Page 38 of The Rejected Omega

It’s a dangerous feeling. I’m getting too comfortable around him.

We walk in silence, and my mind is clouded by his scent, not focused on where I’m going.

My flip-flops catch on a wide crack in the sidewalk, and I fall forward. Connor catches the back of my shirt and pulls me up against him, but my purse and books go sliding across the pavement.

“Shit.” I dive for the books and shove them beneath my shirt to protect them from the rain.

Connor kneels beside me, umbrella handle cradled in his elbow, and helps me pick up the scattered contents of my purse.

There are soggy brown takeout napkins and receipts illegible with running ink. I mourn the tin of mints that popped open and spilled everywhere.

I grab my phone and start patting away the moisture and checking the screen for cracks as Connor puts things back in my purse.

I nab a stray tube of lip balm trying to roll down the sidewalk and turn back to him.

Connor’s still, staring at something in his hand. The umbrella’s beginning to tip in the wind.

“What’s the matter? Find a tampon or something?”

I come closer to get beneath the umbrella once more.

Then I see what he’s holding.

My empty bottle of suppressants is cradled in his too large hands.

My mind scatters, heart battering against my ribs as time warps around me. Rain slides down my face into my eyes.

His eyes lift to mine.

I scramble for an explanation. The medication has my name on it. The fill date. Mydosage.Dr. Kanata’s info. Hell, if I registered us as mates, they might havehisname on there, too. Some pharmacies still did that.

The pressure on my chest intensifies. I forget to breathe.

“I—”

His eyes go hard. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Birdy.”

Panic starts to close in. I want to turn around and run, to ignore this and him and escape away from it all, but Ineedthe bottle he’s holding.

“When?”

When I don’t answer, his hand fists around the bottle.

“Who?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then, pray tell, what the fuck is it like?”

“We’re not…together.”

“I can’t believe you matched without me. That I didn’t know.”

I feel our dead bond writhing in my chest like a snake readying to strike.

He scrubs a hand through his hair.

“Fuck. No wonder I can’t smell you. This is the maximum dosage. Thought I was going fucking crazy.”

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