Page 15 of Omega Chattel
“As to your question about bond mates, that is quite personal.”
My face heated.
“But I will answer. I’ve had relationships before with Omegas. They never worked out, that’s all. You know the factors and issues. Compatibility, bonding ranks, plus most Omegas I meet—not from the Trenches— do not want kids right away and I do.”
“Uh, oh. Sorry if it is a sore subject. I just wondered.”
“It’s not—“ He stopped.
“The others left kind of quickly,” I said. “I stuck my foot in my mouth, it’s obvious.”
“They know I went looking for someone last night.”
“The one whose room I’m in?”
Tarin nodded. “But he hasn’t been back here in weeks. Six months, actually. It’s all right. I didn’t really expect to find him last night.”
I nodded. Then I opened my big damn mouth again. “But you want kids, right?” I asked, feeling my face heat again. Even with Gray’s abnormal punishments, I’d never learned when to stop.
“Yes,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching.
“I’m sorry it hasn’t worked out for you.”
An awkward silence descended over us.
I had always talked too much back at the farm. It was one of the major things that got me into trouble, that and kissing Omega boys—nothing more. I wanted things I couldn’t put into words.
When I became a teen, I looked forward to servicing Alphas in their Burn but I also wanted more. Something I couldn’t put into words. More than what the other boys talked about all the time: wedding, kids, an Alpha mate.
Sure, I wanted love and all of that. I wanted to know what a bond felt like. But I didn’t want it all to look so boring on the outside and be that way on the inside as well. I wanted the excitement of love, but what the hell did that mean? Emotionally? Physically? Sexually? I didn’t even know.
“I don’t know anything about what I really want. Of course I expected to find my sexual awakening in the mating hall. I looked forward to it. But Gray was going to block that path. I didn’t want to go to an institution. That much I knew. I didn’t have time to plan anything. Since the warden didn’t believe Gray was abusing us, I saw only one option.”
“Run.” Tarin quickly supplied the answer.
I nodded.
“Did you follow me last night thinking I might pick you up and you could later rob me? Tell the truth. I’ll know if you’re lying.”
How would he know? But I didn’t want to lie to him. “I wanted what I could get—what I needed. What’s the difference, anyway, between servicing Alphas at the farm and selling it on the street?”
“It’s safer at the farms for one thing.”
“That’s not entirely true,” I argued. “I knew one guy who got beat up pretty bad. Almost died before the handlers got into the mating room and put the Alpha out. Then the Alpha came back and tried to make a claim on him.”
“I thought we were all screened at the farms.”
“You are. But you have all the power. That means all the power to lie and not get caught.”
Tarin nodded. “You’re right. Well, I’m a fixer, right?”
I gave him a weak smile. “An engineer.”
“You need a plan.”
My blood went cool at the words. What could I offer? “Are you going to help me with a plan?” I asked.
“Maybe.”
