Page 55 of Impossible

“I mean, yeah. It was… nice, I guess?”

“Nice?” Cecilia looks at me like I’ve sprouted a third leg. “You think that wasnice? How are you not totallyslickedright now?”

“Cecilia!” I laugh. “Were they really that special? They just kinda smelled tropical.” I don’t mention how compared to Leon, they’re like cheap hand soap. Cecilia is clearly scenting somethingverydifferent from me.

“Wow,” she sighs. “You must have super-human self-control. Let’s get you to class.”

“Yeah, you have a very cute alpha waiting for you,” I tease. She blushes so easily, I almost feel bad.

I don’t even realize I’ve finished my oatmeal until I reach back in with my spoon and none is left. Somehow, in the midst of people-watching with Cecilia, it’s just… gone.

Cecilia’s eyes on me are heavy as she wheels me to class. “Are you seriously not bothered right now?” she asks.

“Why would I be?”

“My first day, I thought I was going to die. I wanted to roll over and show my belly to every alpha I walked by. I practically whined and bared my neck to the first one that spoke to me. My instincts were destroying me, like I was drowning in all the scents. And you’re just like… immune.”

I flash back to the way I nuzzled against Leon last night, unable to quell the roiling need in my low belly. The way his nearness made me perfume the air around us with my scent. Idefinitelycan’t tell Cecilia that. The halls are filled with different scents, a jumbled perfume, but none of it even compares to him. It’s just… noisy in my nose.

“I guess these alphas just don’t affect me like that,” I shrug.

Cecilia looks at me dubiously as she pushes me into a linoleum tiled classroom. Before she has a chance to respond though, some sort of alarm sounds. Every alpha in the room bolts upright. My heart stops, fear seizing my chest. They aren’t looking at me though, not like Friday. Instead, they fly from the room, leaving their bags behind.

“What was that?” I say when only a handful of omegas are left.

“Mission time,” Cecilia explains. “Part of their training for Coalition service. They can come up at any time.”

“Coalition service?”

“All alphas do a year of active service with the Coalition, and then most usually stay in the reserves for life. If there’s ever a crisis, they’re on call to respond.”

“What kinds of crises?” I ask.

“Feral alpha attacks mostly. Sometimes smarter ones who try to start uprisings and enslave omegas or something crazy like that.”

“Wow,” I breathe. “They want to enslave us?”

“Not the good ones,” Cecilia grins. “Just the evil monsters. Which is why we have the Coalition.”

“You seem way too chill about this.”

“About what?”

“The evil monsters. Are we like… forever in danger because we smell good?”

Cecilia laughs. “No, not at all. Attacks are super uncommon. Hardly worth worrying about. And we’re especially safe at the Complex, with all the security.”

“But, after the Complex? People leave, right?”

“Yeah, but usually only in a pack. And thankfully, due to neat practice missions like these, those packs are chock-full of highly trained alphas, ready to protect and defend. Or something like that.”

Something in that doesn’t sit right with me. I don’twanta pack. And I don’t want to be in danger either. But I can see Cecilia getting antsy to get to class.

“Sorry you won’t get to sit with Jake,” I offer. “Though at least he’s fighting for the right side, hmm?”

“Oh, he’ll still be in class. He’s too junior for missions, he just got to the Complex a few months ago.”

That explains why he’s so skinny and gangly compared to Shawn and Brian, who look like full-grown adults.

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