Forbidden: Part One (Luna & Sol Omegaverse Book 1)

I bit my lip, glancing at my phone. Luc had texted this morning, letting us know we had class tonight. His text was shortly followed by one from Clementine, asking if there was any way I could pick her up.

I hadn’t told the guys about self-defense class and my stomach clenched, nervous about their reaction. I was especially worried about Cam after his nightmare last night. Did he often have nightmares? I barely knew anything about their pasts… just like there was so much of mine they didn’t know.

Theo and Cam sat on either side of me at the kitchen island. Theo was on his laptop, and Cam was reading the morning paper. Every few seconds, one of them reached over and absentmindedly touched my thigh, kissed me on the cheek, or played with my hair. Each time they touched me, my omega preened with joy.

“The recipe has to have buttermilk, but I don’t understand how they get them so fluffy.” Ben sighed, exasperated as he tried to recreate the pancake recipe from yesterday morning. My eyes kept being drawn to the bright red mark on his throat and down the bare expanse of his chest, covered only by a pink apron with cupcakes on it.

“Your pancakes are better, anyway,” Cam said gruffly, without looking up from the crossword he was completing.

Ben’s face broke out into the cutest smile before he turned back to the stove. Warmth spread through me at seeing how the guys supported each other, a stark contrast from how I’d seen alphas behave growing up. They loved each other and weren’t afraid to show affection.

My phone beeped again and I jolted, reminded of the subject I still needed to broach.

“What’s wrong?” Theo asked softly, kissing my forehead. “You feeling okay? Do you want to go back to bed?”

“No,” I responded. “I… well, I have to tell you something.”

My alphas immediately looked at me with a laser focus. That’s not intimidating.

“What is it?” Cam asked, his eyes canvassing the room as if someone was about to jump out and attack.

“Umm… you know how I’ve been living alone?” Good grief, of course they know that. They were literally just at your apartment. I told the voice in my head to shut up and continued. “Well, I needed a way to make money so my friend, Poppy, introduced me to this gym owner.”

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Cam roared as he jumped to his feet, the counter stool clattering to the floor.

I flinched at the sudden movement and noise, whimpering as I curled into myself.

Silence blanketed the room.

“Fuck,” Cam said softly. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I would never hurt you.” He slowly reached his hand out towards me and I took it, holding on tightly.

“Who is this gym owner?” Theo asked, his voice icy cold. “We’ll take care of him.”

“What?” I was so confused by their reactions. I replayed what I had said in my head.

“Oh my god! Nothing’s ever happened with me and Luc. He hired me to clean the gym at night.”

“You clean the gym,” Theo said slowly, as if it were a hard concept to understand.

Cam grasped my chin and turned my face so I was looking at him. “He didn’t hurt you? Touch you?”

“No, never,” I said. “Luc is a really good alpha.”

“He’s an alpha?” Cam growled, his muscles tense as if trying to hold himself back from shouting again.

“Wait, his name is Luc? The owner of Alpha Gainz?” Theo asked.

I snorted. “Yeah, that’s the one. Do you know him?”

“We were just there the other night,” Ben said, sliding a stack of pancakes in front of me. “We did a drop there for the Alliance.”

“Wait!” I shouted, the puzzle pieces finally connecting in my mind. “You were there, in the alleyway! I totally forgot after everything that happened later, but I scented you.”

“You were in the alleyway?” Cam asked, his jaw clenching as he planted one hand on my thigh.

“What did the scents smell like?” Ben asked quickly.

I snorted. “Nice try.” I leaned forward to kiss away Ben’s pout.

“Ben, fucking focus,” Cam growled. “Why were you in that alleyway, sweetheart?”

“That’s why I brought this up. Luc leads a self-defense class for omegas. I was on my way to class when you entered the alleyway, and I hid until you were gone.”

Theo’s eye twitched and Cam’s grip on my leg tightened. Only Ben seemed somewhat relaxed, although he was tapping the spatula rhythmically against the counter.

I forged ahead. “We’re having class tonight and I invited Clementine, Amirah’s assistant. She wants to know if we can give her a ride.”

“You want to go to an illegal self-defense class led by an alpha,” Cam said. His voice was measured, but his bitter scent betrayed him.

“Yeah.” My skin felt hot. I hated the tension in the room, but I forced myself not to back down.

“It’s not safe,” Cam bit out. “You realize you could be arrested?”

Flickers of indignation and anger sparked through my body. “I’m aware,” I said tartly. “You realize most things are illegal for omegas?”

Cam grimaced but didn’t respond. I forced myself to take a deep breath.

“How do we know we can trust Luc?” Theo asked.

“You all seemed to trust him enough to do Alliance work with him,” I responded, trying to keep my tone even. “I’ve been working for him for almost a year. I trust him.”

“We’re not bonded yet, which makes you vulnerable. You need our protection,” Cam said.

“So if we were bonded you would let me go to the class?” I asked.

Cam looked away. I guessed that was my answer. A tendril of panic worked its way through me. Did they want to keep me locked in the house?

Ben made his way around the kitchen island, wrapping his arms around me from behind. I leaned my head back on his chest and he nuzzled my neck.

“I think we all need to tone it down a notch,” he said, shooting a pointed look at Theo and Cam. “I want to hear about the class, precious.” He spun my chair so I was facing him and kissed me on the nose. “And then we need to eat pancakes.”

A smile tugged at my lips. Ben knew exactly what was needed to diffuse the tension.

“We never got a chance to ask you about your apartment,” Theo said, playing with a strand of my hair. “How were you able to live alone?”

I took a deep breath. “After I was… released from the DA, my parents brought me back home. It was a really bad situation.” I paused, trying to stop the memories of those weeks from invading my mind.

“I’m guessing that’s an understatement,” Ben said gently, grasping my fisted hands in his warm ones.

I shrugged, not wanting to go into detail. “Growing up, I had a best friend named Sam. He revealed as an alpha the same time I did as an omega. Our parents tried to keep us apart, but we snuck out of our homes to see each other. I hadn’t been able to speak to him the entire time I was at the DA. Once I was back at my parents’, he came to tell me he’d been offered a job in Sol. When he saw the state I was in, he insisted on staying with me, worried about leaving me alone. We knew there was no way I could get a visa to leave the province, but he had to move so he could be with…” I stopped myself from saying more. I didn’t think my alphas would do anything to put Sam in danger if they found out he was gay, but I couldn’t risk it.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” I continued. “Leaving was going to be the best thing for him. But he kept his apartment so I could escape my family. His new job paid well, so he could pay double rent, or at least that’s what he told me. I still needed money so I could buy food and stuff. One of the omegas I met at the DA, Poppy, mentioned that her alphas went to this gym and that I might be able to get a cleaning job because the owner was sympathetic to omegas. That’s how I met Luc. He gave me a job and paid me under the table. I’ve been working there four nights a week for the past year. It’s walking distance from my apartment, and I just have to be careful that no one sees me.”

“You walked to the gym alone in the dark?” Ben burst out.

The three of us looked at him, slightly stunned. Ben was usually so easygoing. His cheeks turned pink at his outburst.

“Umm right, not important right now. I just don’t like it,” he muttered.

“You’re not working there anymore,” Cam said.

“I already let Luc know,” I said with as much patience as I could muster.

“So you worked there, and then one day this alpha just decided he wanted to lead a group for omegas out of the kindness of his heart?” Cam snorted.

“No,” I bit back. “I pestered him to start the class until he finally gave in. One night, he was at the gym late and I mentioned that I wished I knew how to defend myself. I convinced him to teach me a few things. After a month of begging, I finally got him to agree to do a secret class for omegas. Poppy joined and so did my friend Westin.”

“Is Luc’s omega part of the group, too?” Theo asked.

“No, I’ve never gotten to meet her. She has health issues that prevent her from leaving the house. I’m not sure what happened to her, but I think she might have been attacked or something. I think it’s part of why Luc cares about omegas being able to defend ourselves.”

Theo nodded thoughtfully. Ben asked, “What’s the class like?”

Hope bubbled in my chest. I needed to make a good case that the class was safe.

“We practice different self-defense moves, mostly with each other, but sometimes with Luc. We don’t meet on a set schedule and class is in the downstairs basement, accessed through the alleyway. We only invite people we know we can trust and keep things small.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough?” Theo asked. “You’ve had a rough week.”

“I’m sure,” I said with a smile. “I’ll take it easy if I need to, promise.”

The guys exchanged a look. Cam still looked unhappy and wasn’t meeting my gaze, but he gave Theo a curt nod.

“Okay, angel, we’ll make sure you can get to class tonight and pick up Clementine,” Theo said, kissing me on the cheek.

“Can we go out to eat tomorrow instead?” I asked, looking at Ben. I didn’t want them to be upset with me for changing plans.

“Of course,” he said, kissing me on the nose. “Just gives me one more day to set up the perfect date. Now that we got that sorted, it’s time for pancakes.”

Cam removed his arm from around me and abruptly stood up. “I’ve got to get some work done,” he mumbled, heading towards his office.

I held back a whine, feeling sick as I watched him go. A mixture of frustration, guilt, and sadness warred within me. It was my fault that he was upset and I wanted to fix it, but part of me also knew I had the right to make decisions about my life. Jewel had been right—I couldn’t let my alphas dictate everything.

“Give him a little time to cool off, love,” Theo said, caressing my face. “Cam gets scared when the people he loves are in any sort of danger. It’s not that he doesn’t support you.”

I nodded woodenly and forced myself to eat the pancakes Ben proudly plated up for me.

I knocked lightly on the study door, holding my breath.

“Come in,” Cam’s gruff voice called out.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for his anger. What I saw when I opened the door made me scrunch my nose in confusion. Cam was sitting in his big office chair and was… knitting?

His head shot up. “Josie! I thought you were Theo.” His cheeks flushed, and his eyes darted to his knitting project before quickly dropping it on his desk.

“I didn’t know you knit,” I said, still standing by the door.

I had been expecting Cam’s fury, or at least for him to be cold towards me. Almost all the alphas I knew lashed out with aggression when they didn’t get their way. Seeing the muscular alpha in front of me blushing furiously, his craft project in front of him, sent my brain into a fritz.

“I saw a therapist for a while, and she recommended I find a way to channel my emotions into something non-destructive. So I learned to knit,” Cam blurted out. He wasn’t looking at me and his scent was… embarrassed?

Without thinking, I closed the distance between us. Cam automatically parted his legs so I could stand between them.

“Can I see?” I asked, nodding towards the abandoned knitting project.

He gave me a curt nod. I picked up the needles, revealing the lumpiest, ugliest piece of knitting I had ever seen. I remembered the blanket I’d fallen in love with in my nest, and my heart melted at the realization that Cam must have knitted it for me.

“I know it’s not a very alpha thing to do,” he said. “It’s stupid.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Why would that matter? You should do what makes you happy,” I said, my tone sharp.

Cam’s lips quirked. “Haven’t heard you sound that fierce before. It’s hot.” His blush deepened, as did his scent. He ran his hand across his neck and avoided my gaze.

I bit my lip, unsure of what to do next. “Are you mad at me?” I asked, my voice soft.

Cam’s hands automatically went to my hips, gripping tightly. “No, baby girl, not at all.” He took a shuddering breath. “I’m pissed at myself for reacting like that, and I’m scared shitless at the thought of anything happening to you. My alpha keeps telling me I need to keep you locked up so no one can get to you, but I know I can’t do that.” He grumbled that last part, which made me smile.

“Thanks for saying that,” I said, running my hand through his long hair. He was wearing it down this morning, and I loved the feel of it. I needed to convince him to let me braid it sometime.

“Come here,” he said, tugging me onto his lap and holding me close. “You’re so important to me, sweetheart. I don’t think you understand how much. I know I’m an overbearing bastard, but I need you to be safe. Can’t stand the idea of anyone hurting you.”

I placed little kisses down his clenched jaw, feeling his tension slowly release.

“I know you’ll keep me safe, Cam,” I said. As I said the words, I realized how true they were. Fear had been my constant companion these past few years. Being around my alphas made me feel safer than I could have ever imagined.

“I’m coming with you to meet Luc and check things out. That’s non-negotiable,” Cam said, bracing as if he expected an argument.

I just nodded, snuggling closer to his chest. Funny how I didn’t hate his protectiveness all the time. Who are you kidding? You love it.

Cam kissed my forehead tenderly. “I’m sorry I overreacted,” he murmured in my ear. “I know you’re capable and independent, and I don’t ever want to take that away from you. Forgive me?”

“Of course,” I said, tilting my head to kiss him.