Page 48 of Into the Fire: Before

“Oh,” was all she said. Brea sat next to her, arm immediately wrapping around her waist, and I took my place next to Caine. The four of us sat in silence, Taryn anxiously twisting her fingers together in her lap.

I cleared my throat, feeling awkward. Not awkward enough to cancel out the curiosity. Or the fear. “Who was he?” I asked with as much gentleness as I could muster.

Taryn swallowed. “His name is Heath Torrington. He’s from Pockston.” She met my gaze, then Caine’s. Even now, I had to admire her will, her strength. Omega or not, she wouldn’t be cowed. “He’s one of the big reasons we left Pockston two years ago.”

“He’s an ex?” Caine asked, voice rough. I felt his anger, hisenvy, through the bond.

“Yes.” The answer didn’t come from Taryn, but from her alpha beside her. “Mine.”

Brea

“Igrewupina conservative anti-AO community. My parents are betas. Betas whohatealphas and omegas.”

“What?” Lin said. “Why?”

“Betas steer clear of alphas and omegas in Pockston,” I answered. “They resent the…thetroublecaused by alphas and omegas. They consider us ruled by baser instincts, and they hate the fact that the world ‘caters’ to us.” I shook my head with an incredulous huff of a laugh. “So you can imagine their horror when I presented as an alpha at thirteen.”

Even Caine reacted to that, eyes going wide. “Thirteen?”

My early presentation shocked most people. From the studying I’d done since leaving Pockston, though, I knew that female alphas were far more likely to present early than their male counterparts. It had felt lonely at the time, the only junior high student who’d presented. Even female omegas usually didn’t present until closer to sixteen.

“Anyway,” I breezed right by his inquiry, “from the time I presented, my parents were determined to suppress my alpha. I think they believed if they forced me to submit, to…to go against every alpha instinct that was clawing at me from inside, that it would just curl up and die, and I could be normal.

“So they pulled me out of school, not wanting to flaunt their shame. My mother instructed me on how to be an acceptable wife for my future husband. And if I so much as hesitated to follow an order from her or my father, I’d be punished. Isolation. Food deprivation. When my brothers—betas—got old enough, my parents had them order me about too. And let themdisciplineme if I disobeyed.”

“Fuck,” Lin breathed, and I chanced a glance at his face. Fury limned every inch of it. It hurt to see, but I also couldn’t look away.

I released a shaky breath. “By my twentieth birthday, I thought my alpha had finally died. I was just…numb. I felt like a cardboard cutout of a person.

“On my birthday, my father announced that he’d arranged for me to be married to a prominent bigwig in science and tech.”

“Heath,” Caine said through a clenched jaw.

I nodded. “I was surprised at first. They were so ashamed to have one alpha in the family, why would they invite another one?”

“They didn’t trust a beta could keep you in line, ” Lin answered. His eyes burned with rage.

Again, I nodded. “To them, a dominant male alpha who could control me was better than a female alpha on her best day. And Heath’s family was wealthy and successful enough that our community was happy to overlook the stain of his designation. So we got to work planning a wedding.”

I stopped then, my heart racing. Taryn squeezed my hand, pushed warmth and comfort through the bond. They felt like sunrays on a winter day.

“And then?” Caine asked, voice rough.

I squeezed her hand back, and my lips twitched up into an involuntary smile. “And then a certain wild omega careened straight into my life. She…” My throat was hot and thick, the words having to fight their way through. “She woke up my alpha. Brought me to life in the…absolute…best way I could’ve ever hoped for.” We shared a long, heavy look, the love clear in her eyes and through the bond. “And I knew I couldn’t just…follow anymore.”

The rest of the story, I sped through. How Taryn and I managed to escape town in the middle of the night, sharing anarrow bunk in a homeless shelter three towns over until we could formulate a plan. Traveling even further and applying to school. And, finally, deciding to settle down in Farendale.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes after I finished, each of us lost in our own heads. Caine spoke first. “How did he end up here?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “I wish I did.”

Lin sat forward, brow furrowed. “Is it possible he found you here on purpose?”

Before that idea could settle like hot oil in my belly, Taryn shook her head. “He seemed just as shocked to see me as I was to see him this afternoon. It must’ve been a coincidence.”

“There’s a pharmaceutical conference happening in town this week,” Lin said, rubbing his jaw. “It’s possible he’s here for that?”

“Maybe,” I answered. If I were completely honest, I’d never had a firm grasp of exactly what Heath and his family dealt with. Dabbling in pharmaceuticals certainly seemed within their wheelhouse, though. I sighed, doing my best to exhale the tension and fear. “But that’s the story. I was ordered to marry a volatile man, chose not to, and ran away. Simple as that.”

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