Page 2 of Scheme
But it was selfish of me to think about myself when Layla was still looking for the alpha who’d make her dreams come true. Every omega dreamed of inviting an alpha they loved into their nest at their first heat. Dreamed of being cared for and supported through what was a physically demanding time.
Fraser would be at my side through this heat and each one that followed. I was one of the lucky ones. I shouldn’t be complaining. I hadnothingto complain about.
“Fucking finally,” Calum muttered, shoulder-barging me to get out the door first and knocking me into the frame. “Let’s get this shit over with.”
“You tricked me.”
Chapter 1
Fourteen years later…
Dad:Comedownstairs.
I narrowed my eyes at the message on my phone, trying to will it away with my mind. My parentsnevercame into the city. They’d certainly never been to my flat before.
I quickly changed my status to ‘away’ and hoped my colleagues didn’t ask questions, before slipping out of my spare-bedroom-slash-office, grabbing the keys on my way downstairs.
The old terrace house I lived in had been split into two flats years ago, and I had the upstairs while the Clarksons, an elderly beta couple, had the downstairs. The sounds of their favourite game show filtered through the wall to the stairwell, but it was the murmured voices on the other side of the exterior front door that had my attention.
I took a fortifying breath before opening it, bracing myself to see my father.
“Margot!” Asher said with a beaming smile, throwing himself at me for a surprise hug. Chelsea followed with a soft smile, shyer than our baby brother.
“Upstairs,” Dad barked, barely keeping the alpha command out of his voice. “I need to talk to your sister.”
I pressed the keys into Chelsea’s hand with what I hoped was a reassuring smile while Mum suddenly burst into tears. It wasn’t totally out of character for her, but it always made for awkwardness.
“Head on up, make yourselves at home.”
“Oh, we will,” Asher promised, already jogging noisily up the stairs. Good thing my downstairs neighbours were hard of hearing.
“What’s going on?” I asked the moment the top door closed behind them.
Mum let out a full-blown wail, and while Dadcouldsoothe his omega with a well-placed purr and a hug, he unsurprisingly did neither.
“Calum’s dead.”
I blinked at him, certain I’d misheard. Calum couldn’t be dead. He’d messaged me asking for money just yesterday.
“Poisonedby some omega,” Dad added viciously. My blood ran cold. “Chelsea and Asher don’t need to know that, though.”
“He was such a good man, a good alpha,” Mum rasped, half-collapsed against Dad, who barely spared her a glance.
“Do they know he’s dead?” I asked bluntly. Calum was a dick who’d grown more dickish each year, and he’d been particularly awful to Asher when he’d presented as an omega, instead of an alpha like we’d all expected, but they’d been surprisingly cheerful, all things considered.
Maybe they didn’t know. Theymustnot have known. And thecauseof death being what it was…
Deaths like that didn’t happen very often these days. Alphas were educated about the risks now. Theyknewnot to lose control.
Only the worst of the worst did.
“You can tell them.” Dad’s voice was hollow and distracted, his mind very clearly somewhere else. “Tell them it was a heart attack. That’s what we’re telling the neighbours, but we wanted the youngest out of the way in case rumours spread. We need to go to the station, sort some things out. We’ll be back for them later.”
How incredibly typical of them to not only drop this horrendous bombshell on me with the least amount of compassion possible, but to also expect me to relay it to my siblings. No, not even relay it.Lieabout it.
The moment I realised I didn’t respect my parents at all had been a life-changing one, freeing me of all the expectations I’d put on myself as a daughter and allowing me to be unapologetically myself.
And yet, despite having zero faith in them to begin with, they still found ways to disappoint me.
