Page 91 of Foxy Filthy Omega

I knew she was aware of how the military used trauma bonding to their benefit. She had a psychology degree after all. So, why was she asking like she didn’t already know?

“Is that what happened to you?” I headed down her street and turned into the parking garage, not really expecting her to answer.

Frankie pointed out which parking spot was hers and I took note of the motorcycle in the other spot next to it with the same number on it. The helmet locked to it had cat ears on it.

I parked and turned off the engine, ready to get my backpack before taking her up to the apartment, but the way she looked at me made me pause and I waited for whatever it was she might say or do, holding my breath like one wrong move would spook her and I’d lose this chance to learn more about her.

“My training was a little different,” she murmured, dropping her eyes to the shark in her hands. “We learned how to control our instincts in any given situation and we learned how to be strong enough to survive.”

Survive what exactly?

If she was being literal earlier then someone had actually buried her alive. What the fuck was she supposed to learn from that?

“My father made sure we all knew how to be the kind of alpha he expected us to be, but he also trained us to survive any attempts someone might make to remove us from the running.” Frankie glanced over at me without moving her head, looking for some kind of reaction.

But I was just as good as she was at controlling my expression.

“In a legacy pack, the strongest and most powerful rules,” she explained, looking back down at the shark. “Sometimes it’s the direct descendent of the current alpha, but not always. It just happens that way more often than not.”

Unless the current alpha didn’t have an alpha child or that alpha child couldn’t control the members of the pack. I wasn’t a ‘real’ legacy alpha but even I knew that much.

“If we can figure out who’s stronger sooner rather than later, it prevents a lot of unnecessary bloodshed and drama,” she explained. “There aren’t spouses or children involved in our power struggles when we’re just teenagers, but I’m sure you know as well as I do that kids can be horrible, evil creatures.”

All those raging hormones and pheromones? Yeah. I knew. I’ve lived through it unfortunately.

“So, one of my cousins played a joke on me,” Frankie admitted. “Him and a few of my other cousins broke my leg and tossed me in a giant hole. Then they buried me in there. My father doesn’t know exactly what happened, but even if he had, he wouldn’t have done anything about it.”

My grip on the steering wheel tightened as unspeakable rage filled me.

I understood the life of a legacy was different, but this was hischild. Would he really stand back and do nothing?

“I had to get out on my own or I could never be the alpha my pack needed.” Frankie smiled down at the shark and took its fins, pulling them apart to stretch the face. “There is no positionquite as isolating as the pack alpha. So, if I can’t take care of myself, then I’ll never be able to take my father’s place. They’ll kill me before I’ve spent even a single day as the Lopez alpha. Because I’mweak.”

No matter how logical it was, I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept.

My squad was the closest thing I’ve ever had to a pack and that’s not how it had worked for us at all.

There was no clear leader other than our direct superior. We were assigned positions and sometimes they overlapped, but usually they didn’t.

All of us were trained to manage the basics of each job the others in the squad held, but only in an emergency. I couldn’t perform field surgery, but I could handle anything tech related. These differences forced us to rely on and protect each other. I needed my squad members to survive and they needed me.

I didn’t understand how a legacy pack could be so different when it was essentially the same thing.

“The alpha is only as strong as its weakest member,” I said as softly as I could so she wouldn’t see that statement as some kind of challenge. “If your job is to protect your pack, you have to rely on the others in that pack to help you.”

I studied her out of the corner of my eye, worried that might piss her off, but she was staring down at the shark like she couldn’t hear me.

“You can’t take care of them all by yourself,” I insisted. “To some degree, you have to trust the others to help you.”

“I guess that’s true.” Frankie shrugged one shoulder and she seemed oddly melancholy. “I just don’t trust anyone to do that really. I have to prove myself first.”

“How exactly are you supposed to do that?” I offered her the keys and did my best not to show how annoyed I was about all this.

“That’s the problem. I don’t really know.” Frankie gave me a quirky little half-smile and took her keys from my hand. “Thanks for dropping me off.”

Did she really think I was going to let her go up there by herself?

I grabbed my backpack and got out of the car, making it over to her door before she could get out. “Let me help you inside.”

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