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“Now, what the fuck is happening?” Cassidy sniffles, pulling back as I wipe my face.

“How much time do you have?” I grumble, grabbing the seatbelt, only to have her steal it from me to buckle me in.

Alpha instincts can be cute, I guess.

“We really are on the way to the airport, so I’m going to help steer the conversation a bit,” Silas says, putting the vehicle into drive.

Cassidy quickly puts her seatbelt on, and his eyes watch as it clicks into place before merging out of the parking spot.

“What have you been doing the last five days?” he asks.

“Healing,” I sigh. “I can’t sleep very much because the sun and moon shine into my bedroom. It keeps me awake.”

“Carter mentioned that you don’t have any doors or curtains,” Cassidy growls.

“He talks a lot,” I reply. “I don’t have any privacy and it makes me twitchy. My nerves are raw. One of the things I was most excited about was having my own space again.”

“As opposed to what?” Silas asks, brow raised.

“Fuck a duck,” I mutter.Too comfortable, Nina.“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t get to thank Carter for the e-reader because I was in such a haze. I need to make sure I do that.”

“Later,” Cassidy says, squeezing my hand. “You have a lot of secrets that we can’t help you with if you don’t tell us.”

“Secrets that belong in the past,” I respond. “Knowing I’m a basketcase isn’t really going to help anything.”

“Nina, I don’t care to hear you speak about yourself like that,” Silas says. “Why is your head shaved?”

I grumble to myself, but drop my head back onto the seat.

“I used to have really pretty, long ice blonde hair,” I say. “When I turned eighteen, I had highlights done in bright pink, and my mother hated it. She walked out the door and said she was going to check me into a mental hospital to give me an attitude adjustment. Apparently, that’s what the rich do when their daughters have moments of defiance.”

“I don’t think dying your hair is a form of defiance,” Cassidy shrugs. “It’s an expression of individuality, and it can always be changed.”

“What did you do when your mother stormed out the door?” Silas asks.

“I ran away,” I confess. “I had applied to a university in Minneapolis, knowing she wasn’t going to be happy with any of my choices. I packed up my life and left. I slept in my car, worked at a bar, and went to classes.”

“How did you afford the school?” Silas asks.

“I got a scholarship by stating that I didn’t have any income, which I knew was going to be true as soon as I left. It didn’t cover housing though, and the SUV became my home,” I say. “It worked for a while, until my mother caught up with me and had me committed. That’s where I was while she was looking for packs to court me.”

It feels as if my insides are vibrating as I tell my story, but my voice is dead and calm. I hate having to tell them this.

Cassidy purrs for me, helping me take an easier breath as she holds my hand.

“What happened to your hair?” she asks. “Can I see it?”

Running my fingers through my wig, I wrinkle my nose.

“I don’t think I’m ready for that,” I whisper. “Some of it is really foggy, but I had my first heat when I was brought into the hospital. They put me under medical sedation because I was inconsolable apparently. I didn’t come into my designation until I was almost eighteen. I feel as if I'm constantly learning new things about being an omega, and it’s frustrating that there isn’t a guide book or something for this.”

“You should make one,” Cassidy suggests. “Work your way through everything that frustrates you about being an omega, and journal about it. I guarantee you there are others who feel the same way.”

“That’s not a bad idea, but it makes me even angrier that your mother didn’t at least think it was a possibility that you’d be an omega,” Silas grumbles.

“She thought I would be a beta, and I think she wishes that I was,” I say. “When I woke up from being sedated, I was strapped down to the bed, and I found that a lot of my pink strands of hair had been hacked away while I slept. The doctor said since there were still traces of pink that the best thing to do was to shave it all.”

My lip wobbles as my calmness cracks, and I take a shuddering breath.