Page 61 of Fallen Omega

“They’re hot, but don’t give your kind a bad name by humping legs just because they’re alphas. It’s not cool.”

Warmth flares. My energy banks are almost at full again, and I want to put the whole incident down as vulnerable because I gave in to a few tears. But it wasn’t that.

I wanted him.

The shame’s heavy and hot and cloying. “I just want to go home, Darcy.”

Her gaze shifts to me. Then she nods. “Fuck, do you have to look so woebegone? They’re a good outfit. And the pack’s tight. I’m allowed to be with who I want when this vile society wouldn’t allow it. But they do. Dante, Knight, Reaper.”

Reaper? The one I haven’t met. The one I’ve smelled. Dark and wild sex, he chases me in my dreams, a shadow with teeth and rough hands. Of incomparable softness and violence.

That’s what I’ve dreamt in all my feverish and pain filled dreams. “He’s one of the alphas?”

She doesn’t answer.

I sigh. “And your man, why…?”

“He’s a beta, I’m a gamma, and we should never touch in the society the Council set up.”

“My father hated their rules and restrictions, too.”

“And where’s he?”

I steel myself. “Dead. An accident. I…I’m still dealing.”

Darcy nods. “How are the clothes?”

“Too tight? Too not me. I prefer my own stuff.” I stop, swallow, drag out my manners as I pick up a water bottle and take a drink. “But I’m very grateful for something clean.”

She isn’t my friend and my longing for a cure for loneliness must be making her uncomfortable. It does for me. I’m way too aware of my own pathetic ways.

“I just…” I search for the words. “I’m ready to go home.”

Darcy moves about the room, collecting the towels I used for my shower. There’s a pile of basic cotton panties that give me rushes of panic and unease, because they tell me I’m not going anywhere.

As do the clothes that are folded. I’m not sure they’re hers. They’re all clean, though. And they fit. A little too well. I’m not overly tall, but I’m not in Darcy’s league of fit and built.

And unease slides cold in my bones at those.

I meant it when I said I want to go home.

But it’s also a place I can’t stay. Even if I lie to the Council about when I’m going into heat, it’ll just buy me a handful of days.

“You know, Lizette, if you were smart, instead of plotting on how to get out of here, you could make this work.”

I shake my head, push the tray away and draw my legs up. “I don’t want to be mated to someone. I don’t want to be owned by an alpha, let alone three.” Then I frown. “How does that work here, exactly?”

Darcy laughs and collects the wine glass Knight set down. “Oh, hell, girl, they don’t do that. These guys live outside of Council run society so they don’t have to mate and have kids. Pups. Whatever the popular term is these days. They don’t want any of it. They don’t want an omega.”

“So, if I’m smart, I should go.”

“No, honey, if you’re smart, you’d find a way to stay which doesn’t include sex to become a part of the pack. A free omega. Under their protection.That’ssmart.”

It sounds like a prisoner by a different name.

At least if I get out of here, I get to go home. For a few hours or a night. I’m not ready to just let go of Dad without that small goodbye.

“If I don’t want to be smart?”

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