Omega Lost

3. Isolation

Chapter three

Isolation

A n omega needs touch and the comfort of her alphas. The sudden withdrawal of all affection was making me needy and weepy. I knew the guys could feel it through the bond, but it was so overwhelmed by their adoration of Amy that they didn't seem to care.

I kept looking for work, but no one really wanted to hire an omega. Frustrated, I spent my days walking and tidying up my garden for winter, coming back into the house only to cook for the guys and their new omega.

Amy had been there for nearly a month and I was making baked macaroni and cheese for dinner when Jack came in. His scent hit me and I immediately wanted to be surrounded by it again.

"Hey, Mel, smells good in here," he told me.

"Thanks, just mac and cheese," I told him quietly.

"You okay? You seem down lately."

"I just miss you guys." I twisted the tea towel in my hands. "My stuff doesn't even smell like you anymore."

"I know this is tough on you, babe, but we'll figure it out, okay?"

"My heat is coming soon." I bit my lip and looked up at him, feeling tears welling up. "Are you going to . . . can anyone help me?"

"Oh, shit, we should have got you on suppressants, at least until everything is sorted out." He closed his eyes in annoyance. "I'll take you to the doctor tomorrow, okay? We'll see if it's still possible."

My heart sank. He didn't want to help me through my heat. It had always been such a pleasure to spend those days with my men, as they strove to please me as much as I needed. The thought of being alone during it all made me shudder.

Jack noticed, of course. He frowned at me. "We'll figure it out, okay? It's just, well, it's going to be awkward since you're bonded and she's not. You know how omegas get."

"I was here first," I pointed out. "It's not my fault she's your scentmatch . . . or that you chose me first."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I know. And I know it's not fair to either of you to have you both in limbo like this. We're going to bond her and then it will all settle down, okay? She's just feeling a little uneasy and anxious that she's not bonded to us yet."

I nodded and turned to pull the salad fixings out of the fridge. My heart was breaking. Even though I knew scentmatches were a thing, part of me had hoped this was temporary. But now they would bond with her and what would I be left with?

At dinner, Amy chattered away happily about her plans to renovate the house. She was apparently changing the color of the living room and wanted to build onto the master bedroom.

"I have a whole Pinterest board of ideas," she told the guys, showing them pics on her phone. "See? It will be lavender but with the bed in here and my nest over in the addition."

I listened in silence, barely eating. My mind was on the upcoming heat. The idea of someone changing my home, where I'd made myself comfortable with my pack made me feel itchy.

When Dan looked worriedly across the table at me, Amy suddenly reached over and ran her hand down his arm. "Baby, I want you to do that thing you do with your tongue tonight after dinner," she whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

His attention was immediately back on her. A pang shot through my chest and I quickly shut down my side of the link.

From Jack's sharp look, I knew he'd noticed I'd closed myself off. It didn't matter. None of them had responded when I'd been hurting the past few weeks and I didn't want them to know just how badly it pained me now. Watching Amy make out with my men made me nauseous.

The omega part of me wanted to fight and scratch Amy's eyes out. To tear her apart for daring to touch my mates. But I knew I'd never win that fight. She took precedence over me because of her scent.

While she climbed onto Dan's lap and started to grind on him, I quickly gathered up the empty dishes and hurried to the kitchen. The air was filled with pheromones that soured my stomach, so I didn't leave the kitchen.

"You good?" Lee carried in the rest of the mac and cheese and the salad.

I just nodded, not able to speak without bursting into tears or lashing out. My self-control was excellent. I'd always made sure to be the perfect omega, even when my alphas did stuff like leaving wet towels in a heap on the floor or peeing on the toilet seat. I'd done everything I could to make sure they couldn't reject me for any reason. Except now, they had a very good reason.

Lee cupped my face and I leaned into the touch, desperate for any type of comfort. I turned my face into his palm and inhaled, his scent soothing me.

"Lee!!" Amy squealed from the other room.

Instantly, his hand dropped and he left me alone in the kitchen, feeling more solitary than before. Lee's scent remained, a sad reminder that I'd lost whatever I'd had with my pack.

I blocked out the pack bond and wrapped silence around myself. Methodically, I rinsed the dishes and put away the leftovers as the others laughed and talked in the dining room.

It didn't take long for their fun to take a sexier turn and a tear rolled down my cheek when I heard Jack's familiar grunt as he took his omega on the dining room table.

"Fuck, baby, suck it," Lee said, too loudly.

I'd had enough. Turning on the dishwasher, I hurried out of the kitchen, forcing myself to look straight ahead as I passed the dining room and left through the front door.

Outside, the fresh air was blessedly free of their pheromones and I walked slowly down the driveway, letting the wind soothe me and dry the tears that coursed down my cheeks.

"It's just because your heat is coming, you're more sensitive," I whispered to myself.

The forest beckoned and I wandered into the darkness before finding a pine tree with sweeping boughs that touched the ground. Tucked up against the trunk, I felt like I was in a sort of nest. The pine needles under me softened the cool ground and the low-hanging branches hid me from sight, though I knew no one would be looking for me.

I woke up to birdsong and sat up. My entire body was stiff from sleeping on the ground, but I felt rested for the first time in months. No deep groans or high-pitched squeals had woken me during the night. With a sigh, I got to my feet and stepped out from under the protective tree before I made my way back to the house.

Jack was leaving, with the others close on his heels as I walked up the drive.

"Where were you?" he demanded. "We waited for you this morning and I went to check on you, to see if you were sick and you weren't even in your room!"

"Sorry." I hung my head. I'd never missed making them breakfast, not even when I was sick.

"Amy made breakfast for us," Lee told me. "It wasn't quite as good as yours, but she'll learn, I guess."

They were gone without any goodbyes and I slunk into the house, feeling dirty after sleeping on the ground all night.

Amy was in the living room, playing some video game the guys had bought her. She put it on pause when I came in and watched me curiously for a moment.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing." I walked past her, headed to my room.

"They were worried about you. Not one of them has a clue how to feed himself," she chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. They were lucky to have me come into their lives," I smiled back, then the smile fell from my face.

"I didn't mean to take your place," Amy said. "I know . . . I know you are attached to them, but I can't explain the feelings I have for them. It's all-consuming."

"I know." I ran a hand through my hair and caught a pine needle. "I'm going to shower."

"Okay, see you later."

She continued her game. I went and showered, then cleaned the kitchen and prepped dinner before leaving the house again, just to wander in the massive garden out behind the house. I wasn't in the mood to weed, so I just sat in the gazebo for a while, staring out at the flowers and trying to imagine what the rest of my life would look like.

Was I destined to be the leftover mate in the equation? Would I be the one cooking and cleaning and looking after Amy's babies? There was still something there with my alphas, but it was fading by the day. At least, on their end.

With a sigh, I climbed off the bench and started to gather flowers for a fresh bouquet to set out at dinnertime. It took a while to do that and then I spent another half hour arranging them all just so in a vase before setting it on the table.

I'd marinated steaks in the morning and now I seared them to perfection, popping them in the oven along with a blueberry pie to finish.

By the time the alphas came home, Everything was perfect. They sat at the table, chatting about their day and asking Amy about hers while I picked at my food. When they'd finished, I cleared the table and robotically did the cleanup while they all trooped upstairs.

That night, I took a blanket out to the tree with me and curled up there, feeling secure under its branches. This time, I brought my phone and set the alarm so I'd be up to make breakfast. Part of me felt that they might still choose me if I was good enough at cooking and cleaning . . . but that hadn't mattered before. They'd still brought another omega into the pack.

Fresh air and silence settled around me, making me sleepy. I rolled up in the soft blanket I'd brought and curled up against the tree trunk, drifting off to sleep.

I woke to sudden pain spearing my abdomen and sat up, clutching my stomach. My heat was here and I had no idea how I was going to get through it.