Page 25 of Bliss & Her Idols

I suck in a sharp breath.

Then warmth floods through me.

A sense of rightness settles over me at his confirmation. I truly didn’t mind what dynamic he turned out to be, he’s simply my Cricket.

Knowing that he can bemy Omega, however, settles something in my soul.

“You’re an Omega,” I say slowly because my mind is frozen on that.

“Is th-that…?” Cricket stutters, catching himself. “Is th-that okay? I shouldn’t have told you. I don’t mean to encroach on your territory. I swear, you’re in control here. We can still be friends. You won’t hate me for being an Omega, right? Please tell me that I haven’t screwed this up?”

Confused at his distress, for the first time, I regret that he’s not in the same room as me, so that I can soothe him with my pheromones. “Woah, calm down. It’s fine. We’ll always be friends. You don’t need to keep apologizing.”

“Would you prefer me to beg for forgiveness? It’s only that I’ve been taught by Dad to say sorry. It’s up to the Alpha to say whether I’m worthy of forgiveness.”

I clench my jaw.

His dad is a knothead.

“You are worthy, but also, there’s nothing to be forgiven. I can’t sleep without you wishing mesweet dreams, remember? And I love Omegas being in my territory. They’re cuddly and shit. Why wouldn’t I?”

“You make me feel safe,” Cricket replies in a breathless rush like if he doesn’t tell me this quickly, then he won’t have the courage. “I don’t have other Omega friends. I did once. At least, I thought that she would be. I was eighteen. Dad promised me to his best friend’s pack. The Alphas were twice my age, but their female Omega was only a couple of years older than I was.She seemed friendly. She promised that she’d look after me and show me how to act. I was so happy.”

A promised pack to his dad’s Alpha best friend, when Cricket was only eighteen?

I let out a growl, before I can stop myself.

It’s more than the dread that’s curdling my stomach. It’s the thought of Cricket being promised against his will to someone else.

Fuck, I have it bad for Cricket.Only now does it hit how close I came to losing him.

“What happened?” I whisper.

I don’t want to know, but at the same time, I have to.

“I moved into their house, before the bond. At the start, they were nicer than my own family to me. At least, they didn’t beat me, even when I made mistakes. The Alphas even courted me. They gave me gifts.” Cricket’s voice is raw and vulnerable. “But they were the female Omega’s scent matches. They weren’t mine. I was only the Second Omega in the pack. None of them loved me. It was made clear that I was there to keep house. But I’m a realist. I understood my responsibilities and role. The female Omega wasn’t cruel; she simply ignored me. I wasn’t allowed in the bed or in her nest. I had a small bedroom of my own. I thought that was normal. What I deserved.”

My eyes sting with tears.

I slam my hand against my thigh to stop myself from saying something out loud that I’ll regret because it’s so fucking wrong.

I want to show Cricket what he truly deserves.

What I’d give him, if he was my Omega.

My bed, nest, and love.

I hug my arms around myself.

“You deserved to be treated like a proper bonded member of their pack,” I reply, surprised how calm my voice sounds.

“I thought that things would change if I was good.” Cricket’s voice is tear tinged. “I hoped that we’d grow closer, maybe even romantically after we’d bonded. I don’t have heats…”

He pauses like he expects me to sneer at him because he’s a Non-Heat.

I wipe the back of my hand over my eyes.

Being a Non-Heat marks him out as a defective Reject. Is that why his pack treated him like that?

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