Irina’s POV

The bell above the glass door chimed.

"Welcome," I called out automatically.

I swiped a bag of chips across the red scanner. The machine beeped loudly. I bagged the groceries, handed the customer their change, and offered a polite smile.

The convenience store was incredibly bright. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, a harsh contrast to the quiet, professional calm of Elena’s clinic where I still worked part-time. But I needed this second job. The money I had saved in that thick manila envelope wouldn’t last forever. Rent in this city was brutal, and I had to pay for diapers, baby formula, and electricity all on my own.

I turned around.

Behind the counter, tucked safely in his portable bassinet, was Luka.

He was wide awake. His tiny fists waved in the air in slow, uncoordinated circles. He was staring up at the brightly colored candy displays with wide, fascinated eyes. Those eyes were a deep, piercing forest green.

"Is the boss slacking off again?"

I looked up. My coworker, a girl in her early twenties named Chloe, leaned against the lottery machine. She grinned, popping a piece of bubblegum.

"He’s taking his union-mandated break," I joked back.

Chloe walked around the counter and cooed at the bassinet. Luka immediately kicked his little legs and offered her a bright, gummy smile.

"I swear, Irina," Chloe teased, lightly poking Luka’s chubby cheek. "He’s the only reason our manager hasn’t fired you for bringing a baby to a daytime shift. He’s good for business. Look at him. He’s our tiny little salesman."

"He is very charming," I admitted, my chest swelling with a familiar, fierce ache of love.

"He really is," Chloe sighed. She looked at me, her expression softening. "You look exhausted, though. Go sit on the stool for ten minutes. I’ll cover the register."

I didn’t argue. I was exhausted.

I dragged the heavy metal stool closer to the bassinet and sat down. My lower back throbbed. My feet ached. But I reached down and let Luka wrap his tiny, strong fingers around my index finger. My wolf hummed in my chest, a warm, protective vibration.

We were surviving. We were standing on our own two feet.

---

The nights were the hardest.

I hauled myself up the four flights of stairs to my tiny apartment. My arms shook from carrying Luka on one hip and the heavy diaper bag on my shoulder. The hallway still smelled faintly like old curry and cheap laundry detergent. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

I pushed the door open.

The apartment was freezing. The radiator in the corner clanked loudly, grumbling in the dark. From the bathroom, I could hear the slow, rhythmic *plink, plink, plink* of the leaky pipe dripping into the pretty bowl I had placed under the sink.

I set Luka down in his bassinet right next to my twin mattress.

He immediately started to cry.

It wasn’t a soft whimper. It was a loud, demanding wail. He was hungry. He was tired. He was teething.

"I know, baby. I know," I whispered, rushing to the cramped kitchenette.

I turned on one of the two burners to warm a bottle. My hands trembled slightly. The bone-deep fatigue threatened to drag me straight down to the cheap linoleum floor.

In my old life, in the Obsidian Claw pack house, the exhaustion had been suffocating. It was driven by sheer terror and the constant, agonizing need to make myself completely invisible. But this exhaustion was fundamentally different.

I grabbed the warm bottle and walked back to the mattress. I sat cross-legged, pulling Luka to my chest. He latched onto the bottle eagerly, his loud cries instantly quieting into soft, satisfied gulps.

I reached over to the windowsill. My GED prep books were lined up there like trophies. I pulled the thickest math textbook onto my lap.

I opened it to a Chapter on fractions.

Mia was absolutely right about me; I was completely hopeless at fractions.

I held the warm bottle with one hand and flipped the heavy pages with the other. My eyes burned from exhaustion. The black text blurred together on the white paper. The pressure was immense, a heavy physical weight pressing down on my shoulders. I had to pass this GED test. I had to apply to the pre-med or nursing programs. I owed it to Elena for believing in me. I owed it to Mia for pushing me.

But mostly, I owed it to the tiny boy resting against my heart.

It was so hard. It was agonizingly, brutally hard. My body craved sleep. My brain felt completely fried. But as Luka finished his bottle and finally fell asleep, his warm breath puffing softly against my collarbone, I felt a massive, overwhelming wave of peace.

It was a painful schedule. But it was joyful. Every single page I read, every single dollar I earned at the convenience store, belonged to us.

I wasn’t a broken omega anymore.

I kissed the top of his head. "We’re going to do this, Luka."

---

Months passed.

The seasons changed outside my cracked windowpane. The stack of notebooks on the windowsill grew taller.

I took the GED exam. I passed it.

Then came the college applications. The essays. The endless, complicated forms. I applied to the pre-med and nursing programs, terrified but determined. I held my breath for weeks, checking my email constantly between shifts at the convenience store and the clinic.

It was a Tuesday afternoon when the notification finally arrived.

I was sitting on the twin mattress, folding Luka’s tiny clothes. He was sitting up now, batting happily at a stuffed duck.

My phone buzzed on the floor.

I picked it up. A new email lit up the screen. The sender was the university admissions office.

My heart stopped completely.

My fingers shook violently as I unlocked the screen. I tapped the email.

The words loaded slowly.

*Dear Irina, We are thrilled to inform you that you have been accepted...*

I stopped reading.

The phone slipped from my hand. It landed on the blanket with a soft thud.

I gasped. The air rushed back into my lungs all at once. I pressed both hands tightly over my mouth to muffle the loud, broken sob that ripped from my throat.

Luka looked up at me, his green eyes wide with sudden curiosity.

"We did it," I choked out, tears instantly flooding my eyes and spilling hot down my cheeks. I lunged forward and scooped him into my arms, hugging him so tight he squeaked. "Luka, we did it! Mommy got in!"

He babbled happily, entirely clueless but feeding off my wild, ecstatic energy.

I grabbed my phone again with shaking hands. I hit speed dial.

The line rang exactly once.

"Tell me you got it," Mia’s voice demanded instantly through the speaker.

"I got in," I sobbed, laughing hysterically at the same time. "Mia, I got the email. I got in!"

A deafening scream erupted from the phone. I actually had to pull the device away from my ear.

"YES!" Mia shrieked. "I knew it! You absolute genius! You little jerk, I am so proud of you!"

"I can’t believe it," I cried, wiping my wet face with the back of my hand. "I’m actually going to school."

"Not just any school," Mia yelled, her voice thick with her own tears of joy. "You got into my school! We are going to be on the exact same campus! We are going to drink so much terrible cafeteria coffee together!"

"The same school," I repeated. The reality of it finally sinking deep into my bones.

I wasn’t an outcast. I wasn’t an omega. I was a college student.

"I’m coming over," Mia declared loudly. "I’m bringing pizza. I’m bringing sparkling cider. Do not go to sleep! We are celebrating!"

"Okay," I laughed, wiping another tear. "I’ll be here."

I hung up the phone.

The radiator clanked in the corner. The pipe dripped under the sink. The apartment was tiny, cramped, and deeply flawed. But the afternoon sunlight was streaming brightly through the window, catching the dust motes in the air.

I held my son tight against my chest. I had a future. I had a family. I had finally built a life of my own.