Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

ELLA

W hen the class finally ended, Lidya was waiting for me outside in the hall. She grabbed my arm and led me out further into the hallway. She glanced around nervously before speaking. "Are you ok?"

After a moment, I nodded. "Yeah. Nothing happened."

She narrowed her eyes, checking me over as if she didn't believe me. "You sure."

I nodded looking back towards the classroom where I could still see the edge of Lucas. "Yeah."

"Come on, let's get out of here," she said, steering me towards the door. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded.

"They didn't…"

I shook my head. "No. It was fine actually. He was… nice. Nothing happened."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing.

She let out a sigh of relief.

"Good," she said. "Damn, I was so angry for you all this time. Good. Come on now. I want to tell you more about my pack. I'm going to make sure that they get a message out to yours as soon as possible."

"I'm still here because..." she hesitated, then took a deep breath. "Because my pack is not what it seems. They're not like other packs, they have their own rules and traditions that go against everything we're taught here.

"Let's go back to the room."

"Don't we have more classes?"

She shook her head. "We can say you aren't feeling well after that last one. They'll understand given you…"

My everything. Right. I didn't argue as we headed back towards the dormitory. I expected someone to ask us questions. There were guards, but no one stopped us as we went.

The moment Lidya sat on her bed, her eyebrows raised across the room towards mine. "Looks like they finally got their act together."

A few different types of blankets were piled on the bed and what may have been considered one too many pillows. I ran my hand over the supplies.

"It's so you can make a nest. However small."

Make a nest.

"You… you haven't had one before. Have you?" asked Lidya. There was a sad understanding in her voice.

I shook my head. "At the pack house. They had a nest. Sort of. We didn't get to add anything just for me yet but…" I almost had a nest.

She nodded. "When I talk to Adam, I'll make sure that he passes the message along. We'll make sure that you get back to them."

"Thank you."

"You make your bed up. I'll talk."

I smirked, glad to have something to do while she started.

"Where do I begin… It's stupid and complicated. What it comes down to is that I had an alpha place a bid on me. A nice enough alpha with a good family– but I didn't choose him. I ran off and into Adam." She smiled. "And the rest is history. They are keeping me here until the end of the term basically to punish us and make sure that I don't regret my decision. Like they can reverse it now."

Lidya reached up and gently touched her bite at the bottom of her throat.

There was no breaking a bond like that.

"Did they hope you would?"

"If anything just to teach the younger omegas a lesson. The Academy here isn't exactly the most progressive group if you haven't noticed. But that isn't how it works. They might want us all to think that, but when you find your alpha or bondmates. You know," a glassy look came over Lidya's eyes.

I couldn't believe that I ever thought she was just an omega when I first saw her that day outside of the science building on campus or even when she came to help me in the library with her alpha, Rylan.

Lidya was so much more than that. She deserved her bondmates. Her choice. Her love.

"Looks like your nest is off to a good start. Eventually, you'll have more and be able to get it comfortable. Maybe even with your mate's scents. I know that I settled with feeling as if they were here in some way when I had to come back here," she sighed.

I swallowed. What if I never did again? What if I never smelled Marko's orange citrus or Liam's chai that still made my toes want to curl? What if I never scented Demetri and his tiny notes of chocolate hidden in his scent or even Cal's soft marshmallow dream?

Lidya cocked her head. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Thinking about them?"

I hummed.

"Are you sure you're okay? Are you feeling well? I know that some omegas torn from their pack sometimes develop withdrawal symptoms," said Lidya.

On top of all the rest of them. It might've been funny if I was in a better mood. I climbed onto my bed, grabbed one of the blankets, and wrapped myself up in it before I even bothered to try and place it in the right spot for later. "I'm not bonded to them."

"I don't think that matters."

"I'm fine."

"You don't seem okay."

Of course, I wasn't. I wasn't sure about anything anymore. "Service and home and breeding and babies. That's it? I just thought that there was more. Or less. I don't know. After so long before I met the guys I had been hiding they told me that I was an omega and that was special and not just because of the designation junk. They told me it didn't mean that and… it feels like I should've listened to my instincts."

"And kept hiding? No offense, Ella. That sounds like a miserable way to live." Lidya's eyes turned sad. "It's not all bad."

It wasn't? This was it, wasn't it? This was all I ran away from after I realized just what an omega entailed. Still, I felt almost lied to by Liam, Cal, and the rest of the pack.

They told me that being an omega would be different.

But I was right.

They were wrong.

The perfect romantic omega that would be dotted on or even cared about as a person rather than an object– that story was a lie.

"Take a deep breath and calm down."

"What if I don't want to calm down?" I asked.

Lidya stared at me before she stretched out her hand. "Let's go."

"What?"

"Come on, we're getting out of this room. I'm failing you right now because I've become a hermit post-bonding and don't like to deal with all the territorial stuff around here. Had to end at some point though according to Rylan." Lidya rolled her eyes as she stood and headed towards the door, still waiting for me. "Just don't tell him that he was right."

"What?" I asked again.

"That isn't all it is. We just haven't been going to the right places for you to really see how being an omega can be."