Page 25 of Omega's Triplets

She wondered if that was really true. She wondered if she’d have the chance to find out. It didn’t seem like they were stopping anytime soon. Were they really going all the way to the state line?

They were. But it wasn’t the one she’d expected. She’d been thinking of California, hoping against hope that, somehow, this was going to bring her closer to LA. The city where she’d been born, where she’d lived her first thirteen years. The place where, if she was lucky, her family was still waiting for her.

But they were traveling east, not south, and after about five hours of riding, they came upon a great blue sign which readWELCOME TO IDAHO.

Idaho.

Farther from home than Maddy had ever been.

She couldn’t help it. She pressed her face into Mark’s back and allowed a few tears to spill. It felt like unstoppering something, and she found she couldn’t stop. It had been forever since she had let herself cry.

Mark must have felt her shaking, must have noticed that the back of his shirt was damp with tears, but he didn’t say anything or stop the bike. Maddy was grateful for that. She didn’t want to discuss her feelings with these men. She didn’t want to tell them that sometimes, when she was alone at night, she still ached for the home she had left behind and the life she should have had.I was their princess,she thought now. It was a thought she rarely permitted herself because it was so painful.I was their omega. They would have cared for me all my life.

Now, she was on her own.

The tall pine trees rose around them and seemed to swallow them up, and Maddy felt with a sudden certainty that she was entering a new phase in her life. It only remained to be seen whether this phase would be more tolerable than the last.

At least, she thought bitterly,it can’t be much worse. I don’t think life gets much worse than being sold as a breed mate at an omega auction.

Whatever these men had planned, it would be better than that.

It wasn’t exactly a comforting thought, but it would have to do. Maddy took a deep breath and fought to get her emotions back under control, and by the time they stopped for lunch, it was impossible to tell that she had been crying at all.

Chapter Seven

Amy didn’t even complainwhen Mark told her she’d have to give up her bedroom and move in with Piper so that Maddy could have a place to stay. It was clear that all three teens were in awe of the omega the men had brought back with them. Mark wasn’t surprised. If he’d come face to face with an omega as a child, he no doubt would have been taken aback as well.

She’s not a different species, he reminded himself over and over. But there was something different about her all the same. She seemed at once hardier and more delicate than other women he’d known.Like a diamond or something.

Amy was quick about emptying the bedroom of her things, and Mark led Maddy in. The mattress was stripped bare, of course, and the closet stood empty except for a few wire hangers Amy had left behind in her exodus. He opened his mouth to tell her they’d go shopping later today and pick up the essentials, but—

“There’s a bed,” Maddy said, sounding surprised.

“Of course, there’s a bed.” Mark was confused. “Did you think we’d make you sleep on the floor?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “The Death Fangs did.”

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