Page 4 of Bewitched
L ayla tried to back up in the cramped hallway. “Mr Rivers—”
Garret grinned and leaned closer to her. His breath was sour and smokey. “Please, my lady, it’s Garret or Alpha if you like.”
She didn’t like. She looked away, but there was no one close enough to hear them; even the high omega was smart enough to run away.
The big alpha leered, his eyes on the bust of her low-cut dress. “I told you I went to school with your father, didn’t I? He was a few years above me. He never cared for the frat life.”
Her lips pulled back in a forced smile, and she glanced around for Raina. “Oh, he never mentioned it.”
Aslin Nash was a closed book when it came to his youth, about most of his life if she was truthful. He was a private man, even with his family.
“It was always him and that poor omega sister of his. Back then, you had to keep an omega close. Alphas were bolder, real beasts. We were allowed. We took what we wanted. We fought for it.” He laughed, sour breath ghosting over her face. “Used to be that if you wanted an omega, you beat their alpha in single combat. Now it’s just stealing, and that’s only if you don’t get caught before you bite them.”
Layla shook her head. “That’s awful.”
“It’s the proper way of it. It’s the way nature made us. And if there was an omega out and about when they were in heat…” he grinned, “…it was a bloodbath.” Garret reached for her, but she jerked back, finding her shoulders against the wall before she could get away. She gasped.
Garret leaned closer to her like he was going to come in for a kiss.
Suddenly, Rolland was between them, his chest pressing against Garret’s. He was smiling, all teeth, no light. “Hey, Rivers, don’t you have a drink to be getting back to?”
Garret glanced between Rolland and Layla with narrowed eyes. “We were just talking.”
Layla kept her hands close to her body, holding her cup tight to her chest, while her heart thundered in her chest. Garret could take Rolland out in a second. He was twice his size and weight. Alphas always had an abundance of bravado.
“You were done talking,” Rolland said firmly, fearlessly, a strange push of Command in his voice.
Garret’s friendly smile fell away. “If that’s the way it is. My lady, tell your father I said hello,” he snapped before turning and shoving his way toward the front door.
Rolland stepped away from her. “Sorry, you looked a little overwhelmed.”
Layla nodded, suddenly welling up with the need to cry. The panic in her chest receded. “Thank you.”
Rolland waved her thanks away easily like a gentleman. “He’s always been a menace. When Raina and I can agree on something, you know it’s bad.”
Layla giggled as her brain buzzed a little from the alcohol and nerves. She took another hefty drink from her cup, and the roof of her mouth burned pleasantly. She glanced at him as he leaned against the wall beside her.
She ran her tongue over her soft palate and stared at her drink. It wasn’t the alcohol… It felt like when she breathed in Jaxon’s cinnamon scent. Like sparks. He had Commanded Garret. A beta couldn’t do that. Her stomach sank. “Are you an alpha?”
He blushed and looked everywhere around the room except at her. “Uh, yeah. Most people can’t tell.”
Layla blushed and put her hand over her mouth. “I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. That was so rude.”
He shrugged. “No, it’s fine. I am. I’m just not really grr about it, you know. I’m not very alpha-y.”
She had sat beside him all through Statistics. She didn’t even notice. He was a good study partner. He knew all about probability equations. He was the only reason she had passed her mid-term. She had been friends with an alpha all this time. A nice alpha.
She wondered if he was nice enough to add to the list with her father and maybe Mina.
Rolland grinned bashfully. “You know, no one noticed my designation until Damian Sorreto pointed it out. Some old alpha grabbing you off the street and taking you to a clinic is a weird moment in time.”
Layla’s eyes widened. “He stole you?”
Rolland shook his head. “Oh no, nothing like that. I was fine. Just some really erratic pheromones. It’s been straightened out for a couple of years now. My mom just thought I was some kind of spicy beta.”
“She didn’t know?”
He laughed. “Perida Iverson has never been known to pay attention to anything that wasn’t a case file. We had enough problems. I didn’t meet the threshold.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He shrugged. “It’s not new. Are you okay?”
Layla swirled her drink around her cup, watching bubbles form and pop. She sighed and sank to the floor, leaning her back against the wall. “You know, I thought I could come here and just have fun. College is supposed to be fun or liberating or something. It’s just made me more stressed and paranoid.”
“Yeah,” he said slowly and slid down the wall to sit beside her. “It’s hard sometimes, between school and family. I never expected to get where I am, and I’m always scared it’s going to fall apart.”
“How? It’s easy to be you.” She couldn’t image Rolland being any other way. She never needed to worry about him being like his uncle.
“Is it?” he asked. “My mom ignores me. My dads don’t understand me. I wondered if it would be different if I was a little more alpha, but I’m just… well, you thought I was a beta.”
Layla took another drink, letting it burn in her stomach and swirl in her head. “At least you don’t have to worry,” she mumbled.
He took a flask out of his pocket and took a drink. She could smell the strawberry flavoring over the cheap vodka. “Worry about what?”
She watched him carefully as her head spun and her cheeks warmed. “If I’m going to screw up and ruin someone’s life. If I’m going to disappear, and no one ever sees me again.”
“That’s… that’s dark.”
“Is it?” she asked. “Omegas get taken all the time.” Because they were whores , her mother’s voice reasoned. Layla wasn’t a whore. She didn’t want to be.
“It’s really rare—”
“In my family?” she snapped.
Rolland’s cheeks turned a bright cherry pink. “Oh, yeah… I was on the other side of that. After what happened… with Perrin. My mom was always on my brother about controlling himself. He’s not really aggressive, either. He just presented louder. She was always scared he’d turn out like her. It was like she forgot about me until I was running away.”
Layla took another sip. “I’d do anything for my mom to forget about me.”
He stared at her.
She shrugged. Her mother had always watched over her, protected her. Escaping her was as terrifying as it was freeing. “It’s just… it’s a lot of pressure. I can’t screw this up, but what if deep down, I’m like Summer?”
“What was she like?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. She was probably like Mina and maybe a bit like Roan. Brave and kind.
Rolland lifted his cup. “Here’s to disappointing our parents.”
Layla lifted her cup, too, clinking them together. “I wish you were a beta. My mother would love you. It could be so simple.”
He laughed and flashed her a disarming grin. “I don’t think you’re my type.”
She huffed. “How am I not your type? You’re an alpha. Aren’t all omegas your type?”
“What? Are you drunk now? We absolutely have preferences. A lot of it has to do with smell, but like designation too.”
Layla choked on her drink. “Designation? Don’t tell me you like—” she whispered, “— alphas .”
He laughed. “Come on, it can’t be that strange. There’s all sorts of famous alpha couples. Raina’s parents for one.”
Layla blushed. Of course, there were alpha-only couples. She had grown up around Raina’s parents, but Bryson had cheated on Hera half a dozen times with different omegas while they were married. They had been in the news every time he was caught. Alphas couldn’t escape an omegas pull.
“Yeah, but then you’ll smell an omega, and you won’t be able to help yourself,” she said.
“That’s not how it works,” Rolland argued.
She shook her head until she was dizzy. “You’ll be lured in… like a fish.”
“A fish?”
Layla shuddered, her mother’s voice whispering in her ear. “They’ll catch you, and make you bite them, and you’ll never be free.”
He shook his head. “Omegas smell nice, but you can always control yourself. That’s what Mom said. She uh… she’s probably the last person that should be talking about resisting temptation. She has two omegas. What kind of resisting is she doing?”
“Oh my God. I knew that! I thought it was just a rumor. You can’t have more than one mate.” She wasn’t sure how true that was. Alpha Kings would have a harem of omegas, each one bitten and mated.
“Sure you can,” Rolland said. “It’s just frowned upon. They’re all bonded and mated and happy. I guess they’re happy. Do you ever wonder if your parents are actually happy or just surviving on what they’ve built?”
Layla didn’t think about it. She didn’t want to scratch at what her parents were. They were in love. Her mother always said it. Aslin would smile fondly at her, but he rarely spoke it out loud. “They are if they say they are. Why would they lie?”
“Because the lie is easier than the truth.” Rolland stared at her hard, but she didn’t know what he wanted. She didn’t have any platitudes to offer. She was barely keeping things together the way they were. Her body was rebelling, and her social life was a travesty.
She couldn’t remember being truly happy since she was a child. There were just stolen moments of joy amid a slog of survival. Her mother said she’d be happy when she was out on her own, when she was married, when she had children. It hadn’t happened so far. She only felt like she was rotting away from the inside.
Layla glared at her cup. She tipped it up and gulped it down.
“Hey,” Rolland said. “You should take your time with that.”
Her heart twisted painfully. The knowledge that her dear friend was an alpha came crashing down on her. Demanding and unbending, like every other alpha she had ever met. There was a sudden dampness in her panties. “It’s my drink.”
“Sure, but you’re…” Rolland leaned closer to her. “You’re not okay?”
Her phone buzzed. She wasn’t going to look. “I’m fine,” she said tightly.
He glanced away and then back to her. “Do you want a coffee instead? It might be better—“
“I’m not drunk,” Layla snapped. Except she was. She was definitely buzzed and woozy.
Rolland reached toward her, and for a moment, she thought he was going to touch her and ruin every nice thing she ever thought about him. He grabbed the red cup and pulled it from her fingers.
She struggled to her feet, her heels tipping under her. “Hey, that’s mine.”
He looked down at the cup in confusion and pulled it closer to his chest. “Yeah…”
She stood up straight, a little wobbly. Inside, her stomach gave a twisting stab. She grimaced. “Give it back.”
“No…” he said slowly as if confused by his own assertiveness.
“Give my drink back,” she snapped.
Rolland shook his head and backed away from her like she was dangerous. Like she was the one that lied about being an alpha for months.
He kept backing away until he bumped into a man and poured the whole cup down his front. Several people turned to laugh, and Layla covered her mouth in embarrassment. This was her fault. Oh, no. Not only had she embarrassed herself, She embarrassed an alpha. That was bad. That was awful. Rolland would hate her now, and that hurt more than it should.
Layla shook her head as she watched Rolland try to apologize to the much larger man he’d spilled on. “I— excuse me,” she said. “I think Helena needs me.”
“Wait! Layla,” Rolland called, but she couldn’t stay.
She shifted through the crowd, but everywhere was a press of alphas or omegas, not a solid group of betas in sight.
Her underwear was damp, and her stomach cramped fiercely. She was dizzy as she squeezed her way through the crowd and off the wrapped porch.
People gathered in the front yard and even on the street, blocking traffic away from the campus. The noise was too much, and the smells — it was like she was being assaulted with sugar and burning garbage. She just wanted to curl up somewhere dark and never see anyone again. She needed to hide under her bed. It was the only safe place she had left.
The trees loomed over the park, creating a path into quiet darkness. The trees would protect her. She marched toward them, not looking back, not even when she was sure she had heard Raina calling out to her.
No more alphas. No more people. Just her and the silence of nature.
Layla slinked into the darkness under the canopy of leaves, and she followed the path until she couldn’t hear the party anymore. The light from the lamps burned her eyes, and she turned off the path. The press of trees with their reaching branches was claustrophobic in the best way. She felt like she could finally breathe.
She wiped her face, finding damp sweat on her forehead. Her hand shook. A voice in her head sounding suspiciously like Jaxon Harlow whispered ‘heat’ while another familiar maternal voice screeched ‘whore.’
She wasn’t. She couldn’t be either of those things.
Layla stepped behind a tree and hiked up her dress enough to assess the damage to her underwear. She had to be bleeding. She wiped a finger over the wet spot, but it wasn’t blood, just a clear sticky fluid. She stared at it for a moment. She sniffed her fingers to find a musky, sweet smell. Slick. It couldn’t be. She wasn’t going into heat. She couldn’t.
Layla clawed through her clutch for her phone. She had to call Mina. She needed Mina right now. She opened her phone, and a string of texts popped up before she could reach the app. All from Jaxon Harlow.
Jaxon
how are you feeling now
what are you doing kitten
Jaxon
Where are you going
Where are you pretty kitten
Jaxon
What are you doing there?
Jaxon knew she was at the party? How? Why did he care?
Jaxon
Go home.
Jaxon
Layla!!!
Answer Me, Omega.
Jaxon
You’re being a very bad omega, kitten.
Layla choked on a sob. She wasn’t bad. She didn’t want to be bad. She was a good girl, a perfect girl. She worked so hard at it. She had to be good. Her lip trembled.
Jaxon
You’re not making smart decisions. Don’t make me come get you.
Alright, omega. I’ll play your game.
Layla shivered and looked around the dark wood. Her stomach ached. What had she done?