CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Ozias
Our day’s plans were demolished after the scene with Mariska. Lyla was emotionally devastated which threw her into another extreme cycle of heat. It was one thing to ease her physical symptoms, but her heart was crushed. The only thing Jason and I could do was hold and comfort her.
Later in the afternoon when she was resting, Jason and I played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who had to go in to work and who would stay with Lyla. While the law allowed for an Alpha to miss work to stay with their Omega while they were in heat, it only let one member of a pack do so at a time.
Jason cursed up a storm as he put on his uniform and left for work.
I’d worked out that Jason and I would alternate shifts with our supervisor earlier in the day.
Which felt so strange. We’d only ever had one another as a partner.
I couldn’t imagine teaming up with anyone else on the job, but we needed to be there for Lyla.
“My packages aren’t going to make it in time for Christmas.” Lyla sighed as she flicked through tabs on her phone. “They said priority shipping, but priority is clearly subjective in the post office’s case.”
“That only means these people are going to have extra presents to extend the Christmas joy when they arrive.” Usually I wasn’t the peppy type, but to see her smile, I would put on a cheerleader’s uniform and shake my pompoms.
We were cuddled together in the freshly laundered nest in the living room. Some cheesy Hallmark Christmas film played on the TV, but neither of us were really watching.
“I suppose, but I don’t like to be late.
Not with anything.” Lyla rested her head on my shoulder and swiped through her emails.
She wore nothing but a big t-shirt with the Grinch’s dog on it, and I couldn’t stop thinking about that fact.
Naked, beautiful, and wild. Even when I was sleeping, I dreamt about her.
She had quickly become the center of my world.
And while Jason reveled in it, I was still struggling with it.
“It wasn’t your fault. You don’t control the weather.” I kissed her temple and gave her a playful smile. “Unless you’re a descendent of the Snow Miser.”
Lyla laughed. “I can’t believe you made a Snow Miser joke. Your status has gone up a notch in my books.”
That little comment made my breath stutter and warmth spread through me. I tried to pass off anything I was feeling as an Alpha chasing after an Omega in heat. Biology, simple hormones. But this was something else.
I didn’t just want her to lust after me, but I wanted her to like me. Because, dammit, I was feeling more than just like with her.
Jason wanted Lyla to be our Omega from the beginning, and while I fought against it, he was right. She was the one for us. I found that I couldn’t think of life without her anymore.
My family? They would have to get over it. I’d worked it slowly that I was leaving medical school to become a paramedic, because they would disapprove. It was rough for a little while, but now they were proud of the work I did. And I was much happier as an EMT than I would have been as a doctor.
No one in the world could dislike Lyla. She was the most immensely lovable person I’d ever met. My family would get over the fact she wasn’t a traditional Greek Omega and love her… Right?
“Let me guess your favorite Christmas movie as a child.” Lyla pursed her lips cutely and hummed. “Not Frosty or Rudolph. I don’t think you were a Grinch fan either.”
“Maybe.” I tried to smile innocently, but she had me nailed down so far.
“Aha!” She sat up and poked me in the chest. “Your favorite Christmas movie is A Christmas Carol. You’re the type that believes everyone can be saved, even a mean old man who seems to have a black heart.”
She could see into my soul. Fuck. Time to up the ante. “Which version?”
“The George C. Scott one, of course.” Lyla’s nose crinkled sweetly with her smile.
“Yeah, it’s the one I grew up on.” And I totally believed anyone could be saved. It nurtured my superhero complex. “Though the Patrick Stewart one was really good too.”
“Not as good as the Muppets.”
We laughed and snuggled closer. I idly stroked her upper arm as I enjoyed just having her here with me. A simple thing, but it was so powerful.
Was I really going to turn my back on my familial duty and choose Lyla?
“Do you really believe that anyone can change, no matter how bad they were before?” Her question was soft and hesitant.
I leaned my head back and tilted it as I regarded her.
It seemed like a personal question, but there wasn’t a single bad thing about her.
She had the biggest and purest heart I’d ever seen.
“I do. The human mind is capable of much more than we understand, and we aren’t even close to understanding the complexities of emotions. ”
“Because traumatic events like being visited by three ghosts can change someone’s mind?” Lyla gave a small smile as if to make a joke, but whatever answers she was seeking, they were serious.
“I honestly don’t think Scrooge would have been changed just by seeing the ghosts alone.
He was scared, but scared enough to not be a miser?
No. It was seeing his family in the past and present, seeing Cratchit and his family, and then finally realizing how alone he truly was.
It was living the emotions with these people that changed him and not the fact that he was probably cursed to be visited by the ghosts.
” I leaned in as if passing on a valuable secret.
“I have a theory that Cratchit’s wife was secretly a witch. ”
“A witch?” She blinked as if shocked and then giggled.
“Actually, that would make sense. But you’re right about Scrooge not being changed by the ghosts themselves.
” She became solemn again as her gaze turned down and she fidgeted with the edge of the blanket.
“I always believed that it would be horrible to be claimed by an Alpha.”
What? I silently sucked in a breath and held it. Was this why she was reluctant to let us help her? If any fucker hurt her in the past, I would find the bastard and beat him into the ground.
“Even after Mariska met her pack, I still didn’t want to ever have an Alpha in my life. Especially now that she’s broken up with the pack…” Lyla’s beautiful eyes shimmered, and I was ready to go take on that other pack for making Lyla upset through her friend. “Then I met you and Jason.”
I grabbed my anger and scrunched it into a ball, containing it so I could be ready for whatever she said next. This could only mean she changed her mind since being with us. That this wasn’t just for her heat any longer. She would want us to claim her.
The Alpha in me roared with victory. Mine!
My phone chimed with a text. I ignored it.
“Meeting you has changed our lives too.” Immensely. I was not the same man I was today as I was before meeting her, and that was less than a week ago.
I caressed her cheek, encouraging her to keep talking. This was her confession. My job was to listen, but fuck, I wanted to kiss her so badly. Hell, more than kiss. Once she got the words out of her system, I was going to ask to claim her.
The fierce resolution came hard and fast. If my family wanted to disown me, then let them. Just as long as I had Lyla.
There were two quick chirps in a row from my phone. It might be Jason asking how Lyla was doing, but he could wait.
Lyla glanced at my phone and chewed her lower lip. “Aren’t you going to see what that is?”
“No. I’m here, in this moment, with you.” My heart thumped hard, waiting for her to continue.
“Okay. So…” Lyla took a deep breath and slowly released it. My phone chimed again and she winced. “I need a moment to make some sense out of what I’m feeling. You can check that.”
I didn’t want to, but if she needed the time, I could at least turn the notifications off. Picking up my cell, I gritted my teeth as I saw the messages were from my mom. It was probably just asking me if I was going to church or what I was going to wear to New Year’s Day dinner.
Sighing, I opened my phone and clicked on the texts. The first one was a photo of three people. I recognized the older man and woman as the Alexpouloses, and that must mean the young brunette with them was their daughter, Thea.
There was a second image of Thea herself, poised and smiling. Pretty, yes, but polished and filtered. I didn’t even have to meet her to know she wasn’t for me.
My mom had typed: Your sister found these photos on Thea’s picture site.
Now you can see she’s a beautiful young Omega and perfect for you.
You will make a handsome couple. Dress in your best suit, the dark blue Armani.
Her family will provide a large dowry to buy a house suitable for an Omega of her breeding, so you can move out of that log house and be closer to us.
I furrowed my brows and silently uttered a hundred curses at the texts.
That was the sort of shit I didn’t want to deal with, and thank the angels above, I met Lyla.
She was giving me the strength to leave that behind.
I wanted my family in my life, but if they didn’t want me as my true self, then I wouldn’t stay.
“Who’s that? Those texts say they’re from your mom.” Lyla had been looking. I hadn’t even thought about hiding my screen. Fuck. “Is that… Do you have a girlfriend?” There was a growing panic and horror in her voice. “Or are you being set up with someone?”
“No. That’s not it at all.” I forced myself to stay calm, even though I was freaking out inside. “I’ve never met this girl. She’s an Omega my family wanted to try to match me with, but I’m not interested.”
Because I’m falling for you.
“Is this your life?” Lyla pushed away from me on the couch.
“Matchmaking by families, proper breeding, and dowries?” She said each word as if they were the most disgusting things she’d ever heard.
“That’s some patriarchal Alpha bullshit.
Treating Omegas as property, something to be traded and bred. ”
No. She was pulling away. I could already feel it in my soul.
“Lyla.” I reached for her but she launched herself off the couch and away from me. “Let’s just sit and talk. I’m not marrying this Omega. I want nothing to do with her.”
“Even if you aren’t dating her, that’s your life.” She backed up, recoiling from me. “And here I was about to pour my heart out to you. Thank fuck I didn’t. You’re just like all the other Alphas.”
“Please let me explain.” My throat was dry and my stomach churned.
I’d just realized that she was the one for me and now she was ending whatever was happening between us.
“I would never treat an Omega like property. Omegas are meant to be cherished and loved. Any Omega I’d consider having as a mate would be one I respected and adored. I would treat you like a princess.”
Tears shone on her cheeks. I stood and opened my arms. She needed comfort, my touch and my purr. My heart sat on the brink of being ripped into a thousand pieces.
“Like a princess,” Lyla spat and staggered toward the door leading to the stairs. “Locked away, kept only to tend to her mates and look pretty. I won’t lose myself because I’m compatible with an Alpha. I’m Elsa, and I’m not afraid to walk away and let it go.”
She was what?
It didn’t matter. Lyla had spun and ran up the stairs. I sprinted after her, and almost caught her at the top of the stairs. Yet instead of going left toward her suite, she darted right to the other one.
The one with the dog. Shit.
Lyla flung open the door and threw herself inside. The second I stood in front of the door, the dog started barking, putting herself between Lyla and I. A canine that big could rip an Alpha apart.
I stepped back from the door. “Lyla, please. I don’t want to lose you.”
She fervently shook her head. “You can’t lose what you don’t have.”
Fucking hell. She didn’t mean it. She was upset. I wasn’t going to give up. “There’s been a misunderstanding. We need to talk about this before it festers. I don’t hold to the old ways like my family does.”
She remained behind the dog, wiping at her tears.
“But you do. Treating an Omega like a princess? Not an equal? And you let your family play matchmaker with you. I have no doubt there will be contracts and that the poor Omega will have zero say in the matter. A true hero would stand up for her. He would stand up for himself.”
Air left my lungs like I’d been punched in the gut. Fuck.
Lyla rushed forward and slammed the door shut. I didn’t move. I couldn’t look away from the dark wood door. Everything I’d ever known about myself crumbled.
She was right.
Damn me. I was no hero.