Page 65 of Carmichael's Omega

Cassidy

Rique tosses Miranda into the water, his shoulders and pecs flexing. I hear Mattie sigh in appreciation and giggle. His eyes dart to me, and I quickly look down at the book in my lap, trying to hide my smile.

"You're drooling a little, right there," Adriana bumps Mattie's shoulder playfully as she gracefully sits down next to us, her hair dripping wet.

Mattie blushes. "I am not," he mumbles, tossing her a mock-glare. "Besides, even if I was, look at him," he sighs again. "Look at them all. They're gorgeous."

She looks straight at José, who tosses her a flirty grin and a wink. "I know, right?"

"You and José?" I ask. "Are you mates?" It's not my place to pry, but, as usual, Adriana can't resist the Omega pull.

"José is just for fun. He hasn't met his mate yet, and I... I was rejected, sort of."

"Sort of?" I carefully say. Internally the tears have already begun like a fountain of sorrow. My she-wolf is whimpering in sadness, curled up, her tail over her nose. Mattie hugs me with one arm tightly, kissing the top of my head. I lean into him, taking comfort in my brother.

"He was... or is... a cheater," she says flatly.

"Oh, Adriana," I abandon the textbook that I had upside down anyway to wrap my arms around her. My clothes get wet, but under my sundress, I’m wearing my bathing suit, anyway.

Mattie moves away, searching through the coolers until he finds the smoothies I prepared this morning. He hands Adriana one, me another, then settles on the other side of her. She smiles weakly at him, thanking him in a soft voice.

"Is he in LoboGris?" Mattie asks her quietly.

She nods. "Miguel. He didn't come to university with us. He stayed behind. Actually," she pauses, brushing non-existent grass from her knees, "I came here because he wasn't, if that makes sense."

He smiles sympathetically at her. An act that makes Adriana's eyebrows shoot up and her spine straighten. She has her pride, this female.

Mattie reaches out and gently pats her knee. "You want to talk about it?"

She looks at him quizically but relaxes under his touch. "How much do you know about the LoboGris?"

Mattie shakes his head, "not much. We aren't allies; I know that."

Adriana laughs sourly. "LoboGris has no allies, Matt. Our pack is a pretty harsh place, and it's because of the alpha and Carmichael." She plays with her straw a little. I stop eyeing her half-full cup enviously. Mine is gone already, as usual. My sweet tooth always gets me in trouble.

"Are they mean?" I ask her in a hushed voice. I'm so used to ClearHowl and our kind alpha. I guess Teague is the scary one, but it's hard to find the male who lets Velia cover him in Mickey Mouse bandaids when he gets a 'boo-boo' and kisses everyone's favorite stuffies goodnight 'scary.'

"They're... upsetting. Does that make sense? You... Ihatedyou at first." I flinch again, and she pats my hand. "You're impossible to hate... and the alpha and Carm are impossible to love."

"He's not-" I start to protest to defend my mate.

"I know, I know!" she hurries to interrupt me, "but, honestly, Cassie, Carm was a complete douche before you came along. In many ways, his father is worse. They don't seem to care about us, you know?"

Not really. I shake my head.

Adriana sighs, "we have a lot of rejections in our pack. Three times more than normal."

Mattie sucks in a harsh breath as my stomach flips. "That's insane. Why?"

Adriana shrugs helplessly, "No idea. No matter what punishment is threatened or carried out, nothing seems to help."

"We don't have very many rejections," I say quietly. We haven't had one since Mina was rejected, and look at her life now. In a way, Blu was right; his youthful mistake turned into a triple mating that would have never occurred otherwise. I have a feeling, though, that the rejections in LoboGris don't turn out so well.

"My mate is a good example. Miguel and I... we tried... or I tried. For a long time, I tried to make him faithful. He kept telling me he loved me. Keeps telling me that. But then he would cheat. All the time. He claims that he feels broken and doesn't even want to sleep with other females, but he does it anyway. I finally had enough, and I became one of those females who pursued Carm."

She hands me her half-finished smoothie over to me and switches out the straws, waving off my thanks. "I came here and became one of the alphason's booty calls. In part... well, really, the entire motivation was to make Miguel feel how terrible he always made me feel."

I cover her hand with mine. "It worked, didn't it?" I ask softly.

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