Page 58 of Impossible

She smells like butter candy, rich and round.

“Midas Pack,” I answer. Her eyes flash to Leon with a shock of recognition.

“Oh!” she says. “I didn’t—your pack, Trainer Midas?”

Her eyes are on his stump. I watch his good hand clench into a fist.

“Yes,” he replies, his voice strained. “My pack. This is Joshua. And our leader Hollis and packmate Risk,” he gestures to them with his left arm as they return, handing us each a drink. He did that on purpose—her eyes follow his stump before landing on Hollis and Risk.

“Nice to meet you!” she chirps before fleeing.

“What was that?” Hollis asks.

“Cognitive dissonance,” Leon sighs.

The room is filled with packs vying for omega attention, ranging from a few lone alphas to clusters of seven or eight, bite-less and overeager. I wonder what those bonds are like. I imagine noisy. The space where mine should be aches.

I’m trying to pick out the packs I recognize when the door opens. Dahlia enters, pushing a wheelchair. There’s a girl in the chair, and she’s holding baby Lylah in her lap.

She’s terribly beautiful, and terrifyingly thin. Her cheeks are hollow, her brown hair dull and pulled back in a messy bun. I can’t even see the rest of her, she’s so buried in her baggy clothing and the baby on her lap. She looks around the room, and that’s when she spots us.

Time goes stop motion. Her expression morphs through every frame. Ease when her eyes fall on Leon. Shock, then excitement when she sees Risk. Eyes wide at Hollis. Up and down. Curiosity. Attraction. Then, me. Her eyes, locked on mine.

Hers are chocolatey brown, huge and honest. They see right through me, through every lie I’ve ever told, every construct of dignity I’ve meticulously built.

She smiles. A big, warm smile, with no reservation, like she wouldn’t know how to hold back even if she wanted to. I realize I’m smiling back. It feels foreign on my face, and so, so good. The sunrise after the storm.

That’s when her scent hits me. My knees buckle. Black tea and bergamot. My kiss with Risk, on steroids.

She’s almost all the way to us, Dahlia navigating the chair through the scattered tables and packs. I fight my instinct to go to her. To reach out and touch.

“Hey little bird,” Leon greets her. The nickname grips my heart and twists. His eyes flit to me.May my heart always be open. “Would you like to meet my pack?”

Dahlia collects Lylah from Indie’s arms and then makes herself scarce, giving me one last knowing grin before flitting back to her pack.

To little birds who are the secret of living.

Indie just nods. I crave her voice, I’m dying to know what she sounds like.

“Well, you’ve met Risk,” Leon nods at him.

“HiImsosorryIdidn’tmeantohurtyouordisrespectyoupleaseforgivemeIpromiseitwillneverhappenagain,” Risk blows through the apology he’s been practicing so hard, the words bleeding into each other in one elongated utterance.

Indie giggles, and the vice on my heart clamps a bit tighter.Whatever they sing is better than to know.

She grins at Risk, “It’s nice toactuallymeet you, and there’s nothing to apologize for.“ Her voice is soft and thready, deceptively deep but with a youthful lightness. The dissonance hits me. She has dark circles beneath her eyes. She’s gaunt, swimming in the already-small chair. But her earnest gaze and wide eyes and poisonously delicious scent…

“This is Hollis, our leader,” Leon gestures and Hollis steps forward. He awkwardly sticks his hand out.And if men should not hear them, men are old.

“Hello, Indigo,” he says, his voice overly formal. She reaches up to shake his hand and the contrast is laughable. Like Lylah and Leon’s finger, Hollis’s hand utterly dwarfs Indie’s. He shakes like she’s a porcelain doll, slow and easy.

“And this is Joshua,” Leon gestures for me to step forward and I do. “He’ll be your English teacher, actually, when he’s back from leave.”

“Next week,” I add without even thinking. “I’ll be back next week.”

“Oh!” Indie flushes. “That’s amazing! I can’t wait.”

I don’t look at Hollis, but I can feel his anger radiating behind me. He’s wanted me back at work for weeks now. And it took less than ten seconds with Indie for me to start making promises.

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