Page 90 of For the First Time
“No.Absolutely not.You don’t get to hide behind your actions.You broke the rules, Eve.You have caused other betas—the whole designation—to be scrutinized—”
Everett growled, the sound angry as he pulled me against his body.I was surprised he didn’t pull the phone from my hand, but he merely clung to me, like having me close calmed his raging emotions.His syrup scent was sickly sweet with his anger, nearly making my cheeks ache just with the smell.
Leaning against my mate, I found my voice.“I didn’t do anything.Adam did all of that.”
“Because of you!”
“Because someone was trying to tear an omega from her pack because she dared to not want to be caged at home all the time.”
“And what exactly do you know about omegas, Eve?”Mom Elizabet asked.
Her words were so ridiculous, I laughed.“I know a fuck ton.Even more than Adam, who has never spent a single day at the Omega Compound caring for omegas, ensuring their safety directly.He can spend all day, every day touting laws that supposedly protect omegas but he’s only guessing.He doesn’t know what keeps an omega safe and happy.”
“All of a sudden you do?Tell me, what doesyouromega think about what you’ve done.Hell, I’d be surprised if your pack even knew the true reason you werelet go.”The way she said those last two words, I knew she’d really wanted to say fired.
“I’m not the one claiming to know everything about omegas,” I reminded her.“That’s Adam.All I’m saying is that, truthfully, I do know more than him.”
“He’s an alpha.”
“Without an omega!”
“You sound just like those idiots on the news,” dad said.“Is that what this is?You’re listening to all that garbage?Adam is an alpha, with a pack, who has spent his political career taking care of omegas.The fact that he’s gone so long without bonding one shows his dedication.You’re talking about a man who knows he wouldn’t have the time or effort to properly care for an omega and therefore hasn’t bonded one he couldn’t protect.That should be applauded, not villainized because it’s not done on some proper timeline.”
I was shaking my head.I honestly couldn’t believe he’d said that.That he’d fallen so far down this hole all he saw was Adam’s white ass and he thought it was the goddamn sun.“Do you all think this?All of you?”
The murmurs of agreement didn’t break my heart.How could it?They were wrong.Dangerously wrong.And honestly, I didn’t feel like I’d lost my parents, mostly because I hadn’t felt like they were still my parents in a long time.
I wonder when I lost them?Was it the day I turned thirteen and didn’t miraculously start my transition into an omega designation?Was it when I turned sixteen and all the pamphlets and studies and doctors claimed that I’d already gone through the start of puberty and wouldn’t be presenting?Or maybe it was when I’d turned eighteen and left the house.The only time I’d ever been back was for the parties I continued to throw on my family’s behalf.
“You know,” I told them.“In that entire speech you gave about Adam, you referred to omegas like toys.As if Adam gets to choose when his pack gets an omega, not that it would be a group decision.I mean, not even that it would be an omega’s decision.Tell me, does Adam’s future omega get a say?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Eve,” Mom Elizabet snapped.“Of course they do.”
“Really?Because Dad just referred to omegas like you would a pet.Omegas can take care of themselves, at least if they want to.They aren’t babies that need to be attached at the hip, watched over for fear they’ll sleep on their stomach and suffocate.Plenty of people with important and demanding jobs have bonds.I mean—Adam has enough mental and emotional width for his packmates.So what makes an omega different?”
My voice was rising in volume, but I couldn’t seem to talk myself down now.I wasangryat them for falling for these lies.For just ...being this way.“Unless you’re telling me that Adam has never fucked?”
“Eve!”
“What?He’s courted omegas, that’s plain to see.He’s more than likely fucked them.He has a pack.So what is it exactly that’s stopped him from claiming an omega?Oh, I know—no omega has chosen him because he’s a fucking villain.They can see it.Scent it on him.Because regardless of what you think, it takes two to bond.Unless you’re all about forcing omegas into packs.”
My rant was effectively cut off.They’d hung up.
On me.
They’d hung up on me.
My jaw dropped as I stared at my phone.I just stared at the device as if the call log would suddenly reappear.Did I lose the connection?That seemed ...unlikely.I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d actually lost a call because of bad service.Was that still a thing?
“They hung up?”I asked the question, looking to my pack for clarification.
No one answered.
“That...”I wasn’t sure what to say.Who just hangs up on someone?On their daughter?
“You did good, pet.”Atlas stood and came to cup my face, pulling my attention away from my phone which was still shining brightly back at me—not in a call.“It was actually such a turn on to hear you fight back.”
I laughed.“I’m pretty sure you’re just always horny.”
