Prologue

The sweltering heat and my own sticky sweat had glued my butt to the leather car seat.

I didn't care one bit, because it meant summer was here and we were finally on our annual family trip to August Bay.

"You'll miss the turn off for the rest stop if you don't switch lanes." Mum jabbed Dad's shoulder. She was such a control freak sometimes.

More like all the time, honestly.

"No," I whinged. We were only one hour away, surely Dad could just push through? "Can we just keep going, please?"

They exchanged a knowing glance and Dad heaved a big sigh. "You'll have plenty of time with Adrian over the next few weeks, Hazel," he said in a resigned tone, not wanting to be reminded that his 17 year old daughter had a long-distance boyfriend. It was stupid because they were the ones who got our families together every summer growing up — what did he expect to happen? Had he not seen Adrian?

I tapped my phone screen so it lit up and ogled my wallpaper — a selfie Adrian had sent me a week ago. Yum.

Dad sighed again and I could see him watching me in the rearview mirror. "Now let me get a burger I'm really going to regret later," he muttered as he slipped into the exit lane.

It was like clockwork. Every year, Dad ordered a big greasy mess of a burger he had no business eating while driving. He then proceeded to belch his way through the last leg of the six hour drive to the sleepy seaside town of August Bay. It was almost exactly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne, making it the perfect getaway for Adrian's family and mine.

I still remember how devastated I was when they moved to Sydney. Before August Bay became our summer holiday tradition, I was convinced my world was ending.

To be fair, I was thirteen at the time and at the height of my crush. Not that I knew what to do with all those feelings back then. After all, we had grown up in the same church and I wasn't even sure if I was allowed to even look at him below the neck.

Thank god our parents remained friends.

Despite only seeing him once a year, my infatuation only deepened with each trip. Not only was he gorgeous and older (by eleven whole months!), he was incredibly smart. He aced all his classes and breezed through eight grades of piano lessons. I think that was the only reason his parents couldn't really say anything about his less ‘appropriate' hobbies — like riding dirt bikes and surfing.

The image of him running in from the ocean and flicking his saltwater hair out of his eyes played on repeat in my head for months afterward.

I got the first inklings that my crush on him might not be unrequited when he started doing little things for me. Like running back to the house when I forgot my hat at the beach. Or that time he covered me with a blanket when I fell asleep before the movie ended.

I analysed every little glance and touch until my head spun.

"You're too young for boys," Mum would warn me. "Focus on school and all that can come later."

Four super Christian Asian parents made very good chaperones for two hormone-addled teens. But a freakish summer storm one evening masked our footsteps and despite our parents' best efforts, Adrian and I shared our first kiss at midnight on the beach. Changed our lives forever to the sound of the crashing surf.

We were fifteen and sixteen.

The two years that followed were beautiful and agony all at once. Only a handful of stolen kisses. So many video calls, voice notes, things we thought the other would find funny sent back and forth.

And promises. So many promises and so many plans.

One day. One day.

Adrian had awakened to an alpha months ago, just like I knew he would.

"What do you smell like? Please, Adrian?" I asked him one night, huddled in bed with my phone propped up against my bedside table. Wishing I could feel his weight sink down beside me instead of just his gorgeous face on the small screen.

His secret smile made my heart skip. "It's a surprise, Zelly."

Every day I wished for two things.

To be an omega.

And to be his.

I knew the statistics. An alpha and an omega to two sets of beta parents?

But god, did I believe. And wish. And want.

My leg was bouncing with anticipation as I spied the familiar entrance of the driveway to the house we always booked. The Han's red SUV was already parked on the gravel. I flung myself out of the car before Dad could even pull the handbrake up.

"Zelly!"

Adrian's voice was even deeper than before, echoing from where he was racing towards me from the sand dunes. I was running to him. And laughing. Because what could our parents do anymore? We'd graduated high school and were waiting for our university placements to come through.

None if it mattered though, because my future was him.

Adrian caught me up in his arms, my legs going airborne as he swung me around. My nose went straight into the thick muscle of his neck and inhaled.

A summer rain. Bodies hot and sticky. Kissing, touching, exploring. Wet and slippery skin, and a high desperate moan. We found refuge in the shade of the lemon-scented gums, dotted along the coastline. Grounding earthiness and a spiral of sweetness sending me higher.

I gasped, pulling his body tighter and closer. Why wasn't it enough? His scent was everywhere but I still wanted more.

"God, your scent. Y-you're, you're—"

Adrian growled as he buried his nose deeper. I whimpered as his firmly pressed nose turned into heated, open-mouthed kisses. The desperate scrape of teeth.

My newly awakened scent exploded as my omega rose up to greet my fated alpha.

I would not have fucking believed you if you told me that one day, I would be sobbing as a needle carrying bond dissolving drugs sank into my neck.