Page 16 of The Rejected Omega

“If he knew, he would choose you?—”

I swing my head toward Mac. “Don’t!This is hard enough as it is. Don’t give me false hope.”

“Let me tell him. I’ll talk some sense into him.”

“No.”

“Lana—”

If Mac told Connor, he’d come to me. But I want to be chosen out of love, not duty or contrition. Not because I’m the option fate saddled him with.

“No. He knew what that ceremony meant. What could happen. He spent it with another woman. I can’t go through that again. If you hadn’t found me, I don’t know—” I let the words go unspoken, but Mac knows well what happens when deeply rooted bonds go unanswered. I wasn’t coming out of those woods on my own.

I likeDoctor Kanata on sight. She has kind eyes and a hard mouth.

“Mac. What was so important that I’m staying late for a new patient appointment?”

He gestures to me and clears his throat.

“My son’s mate has bond sickness.”

“We’re not mated,” I growl.

“He…didn’t make it to the ceremony, but his scent was there.”

The doctor frowns and turns to me. “Who helped you through your first heat?”

“No one. I was alone.”

Her frown deepens. “And how long have you known Connor?”

“We’ve been close friends since childhood.”.

The doctor shoots Mac a look that could wither cacti, then gestures for me to follow her.

“Come on. I need to draw your blood, take your levels.”

After the lab processes my results, expedited at Dr. Kanata’s request, we sit together in a beige patient exam room decorated with tasteful prints of palm leaves. I’m awkward atop the crinkly sheet of paper, trying not to rip it with my fidgeting. There’s an infographic on the wall explaining hormonal changes during an omega’s heat cycle, next to an anatomical depiction of an alpha’s knot inflated inside an omega’s vagina.

Dr. Kanata folds her hands together and spins her stool toward me. “I need you to know that what your mate did is alpha neglect, and it’s taken very seriously. He could be reported for omega endangerment. The effect on your mate bond…you’ve suffered a serious trauma. Not unlike a death.”

“I don’t want to report him. I just want to make it through the rest of high school without a total breakdown.”

“Then we need to make a plan for you going forward.”

“What are my options? They put me on emergency blockers after…after. But they weren’t strong enough when I saw Connor.”

Dr. Kanata sighs. “To be frank, I rarely see bond sickness this bad. Usually, a bond this developed would form splendidly. But with your alpha’s absence during your first heat—very important to omega maturation—your hormones are all over the place. You also have several vitamin deficiencies. Both factors compromise your immune system. Your body’s fighting a war with itself and losing. It will take a while for you to begin to feel normal again, and normal may never be the same as it was before.”

She spins back around and begins tapping at her keyboard. “There are two approaches we can take. The first is to let nature take its course. When your current suppressant load runs out, you’ll smell like an unmated omega. It’s highly likely Connor will recognize you as his mate.”

“You mean his biology will make him want to mate me.”

Kanata nods. I appreciate that she doesn’t beat around the bush.

“That’s not what I want.” I’ve had a week to imagine the ceremony going another way. Days of frenzied fucking and falling asleep wrapped in Connor’s arms. Then, when the fog cleared, the look of betrayal in his eyes. Maybe even disgust. It was enough to make me prefer his abandonment.

I shake my head. “I can’t. He’s in a relationship, and after what happened?—”

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