Page 126 of Our Deceptive Heat

“I am an omega.”

“You’re an omega?” I echo in a whisper. I feel like I’m dreaming.

I cover my face with my hands and let all the emotion take me over. My body shakes, my mind reels, tears spill down my cheeks, unheeded. Everything makes a painful, crystal clear sense. I am an idiot.

Envy takes my wrists in his hands and pulls gently. I let him pull my hands away and stare at his beautiful face.

“Ryn, I’m sorry.”

“You’re an omega?” My voice sounds strange. Sharp, angry, and loud.

“We signed a contract with your father. If one of us presented as an omega, we would have lost everything, and I can’t control myself around you,” Envy says, and through my tears, I see he’s smiling slightly. “Tara found out about me and thought it was you. She told your dad. We were buying you time to escape your father. You were supposed to wait for us. To trust us. We forgot you didn’t know how. It was our fault.”

I shudder, reliving that desperate night. Is it possible? It makes a sick sort of sense. Did I act too soon? Should I have trusted them? I’m so used to relying on myself. When they failed, I just assumed they screwed me over.

“Ryn, please, I’m so, so sorry.”

“You’re an omega?” I say again. “You’re my omega?” My eyes widen as the words slip out from my lips, but it feels so right I can’t take them back. I shudder and snap my mouth shut to stop any more slips. My omega. The world slows, and I see him in my mind, not my alpha, my omega.

Take a chance. I can live my life without them. I know I can. But I don’t want to. Four years and five months have proven that for me, there is no world if it’s not with them.

Trust them, my mind screams. If you ever had a chance to trust someone, this is the moment.

“Auryn,” he sighs heavily. “I’ve always been yours,” he whispers.

His words make me furious. I shove him hard in the chest, and when he stumbles back, I follow, shoving harder until he falls on his back in the surf.

I straddle him and grip his shirt, glaring down at him.

“You hurt me.”

“I know.”

“You did it multiple times.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Is there another omega?” I snarl out, terrified of his answer.

“No, Ryn, no. Of course, not. It’s just you and me. I am your omega. And you, well, you’ve always been mine.”

A wave splashes over us, soaking my pants and splashing up on his neck.

“Ryn, I promise you, I will never hurt you again. I will always tell you the truth. There are no more secrets.”

I stare into those pale green eyes, and I’m just scared. I’m so scared. And fear makes me so angry I can barely think.

I jerk him up towards me and mash our lips together. He immediately grips my hip, squeezing hard enough to make it hurt, as he drags me down.

“Want you!” I hiss into his mouth.

He doesn’t even bother replying, just answers me back with hot, open-mouthed kisses. I wrap an arm around the back of his neck and drag myself closer.

I tear my mouth away, gasping, who cares about needing air, I need to think, but before I can so much as gulp, his mouth, hot and wet, sucks hard on the side of my neck. I arch instantly, giving him more room. My fingers curl in his wet shirt, holding him to me.

“More,” I growl and shove him back. I watch him through slitted eyes as I peel off my top and throw it away.

The push and pull of the ocean lapping and sucking at us just heightens whatever this is. We’re inevitable. We’re a disaster. But if there’s only one thing I know, in my life with any certainty, it’s that this pack is mine. This omega is mine.

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