Chapter 7
Sonnet’s birth mother used to say the worst thing about being an omega was always the possibility of finding your fated mate.
Once they find you, you’ll be caged forever, so hope they never find you, little Songbird.
She spoke of fated mates like monsters lurking under the bed or in the closet, and for the longest time, Sonnet remembered fearing what it meant to be in love.
She felt that same fear now clawing at her heart.
Sonnet never dated. The possibility of being caged like her birth mother felt like a terrifying concept.
However, she read plenty of romance books to know this was the part the female lead felt, even for a moment, that everything terrible was suddenly going to go right.
Even if it didn’t make sense, even if there was a whole other chapter dedicated to those terrible things, there was a sense of hope because finally she could be swept away in a blissful romance by her Princes Charming.
But Sonnet’s Princes Charmings were a rock boy band she had been idolizing for years as a fan.
What would they think of her being some hardcore fan of theirs? What would they think of her in general?
She was not the match for a bunch of attractive, famous, trouble-making boys.
Sonnet was someone who ate more sugar and carbs than she worked out, especially since she didn’t work out.
She liked the way her body was shaped, and how her ice cream crystallized when it was left in the freezer for too long, and the taste of her sprinkles dissolving in the bottom of her iced coffees, and the color of the sky when it set.
She liked buying bouquets of flowers at farmers' markets on Sunday, family dinners on Fridays, and movie nights with Scarlett and Summer almost every night of the week.
Sonnet liked almost everything she couldn’t imagine they would. She couldn’t imagine they would love her if they knew she was disconnected from her omega, that the deep, emotional connection every alpha and omega had with their primal souls was a connection that didn’t exist in her.
Mom and Summer tried to help her grow into herself, but the longer she went without her connection to her omega, the worse they reacted to it, so Sonnet had lied. As far as they knew, Sonnet and her omega were as thick as thieves, not realizing how deep her self-hatred and insecurities ran.
Mom felt different about being an omega than her birth mother did. The only thing her birth mother taught Sonnet was to hate every biologically wired thing about herself if she was ever assigned as an omega.
Scarlett squeezed her hand. “You okay, Sugar?”
“Ask me again after I wake up from this dream.”
She laughed and rested her head on her shoulder. Scarlett had been trying to convince her to swoon and fangirl for the past half hour now, but her body was sore after the unexpected heat spike, and her emotions were messier than her bedroom floor.
Oh, gosh. My bedroom!
She really hoped these alphas weren’t looking for someone clean and tidy. And she really hoped she wouldn’t have to bring them home. Not to her crime scene.
Summer pulled up to the clinic, one of the few dedicated to omegas, and protectively yanked her out of the car.
She didn’t let her out of her shadow until they were brought to a private room, Scarlett reluctantly having to stay behind in the waiting room.
She’d be the first person to greet her alphas, and Sonnet only hoped it would be less embarrassing than Summer’s confrontation with Zayden.
She glared at Summer, who paced the room back and forth. Thinking about it now, Sonnet couldn’t remember a time when her big sister wasn’t overbearing or overprotective.
“You should sit down,” Sonnet urged, shifting in her hospital gown and sitting at the edge of the bed. “You’re making me dizzy. Why are you so stressed, anyway?”
“Because you’re stressful.”
“Hmph. You always blame me.”
“Because you always find yourself in these strange, complicated situations. I mean, honestly. Who goes to the concert of their favorite boy band only to end up their fated mate? It’s like a plot from one of your silly books. Except I don’t know how this ends, and it’s making me feel sick.”
Sonnet crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “I’m so sorry you ended up with a complicated, unpredictable sister. But last time I checked, you don’t have to tag along with me everywhere.”
“And what? Leave Scarlett to fix your messes? No way. You’re even worse when you’re alone with her.”
“Ha! It’s not my fault you’re so frigid that you can’t make your own friends,” she snapped.
“Frigid? I am not frigid! Take that back.” Prim and proper Summer dug into the doctor’s jar of cotton balls and started throwing them at her. “You’re the one who can’t make friends because everyone thinks you’re a weirdo!”
“I am not!”
“Oh, you’re like the weirdest person on this entire planet.”
“Better than having a stick up my butt.”
“Ass,” Summer snapped, throwing her arms in the air. “For once in your entire life, say ass! ASS!”
There was a knock at the door and a throat clearing.
Summer and Sonnet both jumped a mile backwards, heat crawling on their faces as the doctor, an older woman with brown and grey hair, returned with her notepad and computer.
She didn’t mention their little sisterly fight, but her lips were curled in an amused smile as she took a seat on her stool and rolled herself closer to Sonnet.
Sonnet knew right away. The doctor’s eyes weren’t hiding it. The test came back positive.
“I’m Doctor Avery.” She extended her hand, and on the inside of her wrist was a tattoo.
She caught her staring at it and smiled proudly.
“It’s my omega’s favorite flower. She didn’t want rings or a ceremony but settled on tattoos.
It’s wonderful, the freedom each pack has when it comes to decisions, big or small. ”
Sonnet squinted her eyes. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
“I have the results of all your tests, and it would appear very conclusive that your heat spike was, in fact, due to the presence of alphas that have a strong biological resemblance to yours.”
“How strong?” Summer asked, trying to lean over Dr. Avery’s shoulders to read the test results.
“It’s a 100 percent match.” Dr. Avery held up the test sheet to prove it, and there it was, that perfect little number.
“It’s not completely rare for a match of high status like this to be made.
About forty percent of matches have a scent match and a biological resemblance between 80 and 90 percent.
However, only 2 percent of the worldwide population will discover what society calls a fated match, and what we refer to scientifically as a Link. A genetic and biological match of—”
“One hundred percent,” Sonnet whispered. “No decimals? No average?”
“No,” Dr. Avery laughed. “Destiny and fate are two terms slowly dying out in our society, but these terms live on in matches like these and in wolves like you. Like us.”
Sonnet lifted her head in surprise, and she was met with a warm and inviting smile. “You’re a fated match, too?”
“Indeed. Came at the worst time, too. My pack was a mess. When you have three alphas with big personalities and even bigger attitudes, things tend to get messy. Although, let me be clear, I am the perfect among the others. Well, things got complicated, and fast. But then she found us.” Dr. Avery began to fondly rub her tattoo, her eyes hazing over with memories.
“It’s overwhelming. That initial realization. In fact, I remember throwing up.”
“Really?”
“Really,” she laughed. “Some packs will paint a picture of perfection. Finding a Link solves and saves everything. In my case, it made things even more complicated, but then came the sweetness, and then the good. It’s been thirteen years, and I’ve never looked back.
I say this to bring comfort and hope.” Dr. Avery reached forward and grasped Sonnet’s hands, her eyes soft, encouraging.
“I’ve read your record. I know you have a complicated story.
I’m so sorry. I know how overwhelming this must feel.
I can’t promise you it will be easy. In fact, I can promise you the opposite.
The very beginning of this will be difficult and complicated. ”
Sonnet’s lips twitched as she momentarily caught Summer’s eyes. “I’m pretty good at complicated.”
“Then shall we complicate things even more?”
“How?”
“By meeting your matches officially.”
“Meet them?” A lump as large as a potato jammed into the center of her throat. She looked back over to Summer and hoped she had an answer for her.
Summer shook her head softly. “This is something only you can decide, sissy.”
Sonnet pressed the palm of her hand into her chest and practiced breathing.
A flood of terrible thoughts drowned in her mind.
She was shipwrecked, caught in a current of the worst possible outcomes, but in the storm, the sun peeked through and offered hope.
In the storm, her heart whispered to her mind; it will be okay.
Do you hear that, omega? Do you hear me?
We will be okay.
“Yes. I want to meet them. I want to meet my mates.”