Forbidden by Liliana Carlisle

CHAPTER 7

AMELIA

He slams the door behind him.

Asshole.

Shame and hurt course through me, and I fight tears that threaten to fall.

In less than an hour, he went from a smartass lover to an unfeeling monster.

I sit on my couch with my head in my hands, my headache back with a vengeance. My back is still sore from being slammed down into the dirt.

What the hell happened tonight?

It plays in my mind like a nightmare, so farfetched that it’s hard to believe it happened.

But it did. I have the bruises and ruined blouse to prove it, along with the wetness between my legs.

I was an idiot.

I flirted with danger and was almost shot as a result.

How could I offer myself to a stranger and be surprised when it turned out to be a shitshow?

What was I thinking?

I played with fire and almost died, all for a quick orgasm.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Nausea combines with the pain in my head, and I hobble back to my bedroom, collapsing in my bed and pulling the covers over my face.

I force my breathing to slow and drift in and out of consciousness, dreaming of piercing eyes and dark skies.

* * *

“A Collector?” Lucy stares at me incredulously, her expression somewhere between horrified and disgusted. “You made out with a Collector?”

“I guess so,” I murmur, lying on my couch and suffering through a headache.

She shakes her head at me, speechless.

“I don’t even know what they do,” I admit. “Are they some type of military?”

Lucy snorts and shakes her head. “Absolutely not,” she says. “They enforce the Alpha and Omega connection. If an Omega suddenly disappears, it’s their job to find them.”

“Why would an Omega disappear?”

“Some run away,” she says quietly. “They’re afraid of being mated, especially if they don’t even know who the person is.”

Her voice trails off as she stares into the distance. “I thought about it,” she murmurs. “When I presented. But if I ran and a Collector found me…”

Her eyes are haunted as she turns to look at me.

“They have places they take Omegas that refuse to cooperate,” she whispers. “Eventually, they’re forced to be reunited with their Alpha.”

My mouth opens in shock. “I had no idea.”

“Most Betas don’t,” she says, giving me a sad smile. “I was lucky with Eric, and usually Omegas are happy with their Alphas. But occasionally, the Collectors need to get involved, and it can turn ugly.”

I nod as my headache increases to a stabbing behind both eyes, causing me to wince. Lucy reaches towards me, giving me a small hug.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” she says. “But no more fooling around with Alphas. You scared the Hell out of me with that text.”

I grimace against her embrace, a touch of guilt tugging at my chest. I didn’t tell Lucy the entire story—I never mentioned the shooting. It felt wrong, somehow. And I didn’t want her to worry unnecessarily.

“Never again,” I agree.

* * *

The headache persists long after Lucy leaves.

Over the next few days, it grows in intensity.

The memories of what happened that night don’t fade.

They play over in my head like a horror movie.

ShouldI go to the police, despite what Jakob said?

I have a feeling it would be useless.

Why did I feel such a magnetic pull to him, if I’m a Beta?

There’s so much I don’t know about the world of Alphas and Omegas.

I learned a little about Ruts and Heats in school, but Lucy says there is much more to it than what they taught us. There’s an unspoken connection, a feeling of completion when you finally meet your mate.

Apparently, the passion and pleasure of taking a knot is something that no one can truly understand unless they’ve experienced it.

I did understand orgasming desperately under Jakob’s hands, though. My body responded to him automatically, melting at his touch.

I had no shame or reservations. There was only need.

That night I felt…

Alive.

Even as fear raced through me, even as the shock set in after the shooting, I still felt better than I had in years.

It makes me hate him. I loathe him for taking what I offered so easily, then telling me to forget it happened.

As delicious as the pleasure was, nothing is worth being tossed away like that.

But the electricity that coursed through my veins as I touched him was something I’d never felt before.

Not with any of my other partners.

And in those moments, my headache disappeared, and I finally felt…

Healthy.

The wave of fog was lifted from my brain the moment I sat next to Jakob.

Now it’s back, crashing down on me as I struggle to stay focused on anything.

Damn him.

I end up in bed for the next few days, pulling the covers over my face and breathing deeply.

Inhale through the nose. Exhale through the mouth.

I give in to the fatigue, letting the darkness take over.