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“No need, no need.”
Oh, no. He’s one ofthose. “Sir, I would prefer if?—”
“I’m not new here, kid. I’ve had way worse wounds. I need no restraints.”
I swallow a sigh at the predictable stubbornness of old Alphas. Normally, I would push back and force a harness on him. But none of my colleagues are around, and I know better than to pick a fight with an Alpha when we’re alone. “Very well,” I say, leaning forward to see to his injury.
He flinches back before I even touch him, eyes abruptly widening in shock. I pretend not to notice because this is a recurring experience for me—an Alpha getting a whiff of my scent and realizing that I’m an Omega.
It’s the reason I avoid getting close to people I don’t know well as much as possible. Everything about me screamsBeta, and I’m happy to let them keep assuming that’s what I am. After all, I’m tall, and my muscles are wiry. My smell is faint. I don’t exude the kind of soft, sensual appeal that elicits an Alpha’s protective instinct. Simply put, I’m not like an Omega should be.
And there’s a reason for that.
Unfortunately, I can pinpoint the exact moment Ulf realizes the nature of my condition, because his face fills with something that looks too much like pity for my taste, and he no longer meets my eyes.
Ihateit. So much so, I hide it with a quick smile. “Ready?” I ask, digging into the back of my brown cotton uniform pants. I find my pocketknife and use it to further cut open the fabric of his trousers. “I’m going to pour the disinfectant. It’s going to hurt.”
“You said that already. And as I told you?—”
It all happens really fast, and for the most part, I’m proud of how I react. Ulf may have hadway worse, but the second the acid pools inside the wound, he screams as though I’m squeezing his bowels out of his body. His leg reflexively extends into a kick, but I fully expected it and easily dodge the hit.
What I didnotexpect is the punch. His fist makes contact with my eye with so much force, I drop backward, first onto my ass, then belly up, the cold stone floor hard against the back of my head.
Well, I think, mortified.That was a first.
“I am sorry— Healer?Healer?I don’t know what came over me! I didn’t mean to?—”
“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt,” I lie, deeply annoyed at myself for allowing it to happen.
The man’s apologies continue, but I ignore him in favor of lying there for a minute, taking stock of my life. When I finally open my eyes, a familiar face is scowling down at me.
“Oh. Hey.”
“Sof,” says Lara Larsen. My closest friend. My soon-to-be sister-in-law. “What the hell are you doing on a welding site, today of all days?”
“I’m okay. Thanks for asking, though.”
“Please. I beg you. Tell me you’re not going to show up toyour own mating ceremonywith a black eye.”
I can’t tell her that. So I stare up at the ceiling and choose silence.
Chapter3
THE JITTERS
Sofia
The elevator speeds quickly toward the residential floors—so fast, I give up trying to get a glimpse through the portholes.
Lara buries her face in her hands. “My brother is going to kill me.”
I pat her shoulder. “Lennart is too lazy for murder, or you’d be long dead.”
“He told me. Yesterday. Last week. He said, ‘Don’t let her go to work on the day of the ceremony.’ And I said, ‘Pfft.’”
“Pfft?”
“Yes. Pfft. As in,pfft, she’s not going to work. Pfft, why would you even think that?”
