“I half think my parents kept me from the injection because they wanted to know if the pink or gold would win. Turns out, gold beats all…” She frowned, trailing off. “You… took the injection, though? Was that your choice?”
I tried to contain my wince. I, like Vandle, had been a part of experiments before this. I remembered very little, but one thing I could remember was… “No. I didn’t.”
She cocked her head. “And… they didn’t go gold?”
No. I had a distinct memory of something very different. Looking at my own pale face in the reflection of a murky mirror. Chestnut brown eyes flecked with crimson. Something creeping in.
Something… that shouldn’t be. “They… were always like this.”
“Oh.” Either that satisfied her, or she didn’t want to pry further, which was good, because it had never been something I wanted to explore too deeply.
I knew she could heal from where she came from, but it wouldn’t be instant.
She was already coming out of her shell.
“Do you love them?” she asked, after a pause.
“What?”
“The others?”
I felt a smile curve my lips. I knew why she was asking. My relationship with my pack wasn’t conventional, and she was navigating what it meant to be an omega. “Yeh. ‘Course I do.” It was true. It’s just not what people expected to see, but my pack was the most important part of my life—by a long shot.
She nodded, considering my words. “But you’re not as… needy as me?”
“I’m different.”
“Are you sure I’m not the one who’s all wrong?” she asked. “I feel like I could be with one of you every second, and it wouldn’t bother me at all…”
I smiled. “Good.” I was so addicted to her already, so it was a breath of fresh air to hear she was the same.
“But you’re sure that wouldn’t bother you?”
I took a breath, not really wanting to go into the difference between me and most of the other omegas in here. Between me andher. “There’s nothing wrong with you. There are enough omegas in here for me to know that,” I told her. Her eyes held mine, fireflies glowing in the dim nest. “But, if anyone has told you there are rules to being an omega, they were lying.”
“That’s… good to know.”
“Bet it is.” I knew what she’d been taught.
“Is that why you protect them like an alpha would?”
“I don’t know…” It was the truth.
“Do you think maybe it will make more sense when we’re not trapped down here?”
“Why do you think I’m fighting so hard to get us out, firefly?”
“Because you want to see nature again?” she asked.
I raised an eyebrow, peering at her. “Where did you hear that?”
“I was asking Phantom when he was cuddling me last night. Is that what you liked before you were here?” she prodded.
“Don’t remember before. Same as Karma and Vandle.”
“Hmmm…” She frowned. “Then how do you know that’s what you want?”
I snorted. “There’s a mural in the gym. A great big forest with rivers and birds.”