Page 5 of Sweethearts and Savages
I nodded again, hefting my backpack over my shoulders. “Yes, Miss Pea.”
Even as I agreed with Miss Pea, the words of Omega Turia ran through my head.
I was weak. Simple. Made to serve. Not my own person. The words resonated in my soul and they were hard to shake. But I was determined to prove her wrong.
2
Bohdie
“Stop gawking, Bohdie, before you get your ass kicked by a girl again,” Cara whispered, elbowing me in the ribs. She didn’t need to sound so freaking amused by the whole thing. My nose still ached as my bones healed slowly.
I cleared my throat and dragged my eyes from the pretty Omega as she floated across the lawn of the school to the table that contained her siblings. And I mean, she floated, like a vision or an angel or something. “I’m not gawking,” I growled at Cara, who just raised an eyebrow at me.
She was my best friend, along with Sammie. When they’d showed up on Black Mountain with a fucking pack of bikers, my Pride had almost pitched a fit. Along with the bears of the Cold River Sleuth, I honestly thought there would be a fight. But then they’d promised they weren’t there to cause drama, and for a tense year, we all got used to sharing a mountain with the scariest bastards I’d ever met. Well, at that point they’d been the scariest. You didn’t know scary until you’d looked into the face of the Devil himself.
“Sure you aren’t, Dee. Watch where you’re going, you almost stepped on a junior,” she hissed, hip checking me around a tiny little shifter kid who looked up at me with eyes that were way too big for her face.
I gave her a winning smile, and it made her cheeks flush. “Sorry, kid.”
Cara led us to an empty spot under a tree and I flopped down onto the ground. Cara lowered herself next to me, grabbing the food off my tray and spreading it around like an impromptu picnic.
Two seconds later, I knew why. Her brother Madoc and little cousin Attica appeared, their faces beaming.
“Oh my god, Cara, you’ll never guess who I met! An actual kangaroo shifter. How crazy is that?” Attica squealed.
Madoc slumped down beside me, his wings out so he could rest back against them. “She’s nice too. Really pretty.”
Attica scowled at him. “I want her to be my friend, Madoc, so that means you keep your ‘oh hey, do you want to stroke my wings?’ stuff to yourself.”
I snorted and Madoc flushed, scowling at his cousin. Cara was doing a good job of keeping a straight face. “If you start being interested in girls, I’m going to have to call our parents and they’ll give you the sex talk. They’ll probably use words like ejaculate and menstrua—”
“Oh my god, Cara, just stop.” Madoc’s face was officially as red as his hair. “I’m not interested in Attica’s stupid friends, okay?”
He angrily ate his pizza, and Attica looked smug. “Are you going to do the same for Bohdie? His feelings were so gross this morning when he looked at the pretty white-haired girl, I almost puked.”
I pointed my apple in her direction. “I’m an adult. And you better watch yourself, Pipsqueak.”
She just laughed and launched into a story about her first classes, listing literally every person in each one. Cara managed to keep up with it, but I found my mind and my gaze wandering back across the courtyard to the Omega.
Enit. It was a pretty name. It suited her.
Her Alpha brother’s head turned and his eyes met mine. His lip curled and his face portrayed his thoughts well enough. He wanted me to stay away.
Bad fucking luck. I was going to get to know the captivating Enit, whether he liked it or not. So I just grinned back, my look challenging, and he took the bait like a big-mouthed bass. He stood, and I noticed that the fist-throwing beta was nowhere to be seen. Hmm.
Cara just sighed as he strode toward us, her ever-present daggers slipping from her sleeve. He was halfway across the courtyard before she threw the first one, her knife lodging in a tree beside his face. His eyes went comically wide as he looked from the dagger to Cara, who had her chin jutted out in an expression that I knew meant trouble. But this Alpha douche? He had no clue about the world of pain he was in for. His rumbling growl had the whole courtyard silencing and every head turning in our direction.
He glared at Cara, reaching up to grab the dagger from the tree, tugging it out with ease. He leaned down, sliding it into his boot, his eyes never leaving hers. But his expression promised bloody retribution.
He turned on his heel and walked back toward Enit, ushering her out of the courtyard and back inside the main Academy building. I watched her go, a plan forming in my mind.
My parents had a very strong view of how women should be treated, something strongly supported by the Bears. Women should be treated like queens, regardless of whether they were human or shifter, or anything else. They gave the world life and we needed to treat them with the reverence they deserved. And honestly, you only needed to see how my step-dads treated my mother to know it wasn’t just lip service.
They adored her. They’d waited five years before they started trying for their own kids, but I hadn’t been jealous, despite the fact that I wasn’t really related to any of them. My bio-Mom had died in a house fire, and my bio-Dad only visited once every few years. Isla had been the only parent I’d had for so long that shewasmy mom, and the guys treated me like I was blood kin. They loved me ferociously. And I loved them, and all four of my siblings, with just as much ferocity.
So to say that they would kick my ass if I fucked around with a girl’s heart—especially a damn Omega, despite them not being a big thing in lion culture—was an understatement.
It would not end well for me.
