“You work so hard for everyone, with the blankets and house calls; you do deserve something nice,” Melody agreed, adding, “but you don’t seem…happy.”
“Yeah, well. Iwashappy about getting laid against a wall in an alley until something weird happened. I don’t know what came over me. I accidentally…bit him, andhebit me back.”
Sunny and Melody stared at each other for a moment, their faces unreadable. I hated the silence now, each moment like walking on the edge of a knife.
“You bonded someone you’d just met?” Melody asked in shock. “That's not normal, is it?”
She turned to Sunny. Melody was rather new to being an omega. She had only presented recently, after the first fire at her rescue. It was a whole thing with delayed blooming, so I didn’t blame her for her ignorance.
“It's not. Don't get me wrong—it happens occasionally when an alpha and omega are really closely scent matched,” I said. “But no. It’s not common. Still, like it or not, wearebonded now. And I don’t know what to do about it, because I don’t evenknowthe guy. What if he makes a terrible mate?”
“Well, what's he like?” Sunny asked gently, and I could see how encouraging she was trying to be with her smile.
I shrugged, eyes dropping to the space between us. “He's sweet enough, but that's not themainproblem.”
The pair looked at each other in shock again, and I knew that as soon as I admitted the truth, they would be way worse than shocked. Hell, I worried that they’d be less willing to hang out with me after the bomb drop.
“So… After we bonded, I asked him to come back to my apartment because it wasn't far, and clearly, we needed to talk. That was when he admitted he was part of the…convictfirefighter camp and had actuallybroken outfor the night. We had bonded, and then bam! He just up and left, hightailing it out of there because he’d already broken a rule,big time.”
“To go back to jail?” Sunny exclaimed quietly.
I nodded, sitting on the bed with a grimace. I was the paramedic who made baby blankets, but now I was the omega who’d fucked a criminal behind a bar. Ugh, I felt gross.
“Yep. My choices are pretty limited here, as you can see.” I slumped, still shaking slightly. “I accidentally bonded with a felon. God, that sounds like the title to an unbelievable romance novel.”
We all glanced between each other, lost for words, because what was there to say? We couldn’t alter reality, as much as I wanted to.
“If you need anything, don't hesitate to call us. Are you sure you don't want to tell our guys? They might be able to help or come up with a potential solution,” Melody insisted.
I shook my head. “No, he wasn't supposed to be in town that night, and he could get into a lot of trouble. He could be carted off to another facility. The distance would mean that I would have to leave because of the bond. I’m already struggling enough…” I trailed off.
“Oh, girl.” Melody sighed, pulling me in for a hug.
I sagged in her grip, needing the embrace more than I could put into words. “I don’t know. I’m not like this. I don’t make rash decisions and just throw caution to the wind. I’m a medical professional, for Christ’s sake. I don’t know how I ended up in this situation. I still hardly know anything about the guy, and I feel royally stupid for letting myself get carried away like that. It was just his scent… It was so…”
A sob broke free, and for a moment, the three of us all huddled into each other and let me get it out. I needed a good cry. Everybody did occasionally, and these two women held me tightly and whispered words of comfort as I sobbed.
They really were incredible friends.
“Okay, enough of this.” I sniffed, pulling myself up and trying to shake off the funk. “Let’s finish bandaging you up and talk about those sexy men of yours.”
Chapter 9
Preston
It had beenweekssince the warden had sent me into town to meet with the drug dealer. The only reason I’d been able to sneak out of camp was because he’d allowed it, and when I returned empty-handed, he’d been understandably pissed.
Still, I’d been asked to come to Camp Bower and figure out who exactly was smuggling drugs through the camp, I never expected it to be someone in a position of power.
So, while I was feeling like death warmed over and knew that the sweet omega probably felt just as bad, there was nothing I could do about it, because I was being watched even more than usual.
And hiding my symptoms was a joy.
It’d been nearly three months. All I could do was pray that the sickness wasn’t as bad for Hailey. She probably thought I was the lowest of the low, bonding, then leaving right after.
I don’t blame her.
At first, I'd expected her to try and find me at Camp Bower. There were programs that allowed alphas and omegas to spend time together while one of them was incarcerated, and I’d fully expected her to take advantage of that to see me.