Page 41 of Brave New Omega, Part 2

Chapter 41

CALLUM

I pace back and forth, shaking the papers in front of me. Loren pours a glass of brandy, holding it out to me. Max is going to pick up Katie and by the gods she is going to explain why she’s been hiding this from us.

“I think you’re being unreasonable.” Loren says, that same calm tone he uses anytime I’m angry.

“I am being perfectly reasonable,” I growl back. I’m the head Alpha in our Pack. Not because I’m the strongest – Loren can out fight me in a battle, and Max has more skill in the ring. But because I am the most stubborn, the most aggressive. I lead. What I say is law.

Not that I use that power much.

But tonight. Well, tonight our Omega might have to get some lessons in Pack hierarchy.

“Max is getting her. She’s fine ,” Loren says. “She was when we got up and had breakfast. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing indicating that she’s as close as Aurelia said.”

“This isn’t about Aurelia, Lor. She could go into heat this week !” I shake the papers again. We’d ask them to run more tests, to see if Traveler blood was compatible enough for children. Just so we knew, so all of us understood what we were saying yes to. But Aurelia’s news… Fuck. This changes everything.

The garage door buzzes. Max and Katie are home.

I take a deep drink of my brandy.

Her perfume is light, more sweet than spicy. I can taste her happiness before I even see her. Godsdamnit! Anger at her betrayal and the biological need to keep her happy war inside me. Being an Alpha is shit sometimes.

I turn my back, not wanting to see her face, not letting my anger break before I’ve made sure she understands that in this Pack there are no secrets.

“Hey family!” Max says, and Loren’s posture changes. His shoulders relax and his own scent softens, warming with desire. I can feel her heat, like a radiant glowing star behind me. My whole body responds, my cock straining for the warmth of her, my heart slowing its rapid thunder as desire unfurls in me, relaxing all my tension.

No! I need to get this out. Need her to understand; I will not be used like Genevieve used us. Not be taken advantage of. Not be made a fool of.

“You’ve been keeping secrets, Omega.” My voice is hard, colder than I mean to be. Even with my back turned I feel her tense, her bubbly scent souring into a burnt sugar haze. Fear and apprehension.

“What?”

I turn and she’s hovering next to Max, confusion across her features. “What are you talking about?”

I hold up the papers. Loren’s lips are pressed in a line, and he’s watching me, not her.

“You knew that your heat was coming, and you hid it from us. Why? Not planning on staying?”

I shake the papers at her. Max takes a half step forward, growling.

“What are you talking about? My heat? I didn’t keep anything from you about my heat.”

She’s frowning, but her free hand is clenched into a tight fist.

“Aurelia said she called you to confirm your heat cycle.”

“Yeah?” Katie looks at me blankly. She points at Max. “I told him. It happened right after the attack, excuse me for not reporting every fucking phone call,” she spits, anger punching up the spicy cinnamon of her perfume.

Max cocks his head. “She did. She said it was sooner than Aurelia thought, but that was all.” He looks at her, “how soon is soon?”

She shrugs tightly. “I don’t know, she said that instead of two to three months it was like two to three weeks. Or less, they weren’t sure. But it didn’t seem important after a literal attack .”

“You should have told us immediately!” I growl. “Do you know how much risk there is for an Omega in heat? And unbonded Omega!”

Rage rips through me and the edges of my vision recede to black. I could break something. Her scent once she starts heat will be a siren call to any Alpha, bonded or not, within a three mile radius. They will come hunting for her, and if we’re not there… Fuck, we could lose her before we really ever had her.

Loren’s calm voice intervenes. “Why didn't you tell all of us?”

“I didn’t hide it!” She protests, and I feel her move away from Max and me toward the stairs. “What do you want, a record of every conversion I have? Am I to have my phone lines tapped too? You went behind my back to discuss my biology and are accusing me of hiding things from you.”

She climbs the first stair and I tense to lunge for her, but Loren’s hand on my shoulder stills me.

Katie’s pulse thrums and I see a blood vessel at her temple throb. Fuck, she is as angry as I am. I swallow, trying to calm. I need her to understand.

“We didn’t go behind your back,” Loren says. “We’re a Pack and heats are difficult for Omegas. We need to plan ahead.”

“No! It’s my body, my life. You told me I wasn't in a cage.” She points a finger at him. “You promised I wouldn’t be in a cage. This,” she sweeps her hands over where we are standing. “This is a fucking cage. I didn’t hide anything. I told Max. You’re the ones scurrying around hiding things.”

She turns to walk up the steps. I lunge out of Loren’s grasp and grab her arm.

“You can’t run away from this,” I growl, a note of Alpha sweeping through the room. She straightens at my command, tears leaking from her eyes, and disgust crisscrossing her features. She shakes me off, but doesn’t otherwise move.

“Is this what love is to you?” she asks, her voice simmering with loathing. “Is this how you treat your lovers? No wonder Genevieve hates you.”

I stagger as though she struck me.

“Katie,” Loren strides forward. “Genevieve betrayed our trust. She stole from us, you have to understand.”

“No. You assumed the worst about me, why? Because of her. Well, maybe it’s not the women that are the problem here. Maybe it’s you.”

“Katie, let me explain, please,” Loren says, but she waves him away.

“No, I don’t want your stupid explanations. I’m sure it’s a sad tale of perfect Alphas being manipulated by a poison Beta. Spare me. I’m just a fool who believed that you were different from other men.”

She shakes free of my Alpha command and, with a muffled grunt, climbs the stairs.

“You are a fucking twat,” Max growls. “You could have just asked her like a civilized man, but instead you had to go all Alphahole. Now you’ve gone and undone all the trust we’ve built. And right before her heat. Idiot.”

All the fire of rage whooshes out of me and I stagger backward.

Fuck .

I crumple the papers in my hand.

Loren pry's them from my fingers and Max reads them over his shoulder. I am numb, replaying the way her face crumpled before me. How could I have been so stupid? Katie isn’t like Genevieve. Katie isn’t manipulating us. She’s alone in a world that is foreign to her. Of course she doesn't realize what a big deal her first heat is.

Fuck .

“She’s compatible?” Max straightens up, his voice tight.

“Yes,” I breathe. That was the other news. The other piece of this puzzle. Gods if I had just been more patient!

“You’re sure?” Loren asks, awe in his words.

“As sure as the tests are.”

“That’s amazing! I mean, that means, if she wants of course, but, children!” Max nearly whoops. Loren grins like a he’s just found a stash of undocumented Traveler artifacts.

“Yeah, it’s… unexpected. But Aurelia says they’ve been running all the bloods through every test they can think of. No reason we can’t reproduce.” My voice is numb. This news, which should leave us all elated, only scalds the open wounds in my heart. Because all of this hinges on her, our perfect Omega.

And I might have just broken her heart.