Page 27 of The Omega Archives: Part Two

This was it. They were going to call the authorities and I was screwed. I was going to be locked up or pawned off into a nasty dangerous pack of alphas or whatever Omega Services did with omegas that never registered when they first presented.

Could they put me in some kind of omega jail? Was that where I was going to end up? At least I knew that in some prisons there were still libraries, even if the books were probably old and bent and out of date.

Illegal to harbor unbonded omegas.

Another figure came through the doorway though, eyes wide. I could tell that even though my tears at some point started to pour down my cheeks.

“Hi.” A young woman about my age knelt in front of me.

Her red hair was just as wild as I remembered outside the science building last week. It felt like months ago.

“I think we met before?”

Swallowing, I nodded.

“Miss Jones,” Mr. Wolfern said softly, shutting the door mostly shut as he came back in. “I hope you don’t mind. This is my omega, Lidya. She was waiting for me to finish work for the day. I thought she would make you more comfortable.”

Lena’s eyes sparkled up at Mr. Wolfern as if she were delighted by this new introduction.

“This was the person I was telling you about a while ago, Rylan. This was the omega I saw before I met you at your meeting,” she babbled. “The one I thought was an omega though it didn’t make any sense.”

“Remind me never to mistrust your nose.”

She scrunched her freckles up on her nose with a smile. Her happy expression dropped when she looked back at me, however. Immediately she placed her hands on top of mine, pulling them away from my eyes and holding them in her palms.

A warm ease settled over me. For so long, I didn't like anyone touching me, not even Rita. Now it felt good. Too good. I wanted to grab on and force her to never let go of me.

“Hey, it’s okay," said Lidya. "You don’t need to be afraid. My alpha is a good one. Plus, I’m here to help.”

I sniffed, trying and failing to compose myself.

“Lidya, this is Ella Jones.”

“Aw, look at us. The four-letter name crew,” she joked, though it wasn’t that funny. “Are you okay?”

I thought about lying and making a run for it, but I knew that wasn’t possible. I shook my head.

Lidya’s brow furrowed as she studied me. “You don’t seem like you’re going into heat. You don’t smell much like it anyway.”

“At least I have that going for me.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, that’s the worst when you’re not expecting it. What’s happening then?”

“Besides your alpha firing me?”

“Letting go,” Mr. Wolfern carefully corrected, though I noted he maintained his distance.

“Yeah, that sucks.” Lidya cringed. “You’re having a bad day.”

I was having a bad week at this point, but I couldn’t tell her that. If I started talking I was sure everything would come out from Cal to the likely fake suppressants I’d been taking, meaning that I had been previously buying real but illegal suppressants.

Everything was a wreck.

I shook my head. It was all too much. “I just want to go home.”

“Okay.” Immediately, Lidya nodded. “We can do that and get you to your nest. Nothing a good nest huddle can’t fix, am I right?”

I had no idea what she was talking about.

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