Page 24 of Small Town Shy Omega
My last pack… actually called me delulu one time, and I never forgot it. It stung, badly. Because I knew that they didn't respect me, and any emotion I showed was brushed off as “crazy.”
“I hear you,” Blake said softly, cupping my jaw. “Go on, beautiful. I’m listening.”
Tears blossomed. “Gretel’s bad luck had me thinking about my own failed bondings. My last pack called me dramatic. They said I made things up about them.”
“I’m so sorry,” Blake whispered, and I sensed he was earnest.
My eyes ticked down. “They said I was crazy if I said their apartment was too hot. They said I was delusional because I suspected they were cheating on me. Well, it turned out I wasn’t so delusional after all, though they didn't admit that.”
“How so?” Blake growled, and I sensed his Alpha threatening to come to the surface. To protect me, I realized, and this realization made my pulse thrum.
“I caught them with another Omega,” I gritted out. “They had me thinking I was a psycho the entire time. Accusing me of testing their boundaries to see if they’d flip. They kept controlling me, while they saw someone else behind my back.”
“I’m so sorry that Gretel is going through crap, and that you did too, Layla. You didn't deserve that—there are some assholes out there, and it sucks to deal with them.”
“When you present as Omega, you’re at the mercy of Alphas. Unless a good pack steps up to defend you, when you get sucked into a bad pack, you have nowhere to turn.”
“I know, baby,” Blake murmured, his finger on my jaw. “I wish I could’ve been there. To put a fist through your last pack’s faces, to make them pay. Mark my words: if I see them on the street, I’m beating them up.”
“Oh, they’re not here in Applewood Falls,” and I had to sniffle. “They hated living here, and I think they moved back West. Where they came from.”
Big city Alphas. They didn't know how to connect with an Omega like me in a small town.
“Baby,” Blake growled, and he even dropped his fishing pole. And tackle box. To focus solely on me. “You deserve the world, baby. So much more than a pack who hurts your feelings or forces you to serve them. Do you know how special you are?”
“I never believed I was special,” I whispered, my nose twitching. “Until you called me a queen.”
Wind gusted through the trees, and dappled sunlight fell upon us. A green leaf drifted past Blake’s shoulder, and he let it fall to the ground.
“You… are a queen,” Blake rasped, and I peered into his heavyset blue eyes, which I now saw were dark and riotous. Like the sea. “You’re the most beautiful Omega in Applewood Falls. The second I saw you, my Alpha called out to you.”
“My Omega responded,” I had to confess, because there was no way to deny it. “Really, Blake: I’d vowed to remain single through my next heat, but you make me feel things I never have.”
After pickingup his pole and tackle box, Blake led me to his favorite fishing spot.
I knew nothing about fishing, and I found it didn't matter.
I watched Blake work.
He cast his line, waited for a nibble, then reeled the line in. If he didn't receive a nibble he left his bobber in the water before he snapped it back.
Sparrows swooped by our heads, and frogs croaked and splashed. A single lily pad floated by, a mauve flower receiving sunlight.
“Lily pad,” I muttered, dragging it toward Blake with my toe.
“Hook,” Blake snapped, carefully yanking my foot away from his line. “Damn, I don’t want to snare you.”
I want you to, I wanted to whisper.
I gazed upon Blake’s beautiful face and took note of everything beautiful about it. Chiseled jaw, sculpted nose, serious blue eyes. Unfortunately I smelled no cinnamon or sugar today, which led me to believe that he, and likely his pack mates too, were taking suppressants.
“Oh Layla,” Blake murmured, and I could tell he didn't mind the way I gripped his arm.
“What kinda fish are ya catching, Blake?”
“Have you never been fishing here before?”
“Once, with my grandfather,” I muttered, watching big fish swirl under the water.
