Page 26 of Omega's Faith

My throat goes dry. “They’ve got the resources for it,” I say finally.

"Are you excited?" This from James's wife, Lisa, who always tries to see the best in everything.

"I—" My voice cracks. "Excuse me. I'll get more rolls."

I escape to the kitchen before anyone can respond, hands shaking as I grab the basket from the counter. The walls feel too close. Too small. Like the whole house is shrinking around me.

Soon I'll be married to Alexander Colborne, living in his massive estate, surrounded by his wealth and his staff and his complete indifference to everything that matters to me.

"Sweetheart?"

I spin around. Mom stands in the doorway, worry lines etched deep around her eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The gentle question breaks something inside me.

"I thought I could do it, Mom." The words tumble out in a rush, desperate and raw. "I thought I could marry him and make it work, but I can't. He's arrogant, condescending. He has no values. How am I suppose to follow an alpha like that?"

She crosses to me, wraps her arms around my shoulders the way she did when I was small and the world felt too big to handle.

"Tell me," she says simply.

"It's not fair." The words come out broken. "You and Dad, you found each other. Real love. Partnership. Everyone in the family has. I need an alpha I can respect." I sigh and lean back against the kitchen counter. “I can’t do this. I know it’s a prime match but after we marry, it’ll be too late. I need to stop this now. I need to find someone who is right for me.”

Mom pulls back, cupping my face in her hands. “It’s God’s will, my love.”

“Is it? Maybe He expects me to be brave and turn this down. Maybe I’m meant to show the world that morals mean something, even if it’s a prime match.”

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that I am right. There is no way that I am a match with Alex. No way.

I can understand opposites being a match but that’s things like someone sporty loving someone who’s a couch potato. It’s not marrying someone who is the complete opposite of every value that I have.

I also know that the moment I say my vows, it is too late. I don’t believe in divorce. I believe in one alpha for life and I believe in the vows. If I am going to say them, then I have to mean them. I can’t hold my fingers behind my back. Once I am married, then I’ll be committed to him. There will be no going back.

I can’t marry him in the first place.

I give Mom a big hug and we head back into the dinner where no one thankfully asks me any more questions about the wedding.

After everyone leaves, I camp out in the corner of the living room where we keep the family computer searching as many keywords as I can. The Omega Match Bureau matches omegas and alphas based on the blood and biochemical markups. Matches that aren’t prime are allowed to say no. It’s only the prime ones that they enforce. It’s supposed to be for the good of everyone and until a few days ago, I believed that. Now I’m not so sure.

There has to be a loophole. What if Alex were a convicted serial killer? Or in a ten year coma? They couldn’t force those.

Bureau regulations. Alpha fitness requirements. Grounds for match invalidation.

The search results are extensive. Page after page of legal jargon and bureaucratic language that makes my head spin. But buried in the procedural guidelines, I find it:

Matches may be invalidated in cases where the alpha demonstrates unfitness through criminal behavior, substance abuse, or conduct unbecoming of an alpha partner.

Conduct unbecoming.

My pulse jumps. Alexander Colborne's entire life is conduct unbecoming.

I dig deeper, finding case studies and precedents. Alphas denied matches for drunk driving convictions. Others flagged for violent behavior or financial irresponsibility. None of those were prime matches but the Bureau takes alpha fitness seriously—in theory.

This could work.

But as I read more, my hope starts to crumble. The cases that succeed involve actual convictions.