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“Car crash,” Royce said. “My dads were driving with my two younger sisters. There was a truck driver, he was high, went across the median on the freeway, and hit them head-on. My parents died instantly, but my sisters hung on for days … They did as well as you can when you’re brain dead and every part of your body is broken.

“I sat in that damned hospital for weeks before they both eventually died. I was in our family friend’s car just behind them. I always wondered what would have happened, if I hadn’t decided to ride with them that day, that is.”

“That’s terrible. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Everyone has something. I was a preteen alpha. I was able to survive the system with less damage than most. Enlisting seemed like the logical option from there: structure, direction, a paycheck.”

“Twelve is still a child.”

Royce huffed, then rolled onto his back. “You said your dad was a doctor in Seerinoga, what happened to him?”

“They killed him. Injected him to look like a heroin overdose and left him in a ditch. It happens so frequently in omega territories no one bats an eye. I didn’t realize it was them that did it until months later. That’s how I found out they killed my mom too.

“Felt like an idiot … I always had worries, inklings of distrust toward the ‘system,’ but nothing I could concretely pinpoint. Until I cleaned out an old storage unit. The only reason it wasn’t ransacked by them was because it was under the name of an older woman we called aunt who wasn’t actually related from another settlement. If I wasn’t already outside Seerinoga when I found it, I’d probably be dead.”

“Why were your parents living in an omega settlement?”

“Mom and Dad were both omegas—I was so young when she died, I hardly remember her. But they’d had some issues with hostility. Apparently no one cares if two alphas shack up, or an alpha and a beta, but the world is ending the second two omegas get together. They thought living in an omega settlement would be safer.” Theodore sighed heavily. “In some ways it was, in most it wasn’t. There’s a lot of poverty and addiction in omega settlements.

“But Dad always told me not to let being an omega stop me from anything. He was a doctor after all, a shining example of omega achievement. He’s the one who encouraged me to go to Dessert Ridge University.”

Royce was quiet for a while before asking something that’d been bothering him since he looked at the flash drive. “How long?”

“What?”

“How long has it been?”

“How long have I been hiding? What year is it, seventy-one? Over three years now.”

“Were you alone all that time?”

“I’ve been alone since Dad died. Well, he worked so many hours at the hospital I’d sometimes go weeks without seeing him. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the government was forcing him to work unpaid overtime. I guess in a way I’ve been alone for a while.”

“Were you taking the alpha pills the whole time?”

“Yes.”

“Theo? Are you going to stop taking the pills?”

“I don’t think I have a choice. Vomiting blood and passing out for days wasn’t exactly what I’d call fun.”

Silence stretched between them as the night darkened. Royce wondered if Theo had gone back to sleep, but the occasional uneven breath told him the omega was lying awake next to him.

“Royce, you don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore. I’m okay now.”

“No, I really think I do.”

“What do you—?” Theo leaned over the sofa, poking his head out from his nest of blankets. “Oh.”

Royce knew what Theo was seeing, his eyes were shimmering golden. This close to the omega that was scented as his, while said omega was recovering from an illness and about to go into heat. There wasn’t anything Royce could do to control it at this point.

His chest was always tight, deep breaths almost impossible, his skin broke out into a clammy sweat on a regular basis, his stomach in knots, and his mind in snarls. Putting more distance between himself and his mate would only make the insomnia and discomfort worse.

“Is it …” Theo whispered. “Is it terribly bad?”

“I’m in control. I won’t do anything to hurt you. Or give you a mate mark against your will.”

“That’s not what I meant. Despite you kidnapping me.” Theo gave a halfhearted chuckle. “I don’t necessarily think you’re a bad guy. I don’t want you to be in pain. You can sleep in the bed if that’s better for you.”