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Prologue
“Doyouthinkthiswill actually stay in place?” I asked Layla nervously, turning my face from side to side in the mirror and then rechecking the waterproof claims on the makeup I’d ordered just for today’s party. “It says waterproof, but that probably means ‘will survive a light drizzle’ not a whole day in the pool.”
“You’re overthinking it,” my sixteen-year-old younger sister advised, adjusting her royal blue bikini top in the mirror. “Fraser won’t be paying attention to your face anyway, not with that swimsuit on. Can’t wait to hear him mention a million times how excited he is to go into your nest with you.” She gagged dramatically, cutting me an impressively judgemental side-eye. “You absolutely reek of impending heat, by the way.”
“That’s not exactly surprising, it should be here any day now,” I murmured, running my palms over my hot-to-the-touch skin, amazed and a little terrified of the changes my body was going through in the lead up to my first heat. The past few days had been incredibly uncomfortable—like the worst fever I’d ever had, excepteverywhere. Hopefully, my heat would properly kick in tomorrow. Fraser and I would go into my nest together, and I wouldn’t have to panic about him seeing me without makeup on ever again.
“Surely, you could just go into your nest now?” Layla pressed, undoubtedly sick of the syrupy pre-heat scent that I’d been sporting for the past few weeks. I’d initially been excited about the signal that my first heat was approaching, but I was finding the scent a little nauseating now too. It didn’t help that I was basically stuck at my house or Fraser’s, unable to go out in public unless I practically bathed in scentshield lotion, and I always missed a spot.
I shook my head. “It’s still too early. You know Fraser coulddieif he bites me before my heat has set in properly.”
Before now, the toxin in my blood, in all omegas’ blood, had always been a blessing. It kept us safe from alphas who would take us and claim us against our will. But now that I had an alpha who I actuallywantedto bite me, the idea that I might kill him was terrifying.
“But how do youknow? There’s no light that goes off on your forehead saying, ‘Hey, my blood isn’t poisonous right now, claim me, Alpha.’”
“I just know,” I insisted, choosing to be optimistic. “I’d never risk Fraser. I’ll know when it’s safe to invite him into the nest.”
She didn’t look entirely convinced, but Layla was still two years away from her first heat. She’d get it then. Her instincts would guide her like mine were guiding me.
“I hope you don’t kill him,” Layla mumbled. “We’d definitely have to move.”
That was probably true. Fraser was my boy-next-door love story, and if anything bad happened, living right next to his parents would definitely have its downsides.
No. Nothing bad is going to happen. You love Fraser, and he loves you.We’d been together for two years, since we were sixteen, and that had to mean something. Two years wassolong.
There was a low ache just south of my belly, and I rubbed at it absently, willing it to go away. Mum had warned me that this heat would be the worst. That after Fraser and I were mated, my heats would be regular, shorter, and less agonising. Right now, it felt like my uterus was punishing me for being single.
“Are we leaving or what?” Calum demanded, throwing open the door to Layla’s room with a bang and glaring at us.
“Knock next time, would you?” Layla huffed, glaring at our younger brother. “What if we were getting changed?”
“Lock the door then.” Calum shrugged, unrepentant. He’d been such a sweet kid, but now he was fourteen, and since his alpha dynamic had emerged last year, I recognised less and less of my gentle, mischievous younger brother in him.
That he was chaperoning us to a pool party when he was only fourteen and I was eighteen was beyond insulting. Alpha privilege, I supposed.
“I think we’re nearly ready,” I murmured, trying to keep the peace. Layla finished primping, finger curling the ends of her hair and shooting a confident smile at her reflection. She didn’t have a stitch of makeup on, of course. She didn’t need it.
With a tight smile, I moved away from the mirror. Next to her, I looked ridiculous in my attempts to highlight the passable features I had and disguise the less attractive ones.
I must have done something bad in a past life for all of my siblings to inherit my parents’ good looks and for me to look like my seventy-something-year-old Nana, minus the wrinkles. The big, bleached blonde curls I spent hours on each day sort of distracted from the general lack of symmetry and non-existent jawline, but they couldn’t work their magic if they were soaking wet. My makeup gave me the impression of cheekbones and sultry eyes—without it, I looked like a sickly wraith.
Shit, shit, shit. A pool party was a terrible idea.
“Maybe I shouldn’t go,” I hedged, pulling on my white cover-up. “I feel crampy and gross andsohot. Those are very legitimate reasonsnotto come.”
Calum groaned, flinging himself down in an armchair and pulling out his phone. “I think it’s stupid for you to be out of the house at all when you stink of pre-heat, but Dad says it’s fine because Fraser will be there and he’ll protect you. Whatever. Just decide already.”
Layla turned to face me, her natural, lustrous brown curls bouncing with the motion, and glared at me with pale hazel eyes, startlingly light against her tanned skin. Why couldn’t I have inherited at leastoneof those features? Instead, I’d got dishwater hair, brown eyes, and a face full of broken capillaries.
I was the oldest of six and somehow the runt of the litter.
“You’re being so dramatic, Margot. Fraser doesn’t care what you look like without makeup on. He’s literally in love with you, you’ve both been counting down to your first heat for over a year now. Your scent is ridiculously appealing to every alpha, way more than any of the other mature, single omegas we know. You’ll have fun today, you’ll invite him to your nest when your heat arrives, and then emerge a mated lady. Stop feeling so sorry for yourself, it’s annoying. Some of us are still looking for our alphas, you know.”
“Right. You’re right. I’m sorry.” I swallowed thickly, snatching up my canvas bag and shoving the makeup on top to reapply after. I didn’t share her confidence. It was easy to think no onereallycared about appearances when you were as beautiful as Layla. When you hadn’t gone through life being overlooked in favour of your prettier siblings by everyone from the postman to your own fucking parents.
Layla didn’tgetit. Fraser was gorgeous, the perfect alpha in every single way. I’d been in love with him since the day he and his family moved in next door. Now we were finally eighteen, my heat would be here at any moment, and we were going to make everything official.
I’d never recover if he changed his mind.
