Page 33 of Toxic

I smirked. "Are they? I can guess why you see it that way—being a hacker comes with being a loner. It’s in the job description."

"Nah, that’s not it. The idea of ‘friends’ since the social media era has become diluted anyway. The word doesn’t mean much anymore. It’s better to focus on one-on-one relationships, on finding a life partner."

"A, yes… Life partner. I would want that too, but it’s not that easy. More of a big deal."

"Yes, but I still have this big dream. I’d love to meet a short, redheaded omega one day and start a family." He sighed, staring pensively at the darkening sky.

"You’re gonna be a millionaire. I’m sure some cute, submissive redheads will soon find their way to your… mansion," I teased.

Archer didn’t smile; his face seemed kinda… rueful.

"Yeah, money makes things easier, but the problem is, I dream about true love. I’m old-fashioned—I want it all. Love and family, preferably a big one."

I lowered my head. "Love? But it’s so… fleeting, Archer. I thought I had that with Martin. I was so into him. He seemed almost perfect—personality-wise, looks-wise—but… it didn’t work."

"Was he similar to Soren?"

"To be honest, he was. I like that type—a bit guarded, tall, black hair…"

"Probably your imprint. Mine are redheads."

"Imprint? I’ve never heard that term."

Archer smiled. "I read this theory somewhere. The closer someone is to your True Mate, look-wise or personality-wise, the stronger the attraction."

"Maybe there’s something to that. But Soren is a beta, so it’s unlikely we have a high mateship. But I’m just so disillusioned with omegas that I want to try something else. A relationship with a beta seems more stable for me."

"Really?" He cracked a smile in disbelief. "You don’t care about high mateship anymore, the never-ending search for your TM? Gave up on omegas after the Martin situation?"

"Archer, being with omegas is… elusive! It deceives you into believing you can have it forever. And you can’t, not unless you find your True Mate. There’s always a better mate chance lurking around the corner. The grass is greener somewhere… in Neverland. It annoys me—the impossibility of forming a permanent bond, of securing it—because it can all crumble the moment a better mate shows up. Betas are more… stable prospects. They won’t run off sniffing out their perfect mates."

He looked contemplative for a while, considering my words. "That kinda makes sense, but I want kids—a lot of them, actually. And I haven’t given up on the chance of sniffing out my True Mate one day." Archer smiled softly.

"I’m from a big family. And my parents are TMs, but believe me, it’s far from perfect—"

Archer raised his eyebrows with a smile. "Ah, yeah, I remember! Gabriel mentioned your parents once. Well, I envy them. I consider that a perfect situation!"

"Overrated! TMs—check. Big family—check. But we have really conflicting personalities, my brothers and I. There were always these alliances and shit. Nothing is perfect, Archer. Hate to burst your bubble." I made a sour smirk.

Archer sighed. "Maybe it didn’t work out perfectly for you guys. Gabriel mentioned once that he was scared to visit yourhouse because it was like an ongoing battlefield. But still, there are advantages—you guys have a better chance of finding your own True Mates, and you also age slower due to better genes. So I don’t lose hope. I could… steer my family in a more peaceful direction, no offense."

Chuckling, I patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck! When eight people with strong personalities are trying to have their say, it really needs a strong leader to deal with them. My father wasn’t that bad, but I guess he was never very strict and didn’t like the whole reward-punishment thing. Maybe it backfired a bit, I don’t know, looking at the chaos we sometimes could create. I would say my parents were loving, but couldn’t really handle us. It could be overwhelming. Sometimes I just had to hide in my room with a headache, it was too noisy and crazy."

"Kids need more than just love and acceptance. They need structure, especially alphas. Only then do they feel safe. Old World methods of raising kids are failing in our cases."

"That’s probably true. My parents are very loving and accepting, but they kinda gave up on regulating our energy, and it ran wild. Rain and I were always against Storm. Snow and Winter teamed up. Bay kept his distance, and even Sun was against Storm… it was a fucking mess." I snorted with amusement.

Archer glanced at me with curiosity. "Storm, the famous purple alpha? People often ask me if I’m purple because of my height, which is within the range of purples. How interesting to have such an alpha as a brother!"

"Yeah, it was… super ‘interesting’—a constant warfront! He beat us to a pulp, but we always kept coming back for more."

"How did your father handle him? I heard that to control purple alphas, fathers have to be very strict."

"He barely managed, perhaps only because he had True-Mate-power-support from my dad. They kept it togethersomehow, but in the end, I don’t think it worked one hundred percent. Storm has some legal troubles, and it does not look good. He has temper issues. Their kid-raising methods were too lenient for his energy."

"I'm sure they did the best they could. But sadly, many people try to use Old World methods to raise alphas, and it just doesn't work."

"Yep. To make matters worse, the only omega among us—my oldest brother, River—ran away from home when he was seventeen. I guess we were that chaotic, hah… He probably couldn’t stand it. Bay once told me River was angry at my parents for letting things get out of hand. They argued about it, he wanted them to do more, to be stronger leaders, and well… then he left." I snorted bitterly.

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