Page 14 of Impossible

I nod. That makes sense—she probably pre-tested, they got her parents to sign the agreement, and then she never manifested. If things had gone according to plan, she would have landed here years ago. Only dumb luck had her still on campus instead of somewhere out in the world, alone for her first spike. I shudder at the thought.

“Was your arrival a little sudden?” I prompt.

“Yeah.”

I watch something happen behind her eyes. A flicker of a memory, maybe. Not a good one. I can guess what it is—so many unsuspecting beta parents are terrified by the omega crash-course they receive when the Adams reps come to visit. They hear things likeheatandknotandalphaand sign off their custodial rights, right below the line with the dollar sign and all the zeros. Indie made her parents very, very wealthy today, and she has no idea.

“It’s fine,” Indie waves her hand absently. I hadn’t realized I was making a face.

My eyes narrow. She’s too used to doing that—waving away her own discomfort. I wonder if her parents abandoning her was a trigger for her eating disorder. The thought makes me even madder. They probably wouldn’t care. Probably signed the contract so fast they smeared the ink. The anger surges in me, irrational and outsized in the face of my omega, sick.Mine.

“What does that have to do with today though?” she prompts. I snap back to the present.

“Well, you were sent to Adams because you took a blood test that showed you might manifest a secondary sex outside of the norm.”

“Secondary sex?”

I wish Joshua were here. He’s always been the patient one of us, soft and analytical and able to explain things simply and effectively. I wonder if telling him I’ve met our fated mate would get him out of bed. Or if it would just send him into an even deeper spiral, feeling unworthy of her.

“There are two primary sexes,” I begin. “Then three secondary sexes, two each for men and women.”

“I don’t get it.”

“So, you’re generally assigned male or female at birth, or a tiny minority of people that are intersex, correct?”

“Unrelated to gender.” Indie’s tone is ready for a fight on this, but I just nod.

“Yes,” I agree. “Unrelated to gender. This is just sex as assigned at birth. On top of just X and Y chromosomes, everybody has a secondary sex as well. We call them alpha, beta, or omega. The vast majority of the population is beta, but a small minority of people assigned male at birth can be alphas, and an even smaller minority of people assigned female at birth can be omegas.”

“Are you serious?” Indie’s tone is disbelieving.

“Yes. Secondary sex characteristics dictate a lot of our physiology.”

“Like what?”

“Scent glands, intelligence, physical strength.”Anatomy, I don’t say. Not yet.

“Scent glands?”

I rub the back of my neck—if I try and get into anything technical, I’m gonna fuck it up and scare her more.

“Joshua would explain all this better.”

“Who?”

“Never mind. Just… what you need to know is this: alphas are bigger and smarter than beta males. More… virile. Omegas are far more intelligent than beta females, especially when it comes to interpersonal skills. They also tend to be smaller than beta females. And they have a killer nurturing instinct.”

“And I’m an omega,” Indie says slowly.

I nod.

“But I’m not small.”

“You are,” I laugh.

“I’m notshort,“ she sighs, exasperated. I wonder how frequently people comment on her weight. I resolve not to, whenever possible.

“No, you’re not,” I agree. “It’s no surprise they missed you.”

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