Page 53 of Marked Omega

For a moment, she grows silent, and I don’t know what to say. The only sound is the faint lapping of the water around the edge of the bath. Then she goes on.

“He was a good guy.” Hannah says. “He still is, I suppose. I mean, I think I loved him. I dunno. But with my Alphas, everything is different. The bond that I have with them goes so much deeper than love. It’s like…”

She looks around the steamy air as if she might find the right word floating there like a butterfly on the breeze.

“Fate,” she says at last. “It feels like fate. I know that probably doesn’t make much sense, but that’s the only way I can explain it. Our bond is so strong.”

I wave my arms slowly under the water, enjoying the warm sensations on my skin.

“I guess I’ll understand soon enough,” I say quietly.

Hannah crosses the shallow pool and joins me by the stairs.

“You’re going to be fine,” she says. “Trust me.”

I shake my head.

“I don’t know. I can’t believe I’m going to be bound to them. I hardly even know them. I mean, Kadmon, maybe. He’s the most…sensitive. And I have to admit that Addom has his, um…nice qualities. But Hasker? He hates me. How can I be bound to someone that hates me?”

“He doesn’t hate you,” Hannah says simply.

I laugh, and the sound echoes through the colonnades.

“Have you seen the way he looks at me?”

“I saw the way he looked at you when you were sick and unconscious, Lily. He looked like his heart was breaking again.”

“Again?”

“You don’t know what happened to him, do you?”

“No. What do you mean?”

Hannah shakes her head.

“Alphas,” she mutters. “There’s a lot that I like about them, but sometimes I swear they think we’re supposed to be mind readers or something.”

“Hannah, what happened to Hasker?”

She frowns.

“It happened before I came to the zone, so I’ve only heard about it second hand.” She sighs. “He used to be part of a different pack before he joined with Addom and Kadmon. And he had an omega mate too. She died. All of them died. It was outsiders.”

My hand reflexively raises to cover my mouth.

“You mean outsiders killed Hasker’s whole pack?” I ask.

Hannah nods.

“And it’s much worse for Alphas when they lose their mate. Their spirits are bonded at such a deep level, when that bond is broken, it leaves wounds that never heal.”

A dull pain pulses behind my eyeballs, and my vision gets misty with tears.

“No wonder Hasker hates me,” I mutter. “I’m an outsider.”

Hanna places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“He doesn’t hate you,” she says. “And besides, you’re not an outsider anymore. You’re an omega.”