20. A Surprise Visit
Chapter twenty
A Surprise Visit
I was sitting at my desk, typing away when I heard the doorbell ring. Then something twinged in the nearly dead bond that still lingered in my chest.
When I heard the familiar rumble of Jack's voice, I jumped out of my chair and flew to the top of the stairs where I could see into the foyer. Miriam had answered the door and stood there, talking to Jack.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, moving down the stairs. My entire body was stiff, as if it was resisting moving closer to the man I'd loved at one point.
"Baby!" Jack's eyes lit up when he saw me and he pushed past Miriam to wrap me up in his arms. "I've missed you so much."
I wriggled out of his grip, the pain of my pack's rejection shattering in my chest again. "Step back."
He smiled easily and stepped back from me. "We've been looking for you for months. The reassignment center wouldn't tell us where you were. God, I have to tell the others!" He spun and went to the door, waving.
A moment later the entire Orion pack had piled through the door, hugging me and surrounding me with familiar, yet unwelcome scents.
"Where's your omega?" I asked stiffly, still standing at the foot of the stairs. My heart was pounding and wished desperately that my men were home. Miriam had disappeared when Jack had swept me up and I didn't know where she'd gone. She probably thought I'd brought them here.
"She took off," Dan said sadly. "I guess we weren't her only scent matches. She wanted to make it work, but the other pack refused to join ours."
"She chose them." Callum's voice was so dejected, it reminded me that he'd never sounded like that for me.
"How did you even find me?" I asked, suspiciously. Was the center giving out private information?
"One of the alphas called us, Zach, Zeke?" Jack smiled down at me. "We were supposed to meet up tomorrow, but we couldn't wait and we looked up the pack and found the address."
"Zeke called you?" My blood had frozen in my veins.
He'd been so upset when I told them I would never bond with them. It must have been enough to make him want to get rid of me. And he surely hadn't done this without Angel's approval, which meant just one thing. They didn't want me. Now that they'd had me, they were ready to toss me back.
Vaguely, I realized Jack was talking and I looked up at him as he said, " … so of course we came as soon as possible."
"We really miss your cooking," Callum chuckled. "God knows none of us are any good in the kitchen and even Amy wasn't a great cook." His voice was wistful when he said her name. They weren't over her. They'd come for me because we still had the bond. After all, I was better than nothing.
"You'll come home with us, won't you?" Dan all but begged.
"No, of course I won't! It's not my home anymore. You made sure of that when you found me in pain on the floor and literally stepped over me to get to your other omega!" Hot tears welled up in my eyes. "I went through my entire heat without any help. Nothing to dull the pain. Just the sound of you fucking her in my room."
They all looked ashamed. Lee stepped forward.
"We're really sorry about that. The rut caught us and we just couldn't stop. You know how the rut is. It stops us from thinking straight."
"That's why we decided it was better for you to go to the Reassignment Center," Jack said. "So you would have a chance to be happy."
"That worked out well," I muttered.
"When we found out you'd chosen the heat dens over going with another pack, we tried to figure out a way to reverse it, but the paperwork was already done."
My heart felt like it was cracking open and spilling into a hollow chest cavity. I could feel the lava burning as each drop of my destroyed heart fell through my body.
"But you chose a pack," Lee smiled. "And you didn't bond with them. We knew it had to be a sign."
"You're wrong," I said slowly. "I did go to the heat dens. Every time I went into heat, I went to the heat dens. I lay there on a bed and let strangers rut me because I had no choice. Hundreds of them over the months. And you know what? They helped me more than you did in my last heat with your pack."
"Our pack. You're still part of it. We would have felt if the bond had been severed completely." Jack looked so confident in his words, I wanted to scream.
"If I could cut these bonds out of me, I would," I snarled. "I don't want them. I don't want you."
"You don't mean that. We fucked up, I know, but we'll make it up to you," Callum begged. "Please, sweetie, you know we love you."
"If you loved me, I wouldn't be here." I pointed at the door. "You all need to leave. Now. Before my real pack comes home from work."
"At least stay in touch," Jack said. "Give me your phone number."
"I don't have a phone anymore. Everything was taken when you threw me away."
"These guys have a fancy house and didn't get you phone?" He raised an eyebrow. "Come on. You can do better."
"They're not what you want . . . you haven't even bonded with them. You've had how many heats here?"
"Just the one," I told them. "And you ruined bonds for me forever."
They hung their heads and I pointed at the door again. "Get out."
Finally, they dragged their sorry asses outside and got into the van they'd come in. I shut the door, not even waiting to see them leave.
I managed to get upstairs to my closet before I collapsed in a sobbing mess in the middle of my nest.
It felt like hours but had only been about thirty minutes when I heard a tap at the door. I'd cried myself out and was just lying in a crumpled heap, staring at the ceiling.
When I didn't answer, the door creaked open and Max poked his head in. "Miriam called. She said your old pack showed up here."
"Yeah." I didn't elaborate.
Max came in and shut the door, then stretched out on the floor beside me. His nose wrinkled. "You stink like them. You need to shower."
"I will." I closed my eyes. My chest felt like it had been ripped open and the pain had dribbled away. Now I was just numb.
"Talk to me, Mel."
When there was no response, he growled. "They had no right to come here after they abandoned you and rejected you!"
Part of me was relieved that they hadn't all been in on it, but it didn't really matter. I knew Angel and Zeke had been part of it and that meant I couldn't stay here. But where would I go? It was tough for omegas to find a decent place on their own. There was only one option, the heat dens.
Max tried to soothe me and tell me that I was wanted, but the words washed over me in a soothing wave as I worked out the details in my head. By the time he gave up and left me alone, I had it all worked out.
Distantly, I heard the rest of the pack arrive home. I got up and locked my bedroom door, grateful they hadn't taken that off and I went to soak off the scents of my old pack. It took a while to scrub them from my skin and hair and I threw the clothes I'd been wearing in the trash.
Dressing in my fuzzy pajamas, I curled up in the giant bed and fell asleep, worn out from crying. I woke briefly to knocks on the door, but they left me alone when I didn't respond and the rest of the night was calm.