65. Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Four
Kian
Scarlett was smiling and laughing when we were in the jet organizing the supplies. She felt light, and happy, and all of us could see it. It was made even more obvious by that delicious perfume that I managed to trigger with some sweet words and a meaningful glance, at least twice.
Those spikes of her scent made me more ecstatic than I’ve felt in a long damn time.
And now? After Trick left her with our dour lead Alpha for a few minutes, it was easy to see the difference in her. She stomped over here and thumped down between us, filled to boiling point with rage. Her expression was tight, her gaze cold, and most obvious of all, her perfume was gone.
Not faded. Gone.
I might not have experience of being around Omegas in real life, but I’ve read enough books to know that isn’t normal. Once an Omega is triggered, it can take hours, days even, for her perfume to fade into a softer, less completely intoxicating version of the same scent.
That isn’t even what happened here.
Beyond being badly physically injured, or psychologically tortured, nothing should make an Omega’s first time perfuming just completely shut off.
I guess it’s possible Scarlett knows how to control her perfume.
Apparently, some Omegas can do that, though that would probably mean she’d been triggered in the past by being drugged or exposed to some kind of trauma.
It takes a lot of practice to learn to control it.
If Xane somehow shut it down with something he said, I need to know how bad it was.
Scarlett clears her throat, and chews on her lip before she finally opens her mouth.
“First off, I’m sorry I got upset and rushed off like I did before …”
“No, I’m sorry I acted like a spoiled brat when you came back to the beach,” I cut in. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
She smiles. “I think I do.”
“Well, you don’t. I shouldn’t have tried to use that dumb line on you. I was trying to be cute. It wasn’t cute. It was stupid,” I admit.
“It might have been cute, if my name was actually Sapphire.”
She’s just trying to make me feel better. I like that she cares.
It’s starting to feel like she’s into me again.
“But that’s not your name, because you pulled a swap with your identical twin so you could be out here with us, instead of her.”
“Pretty crazy, right?” She laughs.
“I don’t know if I’d call it crazy.”
“No?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. “Then what would you call it?”
“I’d call it fate,” I confess.
Now that I know she clicked with Trick, and she’s open to what it means to be true mates, I think it’s time to start putting my cards on the table.
Even if my lead Alpha isn’t there yet.
Holding back has been torture.
I can’t do it anymore.
She’s ready.
I’m ready.
It’s time.
“Fate? So, you think I was supposed to be here, even though you asked for Saph?”
The question makes me smile. “Yeah. I do. You switched places with her for a reason. That’s what I’d call a fated coincidence. You’ve heard of those, right? They usually happen when something’s meant to be.”
I know she’s heard of them. The way she wrote about Chaos Burning, she’s the kind of fan who knows all the deep cuts. She’s probably got the B-Side with that title playing in her head now.
In the dark, her expression is kind of hard to read, but she’s definitely feeling much calmer than she did when she came out here so I must be doing something right.
“Huh. Trick told me you’re the one who arranged the interview. So, you must have thought Sapphire was supposed to be your true mate?” She doesn’t look amused by this.
Yeah, I bet twins hate it when they’re mistaken for one and other.
I know I wouldn’t like it. Not one little bit.
I laugh, a little bit nervous now. “I was more into the image I found of you on a blog post, but when I searched for other images of the girl in the picture, it was Sapphire’s pic from the magazine’s site that came up.
It felt different, sure, but I didn’t question that.
I’d literally just heard about our sponsor buying that same magazine. It kinda …”
“Felt like fate?” she asks.
“Pretty much.”
“I guess if you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be out here.”
I give her a minute, but she doesn’t add anything.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” I admit. “And it feels like you’re happy about that, too. I mean, you were until you spoke to Xane.”
She sighs. “Ugh. Xane.”
“Whatever he said …”
“He doesn’t like that I’m an Omega. He said something about Omegas being manipulative.
It’s fucking hilarious. If you had any idea what my life is like …
You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m not gonna waste my time explaining anything else to him.
” She shakes her head. “Whatever. I took more suppressants. Hopefully I won’t perfume again since it offended him so damn badly. ”
“You took suppressants?” I ask, horrified that Xane would make her do that.
“If I’m not perfuming, I’m not manipulating.”
Clearly, Xane is doing worse than I thought.
I should have realized that when he agreed to this plan, but I was too pleased that it was all falling into place. It felt easy, too easy, and I ignored that feeling.
“Suppressants can mess an Omega up,” I start, a little worried.
“I wouldn’t know. I only took some before I came here. I’ve never had to worry about it before. To be honest, I thought I was defective.” She shrugs, like it’s no big deal.
“Taking the minimum daily to make sure you don’t perfume is one thing. But once you’ve been triggered, it’s important to be careful if you need to take them to go somewhere or whatever.”
She stares at me. “How do you know so much about this? Do you have an ex, or …”
“I’ve never been around an Omega before. They’re not that common, and they don’t usually go out in public to places that might be overcrowded, like concerts. I just read, a lot. Non-fiction. There’s not that much else to do at night when you’re on the road all the time.”
“Okay then. What happens if I take too many suppressants?” she asks, vaguely curious.
“Taking a couple of them is fine,” I start, hoping I don’t have to tell her the rest.
“How much is a couple?”
“One is fine, two is fine.”
She blinks slowly. “What about four?”
“All at the same time?” I ask, not quite able to keep the alarm out of my voice.
“The bottle says you can take up to six in a day, and I took two before the flight. So, it should be fine. I just wanted to shut Xane up, so I took the other four all together.”
Well, I guess this explains why her perfume hasn’t just faded.
I don’t like that Xane pushed her to do something harmful, but it’s too late to take it back now.
“What?” she asks, her voice rising slightly. “Why do you look like you’re ready to throw up?”
Damn. I seriously need to get better at hiding my feelings.
“Six a day is probably fine, if they’re taken at regular intervals. Four at one time is a lot. Too many taken at once can completely shut down the processes an Omega goes through when they perfume.”
“I guess I’m less … distracted by sexy thoughts,” she admits. “It’s probably a good thing, though. Considering how your lead Alpha felt about me perfuming.”
“The only problem is it could be permanent.”
“Permanent?” she laughs. “What? No. That’s not possible.”
“It didn’t use to be,” I add. “But a few years ago, the ingredients of the suppressants were changed to make them cheaper to produce. There was a whole uproar about it in the news at the time. A small group of Omegas sued for damages. There are fresh warnings on the bottles now.”
It doesn’t feel good to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s a real possibility that she won’t get her perfume back, and her slick might not come in.
“I don’t suppose you know the odds of this being permanent?”
“It’s basically fifty/fifty. No one could answer why some Omegas were affected and some weren’t. There was no common denominator.”
“Holy shit,” she mutters, laughing again right after.
“I’ve spent my whole life wishing I was born a Beta.
I’ve lived like one ever since I could make my own decisions.
And I’m only finding out now, after I’ve felt what it was like to perfume, after I could start to see the positive side of being an Omega, that I might need to live as a Beta after all?
This is a fucked-up joke the universe is making at my expense. ”
I reach for her hand and take it in mine.
“Whatever happens, you’ve got me.”
She gives me a smile, but it’s a sad one.
“And you’ve got Trick, too, I guess,” I add, rolling my eyes.
That makes her laugh, even if she feels more like crying.
“Are you two friends or rivals?”
“A bit of both. I think that’s healthy.”
She shakes her head, turns to the side and wipes at a tear.
Fucking hell. I’ve made her cry, again.
“Sorry,” she murmurs. “This is just a lot.”
“I know. We should get you a marshmallow.”
The burst of laughter she lets out is a sound I could live for.
I really never want to make her cry again.
“I could use a marshmallow,” she admits. “Thanks, Kian.”