Page 7 of Harley

“Look at me,” Jonathan says. It’s no longer an alpha bark, but there’s a warning tone to his voice. I hear the rumble in his chest when I don’t look at him. There’s no way I’m looking this alpha in the eye without him barking at me.

“Look at me,” he growls out again, and I visibly shake.

Did he hear what we were saying earlier about the uprising? What would he do to us if he did?

“Look at me, Harley,” he barks.

My eyes snap to his, and I’m met with deep green eyes. His apricot and nectarine scent washes over me, and it isn’t unpleasant. I hate that. This—the power alphas have over me—is the part I hate most about being an omega. And it’s why Choosing Day scares the shit out of me. I wasn’t raised in this world. I’d never seen alphas up close until that day in the diner. I was brought to the Omega House, and I’ve seen how they use their bark. The wrong type of alphas...I didn't even want to think about what they could do to me with their barks.

“You will stop teasing the betas. You will both show respect. Do you understand?”

I nod at his words, letting him know I understand. I could smell my own fear leaching out into the room, and I hated that. I hated that he could tell I feared him.

“You both will be coming today and be on your best behavior. It will be your Choosing Day in two weeks’ time.”

My mouth drops open.

“Two weeks?” I hear Storm whisper under her breath.

Both of us in two weeks? Not one omega a month. I only have fourteen days to prepare for my own Choosing Day. Hell, I’ve had four years to come to terms with this, but with a date set, the countdown is really on.

“Let's go.” Veronica snaps her fingers to get my attention.

I nod my head and look over at Storm, whose brows are raised.

Something is going on, and somehow, we're a part of it.

CHAPTER 3

ACE

“It's getting worse, Ace,” Jax mutters over his morning coffee.

I know exactly what he’s talking about. Our pack member Knight. Every day, he grows closer to becoming completely feral, and there's nothing I can do. Knight is only twenty-three. It's too young for him to be going feral.

Most alphas start the transition when they hit forty. By the time they're forty-five, they're completely gone. The alpha you once knew is no longer there. But for it to happen to Knight...it breaks my heart. And we don’t know how to stop it from getting worse.

Zayd has spent many months researching. Why is it starting now? How can we slow it down? The only answer he’s come up with is impossible—a scent match. If an alpha finds his scent match and doesn’t bond to them, he turns feral. But Knight has never met a scent match.

The girl he talked about years ago, when he came back from a ride with his father and his pack, was only a beta. One he said smelled like honeycomb and toffee apples and his. We all went back to the diner to find her the following Sunday, but no one would talk to us about her. It’s as though she vanished.

I run my hands down my face and through the scruff of my beard. We don’t have enough money for a ticket in the omega lottery. And even if we did, how would we hide Knight’s feral status from them? They would see—hell, smell—him, and we’d be disqualified from any future Choosing Days. Even worse? They’d take him from us.

And yet, it’s our only hope. We’ll have to find a way. To get the money. To hide Knight’s status. All of it.

“I’ll sell my bike. Sell anything of value and enter the Choosing Day lottery.” I let out a deep breath. At least fifty other packs will have their name in that barrel too. The odds are not in our favor.

Jax grunts. “I know how much you love your bike, Ace. I feel the same about my own. But I’ll list them both today. Maybe we’ll get enough to buy a second ticket. They said on the news that there’s gonna be two beta-born omegas up this round, so our odds might be better.”

I don’t know about that. If our odds were better, Knight wouldn’t be going feral.

“He’s getting worse, and I don’t know how long he’s got left. If we don’t get chosen this round...” I don’t say the words. I don’t have to. He already knows what will happen to Knight.

Jax traces his fingers over the handle of his mug. We don’t know how much time our packmate has left, and I refuse to take him to a hospital. They will know, they will label him unfit for the lottery, they will take him from us, and he will live out his days in an alpha facility. And by live out his days, I mean that they’ll determine when those days are up.

I won’t let that happen.

Jax sits up straighter and glances out the window. Fuck, he can sense my doubts through our bond. I try and shut it down to the rest of pack, but somehow, Jax always knows what I’m feeling. Even when I don’t know what I’m feeling myself.

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