Omega Lost

11. Nesting

Chapter eleven

Nesting

W e stopped at a massive nesting store that I'd seen on TV before but had never been to. Jack had always just told me to order what I needed online, so I did.

"Ali is painting your room right now," Micah told me. "So, you're going to get bedding and some pillows for your room. I don't care if they're purple or another color, but you need to pick some things."

I followed them into the store, staring in awe at how huge it was. There were several example nests strewn throughout the store, but overall, it was divided into colors and textures. Micah steered us straight to the purple area where an entire wall of comforters hung, ready to be touched.

It was too much. There was no way they would keep me long term, so spending their money was a terrible idea. The thought of picking stuff out and then leaving it behind, like I had with my other pack made me freeze. Micah and Tiago were looking at sheets off to one side while I just stood there like a lump, not sure what to do.

"Is it just me or don't omegas like to touch things and see how soft they are?" Tiago said, sounding puzzled.

"Melody?" Micah came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.

I jumped and jerked away from him, entirely on instinct. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't be. Which blankets do you want?"

"You shouldn't do this," I whispered. "The blanket on the bed already is fine."

Tiago scooped up two blankets and held them out to me. "Touch."

My fingers stroked over the soft microfleece. One blanket was definitely softer than the other and I lingered on it.

"This one." He dropped it into the cart. "What about these?" He held out sheets.

"You can't buy everything I touch," I pointed out.

"I could, but that's not the idea. I'm just helping you make some decisions." He gave me a diabolical grin, white teeth gleaming against his dark skin. "Touch these."

In the end, I chose two sets of sheets, so I could wash one set while the other was on the bed, a comforter, two fuzzy blankets, and three pillows. It wasn't enough that I'd feel horrible when I left them behind, but enough to appease the guys. It wasn't until we joined the queue for the checkout that things went sideways.

"Micah," Tiago said in a dangerously calm voice.

"Yeah?" Micah looked up from his phone. He'd been texting someone, probably Ali, judging from the purple photos popping up.

"You notice anything here?"

Micah looked around and frowned. "You mean the fact that all these omegas have two or three carts of stuff and we have barely half a cart?"

Tiago turned to me. "Why didn't you choose more things?"

"I'm fine. I don't need more."

"Tell me," he said in a low voice that was heavily infused with bark.

I shuddered but was powerless to resist. "I don't . . . I don't want to miss things when I leave, okay?" Tears welled up in my eyes. I hated the alpha bark and the way it was used. Forcing me to tell the truth and then turning it on me was not how I wanted things to go. But if I played along, maybe they'd let me stay longer.

Tiago stared at me for a minute, then turned and paid for the stuff. We walked in silence back to the car, and Micah loaded our bags into the SUV. Then we headed home, stopping to buy pizza on the way.

"Ali is going to be starving," Micah said, nodding at the stack of pizzas beside me. "He eats like a horse."

"Oh," was all I could manage.

In the house, Micah told me to stay downstairs while he ran everything up to my room. He returned with Ali, who was smudged with purple paint.

"How was shopping?" he asked me. "Micah didn't bring much up."

"We need to have a little talk with our omega about her expectations and ours," Tiago said, in that same calm voice that made my entire body flood with fear. "But let's eat first."

I could barely touch my pizza, I was so anxious about the talk he wanted to have.

Ali chattered away the entire meal about how he had finished painting in record time. "You picked a great color. I love it. Makes the room really pop!" he told me.

Finally, we were done. I cleared away the leftovers and put them in the fridge and then followed Tiago numbly into the living room.

"I know the others will want to be in on this, but it will be less intimidating with half the pack," he told me.

I sank into an armchair, feeling stiff and scared. The guys sat on the sofa opposite and looked at me.

"You said you're afraid you'll miss things when you leave," Tiago said slowly, bringing me back to the store. "Why?"

Confused, I responded, "Because I can't take anything with me to the center. They get rid of your clothes."

"I thought we already established that you're not going back to the center," Micah said. "Didn't we? That's what was determined at breakfast."

"That's what I heard," Ali piped up. He leaned forward. "Melody, do you really think we're going to get rid of you?"

"It happens."

"It does, but it doesn't happen in this pack," Micah said.

"You know when I first joined the pack, I broke Angel's favorite sculpture. It was a gift from his mother. If anything was going to make him kick someone out, that was it. But all he did was shake his head and tell me to be more careful. Do you know why? Because we're pack. We're family," Ali said fiercely. "We don't throw people out like trash."

"He's right," Tiago declared. "You may not be bonded yet, and you can change your mind, but our minds are made up. We want you. We're keeping you. Pretty sure everyone here would sign a document to that effect."

"I would," Ali volunteered.

Taking a deep breath, I looked into Tiago's chocolate-brown eyes. "I hear you, but I can't feel it yet. I think you're still going to change your mind. I was with Pack Orion for three years and they got rid of me like that." I snapped my fingers. "I'm not the same naive omega I was when I joined them. I know what the heat dens are now, I know that bonds don't last. And I know you don't get to keep the things or the people you love."

The men fell silent at my words and Ali got up to sit on the arm of my chair, running his fingers over my hair. I flinched away, but he kept going, soothing me with his soft touch.

"We can't force you to believe us," Micah said at last. "But we can prove we're telling the truth. Give us a chance, please?"

I nodded. "Okay. I can do that."

The discussion had exhausted me and after the heavy talk, I followed Ali up to my room, which smelled heavily of fresh paint, despite the open window.

"Isn't it pretty?" He waved his hand at the walls. "I love this color for you."

"It's beautiful." I smiled as I looked around the space. He'd done a surprisingly good job in a short period of time. The light switch and trims were still taped off, but he ran around peeling the tape away while I sat on the bed.

"Let's get your bed made up. You'll feel better when you have a nest, right?"

"I guess."

With his help, I changed the sheets for dark purple ones that were so soft to the touch I just wanted to wrap myself in them. Next was the comforter, a lavender one with swirled white patterns over it. This puffed up nicely on the bed and I loved it already. The two fuzzy blankets I folded on the end of the bed and then set the three pillows at the head of the bed, atop the other two pillows that had been there when I came.

When it was finished, Ali stepped back and beamed. "This looks great. Needs a lot more, but it's nice."

It was nice. The bed looked so much more inviting now. I flopped backward onto it and stared up at the ceiling with its bright light globe.

"Too bright, huh?" Ali asked, dropping back onto the bed beside me.

I flinched and he rolled onto his side to look at me.

"Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Flinch or pull away every time someone wants to touch you? I thought omegas loved touch."

"I used to."

"Did your old pack abuse you? They hurt you?"

"Not physically," I told him, almost smiling at the fierce look on his face. "I think it's a lot of things. There was no touch in the center, except to zap us, and I don't want to get used to it again, to need it, in case I go back."

Ali's face darkened at my words. "What's the other part?"

"The alphas in the heat dens," I whispered. "Most of them weren't gentle."

"They're supposed to protect you!"

"They didn't do any permanent damage," I said wryly. "I guess that's what the guards were for."

Ali sighed. "I really hate this. I'm not an alpha, but I'm feeling pretty possessive over you. If I could go back and erase all of that experience, I would. But you're here to stay, whether you believe that or not."

"What if I do believe you and it changes? I don't think I can do that again. I can still feel my old pack," I confessed. "The bonds are weak, but they're still there."

Ali looked horrified. "I thought the bond broke when they rejected you!"

"Me too." I closed my eyes. "But I can feel all of them there, faintly. They're happy. Very, very happy."

"You will be, too," Ali promised. "Maybe not right away, but it's going to happen. I promise."