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She hadn’t moved or spoken, so I continued. “Stone threatened to reveal everything to you before I was prepared to have this conversation.”
Liza scratched her forehead, her hand visibly shaking. “What the hell is so secretive about me that everyone has chosen to keep it hidden?” And louder, with more emphasis, she added, “From me.”
My throat tightened as I shakily cracked my knuckles. Liza was an observant woman who, no doubt, could see how nervous this discussion was making me. There was no turning back now, though. I had no choice but to tell her the truth about what she was. Stone had taken that choice from me.
Another reason I wouldn’t mind killing him.
“Your parents confirmed my suspicions…” I trailed off, as much because I needed a break as to let her prepare herself. It wasn’t bad news that she was extraordinary, but it was big news that had been kept from her.
“For fuck’s sake, Ty. Just say it!” Liza popped her hands onto her hips, her cheeks flushed, and eyes dark with an untamed fury.
“Your parents said Bryce was right.” I averted my eyes. “You’re an omega.”
I held my breath, waiting for Liza’s reaction of disbelief.
She didn’t react. She stood perfectly still, staring a hole through me. Then her lips twitched, and she started to laugh. Her laughter quickly turned into an all-out cackle.
Well, fuck. That wasn’t the reaction I’d anticipated.
Liza continued to laugh until she doubled over, clutching her stomach and wiping tears from her eyes. She finally stood up and looked at me, gasping for breath. “I know what I am.”
My jaw dropped. Too stunned to speak, I stared at Liza as she recovered from laughing so hard. She already knew? Not only that, but Liza had chosen to keep that part of herself a secret from me. I clenched my jaw so hard I thought my teeth would crack. “What do you mean you know what you are?”
She glared at me. “You’re not seriously pissed off at me right now. Because let me tell you something, buddy, you of all people have no right to be upset with me. You’re the one who’s had your fucking ‘man on the payroll’”—I could’ve lived without the air quotes—“digging around, trying to find out information about me. And don’t forget all these conversations you and your BFF Bryce had behind my back.” She shook her head, her glare striking me right in the heart. “You told him private details that should’ve stayed between us. I don’t… can’t even fucking imagine what made you think it was a good idea to hash out the way I look and act with Bryce, then with my own fucking parents.”
She was past angry now. Past furious. This was a kind of rage I hadn’t seen before.
“All you had to do was come to me. You should’ve asked me, Ty.” Her voice softened, but the fury was easy to spot in her red cheeks, the dark eyes, and her lowered tone.
I growled in frustration as I ran a hand through my hair and paced the edge of the clearing. “Fuck, Liza. You make it sound like it was that simple. I didn’t even know if it was a possibility. I’d always thought omegas were a fucking legend.” And she hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me, even though she’d said she trusted me. I stopped and whirled around. “How could you keep something like that from me?”
Liza scoffed. “It’s none of your fucking business.”
My mouth fell open. “Are you fucking serious? Not my business? You have no idea how much I’ve agonized over having this conversation with you. It’s been tearing me apart.” I raked my hand through my hair and stared at her before looking away. I considered all the scenarios that had run through my mind up to this point. “You were so worried about your hormones and wondering why you were so different from everyone else. Can’t you understand that I was worried about being the one to tell you? In my mind, you were an omega, and your parents and everyone else in your life had kept it from you, even going so far as putting you on hormone pills to conceal your true identity.” I’d thought telling her would destroy relationships. Hurt her. I didn’t want to be the one to do that.
“They didn’t keep it from me. They protected me from it. Taught me how to protect myself because I had to.” Liza held up a hand and cut me off. “I’ve had to protect myself from being who I am since I was thirteen years old, at which point I was almost sexually assaulted by my fucking neighbor.” She shook her head and choked back a sob as the anger immediately seeped out of my body.
Maybe I was an asshole. “Liza.” I reached for her, but she jerked away. That was a bad sign.
Her voice cracked as tears spilled onto her cheeks. “I can’t describe to you the struggles I’ve lived with. Once I realized the weight I carried on my shoulders as an omega, my life was never the same.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My fury over Liza keeping her identity from me had completely dissipated. I stared at my fated mate as she let her walls crash down. I wanted to pick up every piece and toss it for her. She didn’t need walls with me.
She sobbed into her hands, releasing the emotions she’d held back from me for the entirety of our relationship. “My parents were scared out of their minds after the attack. It took a while—some consultations with the doctor and some long talks with me—before they realized the truth about why it had happened in the first place. They kept it a secret from everyone because they wanted to protect me.” She blew out a breath.
I wanted to go to her and hold her, but I wasn’t sure she would accept the comfort from me right now. “Oh, Liza.”
“They were worried that if word got out, I would be a target for multiple reasons.” Her icy blue eyes were even more striking from the tears. “I was going to tell you when the time was right. There’s no way I’d allow us to officially mate without filling you in on something of this magnitude.”
I nodded. I believed her.
“You have to realize that I had reason to be cautious. You said yourself that you thought omegas were just a legend, so surely you remember the myths. Omegas have always been depicted as overly sexualized wolves who just want to get fucked and pregnant.” She shook her head and stared off into the distance. “Can you imagine the number of people who would want to take advantage of me based on that stupid myth alone?”
The sound of a snapping branch interrupted our conversation. I turned and crouched low, searching the forest floor for the culprit. A deer stopped, turned its head our way, and stared at the two of us.
Liza’s emotions were powerful. I’d seen her tears heal a dying rabbit. It made sense that the animals were curious, and I was relieved we weren’t being followed. The last thing we needed was another shifter hearing us talk about Liza’s true identity as an omega. Gossip, especially when it was true, was dangerous.
I turned back to Liza to see her whole body shaking now. Her emotions hit me like a ton of bricks. “Liza, I’m so sorry for looking into you without your consent, and I apologize for keeping the omega suspicions and information from you instead of just coming directly to you about it.” I took a step closer because I needed to touch her. “Please forgive me for getting upset. You’re right, I had no reason for getting mad. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. You have every reason to be cautious.” I brushed a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I’m your mate, though. You should know that I would never do anything to harm you.”
