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 wantedto 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 meantto 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.
