Page 39 of Cost of Courting

I gasp, my hand tingling. It shouldn’t be hot, it should not be sexy. And yet, I’m dripping slick and leaning into him, dazed.

“Have you had a heat yet, Omega?”

I shake my head before I can stop myself.

Edric suddenly grins, and I’m stunned into silence. He’s so much more potent up close. He leans in and touches his lips to mine.

“We’re looking forward to it.”

As soon as he lets me go, I slump against the wall, blinking rapidly. Bailey glances back at me and then follows the alphas out.

I lick my lips and taste Mael.

I should wash it off. I should shower their scents off me and purge the kitchen of our combined smells.

I don’t.

Instead, I go into my room and sit on the mattress on the floor and stare at the water stain on my wall.

When they come back, I don’t protest the way they crawl onto my bed, filling all the spaces. The four of them take over my space, and, though I would never admit it out loud, for the first time in a long time, I feel safe enough to sleep.

When Mael wakes from his nightmares later, I reach out before I can think. He captures my wrist and turns his head into my thigh, nuzzling, and drops back into a sleep.

I think I’m the only one awake until I notice Bailey staring at the ceiling.

I watch him, wondering why he’s here. What he wants. I did my research. He went out and slept around with just about anyone he could get for a while. And then he just stopped.

He’s the CEO of Alpha Labels.

But there’s something so lonely and distressed about his countenance.

He looks defeated.

“I am a switch,” he says in a low tone. It’s an anguished whisper.

I wait, and, when he turns his head to me, I realise he’s actually talking to me. Tingles run up my spine. I wasn’t aware he knew I was awake.

“I have been trying to find a way to stop it from happening. It just changes with my emotion. Until I met you four. Now it just changes at will.”

“Has it occurred to you that it could be a strength rather than a weakness?”

Bailey shifts onto his side so we’re facing each other. “How is being an omega a strength?”

“Because, Bailey, everyone underestimates an omega. They think they can’t do it, that it’s not possible, that they are victims of their hormones and pheromones.”

“And you’re not?”

I smile at him. “No, I’m not. I have lived in this neighbourhood alone and protected my sister. I have fought, defended myself and my friends, I have worked and earned a wage, I have done everything a beta or alpha could and done it better. I didn’t perfume every time I met an alpha. I didn’t throw myself at them, whimpering and needing a knot. I was not a victim or a slave to my hormones.”

“And how do you do that? It’s so strong.”

“It’s really simple. Think about it like this: what do you have to lose? If you give into those emotions, to the impulses, you will lose that thing you care about. You’d be surprised what the right incentive can do for your willpower.”

“Do you ever think you’re the exception? I got into a fight with an alpha today who tried to…is it always like that?”

Did he? How frightening to have people try to just take a part of you. Think they are entitled to you.

“No. There are heaps of omegas out there who have learned how to control our designations. This is the time of enlightenment. We choose our lives. We are no longer slaves to heats and scent matches. I will not allow anyone to take me just because we are scent compatible. That dream is a fantasy for little girls. I live in reality.” I pause. “As for people who think they can take what they want? Well, I just go out of my way to make them bleed.”

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