1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Genesis

G enesis could see that the battle was already lost from the set of her editor’s mouth. Everett’s lips were pressed together in a hard line, and his jaw was clenched tight, but what else was new? He always looked at Genesis like that these days and she hadn’t backed down yet. She dug her heels in and readied herself for battle.

“Are we going to have this fight every week?” Everett asked wearily, removing his glasses and sitting back in his chair.

Genesis shut his office door behind her. “We are if you keep giving me these bullshit assignments.”

Everett sighed heavily. “You’ve been getting plenty of views. Readers ate up your coverage of Destiny Duvalle’s royal wedding. Nobody expected that match. Your story got more views than any feature in the last five years.”

Genesis put her hands on her hips and fixed the editor with a glare. “I don’t want to tell fluffy celebrity stories, Everett, and you know it. I want to tell stories that matter—I want my work to make a difference.”

“You had an opportunity with the Pack Rhodes assignment,” Everett replied dismissively, rearranging a stack of papers on his messy desk. “If you’d taken it seriously, you might’ve been the one to uncover Serenity Rhodes’s back story and brought attention to the omega trafficking issue in Smyrna City. But because you thought the piece was beneath you, you phoned it in.”

Genesis bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from blowing up at her boss, knowing that behavior would get her nowhere. His assessment wasn’t entirely unfair. She’d been pissed that Everett had asked her to use her name to get an invitation to the Rhodes Pack’s first mating party. Sebastián Rivera St. James had agreed to put her on their shortlist as a favor, in exchange for some positive coverage.

It'd been obvious she was never a contender for Pack Rhodes’s omega, but she’d gotten some big-name interviews out of the event. Plus, attending that mating party had gotten her dads off her back for a while—although now they were back to pressing her about finding a pack of her own. Genesis had gone through the motions, throwing together a puff piece on the lavish event and beautiful guests. There was no way anyone could’ve known that the pack would eventually choose the unknown omega who’d been introduced to the world as Remy Rhodes’s cousin, let alone that she’d have a powerful story of survival hiding beneath her sweet facade.

She didn’t mention to her boss that she’d made a connection that might still get her an exclusive with Serenity Rose Rhodes. The idea was still new, and she didn’t want to bring it to Everett until she had it airtight. She planned on it being the start of something big—her pièce de resistance.

Rather than argue about her attitude, Genesis decided to fight facts with facts. “That phoned in piece had the most views in features that year. That’s three years in a row that I’ve been your top performer, and every year since you made me a columnist, I’ve been top three. I do the highest numbers in views, shares, and sheer production. You’re doing the org a disservice by underutilizing me. You know I’m right, Everett.”

Genesis knew she sounded cocky, but she also knew she was telling the truth. She was the best damn journalist working for NewsFeed . If Everett would just take off her training wheels, she’d really have a shot at covering news that mattered and making a name for herself as a real investigative journalist.

Everett sighed heavily. “Genesis, you know why I can’t put you on the kinds of stories you want to cover. It’s just too dangerous.”

“That’s bullshit!” Genesis exploded, unable to contain her frustration. “You would never say that to a man.”

Her editor reddened, slamming his palm against his desk in an uncharacteristic show of temper. “I would if he was an unbonded omega! Luckily for me, none of the other omegas of any gender I’ve worked with during my career have been as suicidal as you seem to be. I can’t have you out in the field chasing omega traffickers while you smell like the exact prey they’re after.”

Despite knowing the truth of Everett’s words, Genesis stubbornly crossed her arms. “That could work to my advantage. I could go undercover.”

Everett threw up his hands, then dragged them down his face in exasperation. “Either you’re out of your rabbit ass mind or you just want to give me a heart attack! Do you know what they could do to you? Genesis…don’t even joke about that kind of thing.”

Genesis sighed, relenting a little at the note of real concern in his voice. She decided to change tactics. “There are serious stories that don’t involve omega traffickers. You’ve got to give me something that isn’t celebrity parties and fashion shows, Ev.”

Everett’s shoulders sagged. He looked so tired that Genesis almost felt guilty for pushing him. Almost.

“There’s always the risk of some unethical alpha catching your scent and doing you harm, Gen.” He shook his head, his dark locs falling into his eyes. “We can’t risk it. I won’t risk it.”

Genesis sighed. She liked her editor. She really did. The shrewd beta had taken a chance on her when she was fresh out of academy. He’d helped her build quite the portfolio over the past almost-decade. But her career had been stagnant for years and Genesis couldn’t just let her dreams die so easily.

“I love it here, Everett, but if I can’t advance, I’ll have to look for other career opportunities,” she said firmly, holding his gaze. She didn’t want to give him an ultimatum, but she needed him to know she was serious.

Everett steepled his fingers, returning her gaze unflinchingly. “Genesis, you’re an unbonded omega nearing thirty. What reputable news outlet would take on the liability?”

Genesis’s mouth popped open in dismay. “That is an incredibly sexist thing to say-”

“It’s a realistic thing to say,” Everett interrupted, cutting her off. “The insurance alone would be a dealbreaker for most companies. Look, I’m not knocking your age in a misogynistic way. But I sign your timesheets. I know your heats are growing more frequent and lengthier, and I’d wager they’re growing more intense. If you continue suppressing them much longer, the drugs will continue losing their potency until they stop working altogether. You need to let a pack help you.”

Genesis stiffened. This was her least favorite topic. She’d made it no secret that she wasn’t interested in mating. Her fathers had been pushing her on the matter since she’d graduated from the prestigious omega academy where she’d grown up. Genesis didn’t know why they cared. She hadn’t asked them for much since her mother died, they remarried, and shipped Genesis off to boarding school at just six years old.

Despite her family’s wealth and notoriety, Genesis had earned her spot at NewsFeed on her own. She’d refused to lean on her family name, writing under the pen name ‘Gen V’ instead. She prided herself on forging her own way, which was why Genesis had been furious to learn that Everett had “accidentally” let her surname slip to Pack Rhodes’s publicist to get her into that mating party.

Despite Everett’s encouragement, she hadn’t even used her familial connection to get the Destiny Duvalle piece. Her brother, chief advisor and packmate to Prince Alexander Stepanov, hadn’t known her pseudonym and was completely surprised when she showed up to cover Duvalle’s private performance for the princess of Avondale. And she’d been equally shocked when he’d offered her exclusive coverage of Pack Stepanov’s mating ceremony. She’d been so thrilled that her brother had found his mate; the exclusive had been an unexpected bonus.

Thinking about Greyson softened her a little. It had been nice reconnecting with him over the holidays. He and his pack were pretty cool. It was hard to believe the same fathers who’d screwed up so spectacularly with her, had done a great job raising their kid with their second mate. Greyson was a genuinely nice guy, and the rest of his pack had impressed her as kindhearted, if a little immature.

They’d been smart enough to get their shit together and claim Destiny Duvalle as their omega. She knew Pack Stepanov would be good to their mate. But that didn’t make Genesis believe she would find the same luck in her own love life.

Her therapist would say that her fierce independence and fear of commitment was a trauma response to her fathers’ general indifference toward her, and her feelings of betrayal after their hasty remarriage mere months after her mother’s unexpected death. Genesis would say that her reluctance to date was reasonable given her experience. She didn’t need another pack of arrogant, uncaring alphas who thought they could control her.

“You know I have no interest in joining a pack,” she said through gritted teeth. “And I’m handling my heats just fine, am well within the medical leave limits of my health insurance, and don’t need any help.”

The last bit might’ve been a lie. The truth was Genesis’s heats had been getting progressively worse the last few years despite her increasing dosages of heat suppressants. It was becoming almost unbearable.

Everett looked as though he knew exactly what she was thinking. His voice was gentler when he spoke again. “I consider you a friend, Gen, and I care about you. I hope you know that. Nobody says you have to join a pack. You know there are reputable omega specialists that would match you with a temporary pack to see you through your heats without any claims. They vet the alphas very carefully and have measures in place to ensure that everyone is protected.”

Genesis bit her lip. She’d thought about seeing a specialist several times, even going so far as to verify that her health insurance covered the costs. But she hadn’t been able to take the next step. She couldn’t bear the thought of letting anyone that close—to trusting any alphas enough to risk putting herself in such a vulnerable position.

“Even without mating, weathering your heats with a pack would change your scent temporarily,” Everett added, eyeing her carefully, as he fished a business card from his desk drawer and held it out. “Maybe even enough that you could take on some riskier assignments. I know a really good specialist I could refer you to.”

Dammit. Genesis couldn’t see a way around the idea. She’d get some pain relief, a decoy pack to shut her dads up, and a chance at finally escaping career purgatory. Win-win-win.

So why did it feel like she’d lost?

Genesis took the card, noting the name Jane Gardiner , before pocketing it quickly. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good,” Everett replied, putting his glasses back on and turning to his computer. “Now get out of my office and go home. It’s late and you’re not on deadline. Stop working so damn hard. Have some fun or, horror of horrors, maybe relax a little.”

“Kiss my ass, Everett.” Genesis tossed a grin over her shoulder as she left the editor’s office. “Have a good weekend.”

“It’s only Thursday,” Everett called after her.

“I’m taking your advice and having a three-day weekend,” she replied without turning around. “Maybe I’ll try that relaxing thing you keep bugging me about.”

“Tell Jane I said hello,” Everett shouted, seeing right through Genesis in that annoying way of his. “You can thank me with a chai latte on Monday morning.”

Genesis flipped him off, but she didn’t turn around and give him the satisfaction of seeing confirmation on her face. She knew she’d probably try and catch the specialist on the phone tonight if she could, and hopefully by Monday she’d have made a decision that would bring her a step closer to her goals. This was business, a means to an end, just like enduring tedious research or charming annoying people to get a good story. Genesis was well-practiced in pushing through shit to get to the sugar. She’d find a harmless pack of alphas who weren’t her type, enter a mutually beneficial arrangement, and then watch her career take off.

Nothing was going to get in her way.

By a stroke of sheer luck and a sudden cancellation, Genesis got an appointment with Dr. Gardiner the next morning. She was so anxious when she hung up with the medical assistant that she immediately called her best friend. It was a total breach of protocol—she never, ever called without texting first—but Avery would understand.

Unfortunately, Avery didn’t answer. Genesis hung up without leaving a voicemail and checked the time. After eight. That meant bath and bedtimes and that she most likely wouldn’t hear back from Avery until way too early in the morning.

In that amount of time, Genesis could come up with about a billion reasons to cancel her appointment. She scrolled through her contacts, searching for another person she trusted with personal stuff and who could also give her good advice. The overlap in that Venn diagram was tragically miniscule. She had a nice-sized network of people she was friendly with, but not many actual friends.

Genesis had learned early that trusting others was a good way to be disappointed, so she’d avoided meaningful relationships as much as possible. She’d focused all her energy on excelling in school, and then her career, and hadn’t spared time for little things like socializing and having fun. It said a lot about Avery’s tenacity that she’d become Genesis’s bestie. It had taken two years of aggressive kindness for Gen to accept Avery’s standing invitation to hang out after classes, and another year before she actually began to initiate interaction. Fifteen years later, Avery was still Genesis’s best—and only—close friend.

“Dammit!” Genesis groaned aloud. “This is why you need more friends, Valentine.”

Valentine . Genesis stopped scrolling. Maybe there was another person who she could trust. He certainly had experience advising on important matters.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Genesis typed a quick text to her brother. This was good practice being vulnerable and letting people in, or whatever. Today, she’d trust an alpha. Sure, that alpha was her younger brother, but it was still progress. Tomorrow she’d talk to a doctor about trusting a few more. Temporarily. Maybe.

Luckily, Greyson texted her back immediately. Genesis couldn’t help but grin. Her brother really was a genuinely nice guy.

Genesis swallowed against a sudden lump in her throat. She hadn’t been fair to Greyson all these years. She’d wanted to avoid her dads and stepmom but hadn’t thought about whether she was also avoiding her kid brother. The family had doted on him, and she’d been forgotten. But not by Greyson, apparently. All this time he’d wanted a closer relationship and she’d been too jealous and hurt to even consider his feelings.

Now, here he was, giving her solid advice at whatever-the-fuck-time it might be in eastern Europe. Genesis smiled, feeling oddly like crying, which was something she did not do. Fine. If Greyson said she should try, she could do it for him.

Thanks, Ash , she wrote, knowing the childhood nickname would make him smile. He’d been such a particular little thing, and he’d hated the texture of lotion, so his golden-brown skin had often been ashy. The memory made Genesis laugh wetly. She added a heart emoji, hit send, and tossed her phone onto her nightstand. Blinking away the stinging in her eyes, she got ready for bed. When she climbed beneath the blankets, she fell asleep quickly, still feeling cautiously optimistic.