Page 13 of Omega's Bears

“Ryan’s imprinted on you.”

“Ryan’s what?” I can’t make sense of what I’m being told. “Ryan hates me. He hasn’t imprinted on me.”

“It’s never happened to you before, has it?” Luka asks, picking at his jerky.

“No,” I admit.

“It isn’t like falling in love,” Luka says. “It doesn’t matter whether he likes you or not. It’s physical. It’s chemical. It’s his body reaching out to yours and forging a connection, and it’s not something either of you has any say in or control over. That’s why Ryan’s been angry. He hates feeling like he doesn’t have control over his choices.”

I remember what Ryan said to me just before the imprint happened—he could choose not to be with me. He must be feeling like he doesn’t have that option anymore. I know what it’s like to have control of your life wrested away from you. I feel a sudden surge of sympathy for Ryan. “What happens now?” I ask.

“Now, you mate,” Jack says.

Luka frowns. “If you both want to.”

“They’ll do it,” Jack says to Luka, as if I’m not even here. “It’s science. No one resists mating once they’ve imprinted. And Cami knows that her value to the clan is as a breeder, so she’s already given consent.”

“She’s allowed to revoke it,” Luka says. “She’s still a person. She’s not just a breeder. And Ryan might not want to either. You know he doesn’t always—” but he falls silent at a look from Jack. Doesn’t always what? It doesn’t look like I’m going to get an answer.

I raise a hand. “I appreciate it, Luka, but Jack is right. This is why I’m here. And I’m an omega. This was always going to be in my life. You don’t need to try to get me out of it.” Part of me wonders why he is trying. Shouldn’t he be happy about this development? If Ryan and I breed, it will be good for the clan.

“I just want to make sure you’re comfortable with it,” Luka says. “I know you and Ryan haven’t exactly hit it off.”

“There are plenty worse out there than Ryan,” I say, thinking of the wolves.

“Very true,” Jack agrees. “Luka, you ought to go tell him that she knows. He shouldn’t be kept in the dark about that.”

“Why me?”

“You’re the one who wanted to tell her.”

Looking exasperated, Luka gets to his feet and jogs off into the woods.

Jack gives me a measured look. “You can ride with me for the next stretch,” he says after a while. “It might be good to have some distance between you and Ryan while you each process what happened here.”

Probably a good idea. “Okay,” I agree. “Thank you.”

Ryan doesn’t even look at me when he and Luka emerge from the woods. “Let me take the lead,” he says to Jack, and by the tone in his voice, it’s just barely a request. I can tell his anger has only grown based on his conversation with Luka, and I hope I’m not going to have to bear the brunt of that later.

The motorcycles purr to life and we set off again, streaking between the two tree lines on opposite sides of the road. This is an isolated stretch, with no cars to pass and no onlookers to distract me from the thoughts swirling around inside my mind. It feels as if everything I know about myself has suddenly shifted and the ground is unstable beneath my feet.

Imprinting. I was calm with Jack and Luka because I needed to be, because I needed them to know I was prepared to take this development in stride, but the truth is, it scares me. I’ve always been nervous about the possibility of someone imprinting on me. Luka is right—it takes matters completely out of my hands. It doesn’t matter how I feel about Ryan. I haven’t even decided yet how I feel about Ryan, but as of right now, that’s not a factor. This is bigger than my opinion of him. This is biology. His body has laid claim to mine, and I might as well belong to him now.

I feared this when I was a teenager. When I reached my twenties and it hadn’t happened, safely ensconced in my clan, I assumed I was out of the woods. If any of them were going to imprint on me, it would have happened already. The lack of an imprint meant that we could take our time. I think we all understood that someone would breed with me eventually, just so the clan would thrive. But there would be choice. There would be courtship. There wouldn’t be angry, stalking Ryan, who can barely control himself in the best of times, who scares me just by looking at me.

It could be worse. I have to cling to that thought. No matter how intimidating I find Ryan, I know he wants me alive. I know he thinks of me as a person. If I wasn’t with him, I would be with the wolves, who would abuse me and force me to produce unnatural hybrids and probably kill me when they’d gotten what they wanted. Ryan scares me, but not like that. It could be a hell of a lot worse.

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