Page 67 of Your Wild Omega

I drop my head onto my arms with a bitter laugh. I lost my own territory to an imposter alpha and he swept both my omega and best friend away from right under my nose. And yet, although the resentment in my heart threatens to drown me, I can’t fault Zack. He’s the only one of us with a direct link to Red’s emotions. He instinctively acted in what he thought was her best interest.

As ignorant and childish as he is, he saw through my selfish motives. And if he knows, that means Red knows too. Red knew I was trying to make myself indispensable, trying to tie her to me. She saw through my cowardice. No wonder she hesitated.

“Oh.” Simon lifts one finger. “There was a day we took Lexi on a picnic—in your dad’s office.” He chuckles at the memory.

I lift my head, gaping at him. “In the Wren Tower?”

“Yep.” He grins and retrieves the first coffee mug. “We took a blanket and basket, the whole works. Made ourselves right at home in the middle of hisAlessander Hummings-designed suite. He held two appointments there like we didn’t exist before he caved. I think that was the day we put the first chip in his armor.”

I laugh dryly. “That’s crazy. I can’t picture it.” Dad was a perfectionist. Simon and his brother would have turned his life upside down.

He slides my coffee across the bench before spreading hummus and mayonnaise onto the wraps. The eggs and bacon go next, followed by cheese, baby spinach, and sliced tomato. He rolls them up neatly and puts one on a plate for me.

He sighs as he slides it across the bench. “Lector and I tried our best to show you what pack should be like. We thought when you took Rickon under your wing that you understood the picture, but the older you got, the more you withdrew. I’m sorry we couldn’t do better, but like the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but—”

I hold up my hand, wincing. “I get it, so please don’t rub salt in my wounds.” As if anything he says could make me understand how much I’ve lost—I feel it in every icy, trembling fiber.

Simon shrugs and drops into a nearby seat to eat his breakfast wrap. His warm brown gaze lands on me and he speaks through a mouthful. “Had to shoot my shot. This is the most we’ve chatted in years.”

I snort and take a bite. Honestly, although the food smells good, I can’t taste it. I’m sitting in my semi-estranged family’s house, eating a meal prepared by a stepdad who doesn’t approve of me, and I’m homeless because a cage-fighting alpha just claimed my omega and kicked me out of my own crib.

And even while I’m alternating between numb and shivering inside, my brain’s still going through the motions of myupcoming cases, and I’m planning to buy into the apartment building down the road from Harkman and Laurance. Life doesn’t stop just because your heart got broken.

Though I wish it would.

I choke on my food and let it drop to the plate. It suddenly feels as if I’m another version of myself floating on the ceiling, evaluating the Callisto sitting on a barstool at the gold-flecked marble countertop. Like I’m being weighed on some cosmic scales and my heart’s heavier than a feather.

Like I’m not the man I thought I was.

I watch, dissociated, as Simon scoots closer and puts his arm around my shoulders. “Want me to go wake your mom?”

I shake my head. “Let her sleep,” I grind out, my throat catching on the words. “But I do want to see her. Make her dinner. Does tomorrow night work?”

He frowns and scratches his ear. “Um, the thing is, Lexi doesn’t like eating late at night.”

“Five thirty okay?” Can’t blame him for assuming. I’ll rearrange my work hours so I can knock off early.

Simon relaxes. “Sure, that’s fine. We’ll give you space.”

“Appreciate it.” I scoot the stool back and rise. “I’m gonna get going. Thanks for breakfast and the chat.” I see myself out, breathing in the scent of damp air after the overnight rain.

Red was prophetic. She did break me. But maybe I needed some breaking. Now I want to put the pieces back together, jagged edge by jagged edge, and I need to start with the woman who birthed me. The one I’ve hurt as much as my omega.

But today, I just need a little time for myself. Time to let the raw wound in my heart close over.

Truth is, though, I’m not sure it ever will.

Chapter twenty-six

Rickon

I jolt awake before my alarm goes off, heart pounding. For a moment I think movement downstairs woke me, but the house is quiet. Eerily so.

Callisto’s gone.

I sit up, carefully tucking the duvet around Red’s back so she doesn’t get cold. Neither she or Zack like being cold, I think as a result of the trauma they’ve been through. Red’s lovely brown skin calls to me, but I resist the urge to touch. Zack kept us awake for hours so she needs every minute of sleep she can get this morning.

And not even Red could soothe the empty ache in my heart right now.

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