Page 67 of Talk About… Dramay

Cameron

“Are you guys done, yet?” Oriana’s exasperated yell struck right through the argument, all of us falling silent.

She was standing there, hands on her hips, with a new alpha by her side.

“Tate,” Lane gasped, his jaw dropping as he looked between the two. Tate was pressed to Oriana’s back, a possessive hand on her hip.

“Who is this?” I asked, barely keeping the growl from my voice.

“Apparently, her only mate keeping her from drinking a whole bottle of whiskey by herself while you measure dicks,” he said in a dry tone. I recognized him then. He was the alpha from the campground, the one who talked about hating omegas.

Oh, hell no.

I started to move but Roman held me back. My gaze shifted to the beta and his eyes pleaded for me to stop. Out of all ofthem, he seemed to know her the best now so I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Fuck, I knew earning back her trust would be hard. I just didn’t expect to have to fight with half a pack that had no better standing than I did.

“I’m ready to eat and warm up by the fire,” my omega announced, raising her eyebrow as if challenging us.

Seeing the fire spark in her eyes was so much better than the despair written there the last few times we spoke. I hated that I caused so much pain.

I also hated that we had paid the price for so long. It just felt like by the time I could have afforded to track her down, too much time had passed.

“What can I get for you? A mix of things? It’s all stuff you used to like,” I offered. She smiled at me and nodded before taking her things from her chair and settling next to Roman. Tate seemed to be glued to her side and I swallowed down my jealousy that he just walked in and was already sweeping her off her feet.

Meanwhile I’d let my pride get in the way. Again.

I just kept failing her and that was a bitter pill to swallow. A soft hand on my back had me jumping. I didn’t realize that I’d zoned out but Ori was looking up at me, concern on her face.

“You alright, Cameron?”

“No,” I admitted. “But that’s not your problem, it’s mine.”

It was meant as reassurance but, apparently, it also pissed her off.

“You say you want in this pack and you’re going to just keep not talking to me?” she demanded, crossing her arms and staring me down.

“I just don’t feel like I have any right to complain or talk about how I’m feeling when I did this to you,” I tried to explain, blundering over my words.

“Cam. I see what you’re doing to fix this, and I’ll admit, I had every intention of coming down here and demanding that you put in all the work.”

“I should put in the work, I’m your alpha and I hurt you,” I agreed.

“But,” she said, cutting me off before I could apologize again. “I could have unblocked you, let you have a chance to explain yourself. I was just too caught up in my own pain. Then I went to the doctor and I had to fix things…”

She trailed off and all the blood drained from my face. “The doctor? What’s wrong?”

My breathing started to come out too fast and she had to put her hands on my face to calm me down enough to focus.

“Cam, breathe,” she demanded, voice harsh enough to cut through. After a few more breaths I felt my head stop spinning.

“Sorry, those happen sometimes. God, I’m a terrible alpha.”

“You’d be a shitty alpha if you were an unfeeling robot,” she snorted. “Now breathe. I’m fine, I’m just allergic to suppressors. I didn’t have an alpha and would have to go through heats alone. My goal was to come here and demand you either make an effort to fix things, or I’d finally move on and find an alpha.”

“You found an alpha anyway,” I said as I glanced at her pack, realizing as they talked to each other, that I wasn’t going to fit in.

“Apparently, I have three,” she agreed. “If you don’t want this, Cam, then walk away. Tell me now.”