THE ALPHA'S BEAUTIFUL REJECT

6.Secrets

CHAPTER SIX

SECRETS

I made a mistake. That much is certain. Judging from the clothes strewn across the bed, I’m very much right in my train of thought. I’d planned my day accordingly. After school, I’d have clocked in for work, come back home, cut the cake with everyone else, studied a little, had dinner before waiting for Jack to pick me up at around nine-thirty for the party. Everything has been going on well until Jack called my mum, trying to reach me because I had my phone on flight mode while I was at work. My best friend had then proceeded to mention it to my mum that we were both invited to a party. I’d expected she freak out but instead, she is busy discussing some rather crude things she’d done in her high school days with Madeline, as if I’m not in the same room with them. Mrs. Astor, Jack’s mum, had left immediately after the cake-cutting because she is going to prepare for tomorrow’s gig.

“Can you pretend to be a little more excited?” Jack questions, when I step out of my room, leaving the two women alone.

“Or I could just kill you. How about that?” I reach for the fresh mixed fruit juice, pouring some for myself.

Jack is already dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater, his hair appearing less curly than usual. I glance at the wall clock. Its ten minutes past nine already. A sigh leaves my lips. This is not the hype I expected from her.

“Why can’t she be a normal parent and just be pissed off I’m going to a party that could potentially have drugs no kid should ever take?” I question.

“Look,” he leans on the kitchen counter, “You and I have always been outcasts. Even if our parents don’t admit it, I know they notice it to. Maybe seeing us become a part of something like this, makes them less worried about us. You have to admit it, this is a huge deal for both of us,”

Yes. It’s a f*****g huge deal. I mean, never in my life would have I imagined the magnitude of its depth. All my life I worked hard just so I can have a chance at joining a prestigious university with a full scholarship. That should have been the biggest deal. Not this. Yet, being invited to this party feels like an award. Maybe after this I could be more than the kid bullied by her classmate. I could become somebody. Anybody. Juts not the Amber I’m now.

“Fine. But we have to get back early. Preferably before midnight. The last thing I’d want is to give Valentina the satisfaction of seeing me turn for the first time at a party, knowing damn well it could be a potential disaster. Remember Toby from senior year?”

“Yeah?” he picks a washed strawberry, taking a huge bite.

“I heard he shifted at a party and well, he is still the butt of every joke because his wolf was so small and weak, he vomited on the carpet,”

“True enough. Have you started experiencing any of the signs of shifting?”

“Well, apart from my eyesight and hearing heightening just slightly, nothing much,” I shrug.

“No muscle pains?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Had them for the past three hours. What do you think the painkillers I was popping were for?”

“For…three hours? Mine started only two hours before I shifted. Maybe omegas are getting pretty diverse,” he smiles before getting serious, “What is taking your mum so long anyway? We have to hit the party and come back just in time for the shifting,”

“Let me go get them to hurry up,” I say, already heading towards my bedroom.

Suddenly pain so sharp, streaked through my entire body, crippling me for a few seconds and I leaned to the wall for support. Sounds around me became louder, more apparent. From the washing machine running in the back, to the swish of the breeze outside to the AC in the house. Heck, even the sounds of people talking become louder. Wait, that’s my mum’s voice. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to stop the pain covering every nerve in my body again but I can’t seem to shut out the voices. Instead, they grow louder, almost as though they are standing next to me.

“You have to tell her Cora. She deserves to know the truth. Running from it won’t make it any easier,” Madeline sounds pretty frustrated.

“She just turned seventeen today. Besides, the doctor said the chances of her inheriting both are unheard of. Heck, just getting one is nearly impossible already,” there is a slight pause before my mum’s voice floats back into my eardrums, “ I promise I’ll tell her Mads. Just not today. I should let her have this one at least. For all we know, she could just be-“

“Are you okay?” Jack’s voice jolts me back and when I look back up at him, his eyes are drawn with concern.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine,” I offer him a small smile, in attempt to reassure him more than myself as I resume heading to my room.

What the f**k was that?

I knock on the door, before shouting, “Mum, Aunt Mads, Jack and I are leaving. I think I’m quite comfortable in these shorts,”

“You aren’t going to change?” Jack questions confused when I grab his hand, pulling him outside.

“I’m okay with these shorts, Jack,” I said firmly.

“I thought you don’t like having your legs exposed,” he quickly adds rather light-heartedly when I glare at him, “You should have opened my birthday gift at least. Been waiting all night since we cut the cake,”

“Let’s just go,” I say.

He doesn’t utter another word. Thankfully. Instead, we get into his car and he drives off. At the rearview mirror, I catch sight of Mum and Madeline coming out of the door but its too late. What the hell were they even talking about? And what the hell just happened to me?

I’ve read hundreds of articles and research books. Every lore, every myth. But all of them have the same thing to say about omegas. Our hearing shouldn’t be as heightened as I’d felt back there even after shifting. Omegas are meant to be weak. How else would the high-ranking wolves establish their control over us?