Forbidden: Part One – Chapter 6

I hung up the phone and put my head in my hands with a groan just as Cam walked into the office with a couple bowls of pasta.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gruffly as he sat down in the leather office chair across the desk from me.

“You make that?” I asked, eyeing the bowl he’d sat in front of me. It smelled like vodka sauce—my favorite.

Cam snorted. “I don’t hate you that much. Ben got back from the store a few minutes ago and took pity on us.”

Cam and I couldn’t cook for shit and depended on our pack brother for meals. We had subsisted on takeout when we first left our community since none of us had learned to do anything around the house growing up. Ben had discovered a love of cooking and domestic shit. It was another one of the many reasons I was glad we got out of that hellhole. Seeing him bounce around the kitchen in a frilly apron was the biggest fuck you to our pack fathers I could imagine. I didn’t know how he managed to be so fucking cheerful all the time, but it made me feel like I had at least succeeded in protecting him from the damage Cam and I sustained growing up.

“Glad he’s home already. I just got a call from Amirah at the Designation Center,” I said, shooting off a text to Ben. I glanced up from the phone and saw Cam still, a shocked expression briefly crossing his face before he composed himself.

“Is this what I think it is?” he asked.

“Yeah, it is,” I said. “Ben will be here in a minute. I’ll let you know more then.”

Cam and I stared out the window, looking out onto the courtyard and wooded area beyond the house, the food forgotten until Ben bounded into the room.

“What’s up?” he asked. “Do you not like the pasta? I’m trying a new recipe.”

I cleared my throat. “Oh, no, I’m sure it’s amazing, like everything you make.”

Ben practically glowed with happiness.

I ran my hand through my hair. “Amirah called,” I said, jaw clenched.

Ben furrowed his brow. “Does she have a job for me?” Ben’s experience with computer programming and hacking made him invaluable to the Alliance.

“No,” I said, steeling myself before I continued. “She wants us to interview with an omega tomorrow.”

Since the Designation Laws passed, we hadn’t done any omega interviews, refusing to participate in an oppressive system. We’d already experienced far too much of that in the traditionalist community we grew up in.

We met Amirah before the Designation Government took power, back when she was the newly appointed director of the now-defunct Omega Center. We stayed in touch and were one of the first packs to join the Alliance. We provided funding and technical support to the movement—technical support being a nice way to say hacking, encryption, and security. We were currently backing certain politicians who were preparing to propose new legislation to push back against the Designation Laws. The last time we saw her, Amirah asked if we would be open to omega interviews if an omega needed a progressive pack option, and we’d agreed. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I wasn’t so sure.

The three of us longed for an omega to complete our pack. We had been together since my family moved us to North Woods from England when I was fourteen. We’d been inseparable for the past fifteen years, leaving our community together and starting our company. I could feel through our bonds that my brothers were lonely. As alphas, we were meant to have an omega to cherish, love, and care for. I hadn’t let myself believe it could be possible for us unless we moved to a more progressive province, but our Alliance work kept us here.

“This is good, right?” Ben asked, looking between Cam and me. “Amirah knows us. She knows what we’re like as a pack and what sort of omega we could bond with. This could be what we’ve been waiting for. Why don’t either of you look happy?”

I glanced over at Cam, who I knew shared my skepticism.

“Amirah kept it pretty cryptic over the phone since we never know who might be listening in. All she said is there’s a twenty-three-year-old omega in pre-heat who’s doing pack interviews tomorrow and asked if we could come in at two o’clock.”

“Twenty-three?” Cam asked, leaning back in the leather chair, his brow furrowing. “Unusual for an omega that age to not have had a heat yet. You think she might have been using suppressants?”

“That would be my guess,” I responded. “If that’s the case, she probably doesn’t even want a pack. They’ve increased arrests lately for people supplying black market suppressants. I’m not going to force someone to be our omega.”

Growing up, it was drilled into our heads that omegas were essential to alphas but never equal to us. We were told that when we bonded with an omega, we would be highly possessive and protective, so much so that we wouldn’t be able to control our behavior. We had seen some terrible things—omegas being isolated from family and friends, forced into having sex and babies. And then, of course, there was Cam’s sister. My throat felt tight as I thought about her. Even though we all wanted our pack to be complete, we refused to change our values, to change ourselves. It seemed safer to stay unbonded. We didn’t want to control an omega; we wanted an equal partner.

“But she’ll be forced to choose a pack,” Ben exclaimed. “And if we don’t interview, she might be stuck with a terrible pack that will take advantage of her.”

“We can’t be sure that she’s been on suppressants. Some omegas are just older when they have their first heat,” Cam said. “I think we owe it to Amirah to at least do the interview. We should go in without any expectations, and we need to be prepared for it not to work out.” He directed that last part at Ben.

“So, we’ll court her?” Ben asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “If it all works out,” he added when he saw my scowl.

I sighed. “Not exactly.” This was the part I was most nervous about. “Apparently, she’s going into heat in the next few days. If she selects us, we’ll bring her home the next day.”

“Shit, that’s quick,” Cam said, leaning forward. “They want us to bring her home and help her through her heat? Is that what she wants?” His tone was fierce, and I knew he was thinking of his sister.

“We’re not going to force her into anything,” Ben said as he paced around the room. “What happens after her heat?”

“I guess we’ll see if we’re a good fit for each other? If we’re not, at least this would be a safe place for her to live. We could put her in the pool house if it became an issue,” I said, trying to keep my tone matter-of-fact.

Ben growled, and Cam and I looked up, startled. I couldn’t remember the last time I heard Ben growl.

“We’re not going to put an omega alone in the pool house. That’s cruel,” he said.

“What? It’s a nice space,” I responded, unsure why he was defending this nameless omega who likely wouldn’t even fit in with our pack. A pair of big, green eyes came to mind, and I shoved the image aside.

“But omegas need touch and connection,” Ben said, biting his lip.

“Ben, she might not want those things. She certainly might not want those things from us,” I said.

My mind returned yet again to the breathtaking omega from the grocery store. I dreamed of her last night. I desperately wanted to know if she was okay and wished more than anything that I had been able to scent her. Something told me that she would have been all sugary sweetness.

Cam leaned back in his leather chair. “I think we’re obligated to do this for the Alliance, to give her a safe place and help through her heat, if that’s what she wants.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. “You two are fine having sex with a stranger? During heat?”

“I don’t know,” Ben said. He stopped pacing and sank down in a chair.

“It’s not fair for her to suffer,” Cam said.

My chest clenched. I didn’t want an omega to suffer just because of her biology, but it was rare for me to experience sexual attraction. The idea of having sex for the first time with a heat-crazed omega I’d met the day before set my teeth on edge. Fuck, this was the least romantic scenario I could imagine—sex as a medical procedure instead of something borne out of love. Omegas could sustain significant physical damage during heat without sex and knotting from an alpha.

“I won’t be participating,” I said finally. “But you two can make your own decision, of course.” As I said the words, fear wormed its way into my chest. What if Cam and Ben became close to this omega and I was left out? What if they ultimately chose her over me? I ran my hand through my hair and tried to shield my anxiety from the bond.

“So, we’re doing this?” Ben asked, a broad smile on his face.

“Yes,” Cam said. His expression was reserved, but I could feel his excitement pulsing through the bond.

“We can meet her. But we all have to agree to accept her into the pack, if she’s even interested in us,” I said firmly.

“Of course!” Ben said, bouncing up and down. “What should we do to prepare? Do we bring anything?”

“Amirah just said for us to meet her at the DC. She’ll give us a file on the omega to review ahead of time, and then we’ll meet her.” I sighed, having totally lost my appetite. “I’m going for a run. I can’t work anymore.”

I abandoned my lunch and quickly changed my clothes, heading out for the trails that ran behind our home—one of the reasons I had wanted to buy this house in the first place. As I ran, I repeated to myself, “Don’t get your hopes up. This won’t work out.” The words drummed in my brain to the time of my furious steps as I sprinted through the woods. After a while, the words somehow changed. “Maybe she could be the one,” pounded through my head as I pushed myself to run faster. So much for not getting my hopes up.

I am so fucked.