Page 6 of Carmichael's Omega

"Sí, Rique. Now shut the fuck up."

"I don't know,güey. Bring the female flowers or something. Maybe that's a better idea. Ey, I know, you can ask her to dinner. I heard that's a common thing called a date- oof," he grunts when my fist drives into his gut instead of the bag.

"Sorry," I tell him. Not that Rique can talk. He's the booty-call for the damn witchy queen of Cassidy's sorority.

"Yeah, whatever. You're the one who's screwed... or not screwed," he starts to laugh, backing away when I threaten to hit him again.

"I can't talk to her, Rique. I start grunting like a fuckingdogas soon as she's anywhere near me."

"Get her number and write her a damn text,Jefe."

"What if she doesn't answer back?" I damn near snarl.Puto.

Rique looks at me uncertainly. "Then, try again? Carm..." he shakes his head, a slow smile taking over his face. "This is it,güey. This isher."

It feels horrible and fantastic all at once. "She's an omega, Rique."

He shakes his head. "It's too much,Jefe. The pack needs this. Take your female. Bring her home, and anyone who doesn't like it can fuck off." His mouth tightens, and I feel a tiny bit of pity for him.

I punch the bag with a huge bang, and the chain holding the bag snaps. The bag hits the floor with a dull thud, the swinging chain nearly hitting me in the face before I catch it.

Rique sighs loudly. "You should get ready. I heard the Beta of ClearHowl is a real dick." Rique grabs his junk and shakes, "a realpito, sí?When he finds out about you? Shit, man."

Her mate-in-law. Yeah, I did my fucking research on her pack andfamily. Her sister's mate - oh, sorry, correction, one of her sister'stwomates. A former alphason, a dominant male who loves my Cassidy, because who wouldn't love her? Yeah, I'm seething with jealousy. Because all of those fuckers get to love Cassidy, and I don't.

"How do you think he'll react when he finds out you've been ignoring your mate?" Rique won't use the word 'rejected.' He believes that I'll accept Cassidy. He's kept an eye on her for the last month. Who her friends are, where she goes, how she seems to be doing, especially after our previous encounters.

I'm grateful, even if I haven't told him that.

"I want her," I say lowly. It's the first time I've really addressed this.

"She's your mate, Carm. I know she's - you know - but you can't just toss Cassidy in the same boat asher. Most Omegas are nice,sí?

"Lily was nice," I tell him. Lily, the Omega who attacked and killed my mother when I was only nine, was the nicest, sweetest woman before that day. That bloody day when I lost both mymama, the pack's Luna, and Lily herself, the Omega servant who cared for me and my younger siblings.Chale, I called Lilymamita, for fuck's sake.

"How do I tellPapáand the pack that their next Luna is an Omega?" I say in a low voice.

I can't. I can't tell my father that his eldest son, the fucking alphason, is mated to an Omega. I was nine years old when my mother died. Just old enough to remember myPapá'sgrey face, grieving his mate. His rage that someone had killed her. The helplessness when he realized that she was gone and his power as alpha meant nothing against the power of death.

He was empty for months before pulling himself up to be a father and alpha. I have to respect him. He could have sunk into grief, become remote or abusive, or even gone feral, but he stuck with us, for the most part. I can't bring home an Omega as my mate.

"Hey, there's a party tonight. You going?"

I shake my head. The campus gets small during breaks, even short ones like this long weekend. Not so many students around, but there are enough to throw a few crazy parties.I would have been all over that shit just a couple of months ago, but now every other girl smells like trash and looks worse to me.I've turned hateful, even more than usual.

"I'm gonna head home tonight," I tell Rique. I adjust the wraps on my hands, ignoring his look of surprise.

"Anything I need to know about?" he asks with a frown.

"Nothing new," I answer. The drug cartels are running their usual shit, pushing up on our territory. There's a new one trying to make their mark. The newbies always fuck up somehow. If I feel too agitated, I'll take a trip over their way.

"How're the pups?" Rique asks, assuming that if there's nothing wrong, then I want to go home to check on my siblings.

"Good," I mutter. Maybe I do want to see my younger brother and sister. Not that they're pups, anymore, at nineteen and seventeen.

Mamawas pregnant with another pup when she was murdered.

"I'm heading out," I tell him shortly. I have an itch in my spine. My life has felt wrong, empty, and foul since mymamadied. Yeah, I'll go home and see my family.

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