Page 2 of Bliss & Her Idols (Pack Bonds Omegaverse #10)

For the Wolf Siblings, it would be a badge of honor.

Chase was only seventeen, when he suddenly had custody of two Omega kids. He dropped out of school and scrambled to work as many jobs as he could to get us off the streets.

Yet for a couple of years we either lived in roach infested motels, damp flats, or if we couldn’t pay the rent, the streets.

Then Chase trained as an illegal cage fighter, and we began to experience the first stability and hope that we had a future.

Chase thinks that I didn’t know back then how he earned his money. He was missing for days and nights on end, however, before coming back limping and bruised, trying to hide it behind smart, white suits.

I guessed .

I’m not sure that I’m over the guilt of still being relieved that he was earning enough for us to eat.

Chase asked Piper and me what we wanted to do with the extra money. All he’s ever wanted is for us to achieve our dreams.

This coffee shop is important because it represents the blood, bruises, and broken bones that Chase suffered to help Piper and I become something rare: independent Omegas.

I love my brothers.

I’m so fucking lucky.

I bite my lip.

I can feel my inner Omega clawing to get out but I’m also disconnected to the sensations. I’ve pushed my Omega needs down in order to be strong.

I’m thirty today, after all.

Thirty years with no more than a passing rut with an Alpha (and never the same one twice).

Thirty years with no bonded pack.

Thirty years with no one to share my nest.

Happy fucking birthday to me…

My chest tightens in pain. For a moment, I struggle to breathe.

With difficulty, I get my lungs to work again.

I have my work. My siblings. My mission.

Pack bonds are toxic. I’ve seen it over and over. I’m better off alone, no matter how much my heart aches.

Piper feels the same way as I do. He doesn’t dress like a typical Omega either (but then, I’m wearing leather pants). He’s dressed in punky ripped jeans and a sleeveless metallic top. His pierced nipples show through the slashes in the top, gleaming in the light.

He’s adapted his clothes himself, adding glittering stars to represent his favorite Idol: Immortal.

Immortal is a gorgeous English singer with pale skin and lavender eyes, whose signature look is long white coats and star-shaped diamonds.

I can’t stop myself from stroking over the band logo on my limited edition green top.

The logo is of a glimmering dragon, which flows around into the shape of a musical note.

It’s pretty just like Jin is.

Every Idol has a stage name, which their brand and styling is built around.

Jin’s is Ice Dragon.

In my heart, my Ice Dragon.

Jin is the dragon with the frozen heart. How can I warm him and melt it?

Jin is the most beautiful of the Idols. Also, the one who is in the most danger.

I’m desperate to save and protect him. Then find him a foster pack. Because that’s what we do in my third, secret job that would lead to my imprisonment in the Omega Institute or even execution if it was discovered.

Chase formed the Bonds Protection Unit, BPU, to investigate and rescue people from forced bonds.

Piper and I joined his mission, as soon as we were old enough.

After all, we grew up without parents because they were executed for the cause. They were the leaders of the original rebels, before the Omega resistance was formed.

My heart swells with pride and sadness at the same time.

I lost the best two dads in the world, but they died for the sake of saving people from abusive pack bonds.

What’s better than having a mission? And mine, is to save the most talented rock star in the world.

I growl and purr at the same time.

Then my eyes widen.

I didn’t know that I could do that.

Piper laughs. “Hmm, thinking of anyone cute, Bliss?

I blush. “Maybe that sexy bad boy who you mentioned before. I may be a little—”

“Obsessed?”

I narrow my eyes “A fan.”

“Stan.”

“Follower.”

“Stalker.”

“Admirer.” I prowl to the counter.

I’m not intimidating, since Piper casually leans his bare arms on the counter.

Piper’s green eyes dance with mischief. “Jin and Bliss, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes bonding…”

I flick Piper’s nose, but my lips twitch into a smile. “Stop teasing.”

He straightens, holding out his arms. “You’ll survive. You survived raising a bad Omega like me, didn’t you?”

“You’re not bad,” I reply on reflex.

I have to reassure Piper about that a lot.

He’s heard that he’s a bad Omega from too many teachers, professionals, and classmates.

Piper grins in response, puffing out of his chest. “Of course I’m not. I’m the best barista in the state, as well as being a secret hero. So, you’re going to tell me your source now, right?”

He’s persistent as always.

I deflect. “Here, let me help you.” Piper pulls the counter open for me, and I duck through to his side. “Thanks, bro.”

I throw down the cloth, adding more coffee cups to his tray.

Then I realize that Piper is giving me the puppy dog look again.

He’s like a silver haired, overexcited golden retriever.

One with punk attitude.

How can I resist?

I give in, hugging him. Piper pauses in his work to pull me against his side. We nuzzle against each other’s necks.

I breathe in Piper’s coffee cake scent, which makes me feel secure and safe.

He’s pack.

The one person who I’ve always had by my side.

My Alpha brother was often out working. Piper was my tiny shadow, however, holding onto the back of my shirt with his little hand and trailing after me. Even as a teen, after school, he was my best friend, as well as brother.

Since Piper barely remembers our dads, in many ways, I’m the parent who raised him.

He makes me proud every day.

I only wish that he had someone apart from me in his life to share his boundless energy, along with this life that he’s bravely forging for himself.

But then, I don’t.

I’d be a hypocrite to urge him to seek a pack, right?

“Knew it.” Piper gives a smug smile, before licking my neck. “That look is my secret weapon.”

“You think I don’t know that?” I lick his neck in turn. “How many times did you get me to finish your homework with it? Or beg for a second cookie? Or an extra story at bedtime?”

“I am going to rule my Alpha.” Piper chuckles, before beginning to purr. Then he nuzzles even closer. “Happy birthday, sis.”

I purr in turn.

Warmth spreads through me.

I love having an Omega brother.

Together, we’ve been able to have snuggle piles, soothe each other with our pheromones, and cuddle each other through our nightmares in my nest.

Two Omegas together are much stronger than most Alphas understand.

One day, Omegas will change the world.

Wait and see.

Finally, I draw back, tracing my fingers down Piper’s strong shoulder over his tattooed wolf.

His purr deepens.

“Okay, the source about the Idol pack and the forced bonds is my online best friend,” I reply. “The president of the Jin fan club.”

Piper pushes his wavy hair out of his eyes. “Huh, your mystery stranger. Insect, right?”

I click my tongue. “He’s called—”

“Bug.”

“ Cricket .”

“That’s it. I knew that it was something with six legs.”

I flick Piper’s nose again, and he grins. “I like the name. It’s sweet.”

“Do you trust this guy? Who is he really?”

I smile at the thought of my friend.

I have an Alpha who is my best friend in real life, Lionzio. He helps us with the coffee shop’s books. He’s the brother of Chase’s Chief Alpha, but hasn’t got a bonded pack of his own.

Chase helped Lionzio to escape his abusive mafia pack, which was isolated from the real world.

Piper and I have pretty much adopted Lionzio into our pack. We tend to do that — save everyone around us.

Yet Cricket is my online best friend.

Sometimes, it feels like he’s much closer than that.

It’s funny how you can feel so close to a man who you’ve only talked to online.

Yet I’ve spoken to Cricket every night for a year now.

My heart beats faster. My stomach feels fluttery.

It’s deeper than looks with Cricket. I don’t need to have seen what he looks like to be connected to him.

Am I falling for him?

He has a strange ritual of only contacting me at midnight every night.

Why? What’s the mystery?

Is it a date? It feels like one.

If I don’t chat to Piper online at night because one of us is ill or I’ve been on a mission, I toss and turn in bed. My skin feels too tight. I’m too antsy to sleep.

The next day, I’m distracted and overwhelmed, until midnight.

I’m addicted to Cricket.

I need my nightly fix.

Yet I’m falling for who he is as a person.

You can be the most beautiful person in the world and be ugly inside. Getting to know someone online takes away the pressure of discovering if someone is a scent match or a soulmate.

I don’t even know if Cricket is an Alpha, Beta, or Omega.

All I know is his love for Jin’s music. How shy but also, smart he is. The love that he holds for nature.

That he’s an adorable geek.

And how difficult his home life is.

For the first time in my life, dynamics truly don’t matter.

It’s freeing.

“I trust Crick,” I reply, firmly.

Piper relaxes. “Anyone who makes you smile like that can’t be all bad.”

Am I smiling?

Embarrassed, I struggle to stop.

It’s easier than I think, however, when Piper moves back from me to hop onto the counter, then asks his next question.

“What I don’t understand is what your source could have shown you that has made your mission so urgent. What the hell’s his evidence?” Piper sprawls back on the counter. “You’ve been investigating the Idol pack and not getting anywhere for almost a year. What’s this new information?”

I glance around the coffee shop to make doubly certain that we’re alone, before I pull my phone out of my pocket. Then I switch it on and flip through my messages.