Page 100 of Sawyer

This is bad.

Monumentally bad.

“When you say you’re going to bleed, what does that mean, exactly?” Sin is the first to react, turning toward me with a strange expression on his face.

My own falls. “Don’t they teach you biology?” Oh no, I can feel it coming.

Did I pack any tampons?

“This is bad.” Rumor almost freaks out, mirroring my internal panic. Luckily, he relaxes and steps toward me. He takes a slow inhale that I somehow end up mimicking. “Do you have anything?”

“I don’t know.” This entire situation makes me want to cry, and I can feel the cramps building in my legs.

“Sin, take her pack off,” Rumor instructs. “The scent suppressors should still work.”

“Are you sure?” I’m damn near pleading. “Otherwise, you’ll have to leave me behind here to bleed in a stream like they did hundreds of years ago, and Rumor, I’m not sure I can survive that. I mean, I will because I am a stubborn bitch, but I won’t like it.”

“It’s your stubbornness that I adore.” He smirks at me as Sin removes my pack.

Finally, Bryn reacts. “You bleed?”

“Gammas bleed, yes,” I snap at him. “It falls from my cookie every other month.”

Rumor hides a smile. “Superman,” he drawls, “I thought of all the alphas, you’d know better.”

“I don’t.” He crosses his arms. “Explain.”

“Well, at least now we can kill daylight.” I don’t dare move.

“What am I looking for?” Sin asks.

I forgot about him. “Check the small toiletry bag. I think I packed something. It’ll look like a cigar in a wrapper.”

“I’m just confused. Omegas are the only ones who can carry offspring, and if they fail to get pregnant, then they bleed.” Bryn is so serious, it’s almost cute. “So how?”

“They only taught you about omega biology.” I snort as Sin hands me something, a question on his face. “That’s it. All of you turn around. Go on now, turn around.” I groan when they are hesitant to move. “I’ll explain. Just turn around.”

One by one, they turn around so I don’t have to run off and inject myself with some cotton. I just wish I had gotten some pain relief from Mila.

“Gammas and omegas are similar,” I begin as I slip my pants over my hips. “I once read a paper in a psych class that I had to take for a gen ed that theorized gammas are actually less evolved omegas. That pissed me off enough that I threw it across the room.”

“And you have anger issues,” Rumor whispers, but he keeps his head forward.

I unravel the tampon and go harpooning. “I returned to that paper a few days later with a better perspective and realized the author might have been on to something.” My talking covers up the sound of the wrapper and my movements. “Only recent beta science allowed us to see what internal parts we have that are similar without cutting open either omegas or gammas.”

I slowly roll my pants up. I am only spotting, and it isn’t heavy, so I’m okay for now. Pushing through my bag, I find half a pack of tampons, so I at least thought to keep them on me at all times.

“Interesting. What did they find?” Bryn prompts as I clean up.

“They found that we have similar biology,” I say, throwing my pack over my shoulder. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t determine the core differences without volunteers, and since omegas were scarce to begin with, he couldn’t continue his research.”

“Do you know the author?”

“No, it was anonymous. It’s still dangerous to put a name to such research.” Which is utter bullshit. “Anyway, he found that omegas and gammas have similar cycles, with a gamma being more sporadic and coming without a heat, but something was triggering the cycle, and he couldn’t determine what.” I stand up and say, “I’m done.”

Bryn turns around first with curiosity on his face, his nostrils flaring. I hope he isn’t trying to scent for blood. “You don’t smell of blood. The suppressor is working.”

That is very unattractive of him. “Thanks, Superman.”

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