Page 34 of The Omega

“Nah, it’s alright.” Clara licked maple frosting from her fingers as she said, “Murder.”

I’m going to murder her if she keeps eyeing those other pastries.

What has gotten into you? I gasped.

Besides you drugging me into submission?

You are submissive!

“But enough about me.” Clara hopped off the table. “You’re going to have to let me know why you’re going into heat this early. Aspen is worried. Which means I need to be worried. And you aren’t telling us the whole truth.”

I took a bite of the croissant, stalling.

It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know much about Omega biology. Heck, I was one and I barely understood it either. It was the kind of information only passed down from mother to daughter, or in my case, in an email from the Omega clinic when I got the courage to ask my first questions.

Omegas were the rarest of the wolf shifter species and the cloud of mystery helped keep us safe from those who sought to exploit us.

But I felt like I could trust the murderer in my room and I knew I could trust Aspen enough to give them a little information. “Omegas can go into heat any time.”

Neither of them needed to know what happened when we did without mates to get us through. It was typical for all females to need some help during that time, but their bodies didn’t physically shut down without support.

Some things were best kept to ourselves.

“That’s not too crazy,” Clara said. “Other species go into heat during different times of the year too.”

I laughed a little. “But do other species send out these aggressive sex pheromones to help lure in their mates that amp up and make them ill the harder they fight it?”

And these were only the early stages. If I was in full-blown heat, my mates would tear apart the walls to get to me. So might a few other wolves who got caught up in the fray.

“So you’re like a sex beacon?” Clara frowned. “That feels like some patriarchal-coded objectification.”

“Sex doesn’t discriminate between those who want it.” I tore into a doughnut and moaned as the salty sweetness hit my tongue. “And you’ve been around humans too long if you think that me being able to bring males to their knees as they pant for my attention makes me the one without power in this situation.”

“Touché.” Clara tipped an imaginary hat. “I knew that I liked you for a reason. But what do we do with all this powerful sex juju you’re pushing out?”

Own it. My wolf yawned as the suppressant started to work its magic.

“I’m not sure.” I reached for another doughnut, needing to carb up if I was going to get through the day, and the rest of the days to follow. “Right now I’m hoping to keep it in check long enough to convince my mates to work together.”

“I don’t envy you.” Clara sighed as she took my last croissant. “On the bright side, at least the Alpha Games will be entertaining this season.”

13

Dorian

I waited to catch sight of Opal until I couldn’t wait anymore and I was ushered backstage with the rest of the Alphas all dressed up and ready for the kickoff event.

This is a mess.

Even my wolf chuckled at the disarray. I understood that the show was leaning heavily on the entertainment factor this season, but the first part of the night was grade-school level embarrassment.

At least our routine will save them some dignity.

I caught sight of Ken Damar waving at me through the backstage chaos. His human heart thrummed hard and the stench of fear wafted from his direction. He kept a brave face, though. Making last minute adjustments and trying not to get eaten by wolves.

I almost felt bad for him. But this was his show, not mine.

“Dorian!” He waved harder as if I hadn’t already seen him, as if he hadn’t already pulled me backstage early to run over the steps a final time, interrupting me when I was about to hunt my Omega down and claim her as mine.