Page 130 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
“I know. Itdidhappen and affected you. It’s great that you’re seeing one at your university, but I think you should try again with someone who specifically handles things like this. Soon.” He got out his phone and made himself a note.
I made a non-committal noise. It depended on which thing. I had several very separate issues to handle from my ordealwith Lucius at the lake house.
“Um, also, maybe love on Giulia a little? She tested as a beta and she’s feeling insecure about it, because we don’t have many beta family members for her to look up to. Well, Maricella said something, but that won’t happen anymore.”
My brother got that look on his face that reminded me that even my family members, who soothed my nightmares and made me milkshakes, were people to be reckoned with.
“That bitch. Ugh. Of course. I miss Giulia. Just don’t do to her what the dads did to me after I tested as a beta?” I pleaded.
“Um, let you continue ice skating and dance lessons and have private tutors, while looking the other way when you ditched things for hockey practice?” Matty’s brows furrowed.
I sucked in a breath. “They knew that?”
“Yes. Just like they knew you didn’t really want to move to New York with Nonna in order to focus on skating, you wanted to play hockey with Mia. Ultimately, like always, they let you,” he pointed out.
What?
“I… I don’t know how to feel about that. Still, I wanted to go to school and play hockey, not continue fucking omega lessons.” My eyes teared. “You alphas got to go to high school, why couldn’t I? All the ballet in the world wouldn’t activate that dormant gene.”
Some betas had that little extra that had the potential to wake up and push them over into omega status. Something that an illegal street drug used by traffickers could exploit.
“I know. They were trying to continue to treat you equally. However, I can understand why it felt like that, since they didn’t listen to what you wanted.” He took a sip of beer.
They never listened to what I wanted. Which was the problem. And part of why I worried they’d find me and make me come home.
All my life they didn’t listen. Why would they start now?
“Is it safe for me to have contact with people from before?” I asked, frowning as I toyed with my beer. “No one ever told me and there’s some people I’d like to talk to.”
I worried about danger. The grandparent’s death wore on me. If I hadn’t run to them, Lucius wouldn’t have had them killed.
Matty’s look softened. “Talk to whoever you want. Mia and her pack have been asking about you. I guess they saw your skating video?”
“Oh, they did? I miss them and keep hoping I’d run into them at a Knights game or something.” Though she’d been coaching hockey in Italy with one of her other packmates for years.
Matty’s phone lit up. He looked at it, then at me. “Incoming.”
“Zia G.” Giulia came running across the grass, sending a flock of birds flying.
“Giulia.” I gave her a hug. She looked like Flavie, with her light-brown hair and blue eyes. Most kids with an omega parent favored them, which was why all eight of us looked a lot alike, while not all having the same biological dad.
I didn’t even know who mine was.
“Zia G, are you courting the Yeti? I saw him hugging you.” Davey joined her, looking perplexed. “He’s so tall.”
“Courting, no. Are we something? Maybe? He’sverytall.” I giggled.
Courting was when an alpha wooed an omega to show them they could be a suitable mate. It was like dating, but shorter, more intense, and fueled by the intent to bond with them.
“You know Double D is here. Grif Graf, too,” I added. A couple years ago, he’d liked the Knights.
Davey’s face lit up. “They are?”
“One of the goalies from the Knights is getting married. That’s why there’s all these hockey players here, why I’m here,” I told him. Though I knew the cousin of Flavie’s that was getting married. We’d been good friends when we were little. Maybe there were other people I knew here?
“Buttons.” Flavie gave me a big hug, the baby on her chest. She, like most female omegas, was shorter than me. She wasperfect, tiny, and dainty, with light-brown hair and blue eyes. They’d met in Vancouver at a mixer between her omega academy and his university.
“Where’s everyone else?” I looked around.
