Page 52 of Who We Were

I stay silent, still watching my brother relive whatever trauma he's endured tonight.

He nods and whispers, "You knew. You kept us from meeting her. Manipulated me away from my scent match. But that's not even the worst part."

I want to ask him what the worst part is, but his trembling lower lip keeps me frozen. I'm so damn scared to hear what he has to say that I wish I could press pause on my life and let it just end right here. The only thing that keeps me here is my alpha slamming against my heart, forcing me to live through whatever pain I'm about to want to die over.

"The worst part, Sammy?"Sammy, the name they called me when we were kids. "Is that I hated her too. I hated Amaya so much for rejecting me, yet the entire time I was just a selfish kid who overlooked all the signs."

"What signs?" I whisper.

"That she loved us. Our best friend, our Amaya, loved us so much. We were family. A pack. She never would have abandoned us. Our omega was sold and abused for years.That'swhy there were cop cars in our neighborhood tonight. Because Amaya is so traumatized that her nightmares woke the neighbors with her screams of terror."

Wetness drips into my ear, but I soon lose feeling. I lose everything.

"So you see," Oli whispers, standing and looking down at me. "Amaya never left us, she wastakenfrom us. And weblamedher.Hatedher. And all along, we were wrong."

With that, my little brother and my best friend leave me there on the table to drown in my own puddle of tears and self-hatred.

I should have let Emmett kill me.

36

AMAYA

ACADEMY YEARS

Seventeen Years Old

They will come, I know it. I'm sure they're just trying to find out where I am, but they will be here. Someday they will find me and rescue me.

"They will come," I whisper into the dark.

It's been a year, I think. I don't really know, but sophomore year just started, and many of the omegas are losing hope.

There were quite a few who had none to begin with, but they won't be alone for long. Some of us had people who loved us even if we were sold by our guardians. Every story is different, and it's been a long time since we've shared or even spoken to each other, because an omega is meant to be silent and submissive.

"Silent and submissive," I huff to myself, knowing nobody can hear me. This is isolation. It's meant to deprive me of my senses and social interaction.

I think I prefer it down in this cell, though. Sure, it smells like mold, and the solid ground is wet, but time doesn't exist here. I can't track how long it's been since I saw my friends. My boys.

Are they watching the clock tick by until they see me again, too?

WillI ever see them again?

A rattle vibrates my chest, making tears prick in my eyes. I hold my hands to my chest, thankful for my omega keeping me positive and hopeful.

Oli, Em, and Sammy will come for me.

When the starvation cramps my insides, and the enforcers leave bruises in their wake of 'obedience' training, I remember them. Our summers spent running around together, the school years filled with laughter, and new adventures are always on my mind.

In isolation, I feel closer to them. My eyes don't see the leers of the alpha and beta students, or the sorrow deepening in my omega classmates’ gazes. I don't have to smell anyone’s scent reminding me that there's no lime, mint, or fresh cut grass to soothe me here.

In this damp, dark cell, I can lose myself in the memory of my best friends. My mates.That'swhy I fight back.

Fighting back looks different for every omega here, but mine is simple. I disobey so I get thrown into isolation for a couple days, then get to live out the life I've lived with the boys, their parents and Nana.

I miss them allsomuch it makes me forget the ache in my gut and head.

In here is also the only place my omega quiets and curls around me like we are one again. This may be isolation, but it's the only place I don't feel alone.

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