Page 71 of Impossible

“Perks?”

“It makes finding a pack a whole lot easier. Whether you’re looking for a bond, or just on rotation. Apparently the genetic markers predict social compatibility too.”

“I’m doing a medical heat.”

We arrive at the same table in the quad as yesterday. The early summer weather is doing its best to batter the cooler spring away with watery Virginia sun peeking through the clouds. When Cecilia sits, her face is pinched. We had this fight yesterday too.

“You know what, Indie?” she asks. “Why don’t you ask Ms. O’Brien to show you a video of a medical heat today, hmm? We watch them in class. See for yourself.”

The blueberry pancakes smell much less appealing as Cecilia uncovers them.

I wouldn’t say I’ve come to terms with what’s going to happen to my body soon, but I’ve been doing my best to have at least a grudging acceptance for its inevitability. The thought of actuallyseeingit? I can’t tell if that would be better or worse than going in blind.

“What packs did you get?” Cecilia interrupts my thoughts. I hold the list out to her, then watch her eyes go wide.

“What? Are they really bad or something?”

“No, they’re… powerful. Orion Pack has two alphas on the Board of Governors. Phoenix Pack pretty much runs Internal Affairs now. The Blacks are mob bosses. This is an all-star line-up, Indie—you must have great genes.”

“Is that agoodthing?” I ask.

“Most omegas here would kill for a sheet like this. Honestly, I wouldn’t mention it if I were you. Kennedy might murder you and wear your skin as a suit or something.”

I half-smile, distracted looking at the list again. Mob bosses? The Board of Governors? I don’t even know what that is. “They sound old.” I say.

Cecilia shrugs. “Cora’s pack has a thirty-year-old in it. She bonded when she was eighteen.”

“How can you be so casual about that?” I ask. “It’screepy.”

“How? Once you have a heat, you’re on an even playing field.”

“No, you’re not! You could be at completely different life phases!”

Cecilia laughs. “Indie, a pack bond isn’t like a marriage between two betas. It goes way deeper than that. Pack comes first. Always. Nobody wants it any other way.”

My stomach sinks. I planned on being pack-less. Going to college like a normal person, someday. A degree. A job. Suppress my heats once I’m healthy enough, or take a day or two off every few months to handle them. No need for some pack to steal my future with the exact kind of commitment Cecilia is talking about. How else could I survive the death of Indie the Imposter from Adams, and the birth of… whatever it is I am now? Indie the Idiot?

Now I think of myself away at college while Midas Pack is still here. I’m homesick for a treehouse I’ve never even seen. How can I ache for asmell? The memory of Leon’s lips hovering over mine last night is sharp.

“So… what am I supposed to do with this list?” I ask, taking the piece of paper back from Cecilia.Midas isn’t on it,I can’t say. Why do I even care?

“The packs have been given your name too. Usually you set up meet-and-greets at the mixers, one pack at a time. I don’t know if you’ll do anything different since you’re, well, rushed.”

“I don’t want to be courted.”

Cecilia shrugs. “There’s no commitment. You won’t be forced to do anything you don’t want to.” Her tone makes it perfectly clear what she thinks Ishoulddo after one of these meet-and-greets.

“Cecilia,” I change the topic, “do you have an easy way to get some de-scenter?” I ask.

“You don’t have to sabotage them, Indie,” her voice is exasperated. “They’re just dates.”

“Not for that,” I shake my head. “I um, I need it for something else.”

She looks at me flatly. “What?” she asks.

“Lunch.”

Cecilia’s eyebrows shoot up. “With who?”

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