Page 1 of Unhinged
PROLOGUE
Nine Years Ago
BRYDGETT
A sharp, searing pain forces me to double over; a cry rips from my throat. My skin is on fire and sweat drips down my back, as the first faint slick gathers between my thighs. I clutch my belly, gasping for breath, trying to focus on something—anything—other than the agony tearing me apart.
I’m lying on my bed underneath the canopy my adoptive mom bought me when I presented as an omega. It’s my makeshift nest for now, enclosed in a wall of drapes and filled with every stuffy and blanket I could get my hands on. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, trying to remind myself that it’s temporary. It’s not perfect, but it only has to last a little bit longer until I leave for Oakridge Academy.
Now that I’m twenty one, I’m supposed to leave next month, and it’s where I’ll hopefully be matched with my future alphas, my pack. Earl messed up something with the paperwork and they didn’t think I was enrolling any longer, so I’ll be a late entry, but I’m still in. We spent hours on the phone straightening allof that out, but luckily, the administration was a dream to work with and let me join late.
A loud banging on the door booms, pulling me from my thoughts and nearly making me jump. I swear it sounds like they are using a battering ram.
“Let me in, Omega!” Earl bellows, sending ice through my veins as it sounds through the room. I shiver, my entire body tense with the kind of fear that settles deep in your bones, the kind you can’t shake.
“No. I think I’m going into heat. Please get Tina. I need her. I think I should go to the clinic to ride this out,” I manage to whimper, my voice weak, almost swallowed by the overpowering scent of my perfume filling the air—orange and jasmine, a fragrance that now feels suffocating.
“Damn, you smell good, Omega. Let me in now. I know what you need.” His voice is thick with desire, with something dark and twisted that makes my stomach churn.
“No! You shouldn’t come in here. I want Tina!” I try to shout, but it comes out in a whine as another wave of pain radiates through me.
The door bursts open with a splintering crash, and I open my eyes to see Earl—my adoptive dad, the man who was supposed to protect me—standing there. His pupils are blown wide, chest heaving, one hand already rubbing at the crotch of his jeans. The sight of him like this, so far from the man I thought I knew, sends a bolt of terror through me.
“Gonna make you feel so good, Omega,” he coos as he stalks toward the bed.
“No, Earl! No! You’re my dad. This isn’t you. You adopted me seven years ago, remember?” I plead, tears blurring my vision as he grabs my ankles and yanks me to the edge of the bed. I feel the cool air against my skin as he tears away my pajamashorts, exposing me. My slick, my scent—it’s supposed to draw my alphas to me, not this. Never this.
“I’ve been waiting seven years for this. Tina hasn’t gone into heat since she went through the change. And I have needs.” His words are a snarl as he pushes his pants down, letting his mediocre cock spring free. He smells of grass and cooking oil as he holds me down. I kick and scream for my adoptive mom.
Why? Why is this happening? I can barely think as he presses a hand to my throat, holding me down while he assaults me, and my mind reels with the awful realization. He sabotaged my paperwork. He wanted me here, alone, when my heat hit. The truth is too much to bear, and as the pressure on my throat increases, I let myself slip into the darkness, praying for it to swallow me whole.
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Something isn’t right. I’m puking all the time, everything makes me gag, and my tits and belly have gotten more pronounced. The truth I’ve been avoiding is becoming impossible to ignore, and now I’m heading to HeatWave, the omega clinic in town. I don’t want to go. I’m terrified of what they might tell me, but I need to know if this sickness is something worse than the memories that haunt me. And if it is… then maybe they can help. Maybe they’ll offer me housing or something, so I won’t have to keep couch-surfing or sleeping in parks.
I haven’t been back to Earl and Tina’s sincethatheat. That never-ending night where a sudden heat spike wrecked me, andEarl didn’t leave my bed until morning. My body betrayed me; responded to him in ways my mind didn’t consent to. I didn’t want him. But in the middle of it, I couldn’t stop the instinct, the pull, the heat-driven craving. I hated how I melted under his touch, how my body welcomed him even while my thoughts screamed no. That kind of betrayal sticks. Makes your skin crawl after. Makes you wonder who you even are.
When Tina came home that morning, I told her what happened—choked it out through sobs, my face buried in my hands. She laughed. Then slapped me. Said it was my fault. Said,“At least now I don’t have to worry about him cheating on me with some random whore.”
Something in me cracked.
Maybe it was a coincidence she was gone that night. Maybe. But I can’t stop thinking she planned it. That she knew what would happen. That she wanted it to.
And honestly? I don’t even care anymore. What wrecks me more is what it took from me—how it rewired something inside me. How it taught me that even people who are supposed to protect you will hurt you if it serves them. That love can be conditional. That safety is a lie.
Now, whenever someone gets close, I wait for the slap. The laughter. The betrayal.
It’s been four months, and I’ve been surviving on scraps, eating from the trash, or whatever my friends—those few who didn’t leave for the Academy—can spare when I crash at their places. I didn’t go to the Academy because no pack would want a damaged omega. Plus, it’s the first place Tina and Earl would look for me.
Walking through the clinic’s doors, I take a deep, calming breath and pray that what the pharmacist said yesterday isn’t true, but there’s only one way to find out.
“How may I help you?” an older beta at the counter asks, calmy, almost motherly, and I nearly break right there.
“Um, I haven’t been feeling well for a while now and I need to see a doctor. I might be pregnant,” I whisper the last part, not wanting anyone to hear.
“That’s wonderful.” She claps her hands together, her face lighting up with joy—until she sees the way my shoulders slump, the way my eyes brim with tears. Her smile fades, replaced by concern. “Oh, dear. Okay, let me get you right back to see someone.”
She hands me a clipboard and stands from her chair, leading me to an exam room in the back. “Someone should be right with you.”
