Knot Worth It

3. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Wren

N othing seemed real. I felt like I was walking through a dream as I was escorted down the aisle and up to the dais where six men waited with varying expressions on their faces. None looked overly pleased to be here.

So…why the hell had they chosen me? They could have easily chosen any omega at the Center to be their mate, could have chosen to live without an omega. Although, they wouldn’t be able to register their pack. Or vote. Or open a business. Or maintain ownership over any property they’d purchased.

How the hell had society fallen so far into the middle ages in the freaking twenty-first century?

Five mates. From the file the headmistress had given me, there were three alphas and two betas. They all stood a few inches over six feet tall, even the betas. As I grew closer, I picked up a miasma of scents, none unpleasant. They were warm, like a blanket wrapping around me, cozy even if I had no intention of snuggling up to any of these men any time in the near future.

I would do only what was required of me by law, then I planned to find a way to keep as much distance between myself and this pack as possible.

They hadn’t chosen me because they’d fallen in love, or because they’d grown any affection toward me. They’d chosen me merely for legal reasons. Either they wanted a child to join their family, or they wanted something only my presence in their lives could afford them. I was nothing more than an ends to a means.

Surely, there was something this pack could offer me other than a bed, a nest, or a warm body when the pains and fever from my heat crashed into me like a tsunami.

I’d heard so many freaking fairy tales, and I knew that was exactly all they were – stories told by the Center to convince omegas to take their duties seriously, to celebrate when a pack chose us.

Bullshit. It was all bullshit, and I knew it.

I’d seen the vacant looks in the eyes of omegas as they were escorted by their alphas in public, as their lives were dictated by the whims of their pack.

Five men. I might have been a little more at ease had it been two or even three. At least there were a couple betas to give a reprieve from the oppressive alpha hormones that no doubt permeated every inch of their home.

If they were able to afford this, if they had the funds to secure an omega for their pack, they were obviously well off. Maybe that was what I could get out of this arrangement. I would never go hungry, would never be homeless, and might be able to actually choose my clothing that wouldn’t make me look as though I was part of a cult in the gray dresses each of us were required to wear, even when we were out in public with our escorts.

Someone was speaking. They were watching me, waiting for me to respond.

Turning my attention to the five men, I blinked a few times. They were handsome, there was no doubt about that. But they looked truly miserable.

Okay, not all of them, but a few of them looked as though they would rather be anywhere but here.

“Wren?” the headmistress said, nudging me with her elbow.

She was my only witness. No family. No friends.

Like every other omega in the Center, my family was forced to hand me over the moment I presented so I could be trained to represent my designation as nothing short of perfection and obedience.

“Wren!” the headmistress hissed at me with another nudge.

Inhaling deeply through my nose, I turned to the officiant. “I, Wren Elizabeth Kenly, vow my obedience to Pack Stryder. I vow to submit my mind and body to my alphas, to carry their marks with pride.”

Not one mention of the betas who stood watching me.

Each word felt like acid on my tongue. Submit my mind and body? Who the hell wrote these vows?

Stupid question – a freaking alpha wrote them. Because no way would an omega willingly go along with this farce knowing by the end of the day, they would no longer have an identity of their own, but were now property of a group of strangers.

I hadn’t even been allowed to meet my pack beforehand, only laying eyes on them as I’d walked toward them where they stood rigidly in expensive looking suits.

Who’d chosen my dress? I sure as hell hadn’t, so that only left either someone from the Center or a member of Pack Stryder. It was beautiful, but it left little to the imagination, dipping low until my cleavage was nearly spilling out. It hugged my narrow waist then flowed out at my wide hips and round behind.

Omegas were more desirable with curves, but I’d been teased on more than one occasion for my ample supply of them, as well as the fact my stomach was nowhere near flat.

As each of the pack made similar vows – theirs promising to protect and cherish me – I tuned out and tried to send surreptitious glances in their direction. Tall, broad through the chest and shoulders, but that was pretty much where any similarity ended. There was one man with coal black hair, another with auburn waves, and another with hair so light it was practically white. He’d announced his name as Winter during his vows and it fit him.

The one named Dean smirked when he caught me looking at him, winking in a flirtatious manner. I wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad. Either he was playful and friendly, or he was letting me know I officially belonged to him and his packmates.

Pulling my eyes from him and the others, I feigned interest as the officiant declared us a legal pack.

No way in hell would I cross the space to allow any of them to kiss me. It was bad enough I would have to allow at least one of them into my bed tonight, to allow one of them to latch their teeth into my flesh.

Oh, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the entire pack had to be witness. Meaning I would be having sex with an audience.

I supposed I should have counted myself lucky – the laws had only recently changed, and we were no longer required to have a government member witness the consummation.

The head of the pack, Alpha Raece, stepped forward and offered his elbow, helping me step down the few stairs from the dais, through the room, and to the reception that had already begun. I hadn’t seen the guest list being as there was no one for me to invite. None of the omegas I might have befriended in the Center would be allowed to attend without an alpha escort. I recognized several faces from magazines, newspapers, and even television and movies. Either my new pack was influential, or the township simply needed a reason to party.

“You look beautiful,” Raece said, leaning down to speak softly in my ear. Cloves, nutmeg, and cranberries. He smelled like Christmas time.

Turning my eyes up to his face, I tried my hardest to smile and failed. “Thank you,” I responded.

Polite, demure, obedient.

There were rules my designation were to follow. We were trained in what it meant to be an omega the moment we presented and were shipped off to the Center, including the fact our heat meant we were fertile and would require a knot to ease the pain and discomfort that came with each cycle every few months.

Until the moment we were so lucky as to be chosen by an alpha or a pack, we were given the choice of sex toys or heat helpers to get us through, along with sedatives and pain killers.

I’d done my best to ask for birth control, had even attempted to steal some on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, I had failed at every attempt, meaning if these men decided they wanted a family, I would have no choice but to carry the pup then nurture them. I prayed every day since I’d arrived at the Center that any child I birthed would either be an alpha or beta. I didn’t want my children to go through the same nonsense I was being subjected to now.

Women rushed toward me, tugging me away from Raece and my new pack.

My pack . It felt so strange even thinking the words.

“You look so beautiful,” a woman said, tugging me toward a group of omegas.

“Stay with us, Wren. We promise you’ll have fun.”

Have fun? And why did these women look…happy? They were wearing clothes I’d only ever seen in magazines, their hair and makeup impeccable. I supposed when they had nothing to do but focus on their looks, there was no reason for them to not look like supermodels.

My own curly red hair had been wrangled into a bun with a few stray coils that had refused to be pinned back framing my face and tickling my neck. I’d wanted to cut it years ago, but the headmistress declared alphas preferred long hair, as though my opinion about my own body held zero merit.

The scent of pine, frost, and snow tickled my senses. Glancing around one of the women who were chatting cheerfully, my eyes snagged on Winter as he passed. Even his scent matched his damn name. I couldn’t help but wonder if his parents had chosen his name specifically based off his smell and appearance.

Smile. Be pleasant. Be obedient .

The words were there in my head, the voice that of my headmistress. Yet, as Winter’s emotionless eyes settled on me, I couldn’t muster so much as a nod.

Winter’s eyes stayed on me until he passed the group, moving further into the room. I had no idea where the rest of the pack were. The rest of my mates.

My stomach turned and bile burned my throat.

My mates .

By the end of the night, I would be bonded to this group of strangers. I would be in bed with one of them, I would have sex with one of them while the others watched.

Would they expect me to lie there and allow them to use my body?

They were in for an unpleasant surprise if they thought for one second I would willingly become their little toy, their maid, their obedient and doting omega.

Was there a way I could reject any advances tonight? Since there would be no outside witnesses, it would be my word against the pack’s.

The bite…there was no way to fake that. When we did our first check in, the Center would check to make sure I’d been marked and bonded to Pack Stryder. I assumed that honor would go to Raece being as he was the head of the pack, and I would be taking his name as my own.

That nausea returned at all the possibilities of how the night could go, how many nightmares might come to life within a span of a few hours.

“Excuse me,” I squeaked out, swallowing hard as I hurried through the massive ball room in search of a bathroom.

Shit. I did not want to vomit in front of so many people. Generally, I didn’t care what anyone thought of me. But that would be too freaking embarrassing.

And just because I wasn’t overly pleased by the fact I was in a gown and practically being sold to a group of strangers, the dress was still beautiful. It would be a waste to ruin it.

As my stomach turned, I felt as though I was lost in a maze, darting down different hallways as I peered inside open doors and shoved open the closed ones.

There had to be a bathroom somewhere in this gigantic place.

“Wren?” a masculine voice called from behind me.

I whirled, a hand going to my stomach. Mateo stood in the hallway, his dark brows pinched together. “Are you trying to run away?”

“Bathroom. Please.” I clapped a hand over my mouth. Oh no. No no no.

Mateo rushed to my side and tugged me along beside him, pushing open a door to reveal a spacious bathroom complete with a couch to lounge and a vanity to touch up hair or makeup.

I didn’t care about any of that. I just needed…

Rushing forward, I dropped to my knees, the gown pooling around me, and wretched into the toilet. I hadn’t eaten much, my nerves affecting my appetite, but it still sucked.

By the time I felt safe enough to sit back on my haunches and catch my breath, I felt lightheaded. Woozy. I just wanted to go to bed and pretend the whole night was nothing but a bad dream.

Tears burned the backs of my eyes. Dropping back onto my butt, I drew my knees to my chest and dropped my forehead on top of them.

I did not want to cry. And I sure as hell didn’t want that pack to see an ounce of weakness. But everything felt so…hopeless.

I’d known the moment I presented my life was no longer mine. My designation was excessively rare and the only members of the human population who could be impregnated. There had been stories of betas giving birth, but they were few and far between.

My life would now revolve around keeping a bunch of men happy, of spreading my legs whenever they wanted, and popping out as many babies as possible.

I no longer had a life of my own. I no longer had my own identity.

I would be imprisoned in a gilded cage until the day I died.

Spring rain. The scent tickled my nose and, oddly, calmed my racing heart a touch.

Lifting my head, I turned to see Mateo, the tallest of my alphas, lowering beside me, balancing on the balls of his feet.

“Is there something I can get for you?” he asked, his deep voice soft and kind.

My russet brows drew together as I stared at him, his face distorted through the tears welling in my eyes.

“I’m scared,” I whispered. I might wonder later why I admitted that to Mateo, why I’d allowed one of my mates to see this moment of weakness.

But when he reached forward to wipe away a tear that spilled over my lashes, I wondered if I had found a friend. He didn’t know me, was forced into this situation same as me, but he was showing me kindness.

That kindness could come at a price .

Pulling away, I tried to bring all my training to mind but couldn’t force myself to smile.

“I’ll get the pack. I think it’s time to go home.”

He stood, his body towering over mine.

“They’ll be mad.” And the last thing I wanted was to be punished on my first night with my new pack, with alphas and betas who would be waiting to have me naked and beneath them.

I didn’t want this.

I was no virgin. I’d made sure of that before I presented out of fear of being used as some ploy or bargaining tool. It wasn’t the sex that caused fear to burn through my veins and turn my stomach but the fact I had zero say in it.

Bullshit. This was my life, whether they’d paid handsomely for it or not. No one would touch me without my permission. They would have to knock me out if they planned to take advantage of my body.

Mateo stared down into my face a few more seconds, a frown drawing his thick, dark brows together, before turning on his heel and leaving me huddled in a gown on the bathroom floor.

I might not have a choice about them marking me, or claiming me and making our pack legal. But I refused to allow a single one of them to enter my body without the fight of their life.