Page 3 of Sweethearts and Savages
I gave her a bright smile that I forced to reach my eyes. “I know, but I get to finally focus on my Omega talents, and pick a career path, and there’ll be all sorts of new people to meet.” My enthusiasm wasn't all forced. I was excited for most of those things. The new year always brought new students, and the Academy would get an influx as preternaturals graduated out of their mainstream schools and were sent up here to Eden Academy to study preternatural politics, as well as how to blend into human society as a functioning member of the community without outing yourself.
But Carmen wasn’t listening, her eyes on something behind me. I looked over my shoulder at a group of students, new ones apparently. I recognized a few of them from the diner the other day, but my eyes didn’t linger as my gaze was drawn to a guy I’d never seen before. He was tall, golden, and his aura made my skin pull tight across my bones.
Alpha.
The Omega wolf that lived inside me howled, but I didn’t know if it was in fear or need.
Christopher’s eyes whipped to my face, and he must have seen the confused terror on my face, because he stepped in front of me and Carmen with a low growl. Christopher was an Alpha wolf, a powerful one at that, and he had a short fuse.
The Alpha’s gaze was focused on me, his brilliant golden eyes locked with mine. “You have an Omega.” He didn’t shout it, but the words reverberated right down to my soul.
I felt Carmen tense beside me. She stepped to the other side of Christopher, both of them attempting to block the Alpha from seeing me. Uh, too late, guys.
“What’s it to you?” she shouted back.
Christopher’s shoulders were tense, and I put my hand on his back to soothe his Alpha so he didn’t wolf out on his first day of school. Carmen cast our brother an assessing look and then she was striding away, straight into the problem. “Watch Enit,” she said over her shoulder as she ate up the distance between our two groups with confident ease.
Dang it!
“Fucking hell, Carmen. Get your ass back here,” Christopher hissed, but it was too late. She was saying something in a low voice to the big Alpha. The Alpha gave her a cocky smile, and I justknewwhat was about to happen.
Carmen pulled back her fist and punched the big, blond Alpha in the face.
“God fucking dammit!” Christopher cursed, and when a big tattooed guy grabbed Carmen, he was sprinting across the space between our groups, leaving me standing there like a gaping fish.
But the Alpha’s eyes were on me again, and I could see his animal riding him hard. My feet moved without my permission, like I was one half of a magnet and I didn’t have the strength to resist it.
I was before him like I didn't have a choice, and then I raised my hand to his chest, calming him with my touch. I dragged my eyes up to meet his golden ones. He looked down at where my hand was pressed to his pec, then back at my face. There was nothing disgusted or derisive in his face. Just absolute awe. A low rumble started beneath my palm, deep in his chest. Definitely a feline shifter then. “I’m Bohdie,” he said with a voice that was more big cat than human.
Then someone was ripping my hand away, and the shifter curled his lip.
“Fuck off,” Carmen growled back. “Enit, stop touching the pussy.”
I frowned at the loss of the connection, which was insane. I didn’t want to touch Alphas. I wanted to avoid them at all costs. My brain flashed back to a memory that I firmly pushed away.
Bohdie bowed his head low. “Omega.”
He said it reverently, like I was someone to be cherished. Something rare and special. Which, I guess, I was. There were no other Omegas at the Academy. I didn’t even know any other Omegas. But the way we were treated went one of two ways. We were either revered and coddled to the point of suffocation—or used, beaten and downtrodden.
There was no in between. No normality for Omegas. But the way this Alpha was looking at me was…
“It’s Enit. Nice to meet you Bohdie, I mean, Alpha.”
Carmen whacked my fingers before I even realized I’d lifted them again. Bohdie growled at her, but Carmen just gave him the stink eye and bundled me away. Straight into Bobby, Alpha-Heir to the Nîso Pack of shapeshifters.
Carmen had a crush on Bobby the size of Canada. And Bobby? I looked up at my longtime friend, the only Alpha I trusted who wasn’t family, and shook my head softly. The connection between them burned so hot that I almost believed I could reach out and touch it. But he pretended like their bond didn’t exist, and it wasn’t my place to tell him he was wrong.
“Mouse. What the hell is going on here?”
I couldn’t hide my small smile as she looked up at him innocently. He was the only one who could reel her in, and probably save her from the risky shit that she was always getting herself into. They both just had to wake up and smell the pheromones.
It wasn’t my place to interfere; I was happy to let it play out. I would just watch from the sidelines with popcorn and a smile.
I looked back over at the big cat Alpha, and he still hadn’t taken his eyes off me. A flush crawled along my pale skin, and I knew he’d see it.
Yeah, Carmen and Bobby could sort their own issues out. I had enough of my own to deal with.
Omegas were pretty rare.It’s why my family guarded me so closely. It was almost a curse. On the flip side, my scarcity was the reason my dad Lucius had bought me for my mom years ago. He hadn’t understood that what he was doing was wrong. He’d been a vampire who hadn’t really progressed mentally past his all-powerful warlord days during his glory years. Maybe gory years would be a better descriptor.
