Chapter 43
FORTY-THREE
Kit changed the group chat name to ‘Opal’s Angels’
Sam: That would imply that we all know how to fight. And we do not.
Thatcher: You better be talking about Kit
Sam: I’m not.
Opal: I think this is causing more issues than it’s worth.
Kit: nah, pebble, they are big boys. let them work it out.
Thatcher: yes I am big, which means I can fight
Kit: Sure, babe. Whatever you say
Thatcher: I’m going to kiss your ass
Kit: Weird threat, but okay.
Thatcher: KICK* i meant kick!!
Kit: We all knew what you meant
Things are a bit slower through the week.
When my symptoms started acting up a few days ago, I immediately made an appointment with my doctor to see what was going on.
Turns out, thanks to no longer taking my blockers, my next heat cycle is approaching quicker than we thought.
Despite that, she confirmed that going off my blockers was for the best, and that everything else looked to be normal and steady for the time being.
Still, I feel groggy as the week goes on, spending more and more time alone.
Kit has been there for me, but I haven’t told him that I stopped taking my blockers, so he hasn’t suspected anything other than it being a normal flare-up.
On top of that, I had to speak to both my professor and the principal of the school where I’m doing my teaching assignment to inform them of my absences coming in the near future.
They were both very cool about it, thankfully, and I’m hoping Miss Blue will be, too, when I finally tell her.
Friday is a chill day, and I spend the lunch hour cleaning the classroom rather than going with the class to the cafeteria.
I have a bad migraine, and my clothes feel weird on my skin, but I persevere as I eat a few pretzels and clean up as much as I can.
The classroom has already begun to transform, the winter decorations having been replaced with paper trim and flowers.
Pink, orange, and yellow paper petals soaring over the wall, made by children’s hands.
It’s the epitome of spring, and it makes dealing with my symptoms a little bit easier.
“Aw, Opal,” Miss Blue says as she walks into the room, her lunchbox in hand. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know,” I tell her, picking up the last of the trash on the floor. “But I don’t mind.”
“You always go above and beyond for me. Thank you so much.”
She sits down at her desk and pulls out a miniature personal pizza. The smell makes my stomach grumble, but I can’t even think about going to get food. The lights in there are blinding and will definitely make my headache worse.
“I just wanted to let you know,” I say as she eats a pepperoni right off the top, “that I’ll be taking a week or so off soon.”
“Oh?” She looks at me, concerned. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just have, you know, omega things to deal with.”
Miss Blue’s eyes widen. “Oh! Yeah, that’s important. I didn’t know you bonded recently. That’s incredible! Congratulations.”
My lips flatten, immediately embarrassed.
I suddenly think about all the omegas who had HHOS and had been told the same thing.
I wonder if they stuttered through the explanation or if they just went along with the assumption, thanked the party for their enthusiasm, and went on their way.
I wonder how many of us have been told how happy we should be, just to immediately drive to the hospital and be put into isolation until the heat passes.
I wonder how many of us have become numb to ignoring the truth of it.
“No, actually,” I tell her, steeling my spine. “I’m not bonded. I do have a pack, but that’s complicated right now.”
She tilts her head. “Oh. I thought omegas had to be bonded to have a heat.”
“Most of the time, yes. But I have a rare condition that causes premature heat cycles. So, I’ll be figuring that out when it comes.”
She doesn’t look at me like I’m crazy. She’s watching me, like she’s trying to wrap her brain around the new information. “That must be awful,” she sympathizes, but I only shrug.
“It’s fine. I’ve had one before and it wasn’t horrible.”
The lie feels putrid, like tar clogging my throat, but my burdens aren’t hers to bear. She doesn’t need to know how humiliating it was, or how I plan to never ever experience it again.
“I had no idea you were dealing with that,” she says again, paying attention to our conversation attentively. “If there’s anything you need, or if Principal Faulkner gives you any issue…”
“He already knows and he was really lovely about it,” I inform her, and the tiny bit of worry dissipates from her expression.
“You’ve been amazing to me this semester.
Thank you so much for allowing a college student to be in your classroom.
It’s really shown me that this is what I want to do. This is my dream.”
Miss Blue’s smile is happy and kind. “You’ve been a delight. I was worried at first about letting go of some control and letting another person in the classroom, but I have to tell you, I’m so freaking glad that student turned out to be you.”
“Gosh, do you remember when it was just us going to these things and suffering through the cold?” Rory says to Stacia. “Now we have a whole support system!”
I laugh and scoot further into my seat to get warm. Kit puts his arms around me when he notices and offers as much body heat as he can since we’re separated by the annoying cupholder. He growls at it in annoyance and Sam cracks an amused smile.
Ciro scoffs. “Hey! I was always here, watching these games by myself. At least you had each other.”
Stacia coos at him playfully. “Aw, poor Ciro, all alone with his flask and a plate of nachos.”
He thinks about it. “I know you’re teasing me but an order of nachos sounds amazing right now.”
“It does!” Rory says, then turns to Jett with a pouty face. “Could you go get me some, please?”
Jett smiles. “Of course, Twilight.”
When he scoots to the end of the aisle, Sam stands up with him. “I’ll get some for all of us,” he says before looking back at us. “Any other requests?”
“I want jalapenos!” Kit says.
“Me too!” Ciro adds at the end of the row.
They set off on their task and my scent match lets out a chuckle. “I love having alphas to do things for me.”
Stacia, Rory, and I all laugh in agreement, but then Ciro adds in, “I know, it’s the best.”
We all turn to him, trying not to laugh. When he sees, he throws his hands up. “What? I’m a beta, I can cash in on those perks, too. Don’t be a gatekeeper.”
Stacia pats his shoulder. “Uriah would punch you if you ordered him to do something for you.”
Ciro’s lips smirk. “Which is why I have you ask him for me. See, it’s a perk.”
We all crack up as something happens down on the ice below. Both teams are working hard, and I see my big, burly alpha down on the bench, drinking from his water bottle and waiting for his turn to defend the ice.
The guys qualified for the finals, and even though we know Thatcher is exhausted and ready for the season to be over, we also know that he is ecstatic about this accomplishment.
His new partnership with his defense partner was rocky, but they have been turning things around lately, and Thatcher couldn’t be happier to finally be out of a rut.
A hockey rut. I’ve yet to see him in an actual rut, but something tells me that my omega and I would present for him in a heartbeat if his alpha asked.
“So, we have to go to Alpha Xi after the game,” Kit says as he leans toward me. “The guys who don’t play hockey are already partying and Sam wants to make sure it doesn’t get too rowdy. Is that okay? Because if you’d rather go home, I can go with you.”
“No, that’s fine,” I tell him, even though being in a house full of drunk alphas sounds like hell, considering how close I am to my heat.
“Are you sure? If we skip it, we can go home and make a couch fort. Then we can have pretzels and play Tears of the Kingdom,” he tries to convince me as a teasing smile takes over his face. The picture he paints is tempting, because that sounds like my absolute perfect night, but I stay strong.
“That sounds wonderful, but I want to go. I’d feel better if we stay together as a unit tonight,” I say, not knowing how to describe the instinct in me.
Kit understands immediately. “I’m sure they’ll want that, too. We’ll go to the party, but we won’t stay long. I’ll make sure both Sam and Thatcher leave early with us.”
I smile at him, thanking him without words as I kiss his cheek. His prideful grin makes me giggle, and we turn back to watch the game and listen to our friends talk absentmindedly.
It’s only been a few minutes when Rory’s hand goes to mine. I let her take it, though, wondering if she just misses her alpha or if something happened nearby that I missed, but then she whispers to me.
“Opal.” When I look at her face, it’s ashen as she stares at me in fear. I can’t figure out exactly what it is until she mouths, “Your scent.”
I scrunch my brows. My scent? The second it processes, there’s a new aroma in the air.
It flows out, meeting me like an old friend, and I suddenly tense in my seat.
My long-awaited lychee scent tousles into the air.
It’s practically doing back-flips so everyone knows that it’s finally back out to play.
Fear and relief mix into one. On one hand, I’m so incredibly happy to smell myself again.
To let my omega nature out, proud and bright in its fruitiness.
Then, there’s a loud inhale coming from my right, and I turn to see Kit staring at me, his eyes wide as they trail over my face.
“You’re… you’re my—” He takes another deep whiff of my scent that’s now pooling around us, finally happy to breathe from the confines I had stuffed it in.
My body stills, not able to do anything but watch for his reaction as a shiver rolls over him and his eyes flutter closed.
The reaction causes me to squeeze my legs together, affected by the desire displayed in his actions.
When he opens his eyes back up, he looks amazed.
“Holy fuck,” he whispers before pulling my lips to his.
The second they touch, a tiny moan escapes, but I’m not sure who it came from.
The kiss blurs into absolute bliss as he holds my face close, cherishing the exhilaration of it while he deepens it even further.
I feel on top of cloud nine. There’s nothing that could be better than this.
We pull apart when something crashes behind us.
Still coming to our senses and realizing we’re in a crowded arena, we turn to see Sam and Jett returning from the concession stands.
The plastic containers of nachos are scattered around their feet, chips and cheese everywhere after falling from Sam’s hands.
“No! The nachos!” Ciro says dramatically, completely unaware of the situation since his beta can’t smell anyone. Stacia shushes him as everyone falls silent.
Sam looks unconcerned about the spilled chips because his dilated gaze is directly on me. I freeze, knowing he can sense what I am, knowing that I’ve been keeping it from him for months. Guilt riddles every part of me, my scent reflecting my panic in every emitted pheromone.
Gosh, why did it have to be here? Why couldn’t it wait just a few more hours?
Sam’s neck turns slightly, like he’s trying to control his anger.
There’s an animalistic characteristic to it that I can’t put my finger on, and I immediately whine at the sight of it, standing up and moving away from him.
I trip over Rory’s legs but catch myself, feeling nervous and anxious as my scent continues to spill out way more than the average omega.
My upcoming heat cycle is making it stronger, and that in itself is causing me to panic.
Oh god. He’s angry that I kissed his omega. He’s angry that I’m his scent match. He’s angry that I’ve infiltrated their pack with lies and deceit.
“I—I’m sorry,” I say, moving around my friend’s legs to get out of the row. “I didn’t mean to…”
My body moves on autopilot, my fight-or-flight response choosing to flee rather than deal with the angry alpha on the other side of the row. When I pass Stacia, her brow furrows. “Opal, don’t go, everything is okay!”
“You need to breathe,” Rory adds, her tone gentle, but I can’t feel anything other than my lungs convulsing in my chest. The hyperventilating comes on stronger as I finally pass Ciro’s seat and make it into a clearing where I can run away faster.
My hearing starts to go in and out as the anxiety climbs through my limbs, not able to hear or understand any of the protests that I’m leaving behind.
“Opal!” I hear behind me as I get further away. The baritone sounds like my omega, frantically trying to call after me, but I can’t stop. I have to get somewhere safe. I have to protect myself and my omega, because only I can do that, and I should have been cautious of this from the start.
I don’t know why I thought this would work out. This secret that I’ve been keeping for so long that I can’t even remember why it started anymore, it comes spilling out at the most inconvenient time, and now everything feels heavy.
When I get into the hallway and move to leave the building, I realize that I don’t have anywhere to go. I threw all my eggs into one basket, and I just watched it crash and burn right in front of me.