Page 106 of Follow Your Instincts

“What’s up? More questions about magic dicks?” Andreas asked.

I groaned while Lucas and Soren chuckled.

“No, I think I have that part under control,” I said. “But I do have a question about bonds. Why didn’t anyone tell me I could bond with Soren?” I knocked into him gently with my shoulder, and I felt a flare of pride in our bond.

“What do you mean, chicken?” Steffi asked. “Soren is a Beta, you can’t bond with him in the same way as your Alphas, unfortunately.”

I rolled my eyes and yanked down Soren’s shirt to show her the bite mark on the side of his neck. “Well, yes, actually, I can and have bonded with him. So, what the fuck? Shouldn’t this be part of the… orientation?”

Andreas and Steffi exchanged a look.

“I’ve never heard of an Omega bonding a Beta,” Andreas said, looking dumbfounded. “But you’d better believe I’m going to be trying it tonight.”

“Oh, dear, I’m so happy for you,” Steffi said, her eyes welling with tears. “I’m not sure if this is something unique to your pack or not, but it’s clear you’re where you’re meant to be.”

“Oh goddamnit,” I said as my own eyes welled up and my throat clogged with emotion. “I am so sick of these hormones.”

Steffi had brought my bags into the reception room, but I wanted to see Bridget, Jess, and Austin, all for different reasons. So I grabbed the bag of goodies and entered the secured area of the Center to say my goodbyes.

I found Austin in the kitchen.

“Maggie,” they exclaimed and enfolded me in a hug that smelled like freshly baked bread. They gave me a little sniff. “You’re all packed up now, huh? I can smell the Alpha stink on you.”

I swatted their arm. “Yeah, yeah, I am a filthy hypocrite Omega. I just wanted to say goodbye and thank you for the cooking lessons and making my time here less shitty ingeneral.”

Austin smiled. “You’re very welcome. But also, this doesn’t have to be goodbye forever. Text me if you ever want to hang out outside of a kitchen.”

I promised to do so, then went in search of Bridget. I found her in her room, curled up in bed with her computer in her lap. She looked up, her blue eyes wide, then hopped up with a squeal to hug me. I’d texted her a few times since I started staying at the pack house, but I had missed seeing her.

“Hi,” I said. “It’s really good to see you, too.”

“Pack life looks good on you,” she said with a soft smile, then wrinkled her nose. “You do kind of stink, though.”

I laughed. “Thanks. I wasn’t expecting it to work out this way, but I think Steffi and Andreas might kind of know what they’re doing after all.”

Bridget rolled her eyes. “Don’t encourage them, they’re already being insufferable about your match process. They’ve started pushing me to start the matching process again. But I don’t think I’m there yet.”

“You’ll get there. Or maybe you can just evolve into a komodo dragon and skip men altogether,” I said, giving her another hug. “But this isn’tgoodbye,you’re gonna come hang out at the pack house with me soon!”

Bridget laughed as she gave me an extra squeeze. “Deal.”

I left to go find Jess, but she found me first. She stepped out into the hallway from her room with her usual scowl.

“Come back to gloat?” she asked.

“No, actually I came back to say goodbye to Austin and Bridget. And to ask you some questions.”

Jess’s eyes widened as I stepped into her space to push her back into her room and closed the door. She was so tiny that I towered over her, but she crossed her arms defiantly. “Um, what the fuck? What questions could you possibly have?”

“Look, I don’t know exactly why you hate me, but did you tell anyone about me being here? Not that it matters anymore, but someone hurt me, and they knew where I was staying. Sosomeone had to tell them,” I said.

Jess scoffed. “Why the hell would I tell someone about you being here? I literally do not care about you. And I don’t talk to anyone outside here anyway.”

I met her eyes, looking for any hint of guilt. All I saw was disdain, and my heart sank a little. If Jess was the one who had told Todd about where I was, things would’ve been wrapped up nicely and I could move on without that little doubt still niggling in my head.

I sighed. “Alright, sorry.”

Jess glared at me. “Okay, great, now please get the fuck out.”

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