3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
15 years old
It was after midnight, and Mom and her omega, Abbie, had gone to bed over an hour ago. I could hear low voices still coming from Cooper’s room, where Axel was sleeping over like he did most weekends.
I told myself I was going to the bathroom, just really quietly, like silently. And maybe I spent a little longer than necessary lingering in the hallway outside Cooper’s bedroom that had a big ‘No Trespassers’ sign stuck across it.
“She really asked you to spend her next heat with her?” Cooper whispered, although not very quietly.
My heart leapt into my throat at that.
“Yeah, last night she texted me. I nearly popped a woody in front of my dad when I read it.” They both giggled like kids.
“Are you gonna?”
“I dunno. I feel like you should be really sure about an omega before you spend their heat with them.”
“I mean, you’ve been together for a year, and it’s not as if you haven’t had sex with her.”
My stomach recoiled so violently that I thought I might be sick. He’d already had sex with her. He’d given his first time away before I was even old enough to be a contender. For once, I was angry at him; why couldn’t he have waited? Waited until I was a little older, and he could see that I smelled right and that I was his .
“I know, this just feels different. Like a commitment.”
Unable to hear anymore, I crept back to my bedroom as quietly as possible, with the remnants of my tattered heart in tow.
I opened my bedroom door to find Axel climbing the stairs two at a time, presumably aiming for Cooper’s room. I was in heat last week so he hadn’t been over in a while. Mom claimed that having omegas around alphas they weren’t related to during heat was a recipe for teenage pregnancy, so she’d asked him not to visit until it had passed.
The summer sun had tanned his face, and it complemented his dark hair and deep brown eyes beautifully.
“Hey Dyl, you okay?” he asked, smiling warmly at me. As he got closer, though, I wrinkled my nose because I could smell her all over him. It was becoming a problem.
“Mhmm. Just about to break down my nest,” I explained.
“Oh. That must suck. Only your second heat, though, so I’m sure your next nest will be even better,” he replied reassuringly.
“Wanna see it?”
His eyes went wide, clearly shocked and maybe a little embarrassed judging by the faint blush on those chiselled cheekbones of his.
“Um. Sure. Okay.”
We both stepped into my bedroom and I sort of presented my nest with a flourish of my arm like I was revealing one of the transformed rooms on an episode of Changing Rooms.
“Oh. Nice one,” he said, giving me a very awkward smile.
Glancing back at my nest, I frowned. I’d spent a full day building this nest, getting it just right. All he had to say was, ‘Nice one’?
“Axel, that you?” Cooper yelled from the hallway.
“Yeah, mate. Just in here,” Axel replied in a strange voice like he’d been holding his breath.
Cooper popped his head around the door. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“I was just showing Axel my nest,” I replied.
“Oh my god, Dylan. You’re so embarrassing. You can’t be going around showing people your nest. Your heat ended yesterday; you shouldn’t even still have it,” he replied before dragging Axel from the room.
I made sure the bedroom door was fully closed before I began taking apart my nest that—only minutes ago—I’d been so proud of. I tugged out all the bigger blankets first, folding them methodically one by one. The entire time, silent tears ran down my face. Because the alpha, who I’d loved since before I was even old enough to know what love was, didn’t love my nest. And he didn’t love me.