Chapter 5 We meet again, little omega

Piper

I don’t even remember how many times I begged the doctor to redo the test. Three times? Four? Maybe more. Each time she sighed and shook her head, apologetic but firm, handing me the same result like a curse written in ink.

Positive. Always the same word.

By the time I finally walked out of the hospital, my legs felt like they didn’t belong to me. The sunlight was too bright. The poor woman at the front desk had told me gently to come back in two weeks for a check-up, and to try to find the pup’s father before then. Otherwise, the child could be in danger.

The words replayed in my mind with every step.

I stopped walking. Tears burned behind my eyes, but I forced them down, biting my lip hard enough to taste blood. I wasn’t going to cry here.

I hadn’t planned for this. Hell, I hadn’t planned for any of it. If I’d known this would happen, I never would’ve gone to the Alpha Summit in the first place. Everyone told me not to go because of my status as an omega, but Calder insisted.

Thinking about her made guilt twist in my chest. It hadn’t even been a month, and I’d already brought disgrace to the woman who took me in. If she found out I was pregnant, she’d probably throw me out without a second thought.

A shaky breath left me. Could I even raise a child? I wasn’t rich. I’d barely managed to survive in this cruel world before I was adopted. How was I supposed to care for another life now? And the father, if I found him and told him I was pregnant, he might want nothing to do with an omega like me. He might not even touch me again, not even if it meant saving his pup’s life.

What Alpha would want an omega pup?

The doctor’s words echoed through my head again. “Miss Piper, if there’s nothing you can do about the situation, I’ll advise you to abort the child. Your life matters more.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. No. I couldn’t. I might be terrified, confused, and completely unprepared, but this was my pup. Getting rid of it wasn’t an option yet.

I sighed. My head was all over the place. I could barely think straight.

“Hey, are you going to keep standing there all day, omega?”

The sharp voice made me tense, my spine snapping straight as I turned around.

The driver stood leaning against the car, arms crossed, staring at me with open disgust. His upper lip curled like the very sight of me offended him.

“I don’t know what Mrs. Calder sees in you,” he sneered. “Adopting someone like you as a daughter? And then letting me take you to the hospital? Ridiculous. You’re just an omega, and a weakling. Of course you get sick, why make such a big deal out of it?”

His words hurt, but they didn’t surprise me. I didn’t say anything. What was the point? Nobody respected me in the pack. Nobody thought I deserved respect. Getting angry over something like this would only make things worse.

Instead, I lifted my chin and walked past him without a word. I pulled open the passenger door, slipped inside, and shut it behind me.

I heard him mutter curses under his breath, his cheeks red with frustration that I hadn’t reacted the way he wanted. I ignored him. I pressed my hand gently over my stomach and closed my eyes.

The car ride felt too short. Before I was ready, we were pulling up the long, stone driveway toward the mansion. The driver slammed the brakes a little too hard, then got out without even pretending to be polite.

I shook my head, opened my own door, and stepped out.

The maids and bodyguards looked at me the same way they always did, like I was a stain on their pretty world.

“Look at her, an omega.”

“She doesn’t belong here.”

“Her mother was just a mistress. Why would Mrs. Calder adopt someone like her? Disgusting, did she really think we’d serve someone like her?”

Their voices echoed around me like buzzing insects. I kept walking, staring straight ahead. If I let myself react, they’d win. And I didn’t have the strength for that today.

When I stepped inside the mansion, I heard Mrs. Calder’s excited voice drifting from the living room. She was speaking to someone, though I couldn’t see who. The moment she turned and spotted me, her entire face lit up. Her smile bloomed so quickly it almost startled me. Then she rushed toward me.

“Piper! I’m so happy you’re back,” she said, her hands coming up to hold my shoulders. She looked at me with the concern of a real mother. “How are you feeling? What did the doctor say? Was it a fever?”

I forced a small smile. “I—I’m okay, Mrs. Calder. It was just a normal fever.”

She sighed and gently squeezed my arms. “Oh, honey. How many times must I tell you to call me Mother? You’re my daughter now. I adopted you.”

Warmth flickered through me. Ever since my own mother died, kindness had become something I only read about in books. No one touched me gently. No one spoke to me softly. No one looked at me like I mattered except Mrs. Calder.

She was the only person who ever treated me like I wasn’t a burden, like I wasn’t a stain. She would never hurt me. I believed that with everything I had left.

I didn’t deserve her kindness, and I was terrified of losing it.

It was better to keep my pregnancy a secret for now.

“Oh! Before I forget,” she said suddenly, her face brightening. “Alpha Dominic, your brother, is finally here. I can finally introduce you!”

I froze.

Alpha Dominic.

I’d heard more than enough about him. Everyone had. People said his name like a warning. They called him a demon, a monster, a man who did whatever he wanted. He was thirty, ten years older than me. And now he was my new brother.

My stomach tightened. Fear trembled up my spine. What if he didn’t accept me? What if he hated me the way everyone else did? What if he decided I wasn’t worth the trouble and tossed me out or worse, get rid of me?

Mrs. Calder didn’t notice my distress. Instead, she took my hand with that warm smile of hers and practically dragged me toward the living room.

“Come on, Piper! Don’t be shy.”

Shy? I was terrified.

We turned the corner, and I stopped dead.

My breath punched out of my lungs. My body turned to stone. Sitting in the living room, calm, powerful, leaning back in a chair like he owned the entire world, was him.

The man from that night. The stranger I’d slept with. The father of my child.

My blood went ice cold.

It couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be possible. But those eyes, that sharp jaw, that presence, I remembered him. My body remembered him.

He was Mrs. Calder’s son.

He was my new brother.

Mrs. Calder beamed, unaware of the devastation sinking its claws into me.

“Piper, this is Dominic. Dominic, this is Piper.”

He lifted his head slowly, his lips curling into a mocking, lazy smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“We meet again, little omega.”