“Well, it ain’t for sale either, so clear off.” He scowls at me and my heart plummets. Not just because my sun, sea, sand and sex fantasies just went up in smoke, but because I was hoping for a friendly face, a nice neighbour I could count on in a pinch. Especially if one of the area’s legendary storms hits this summer.
I don’t ever want to be alone in a storm.
Plus, my trauma has me wanting to please. I want to be loved…or at the very least,liked. And this alpha scowling at me makes me want to quiver in distress, shrinking under his reflection.
I tamp that shit down.
Lani, think like a beta. Youarea beta. It doesn’t matter about DNA. Yours has been irrevocably altered. This is your lot now. Accept it.
Anyway…clearly, my knight in shining armour won’t be him.
“Sorry, I’m not trying to buy the place or rent it. I’m staying here for the summer.”
He scoffs. “Course you are, kid. I’ve been nice but now I’m telling you: piss off. You’re in the wrong place.”
His tone riles me almost as much as the derisive way he calls me kid. He can’t be that much older than me…though I know I look younger than myalmostnineteen years, but still. He’s not exactly old and wrinkly.
“What makes you think I’m lying?” I counter, cocking my head to one side and trying to decide if his amazing looks can outshine his rather shitty demeanour. I’m not convinced.
I guess it would all hinge on his smell. I’d like to think he’d smell as sour as his attitude, but I know the world doesn’t work like that. I can never catch a break, so I justknowhe’ll smell divine.
More’s the pity.
Though of course, betas don’t react to scents the way alphas and omegas do – nothing instinctive, nothing that grabs you by the spine. Still, I can appreciate a nice odour or two.
“I know the owner of that house and it ain’t you. Unless Old Doris has gone on holiday, come back three months early, and has somehow found the secret to becoming the female equivalent of Dorian Gray.”
“Doris Gray?” I tease, but his scowl doesn’t falter. “Are you calling my grandmother old?”
“Grandmother?” He shakes his head sharply. “No way. Doris doesn’t have any family.”
His barb stings but I keep my face neutral. I don’t need to bare my soul to a stranger, even if my father always chides me for wearing my heart on my metaphorical sleeve. I’m like my mother in that respect, it’s not like I can help it.
Though my father certainly tried.
You can take the omega out of the girl, but apparently not everything she inherits.
“Do you know where she’s gone?” I ask.
“What?”
“On her holiday. Do you know where she’s gone?” I repeat calmly.
He glowers at me, crossing his toned forearms over his muscular chest. I have to be imagining the veins popping in his arms from this distance surely.
Do not swoon, Lani.
“Why should I tell you?”
“I don’t need you to tell me. I know where she is.” I shrug.
“Then why ask?” he snaps.
“Because,” I huff, losing patience with him. “If you don’t know her well enough to know where she’s gone on holiday, then how the hell would you know who her family is?”
“I’ve lived here, beside Old D, for my whole life. I’ve never seen a single family member visit her in that time.”
“Just because we didn’t visit, doesn’t mean we don’t exist.” I have to swallow the lump in my throat. I’m using the royal ‘we’ here. Up until a few short months ago, I had no idea thatsheexisted. Yet another thing my father stole from me. The chance at knowing my mother’s family.