Page 18 of Ondine: Vol. 2

“Did she pick them out?”

“I think Jake just bought them.”

“Wow, I should applaud you for always having the worst answer to my questions. Normally I wouldn’t even tell you to put together her nest for her, but I know exactly what she wants.”

Shadow clears his throat. “Did she tell you everything she wants?”

I pause to look at him. “Yes.”

He cocks an eyebrow at me.

“Even that,” I answer the unasked question.

Ondine has been through too goddamn much. She’s surrounded by fools.

I wish I could have protected her from them. I’ve let my own fear keep me from going to greater lengths to get her back. It’s so fucking common for betas to get jumped, killed, arrested, or disappear who try to get too close to an unbonded omega. My roommate took an omega on a date, and her already bonded alphas beat the shit out of him. He had to move in with his mom so he could recover.

The police don’t help. If anything, they find any excuse to get rid of the beta.

Even being friends with an omega will get you ostracized and open to all sorts of harassment.

It’s not that I’m afraid of that. I’m not afraid of fucking cops or alphas. I just couldn’t protect her if I was getting hassled.

“Ok.” I stand up. Determination seeping from me. “Tell me everything. Absolutely everything. And when you’re done, we are going to a real nesting store and you’re spending at least 10 grand on all the shit we need. Is that going to be a problem?”

Shadow shuffles his feet and says, no, it won’t be a problem.

Ok.

Let’s do this.

7

Omegabrain

Ondine

Dr. Chen sits in front of me with a look of deep concern on her face. Not because she feels concerned, she’s trying to send me a message that she’s about to tell me something serious.

Freddie sits next to me, the back of his hand stroking my leg. Sebastian stands with Dr. Chen’s beta nurse. I don’t remember his name.

“Last time we met, I took your results to my colleague Dr. Soto, who is an omega specialist. He reviewed your case, and told me it is highly likely you’ve been suffering from chronic bond sickness.”

“Yes,” I reply, having known this information.

“I’m sorry?”

“I knew that. I mean, I’ve never been diagnosed, but yes, I knew. I’ve always had it under control, though.”

She emotes her “concern” look even more.

“Ondine, no one can manage chronic bond-sickness on their own.”

“What was I supposed to do?”

She sighs. “Go to a doctor.”

Sebastian interrupts what was about to be a sassy reply. “What can we do now?”