Page 56 of The Omega’s Nest

“It’s not winter yet. I can get it then,” I tell him, but he waves me off and proceeds to get a surfboard, leash, wax, even a board repair kit, mumbling that he’s sorry the board isn’t custom and he hopes it’ll do for now.

Obviously, I’ll be building my own, but this board is bloody perfect until then. He won’t let me pay for anything either. I try to argue, except he’s adorably earnest, blushing when he says, “Please, I want to provide for you. I can, I have money. I can take good care of you.”

And well, who am I to argue with an alpha so intent on looking after me? Besides, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to take care of him. We’re bonded. We’re free. We’ve got a lifetime of this.

After we put everything in the car, Leo insists on buying me lunch. The café on the beach in Hollow Point does the best fish burgers in the state—at least we’re pretty sure it does—so Leo wraps his arm around me, guiding me there.

A smile splits my face when I see a bunch of our friends from school coming out of the rustic doors. Then I remember where I’ve been, what I’ve done, and panic grips me. Before Leo can say anything—he’s feeling that—they’re upon us.

Bruiser, Kev, Amanda, and Carly—an alpha, beta, omega, and another beta. These four were solidly part of our group in high school. They see me as one, stopping with similarly astonished expressions.

I tug the sleeve of Leo’s hoodie down to cover my tattoo.

“Adrian?” It’s Bruiser, his eyes wide. “Adrian!” Without further preamble, he steps forward, unmindful of Leo, and yanks me into a big hug.

I can’t do anything but return it with a startled laugh. I’m engulfed in his meaty arms and his smell of fresh-baked goods. We used to give him shit about that, but Bruiser was unperturbed. “Who doesn’t love a bakery?” he’d ask, smug with it.

I get passed around and I’m so happy to see them, but I can’t shake the creeping shame.

“You’re bonded!” Amanda shrieks. “Finally!” She shoots Leo an approving smile, her omega smell of old books earthy and sweet. She used to say it was the world’s greatest irony that she stank of a fusty library when she hated to read. I grin at the memories flooding back in.

“Adrian,” Kev says, and I know that smirk. “You seriously went with this guy?”

Leo grabs me around the waist, and his, “Shut up,” is joking, but I don’t miss the way he’s pulling me in to soothe me. I don’t know if he knows why I’m uncomfortable—probably does—but as my alpha, he’ll be feeling his omega in light distress, and he’ll be needing to make that right.

“Leo’s dad said you bonded some older guy,” Carly says, looking between us. A beta, and the smartest amongst us, she got accepted on a full scholarship to CU—Celo University—to study Advanced Mathematics and Advanced Computer Science.

And now Leo’s scent turns rancid.

“Ah, yeah, no, bit of a miscommunication, I think. You know I couldn’t resist this bossy asshole,” I joke, hoping it comes off normal.

“You could’ve done so much better, Adrian,” Bruiser says and punches my bicep playfully. “Like me, for example. I wouldn’t have made you wait seven fucking years.” He gives Leo a shit-eating grin.

Leo scoffs and tightens his arm around me. “Like you’d know how to treat Addie as the king he is.” The thing is, he doesn’t say that as a joke at all, and I blush to my hairline. Everyone else laughs.

A lull comes over us, and I feel them peering at me more closely. I know what they see—underweight, pale, possibly the war zone behind my eyes. Once you get past the glow of my bond, the contentment in my scent, I’m not in good shape. Not like the last time they saw me.

I reach up to rub my neck, dropping my gaze, and hear Bruiser’s sharp inhale.

The hoodie’s too big for me, the sleeve dropped, and there’s my tattoo.

Bruiser’s scent turns angry and Amanda’s turns troubled. I can’t look at them now.

“What the fuck.” It’s Bruiser, alpha anger laced in his voice.

“You got a problem, Bruise?” Leo says, a threat in his tone I’ve never, ever heard him use with our friends. He holds me so tightly against him, I’m having issues breathing. But that could be the humiliation.

“Adrian,” Kev says, his voice as shocked as Bruiser’s. “You got taken?”

I can’t smell him—he’s a beta—but when I chance a look up, I don’t see judgement, just concern. I glance at the others and see the same. Bruiser, in fact, looks devastated.

He confirms it when he speaks. “They fucking took you?” He looks at Leo. “They fucking took him?”

Leo jerks his chin, his scent broadcasting remorse and so much guilt I forget my own feelings and wrap my arm around him, squeeze his hip. It’s not his fault.

Together, we wade through their questions, their shock, their anger and apologies. The demands of why didn’t I call them, get them to hide me.

And … I don’t know. It’s a strange thing, being left like that. No alpha. No family. There’s a disgrace in it. What kind of family has an omega in it and doesn’t make sure they’re surrounded by a network that can protect them? I never thought much of it growing up—I assumed it’d never matter. I had my alpha, then, in my fantasies, I’d mate Leo. I’d never be one of those omegas.