Page 16 of Impossible

”Apack?”

I laugh at the face she makes. “Yes.”

“Like… wolves?”

“Sort of.”

She’s speechless, her expression aghast.

I chuckle. “I’m part of a pack, you know. You don’t have to act so horrified.”

“You’re an alpha?”

I nod. “We’re called Midas Pack. There’s four of us.”

“Four of you? What, all alphas?”

I nod. She cocks her head, thinking. She clearly understands how heats work—it’s always awkward when a beta-born omega arrives and doesn’t even know what a heat is for other species, much less their own.

“I’m supposed to find a pack for my heat…” I watch her connect the dots. “Are you being serious right now? What is the pack for? To fucking…breedme, or something?”

I grimace. Her crash-course to omega-hood is not going well, and I have nobody but myself to blame.

“So, yes?” her voice is shrill, and I can sense I’m losing her.

“No! Or, at least, not necessarily. Your heat is… painful, if you don’t have a pack to guide you through.”

“Guide me through.“ Her expression is scathing.

“You’ll see,” I sigh, my heart racing. I don’t want to scare her off, and I can scent her fear, black tea becoming over-brewed and bitter. I can sense her panic coming on. Her face is going pale, her body hunching in on itself as she processes everything I’ve told her.

I bite the inside of my cheek, struggling to hold myself back from going to her. Taking her in my arms and soothing away the hurt. I want to purr for her. The rumble is deep in me, rolling against my insides, craving release.

“This is fucking stupid,” she finally mutters. “I’ll pass. Can I go home now? I’m not gonna be a fucking omega, or whatever you think I am, so I’d prefer if you just let me be so I can get back to campus. I’m going to miss rehearsal.”

Something twists in my stomach. She has a whole life she’ll be leaving behind. She’s shaking now, unfurling her body from the bed.

“Indigo—Indie, you’re not going to be able to go back up to Adams.”

“Yeah, thanks but I’m not going to accept that.”

She stands, her determination somewhat weakened as she hunches over with a white-knuckled grip on the bedpost, waiting for her dizziness to clear.

“Look, Indie,” I reach out and take her arm, feeling through her layers and my jacket just how thin she is. Jesus Christ.

“Please don’t touch me,” she tries to pull away. God, she is so weak. I let go anyway, stepping back. It’s more important now than ever to show her she still has her own autonomy. No matter what bullshit Wilder might spew. She turns to the door, still half-bent, a ghastly white cast to her features.

“Indie.” I let a tiny hint of dominance enter my voice. Not enough to truly compel her, but enough to get her to listen. To ground her to the moment she seems primed to fly away from. I hate myself for it, but she’s going to pass out if she tries to run. She might pass out anyway—she’s shaky as she turns to face me. “You are an omega. I’m so sorry that you found out so late, and that you have such a fantastic life back at Adams you’ll be leaving behind, but it isn’t safe for you to go back. And you won’t want to, not once you’ve fully awakened.”

“It isn’tsafe?“ she picks up on the one part I wish she wouldn’t. Her body is searching for reasons to panic, to keep the adrenaline rushing. As soon as she lets go of panic, she’ll crash. The fear in her eyes tears a hole in me.

A flash of memory fires off in my mind.Fuck.Not now. Notnow.

“Yes, safe,” I say, my voice growlier than I intended, a cold pit in my chest. “There are more alphas than omegas. By a lot. Every pack wants an omega. Some will go to great lengths to get one. It’s why the school reaches out to potential omegas. To get them in one place where it’s easier to protect them. Better to invest in over-educating a random beta than to have an omega awaken in the wild and be at the mercy of the first rogue alpha to scent her.”

“Are you saying I could bekidnapped?”

Broken bodies littering the road. A petite omega in the midst of them all, just as dead. Joshua on his knees, eyes unseeing. Risk thrashing beyond him. Hollis’s body, slumped in a heap.

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