t hear my direct thoughts yet, but he’ll feel the peace that’s welling in me.

The pain too. The ache of never seeing my Leo again. It’s unbearable. But if I die for him? That’s better. Alpha Hale is right. I can set him free.

I bring the pill up higher and study it. I need to crack it open with my teeth and let the powder spread. I’ll be dead in minutes.

The curtain flutters and an alpha with a mobile phone pressed to his ear steps into the room. I startle. He looks over at me, eyes widening.

I bring the pill to my lips. This is better. I can’t let another alpha fuck me. Leo will feel it. And I can’t fucking bear it.

“I’ll call you back,” he barks into the phone.

He crosses the room in three quick strides, slaps the pill out of my hand.

“What?” I ask.

“That better not be what I fucking think it is,” he growls.

I’m too stunned to speak. He’s glaring at me. I don’t think it’s any of his business. And this seems like a lot of anger for a random alpha who’d get a refund if I’m dead.

I stare up at him, impotent rage surging through me.