Chapter Five – Dulcie
Mercedes and one of her alphas, a guy named Warren, take me home. Warren waits in the car outside while she walks me in. She comes with me all the way to my room, where she finally speaks: “Delilah told me the gist of what happened. Are you okay?”
The room, the same room I’ve been in since moving here when I became an omega, feels colder than it usually does. Emptier.
I stand smack dab in the center of it, unable to meet her knowing eyes as I whisper, “I don’t know.”
Mercedes was one of us not too long ago. She’s not a stranger, not by any means, but she’s like a whole different person now. Happier. Brighter. More confident in herself. It’s almost hard to recognize her.
“Listen, I know it might feel like you and I are in different worlds right now, but I know exactly how you’re feeling. Darius is my scent match. Did you know he rejected me when we first met?”
I meet her dark eyes, unable to hide the shock from my face.
“Yeah,” she says. “In fact, the first time we met, he acted like he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as me. It was like he was totally fine being a jerk, while my inner omega wanted to lay down on his desk like a lunch spread and let him have me.” She shakes her head. “It was not a good time.”
While a little on the too much information side, I’d be lying if I say hearing that doesn’t make me feel any better. It does. Maybe it’s not the end of the world, like I thought.
“My point is, sometimes alphas react weird. Sometimes they have their own motivations and reasons why they’re so weird about things.
Darius thought I was only in it for the money they promised me, that I’d eventually cut ties and run—and break their hearts.
He was only trying to protect himself and his pack.
Maybe your scent match was just as freaked out about everything as you. ”
I have to roll my eyes at that. “I’ve never met an alpha that gets freaked out about anything.”
“You haven’t met many alphas, then.” She steps toward me.
She wears plain jeans and a baggy shirt; she must’ve come from home when she got the call.
“Just like omegas, alphas are all different. They’re not all the same.
Just… if he happens to reach out with his pack, give him a chance.
A scent match is nothing to ignore, and trying to fight it is impossible. Sooner or later someone will break.”
I meander to my bed and sit down, my shoulders slumping. “I don’t… I don’t even know if I want any of that. I mean, I like being invisible.”
Mercedes comes over to me and sits down beside me. “Being invisible can be a superpower, but at the same time… trust me when I say, when you’re finally seen and heard, there’s nothing better.”
Hmm.
“Listen, no one can make you do anything. If you really don’t want to give your scent match another chance, then don’t.
But scent matches don’t happen for everyone.
Before I met mine, I didn’t even know they existed.
You remember—scent matches weren’t ever talked about here.
If you’re one of the lucky ones who finds their scent match…
you’re way ahead of everyone else.” She shrugs.
“If you give him and his pack a chance, you might be surprised, in a good way. Just give it some thought, okay?”
All I can do is nod and say, “Thank you.”
She gives me a smile and a hug before she gets up and leaves, shutting the door behind her. Once she’s gone, I heave a sigh and fall backwards on my bed. My legs dangle off the edge while I stare at the ceiling. I need to get out of this dress, wash off this makeup.
And yet… gosh, I’m so tired. Unreasonably so. It’s like being rejected wore me out in a way nothing’s ever worn me out before. Then again, I’ve never met my scent match and been denied before either, so I suppose I didn’t know whether or not what I was feeling was normal.
Now that I was alone, my heart didn’t hurt so much. My body didn’t feel as ice cold or rigid. I definitely wouldn’t say I’m relaxed, but I’m better than I was at the mixer.
Stupid Valentine’s Day. Stupid mixer. Stupid alpha. All of it is stupid, and I fully regret letting Casey strong-arm me into signing up for it to begin with. I’m not the kind of omega who enjoys those things—then again, I’m not the kind of omega who enjoys anything, really. How depressing is that?
What kind of alpha would want a depressed omega for their pack, anyway?
Say that alpha did meet me, say we talked.
Say I fell instantly head over heels for him, which I hear is typical for scent matches and clicking with a pack; what would happen if, after that, he decides I’m too depressing to be around?
What if he casts me off then? It might just kill me, so I guess it’s better to get it done with now.
I manage to push myself up and get ready for bed. My usual nighttime routine isn’t long; I don’t preen at myself like some of the girls here. It takes me way too long thanks to all the makeup on my face, but eventually I’m in my pajamas and crawl into bed, beneath the covers.
I don’t know what time Casey and the other girls will get back, but if I’m asleep, hopefully no one will wake me up. I’m sure Casey will talk my ear off about her night tomorrow. For now, I really need to get some sleep.
It takes a while, probably because I can’t get the look that alpha gave me out of my head.
It was like he was staring at me, but also not.
Like he both saw me, realized who I was, and didn’t.
But maybe that’s just me reading too much into it, now that I was alone, in my own bed, not freaking out as much.
Regardless, sleep eventually finds me, pulling me into a deep slumber of pitch blackness. No dreams. Nothing at all. Just what I’m used to.
The next morning I’m awoken by a series of knocks on the outside of my door, and since said knocking woke me up, I roll over and mumble, “Come in.” The early morning sun streams through the lone window in the room, but it isn’t enough light to wake me up naturally.
Normally I’d be asleep a few hours more before rolling my butt out of bed—at least on a weekend. Weekdays are different.
Casey pokes her head in, then slips inside.
A few moments later, she’s making herself comfortable on my bed, beneath my sheets with me.
She still wears her fuzzy pajamas, but I can tell by the wide-eyed look on her face, not to mention the bags beneath her eyes, that she didn’t sleep a wink last night.
“Sorry,” she whispers, on her side, facing me. “I couldn’t wait any more.”
I yawn. “What time did you and everyone else get back?”
“Just before two.”
My head would be spinning if I was up that late and then up this early in the morning. My friend is officially insane. “How was it?”
“Oh, I think so many girls found packs, honestly, but we won’t know for sure until Delilah passes out the Valentine’s cards at breakfast.”
I recite what our new headmaster said: “Just because they get a card doesn’t mean they’re automatically going to accept.”
The look she gives me tells me enough. “Look at where we are. N.O.A. might have academy in its name, but it’s basically an orphanage of unwanted or parentless omegas.
Anything’s better than what was happening before.
At least now we all get a choice. Plus I heard that, if matches are agreed upon, Alabaster Security is going to work on setting up starter apartments for the new packs. ”
That’s nice, yes, and even though it’s wrong, a tiny part of me is jealous that most of the other girls had a good night.
Casey quiets as she studies me. “What about you? You left so early. I heard there was drama. What happened?”
Oh, great. I’m the talk of the academy. “I, um… my scent match was there.”
That causes her to sit up and take the warmth and blankets with her. “What?” She practically shrieks out the word, genuinely not believing what I’d just said. “Your scent match… but you left—I don’t get it.”
She’s not the only one who doesn’t get it. “We didn’t even talk. He saw me and then he walked away.” I lean up and yank the blankets off her, tugging them back onto me before laying down. “I guess he didn’t like what he saw.”
“No way. There has to be more to it.” When I don’t say anything else, my friend lays back down beside me, her eyes even wider than they were before. “That’s crazy. I… I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that.”
I want to agree with her, but at this point, I don’t know what I deserve.
“Shit, girl. And here I was wanting to tell you about the alphas I met.”
“Please, tell me about them. Anything to get my mind off that jerk.”
“There’s three of them,” she says, a wide smile forming on her face.
Just like that, she transforms into a different person.
“I don’t know if any are my scent matches, but they all smelled so damn good, it’s like I went feral for them instantly.
Let’s just say it was a good thing your girl wore scent-blocking panties—”
I feel my cheeks flush, and I bring my hands to my face to hide. I cannot believe she just out and said that. All the slick and other bodily fluids; not stuff I like to think about. Once the second-hand embarrassment fades in me, I ask, “So, do you think they wrote you a card?”
“Oh, I know they did.”
“And you’re going to accept?”
Just based on the look she sends my way, I know her answer, and though I’m happy for my friend, I’m also quite sad. This means everything is going to change. I knew it would happen eventually, but I can’t say I was ready for it to happen so soon.
“I am.” Casey grins ear to ear. “Things are… a little different with them, but I think it’ll be exciting.”
“Different how?”
“They already have an omega.” I open my mouth to question her about that—I’ve heard of packs having multiple omegas, but they’re very rare—and she hurriedly adds, “A male omega. They came looking for a female omega to fit in their pack.”