Page 34 of Broken Alpha (Unwanted #1)

Aidyn

I ’m not sure which woke me up first, the searing headache from crying myself to sleep or the screeching sound of my alarm.

Last night, I had pulled the sheets off my mattress and used what few articles of clothing I had that still held Luke’s scent in an attempt to craft a nest on the floor at the foot of my bed.

It felt incomplete and pathetic, but it was all I could do to provide myself with a little comfort.

Putting on my glasses, I glanced at my phone screen, ignoring the multiple missed calls and texts from Luke, and noticed a text from my mother inquiring about my health and if I would be home for Christmas.

Even though my world felt like it was in shatters, life moved on, and I needed to move with it.

It didn’t stop just because I was in a crisis.

I typed out a quick response, lying to my mother, saying that my health was good, classes were going well, and I would like to come home for Christmas.

That last one is not a lie, though, I needed my parents.

“Why are you on the floor?”

I lowered my phone to find Erik standing in my doorway, two mugs of coffee in his hands.

“What do you want?” I snide.

I watched Erik move into the bedroom as he approached my nest. He moved to sit beside me, and I growled at him, teeth bared like a wild animal when his foot stepped into the nest itself.

He quickly retreated, looking at me with large eyes as I sat up.

I didn’t blame him for not knowing it was a nest. I had never built one before, and it was pretty poor compared to the one I had crafted for my heat before losing my senses.

He sat on the edges of my nest as I sat up, taking the mug of coffee he offered.

“You built a nest?” he asked, surprised. “But you’ve never built —”

“What do you want, Erik?” I repeated.

“I wanted to apologize for yesterday,” Erik sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“Which part? Punching Luke or telling him that I was ruined?”

Erik had the decency to look ashamed as he stared into his mug, his nails clinking against the porcelain. I don’t think he realized I heard everything; our walls aren’t very thick.

“I’m sorry. I let my thoughts and emotions get the better of me, and I shouldn’t have said that. Or punched him.”

“Your thoughts and emotions? This isn’t happening to you, Erik, it’s happening to me!

I’m the one that’s pregnant. Pregnancy doesn’t mean I’m ruined.

In what way am I ruined? Or have I finally ruined myself in your eyes so that you’re no longer interested in me?

Or is it the idea that I’m carrying some Alpha’s child and not yours? ”

He flinched at my accusation, and I had my answer.

I placed my hand on my abdomen, where I knew the little creature was growing within me, and sighed.

Despite me constantly telling him I wasn’t interested and that he should find someone else, he still held out hope that I would change my mind.

Being pregnant changed that. It also told me more about his character and that he loved the idea of me, but not me specifically.

I was ruined because it wasn’t his child, and he couldn’t accept that.

He wouldn’t raise another man's child, and that was fine. I didn’t want him to, but it finally, finally hit home for him.

I stood up without saying a word, setting my coffee cup on my dresser by the door, and turned to look at Erik, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I’m going home for winter break. My mom asked if I was coming home for Christmas, and I told her I was. I’ll be back a few weeks before the spring semester starts, but I think I’m going to move out.”

“What?” Erik’s head snapped up in surprise, the hurt evident in his eyes. “You don’t have to —”

“No, Erik, I do. You ignored me for weeks after I told you I was seeing someone, going so far as to sit on the other side of our classes so you weren’t beside me. You barely spoke to me, acting as if I hurt you or cheated on you despite the fact that we were never together.”

“Then why did you let me sleep with you?” Erik shouted, jumping to his feet.

“That night was a mistake. I told you I would be okay, and you kept pressing to help me, saying nothing would change for us. I wasn’t in my right mind and I caved.

It was clear that things had changed. You acted as if you had some claim to me, and you didn’t!

I made it very fucking clear that I thought of you as nothing more than a friend, a brother even, and you didn’t even have the decency to act like one.

Now, when I need a friend the most, I realize that we’re nothing more than roommates.

Something you have made abundantly fucking clear over the past few weeks.

So, as roommates, I’m moving out. Find someone else. ”

“And if I can’t?”

“Not my problem.”

“It’s not like you can afford to live alone, Aidyn, especially not with a baby on the way. Assuming you don’t terminate it. Don’t be stupid! And by the sounds of things, you ended it with Luke yesterday.”

“What I do or don’t do with this pregnancy will not involve you, nor affect you in any fucking way. Whatever happens between Luke and I going forward is our business,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at him.

He didn’t need to know that I was already contemplating termination.

He was right, I can’t have this baby, but he didn’t have the right to that information anymore.

Our friendship was over the second he decided that I was nothing more than what was between my legs and that he couldn’t have me.

Maybe our friendship ended the second I said yes to sleeping with him.

I should’ve considered his feelings for me, but my heat was spiking, and I wasn’t in my right mind when I gave him an answer.

I refuse to blame my designation and how my body works.

I was still lucid enough that I could’ve told him no and locked myself in my room, but I hadn’t.

I’m part of the blame, and I’m aware of that, but I could also be an adult about it and acknowledge that it was a mistake, and I thought we could move past it.

“It’s for the best,” I said finally. “Now, please, leave so I can get dressed for class.”

Erik blinked at me before stomping out of my bedroom, muttering ‘go fuck yourself’ under his breath as he left.

I was tired before I even got to school.

Fighting with Erik this morning, saying my peace and ending a five-year friendship took more out of me than I expected it to, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because I didn’t have access to my nest anymore or because the creature inside me was already zapping my energy.

But there was still one more person I had to visit before my school day started.

I didn’t know if my relationship with Luke was over.

I still felt drawn to him, and my Omega missed him terribly and was practically urging me to go to him.

But what he did was inexcusable, and the bite on my collarbone throbbed under the bandaid I had placed over it, as if to remind me of his betrayal.

I didn’t know how we would move past this or if it was possible.

I went to Luke’s office and froze in the hallway, already smelling his citrus tea scent, except this time, it was tinged with spice and stronger than it normally was.

The last time this happened, he had been pissed off at the Alpha in his class, and I hesitated at his door before knocking.

When I opened the door, I couldn’t help but gasp at how much stronger his scent was in the room, thick and choking, coating my nose and throat.

The strong scent was mild compared to what I was scenting now, and my Omega let out an inhuman sound as a response.

Luke looked up from his desk, and there was a look of shock on his face, but something was wrong.

Very, very wrong. He looked gaunt as if he hadn’t slept in days, which I knew wasn’t true.

He had dark circles under glassy blue eyes, and his skin took on an almost ashen complexion, save for a purpling bruise on his cheek.

It was very clear that he was sick, but he hadn’t looked anything like this when I saw him yesterday.

“Aidyn,” he said, a soft expression crossing his face as he stood up from his office chair.

He approached me but halted before passing his desk, the expression dropping from his face.

My Omega let out another involuntary whine, Luke’s head snapping up to look at me when the sound reached him.

I stifled the purr that threatened to vibrate through my chest, knowing that my Omega was reacting to the Alpha’s distress and wanted to soothe his anguish.

Without thinking, I wrapped a protective hand around my middle and winced when Luke followed the movement.

His scent increased with a burst of citrus, indicating he was happy about the idea, and a low purr rumbled from his chest, causing me to close my eyes against its pull.

I could feel my body responding, slick gathering at my entrance.

“You’re pregnant?”

I had hoped I had a little longer before my scent change was more noticeable, but it appears I couldn’t deny it anymore, and he could detect the light floral scent like I had when I first woke up after my heat.

“I’m not keeping it,” I said, defiantly raising my head.

Luke looked like he wanted to say something, his scent changing again, but he swayed slightly where he stood, grabbing the desk to support himself, the tone of his skin growing ever paler.

Unable to resist any longer, I moved toward him as he swayed, reaching out to hold him upright and move him to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

I pulled out my water bottle from my backpack and offered it to him, which he accepted slowly.

He seemed lethargic, and I became genuinely concerned about his present state.

“You should’ve stayed home. You don’t look well,” I said, kneeling beside him to look at him better.

“I hoped you would come see me. I had to come.”

My stomach knotted at his words. I wasn’t here with the best intentions. I wanted answers and to return his keys until we could sort out whatever this was. My Omega whimpered in distress, and he turned to look at me, a sad expression on his face as he tapped the bandaged mark on my shoulder.

“I’m being punished, as I should be. It’ll pass.”

It took a second for my brain to realize what he was telling me, but it clicked once I analyzed the symptoms I was seeing.

Bonding sickness was a serious matter, and there was zero reason why Luke should be at work right now.

Although rare, people have been hospitalized and even died due to the illness.

Bonding sickness typically occurs when an Alpha bites an Omega and initiates the bonding process, but the Omega doesn’t reciprocate, the first symptom showing up within twelve hours of the incomplete bonding.

While the bite on an Omega fades after three days if it is not tended to by the Alpha, bonding sickness lasts about a week, as if they were being punished, which is clearly how Luke saw it.

“Why?”

He looked at me, his gaze searching my face, but I could see the pain and regret in his expression.

“I have nothing but excuses. The night of your heat, my parents invited an Omega and her parents for Thanksgiving. The second I arrived, they had me take a shower, washing all traces of you from my body. I was annoyed, but I wanted to keep the peace, foolishly thinking it was because they didn’t want to scent you, until I saw her.

I realized that they were just torturing this poor woman with false hopes.

I had already chosen my mate, and my parents wouldn’t hear differently, so we argued.

I left when I saw your message, and I found you in your nest. You were so perfect, waiting for me, and I became weak.

Through the haze of rut, I realized that our bites and marks would heal and no one would know that we were together, and I lost it.

I have no other excuse besides the fact that I gave in to my Alpha before I even realized what I had done.

It’s not how I would’ve done things, I swear to God.

It’s not where I would’ve placed my mark, and I wouldn’t have done it in the thralls of your heat. ”

“The condom?” My voice cracked at the question, and Luke groaned, putting his face in his hands and threading his fingers into his hair.

“My mind was elsewhere, consumed by rut and the need to show the world that you were mine and I was yours. It wasn’t intentional by any means. I know I fucked up, and I swear to God, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.”

I sat back on my heels and watched the Alpha before me.

I could tell by his scent that he genuinely felt guilty about the situation we now found ourselves in, and my brain was a jumbled mess trying to make sense of what he told me.

I needed time to think about what he said, the future, and us, to process everything.

Luke’s alarm cut through the silence, reminding us where we were and that the world had moved on despite our turmoil. I watched in mild fascination as Luke mustered up all his strength to slowly move out of the chair, his face blank as he reached for his phone.

“I brought something for you, in case you came. I thought…I thought you might need it.”

I cocked my head to the side, curious about what it could possibly be.

He moved around his desk, picked up his bag from the floor, and pulled out the stuffed otter from my nest. I couldn’t help the squeal of excitement that left me as I dashed toward him to grab the otter, clutching it close to my body.

I buried my nose in its fur, inhaling the mixed scent of us.

Some of the tension in my body left as I had a part of my nest with me, and I couldn’t help the overwhelming desire to cry.

I had a piece of my nest with me, and I instantly became calmer than when I walked through his office door.

“Thank you,” I whispered, glancing at him through damp lashes.