LOGINWhen I finally found time to call Adam back, he had been blasting my phone for a good hour. By then, I had managed to get myself into the hotel I’d booked and started packing my things with military efficiency.Only once the group call with my squad on a secure line ended could I check my normal phone, only to see evidence of Adam panicking on the other side.Well, shit. I knew this day was coming, and I had been transparent with Adam from the start about the situation of my employment by the United States Army. Adam, for his part, had been pretty accepting of the situation, but recently, I realized how much the knowledge had been feeding his anxieties.The situation was frustrating. I wished that I could get out of the whole thing completely, but apparently, command was reluctant to let go of one of their best teams. It would’ve been fine if it was one or two squad members, but half of our team wanted to quit, and they just weren’t having it.If Command had their way, we would still
Mom listened to my story with rapt fascination, her eyes getting wider and wider with every word coming out of my mouth.“Colton and Revon are twins?!” she exclaimed. “Oh, my God, that poor, poor boy-they kept his twin a secret from him?!”“Revon doesn’t really know if he believes that he and Colton are twins,” I pointed out. “In fact, he doesn’t really believe any of what she said, because it’s her word against everyone else’s, and he really won’t trust anyone from either of his families without evidence.”“Still, it wouldn’t have been easy to hear that.”“Oh, he was rattled alright,” I sighed. “God, Mom, I wish I was back home. How come I’m always somewhere else when he needs me the most?”My head hurt from listening to the story, and I couldn’t imagine what Revon was going through. I knew he was trained to be level-headed in the most stressful situations, but there had to be a limit to what a person could take, right?Finding out you have a twin brother who might’ve been killed by t
“Adam!” I gasp into the phone as soon as the call connects. “Adam, I need you!”“Revon?!” Adam’s voice goes from zero to panicked in the matter of seconds, instantly alert. “Are you hurt? Where are you? I’m going to send someone right now; better yet, I’m going to call the police!”“Not hurt,” I manage to breathe out, my heart racing in my chest. “I need to hear your voice. Talk!”“…what?”“Just talk,” I commanded, feeling more desperate with each passing minute. “I’m behind some sketchy alley in New York, about to lose my shit, and you’re the only person who's capable of grounding me at a time like this, but you’re halfway across the world in Africa, and all I have is your voice, so please, just talk!”“Alright, alright, please calm down,” Adam replied hastily. “Um, we’re here in Nayala; it’s the capital city of Oyolle, but you know that, right? Mom’s here too. We made it here safely, and right now, we’re at the Grand Ritz Hotel. Funny that, huh? It’s like you can go anywhere in the w
“No, that’s impossible!” I snapped. “That’s factually untrue, and you know it, Maya. What are you even trying to pull here?”Maya’s eye flashed.“What do you mean factually untrue? You think I’m lying?’“Yes, because I found my birth records!” I yelled back.It was not an act anymore. All my control fled as soon as I heard those words, and suddenly, I was an eighteen-year-old boy again, whose whole world had been turned upside down by finding out that he was an Omega.God, how simple had things been back then?Colton and I? Twins? The very idea was so far-fetched, so out of line…it was impossible.What was Maya playing at? What was her agenda? Why was she lying all of a sudden?“Why did you go looking for your birth records?” Maya’s brows furrowed.“That’s none of your goddamn business,” I snarled. “The point is that my birth records clearly state I was born to a couple in California who perished shortly after my birth! They didn’t have any relatives, so I was put into the system. End
“Wait, wait, wait, hold up,” I cut in before she could go on. “You mean to tell me that we—me and you—have met the Hawthornes before?”Maya nodded.“Multiple times. We kept going to their galas at least once a year. But after you started acting out, you refused to go. After that, it was only me.”“So that means you’ve met her before,” I said. “Victory.”Maya cracked a sardonic smile. “I don’t think she remembers me all that well. I only talked with her a handful of times. But yeah, I did. Not just her. The son…I’ve met him too, but I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him.”“Why?” I asked faintly, like I wasn’t trying to mine all the information I could. “Too big-headed for the likes of us?”“Victory, totally, but I just think Revon was just an introvert. He looked so nervous all the time back then, and then he stopped attending altogether, so…anyways, I attended the parties until the Hawthornes stopped having them.”She trailed off after that as if she was lost in thought, and I blinked,
“What the hell are you doing?!” I screamed as I pushed her away from my back. Scrambling to my feet, I made a show of scuffling away from her, my arms thrust out as if I was dealing with a wild animal. “What the hell, Maya, you could’ve broken my nose!”Maya looked crazed. She was redder than I’d ever seen her before, and her eyes were like plums bulging out of her skull. Her chest rose and fell like she was on the way to a panic attack.“You can’t go to them; I won’t let you!” she snapped. “Do you have a death wish, Colton? Are you insane? You’re not going to ask our parents anything about the Hawthornes or about the past whatsoever. Don’t cross the line!”“A death wish?” I blinked at her. “What the…you’re talking about them like they’re dangerous! It’s mom and dad! The most they’ll do is yell at me. It’s not like we’re kids anymore.”Maya let out a bark of a laugh that was so unhinged I wondered if I was taking this too far.“Of course, you would think that,” she said, voice signifi
“Don’t…” Adam breathed, and suddenly, he lurched forward.I didn’t know what to do. It was far too late to step back, and I wasn’t heartless enough to let him fall face-first onto the dirty bathroom floor.So of course, he landed on my arms.My heart started racing as his scent filled my nostrils,
Adam’s football friends strode towards us, and I felt a cold sweat on the back of my neck as I saw the expression on his face.Adam was nowhere to be seen.As soon as they were close to us, Annalise sprang to her feet and rushed to them.“Oh, Jaice, AJ! I just wanted to sit with my friends,” she pl
“Sorry about that, I did not see you coming. My fault entirely. Are you okay?”I blinked, trying to stop my head from ringing. Did I fricking run into a wall?But then I realized the wall could talk.I looked up.And bit back a groan.Of course, it had to be him.Tall, dark, and handsome, with a bo
Chapter 1. Revon. “No son of mine will be an Omega!”My father’s roar flinched through the sterile hospital room. Victory looked down, clearly to hide a smug smile. My mother looked as if she’d bitten into a lemon. Poor Dr. Lewis, who hadn’t asked to be entangled in the Hawthorne family drama, kep







