Page 97 of Patiently Yours
He keeps talking. “They’re very nice boys. Sons of one of my associates.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I still can’t believe what I’m hearing. My body is shaking. The realization of what they are trying to force me to do hits me hard, but my mind wants to hold onto the denial that this is happening at all.
“Keep your voice down,” my mother snaps in a hushed voice. “Youwillbond with them because that is what good omegas do.” She whirls around the liquid in her martini glass and then mutters, “It’s all they’re good for: letting others benefit from the inconvenience of their designation.”
I feel tears threaten to spill over but I try to blink them away. I’ve heard them say things like this my whole life, spit about what omegas are “good for,” but I was optimistic that this day would never come. I was hoping that my parents were just trying to appease their equally pretentious friends.
“But…” My scent matches.
I think about my mates, see each one of their faces in my mind. My omega refuses to lose them.
I feel a burning in my face. The fire living inside me burns its way up my throat before I slam my hand on the table and bark, “I willnot.”
“Stacia Marie,” my mother hisses, before looking around for any onlookers.
“I refuse to be used as a pawn for your business. I am not a political chip. I have fucking scent matches. I won’t bond with anyone butthem.” My omega stands strong in my chest, willing me out of my seat.
“Enough,” my father growls. “Sit down.”
I wane on shaky legs but ultimately stay standing.
My father’s eyes are full of ice. I never should have thought he cared about me at all.
“We pay for your education,” he puts out his index finger before continuing down the row. “Your rent, your phone bill. If you even think about pulling out of this deal, you will be cutoff, and you will be brought home.Forcibly, if need be. Do you understand me?”
My blood runs cold, and my omega whimpers inside me.
“This is important. Way more important than your fantasy of a perfect life with your so-called scent matches. You will grow up and do your duty, or you will be forced to.”
I stare at my father, and the ire in his voice stomps out the fire in my mine. He’s serious. He’s going to force a bond on me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
The fight in me withers and dies. I silently sit back down, my body feeling numb once more. Their hatred of me and my designation finally seeps in. They continue to talk about it, but I don’t hear anything that’s said. I just go through the motions. Get food, mechanically eat, nod when needing to, breathe through my nose and exhale on repeat.
I finally see them for who they are. They were never going to love me. I wasn’t aware of it, but the little girl inside of me had hope that they would one day wake up and see what was right in front of them. She was hoping that they’d want to be a real family, full of compassion and support. It’s impossible now. That rose-colored window has shattered, and my heart is broken. I didn’t think it was possible that they could break it anymore than they already had.
I try not to think about my mates. The sadness will only pull me further into the numbness, so far down that I’ll lose autonomy.
They are literally the perfect pack and the universe gave them a broken omega with the worst family in the world. So, I try not to think about them.
Breathe in, breathe out. Don’t think about them. Don’t think about them. Don’t think about…
Them.
FORTY-SIX
Playing: Help Me Out by Alicks
The human walks around mindlessly.The area is unfamiliar to us, the loud noise of party-goers echoing throughout the city streets. I ache for home, cozy sheets and those wax melts she knows that I like. She ignores me, or maybe she doesn’t hear me. Her mind is daydreaming, heedless to her surroundings entirely.
She knows that she is floating outside of our body, still contemplating the events from earlier, still believing that this life meant for us will not be a choice of our own.
I try to push her to not accept defeat. I’m growling with all my sentience for her to muster up the courage that we both know she has. This body was meant for this. We were meant to come together, demand that our life beours. But instead she is thinking of her father through the lens of the little girl inside her that didn’t turn out to be a little beta like he wanted. She hears his voice, full of venom and hatred, demanding her to do what she must all because biology said it must be so. He now deemsher worthy only as stock, so she must see herself as such and accept it.
No! Wake up!I try to scream at her, but she’s ignoring the feeling in her gut.
I’m starting to worry that she is no longer in this body with me.
At some point, our shell interacts with others on autopilot. Some of them look at us with hesitant smiles, while others have the same half-lidded eyes.
