Page 138 of Stolen Omega

Dale

She’s perfuming. The instant she woke up, she knew who we were, and she’s perfuming for us both.

Okay, she might just be doing that for Zane, but an Omega can dream.

It’s easy to see she’s still kind of in shock, even if her body seems ready to start making decisions.

She’s attracted to both of us, which isn’t much of a surprise. Fated mates are perfect for each other for a reason. She’s also a little wary, which is completely understandable.

It feels like there’s something else going on, too, but I’m not sure what.

It’s going to bug me until I figure it out.

“Uh, I kind of feel like I could use a shower,” Zoey says, moving off the bed at the side nearest to the bathroom door. “Can you guys come back in a few?”

“Sure,” I tell her, taking Zane’s arm when he makes no move the leave the room. “We’ll wait in the hall. Come out when you’re ready.”

She disappears into the bathroom, and Zane doesn’t react to my attempt to physically remove him from the room until we hear the water running in there. The sound seems to snap him out of his thoughts and bring him crashing back down to reality.

I shake my head at him as we step out into the crazy-bright hallway.

“She needs a minute, Zane. Hell, she probably needs a lot more than that.”

“She’s close to her first heat, I can feel it.”

“Well, we’ll figure that out when it comes up.”

He looks at me, a frown furrowing his brow.

“That isn’t the first time she’s perfumed.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t know. Instinct.”

“Yeah, well, Alpha instincts have a lot to answer for.”

“I don’t get it,” he murmurs, clearly distracted by this random instinct. “Her contract is crazy. She can’t be around Alphas, and she’s forbidden from taking mates, true or chosen. She’s supposed to go home to her parents’ house when her first heat comes on. They’ve made her agree to have heat mates chosen for her when it happens. She’s not permitted to start anything permanent.”

“That is seriously messed up. Why the hell is something like that in her contract?”

I’d say it can’t be legal, but it probably is. Omega rights are still mostly dictated by old customs that have never changed. Parents are their legal guardians until they’re marked by an Alpha. I’m lucky my mom is more progressive than most. She’s let me live my life, and while she’s always made it clear she’d be happiest if I was with Zane, she never stood in my way when it came to Cameron, because she wants me to make my own choices, like everyone should be able to.

Zane nods. “Zelena’s parents are seriously messed up.”

“Well, yeah,” I agree.

They’d have to be to decide to accept another couple’s brainwashed child as a replacement for their own daughter, wouldn’t they?

“I don’t get where or when she would have perfumed before now,” Zane goes on, as if he’s disturbed by the thought of it.

I can’t help shrugging. My own perfume has eluded me since I first thought I was getting close to going into heat, so I don’t feel like I can comment on what another Omega might be experiencing.

No two Omegas have the same experience with it from what I can tell.

It’s not an exact science.

Then again, it’s usually something that’s triggered by another person.

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