Page 18 of Juliet & Her Romeos

Mentors are also meant to control their partner.

Swan has never controlled me.

Hehasloved me, however, which is the one thing that’s forbidden.

Distressed, I drag the scratchy gray blanket more tightly around my shoulders. It’s the only thing that I have to make my nest. I once begged Katerina for more blankets, when the nesting instinct became painful.

She simply snapped that this was an elite dance academy and not somewhere that madeaccessibility adjustments. If I wanted to become an Omega dancer, then I could suck it up…or fail.

I’m not failing.

But fuck, I need the comfort of soft touch right now.

I scramble around to slip my hand underneath the mattress to my two secret treasures.

Relief washes over me, as it always does, when my hand strokes over the first one: thin, rose shaped paper notes.

I’m lucky that I had a big enough crush on Ambrose as a teenager that I carried these with me in my pocket everywhere that I went. Otherwise, when I was suddenly captured and held in this academy, I wouldn’t have these now.

I trace my finger over the notes.

Then I edge further under the mattress to drag out my second most treasured item.

It’s a large quarterback’s football jersey.

It’s from Sanctum High School: white with purple stripes and a large ‘five’ on the front, back, and across the shoulders.

I hold it to my nose, sniffing in the scent of Alpha: spicy Cognac with the undertone of toasted almonds.

I love Ambrose’s scent. I always have.

Back then, I didn’t fully understand why I was drawn to the smell. But now, with the way that I feel like I’m dying insideevery moment I’m now able to smell Ambrose, craving at least the hit of this faded jersey, it’s obvious.

Ambrose is my scent match.

He’s also the son of my enemy.

The son of the Head Alpha who’s holding both Mom and me captive.

The son of the rival pack.

I watched all Ambrose’s football games at high school. He was in the same team as my cousin, Silvanus. At least that gave me the excuse to sit on the bleachers and not miss the golden god of an Alpha score the highest number of touchdowns in Sanctum High School history.

My cousin was fucking furious about that.

Silvanus held the previous record that Ambrose smashed. He’d been the star of the team, until Ambrose’s performance outshone him that season.

Ambrose and Silvanus were rivals for everything: track, grades, and trophies.

The teachers encouraged their rivalry because they always do with Alphas.

Competition is everything.

This hyper-Alphalinity bullshit is half the reason there are so many wars.

Alphas should worry less about waving their knots at each other.

I’m surprised that sports teams and politicians don’t simply pull out their cocks and decide things by how large they can inflate their knots.

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