7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Mira
T he back alleys reek of garbage and despair, but I stick to them anyway, knowing the main streets are too dangerous. Every shadow could hide an alpha, every passing car could carry the ones from Pinnacle. Their scents still cling to my memory, leather and pine, dark amber and citrus, smoked cedar and spiced vanilla. My body responds to even the memory, sending another flood of slick down my thighs. I don’t understand why I react to them. Why them in particular, when every other alpha I cross knots my stomach with dread?
“Stop it,” I hiss at myself, pressing against a cold brick wall. A fire rages deep within me, turning my blood to streams of lava.
I clench my eyes shut but three sets of eyes that landed on me after I woke in their pristine offices are burned behind my eyelids. They looked at me as if I'm precious, as if I matter. Like I belong . The tallest one, the prime alpha, took a step forward with his hand outstretched, and something in me wanted to reach back. Wanted to let him catch me, to surrender to the protection they promised.
The allure of alphas at their best.
Haven taught me a lot. Including that every alpha offers a lie. A price I’m not willing to pay. Not even for alphas whose scents speak to parts of me I never knew existed… and why is that?
I nearly didn’t make it out.
My apartment building looms ahead, and I pause in the shadows, scanning for danger. I can’t stay here long. My scent will attract every dirtbag alpha around and I know when I’m deep in my heat I’ll scream for them all. Their own willing little slut they’ll take advantage of in my most vulnerable time.
I can’t stay in my apartment. I have three locks on my door, but they won’t be strong enough for an alpha in rut. I need to find somewhere safe to ride out this heat.
I must get my mother’s locket first. It's the only thing left of her, the only thing I was able to take with me when I ran from Haven. If Chuck, the sleazy beta building manager, realizes my apartment is empty, he'll ransack through my things and find it. He's done it before to other tenants.
The thought is enough to keep putting foot after foot. Keep my mind on what I have to do. Get in, get the locket, get out. Find somewhere to ride out this disaster of a heat. Then disappear. Start over somewhere new, somewhere these alphas can't find me.
Find another scumbag to extort me for the pills I need to exist.
New jobs I can work for cash that pay next to nothing for the pleasure of turning up every day.
Every step is agony as I stagger through back alleys. The sun has tracked across the sky, marking hours I've spent wandering, too afraid to take direct routes. My uniform is soaked with sweat despite the freezing temperature, and slick has dried on my thighs.
I haven't eaten in... I can't remember. Yesterday? The day before? The hunger pains have faded beneath the burning frenzy of my heat, but the weakness remains. My vision keeps blurring, the world tilting sideways when I move too quickly.
A burst of alpha pheromones hits me, and I barely make it behind a dumpster before a group of them passes the alley entrance. Their scents are all wrong. Harsh, aggressive, nothing like the perfect harmony of the three from Pinnacle.
I press between the grimy wall and a dumpster, trying to make myself smaller and not breathe. Please don't smell me, please don't smell me, please...
Their voices carry on the wind, crude jokes and lazy laughter. One of them stops, and I hear him dragging air into his nose no doubt scenting the air, and I bite my lip until I taste blood to keep from whimpering. After what seems like hours, they move on, their footsteps fading into the general noise of the city.
I slide down the wall, my legs unable to hold me up any longer. The metal of the dumpster is ice-cold against my fevered skin. More people walk past the alley entrance. I have to stay here. Keep hidden and it’s so nice to rest after running through the city. To drift…
My eyes snap open as my body tilts. I catch myself before I collapse on the frozen ground. Darkness fills the alley now and, high above, stars twinkle in an onyx sky.
Hell , I must have fallen asleep. I try to move but my muscles are cramped and useless. I check my phone for the time but the battery is dead. At least there are no sounds or signs of people around. I can reach my apartment and get the hell away without being discovered. I force myself to move. My joints crack like brittle twigs as I straighten, using the dumpster for support. I have to wait for my vision to settle before I check the alley. I’m weaker than I want to be.
Past the alley and in the street beyond, streetlamps cast sickly yellow pools of light on dirty snow, but there's no movement in their glow. I stagger toward my building, every step an exercise in staying upright. The heat burns through me in waves, making it hard to think or to focus on anything except the pulsating ache clawing at my insides. Slick trickles down my thighs, but I'm too dehydrated for it to be the same flood as earlier.
The stairs are a mountain I have to climb. Three flights seem like thirty, each step sending sparks of pain through my overtaxed muscles. By the time I reach my floor, I'm trembling so badly I can barely grip my keys.
They clatter to the floor once, twice, three times, before I manage to get the key into the lock. The sound seems deafening in the quiet hallway, and I freeze at each noise, waiting for someone to investigate. But no doors open, no voices call out.
When the lock finally turns, relief hits me so hard I almost collapse. I stumble inside, the familiar musty smell of my apartment never more welcome.
My nest calls to me. Pathetic as it is, it's still mine. My instincts scream to burrow into it, to let the heat take me somewhere safe and warm. But I can't. Won't. My trembling hands stuff clothing into my worn satchel instead, movements clumsy with exhaustion.
My scent billows around me. Potent and ripe.
The locked box under the sink might as well be at the bottom of the ocean for how impossible it is to reach. I collapse to my knees, the metal handle of the cabinet cool against my burning forehead as I try to steady myself. Just this one thing. Get the locket, then get the fuck out of here. A whimper tears up my throat and I clutch my stomach as another cramp corkscrews through me. My core clenches around nothing, lusting for a knot stat. My scent spikes, tainted with my distress, and pounding ratchets inside my skull.
The box scrapes against the pipes as I drag it out, my fingers fumbling with the combination lock. The numbers swim before my eyes, and I have to try several times before I get it right. The lid creaks open, revealing the broken, delicate gold chain nestled in the bottom of the box. If the chain wasn’t broken, I’d be wearing it and not have come back here, but finding the money to fix the chain is out of my reach.
I can’t help but give in to the urge to open the little golden heart and see the photo of the three of us taken on my sixteenth birthday. The two halves fall apart, the pin in the hinge also having long gone, and I cup the pieces in my palm to look at the photo nestled inside. My vision blurs when I see Mom and Dad’s smiling faces. Both have their arms around me as I stand between them, and I look so damned naive I can’t believe that person was once me.
The image is faded, having survived the river and being stored in damp cupboards over the years. Spots of mold dot the tiny image. Soon I won’t be able to see them except in my memories. It’s all I have left.
The apartment door bursts open, the crash echoing through the tiny space and ripping a scream from my raw throat. I forgot to lock the door behind me in my haste to get inside. Three massive alphas fill the doorway completely, backlit by the hallway's flickering fluorescent light.
The same alphas who saw me at Pinnacle.
How did they find me and…
Their scents slam into me, sinking into my skin and dissolving into my blood. My vision tunnels, the room spinning as their combined pheromones overwhelm my last defenses. I try to scramble away, but my body is working against an invisible tide and all I can do is flounder on the floor.
The tallest one moves toward me first, his movements careful as if he's approaching a wounded animal. Which, I suppose, I am. His hazel eyes lock onto mine with a ferocity that makes me want to submit and fight at the same time. His expensive suit is rumpled, tie missing, mid-brown hair disheveled as if he's been running his hands through it all day. Everything about him screams prime alpha, from his commanding presence to the way the other two naturally defer to him.
The huge blond with a warrior build and piercing blue eyes that see straight through me follows. His face is all sharp angles and concern, muscles straining against his dress shirt as he moves. Something about him makes my omega scream in desperate need, which terrifies me more than outright aggression. His scent of dark amber and citrus is a warm embrace I don't want.
But it's the third one who draws my attention the most. Dark hair shields his face, stubble darkening his jaw, and he’s holding himself apart from the others. He won't look directly at me, disgust evident in every line of his body. The leather and pine of his scent carries notes of distress and reluctance. I almost gasp at my luck. An alpha who can’t stand an omega’s scent. Who looks at me in disgust and not hunger.
“What are you doing here! Get the fuck out of my apartment.” I grunt as the next cramp folds me in half.
“Mira,” the prime alpha says. Ice shoots through my veins. How does he know my name? “We can help. You're in heat, in danger—”
“Get the fuck away from me! Who are you?” I push through the pain, trying to stand, but only succeed in crab-crawling into a corner.
The combined force of their scents makes my head spin. I try to breathe through my mouth, but their scents coat my tongue. I taste them.
Delicious.
Dangerous.
“I'm Adrian,” he continues, hands raised in a placating gesture that does nothing to hide his strength. “This is Zane, and Cole. They’re my bond brothers. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to keep you safe.”
“You can't stay here,” Zane, the blond, adds. That means the dark-haired alpha, the one in whom I cause disgust, is Cole. Zane’s deep voice is gentle despite his imposing size. “Your scent... it's getting stronger by the minute. Someone will notice.”
“Tell me something I don't know,” I snap, but they're right. Already my pheromones are filling the tiny space, making all three alphas' pupils dilate. I eye the front of their pants, seeing the massive erections they’re sporting. Even Cole, for all his revulsion, apparently can't help responding to an omega in heat. The sight makes my mouth water and recoil at the same time. At least they’re in as much pain as I am. That’s one consoling thought in all this mess.
“Someone will call Omega Services,” Zane presses. “You're unbonded, aren't you? Hiding?” His shrewd eyes take in my sparse apartment and all it means.
Fresh terror spikes through me and I stiffen against the wall. If only it would swallow me whole. I’d gladly go through whatever portal would open even if it was straight to hell. Couldn't be any worse than my life now. “I’m not going back. Don’t take me there…”
I imagine the glee on Mercer's face if they served me up in heat, writhing in pain and pleading for any cock no matter whose. She’ll make a fortune out of my misfortune if they do. If it ever got out, the public would be shocked at how she really makes her money. Big hint… it’s not through the wage she pulls.
“It’s okay. If you don’t want to go, we won’t take you. We can protect you,” Adrian says.
I don’t stop my slightly hysterical laugh. “Says every alpha to an omega on the cusp of heat. Sorry if I’m not that naive. Now get out.” I point to the open door and ignore my shaking hand.
Adrian kneels next to me, and I press into the unyielding cupboard door. “We can give you a safe place for your heat.”
I scoff. “Sure you will. Lock me in a room with no windows and no exit. Give me all the knots I’ll scream for. No thanks. Now leave.”
Adrian presses his lips together as his eyes rake over my state. He’s got problems if he likes what he sees. “We won’t take you anywhere like that. I promise.”
“We have a safe place with more than one door. We also have windows.” Zane’s plush lips lift into the semblance of a smile.
“I’m in heat. Not stupid. It won’t matter how many doors are in that room after you claim me.” Everyone knows it’s impossible for a claimed and bonded omega to leave their alphas. It’s what makes omega biology so fucked. The universe opened up one day and thought how it could make life hell, and then they created alphas and omegas. The perfect bulldogs and their fuck toy to do with as they please. No thanks, Satan.
I tense when Adrian holds out his hand toward me. He clenches his fingers into a fist and puts it back on his thigh when I make no move to reach for him. His huge, thickly muscled thigh. Solid enough for me to sink my teeth into. I swallow. Hard.
“No claiming. Just safety,” he says .
And their cocks . His scent carries nothing but sincerity, but I learned long ago that alphas can lie with their pheromones as easily as their words. “And where is this room of safety you’re prepared to let me have?” I stifle the shudder that runs through me at the thought of writhing on the floor of another abandoned warehouse, hoping to hell no alphas scent me. I was lucky once. But twice? I’d be testing the limits of fate itself.
“We're not like that,” Adrian insists, but Cole flinches behind him, his hand going to his neck where I glimpse their pack bond mark and all my get-the-hell-out-of-here instincts ping.
“Alphas will say anything to an omega to get them where they want them. What guarantee do I have that you're any different to every other alpha out there?” Especially considering they work at Pinnacle fucking Therapeutics.
A deep line forms between Adrian’s brows, as though he’s confused I’m even asking that. His gaze pins me with a truth I can’t deny. “There are no guarantees in life. There’s only my truth and my promise. You'll be safe with us. We will look after you. Provide you comfort and safety to ride out your heat, and…and the fact is, you really can’t stay here, Mira. How long do you think three locks on a flimsy door will keep anyone out? Especially the type of alphas who live in and near this building.”
Fuck. He’s right.
My eyes drift to Cole. I take in his obvious distaste for me, his reluctance to even be here... if the others try to bond me, he'll help stop them. He meets my gaze for a split second before looking away, but in that moment I see something that might be understanding. He’ll keep them away from me, their teeth at least, and that’s one thing I’ve never had on my side… support.
Invested support, because they’re a bonded pack, which means if they’re not all in, they won’t bond me. Fuck me, most probably. Especially when I’m out of my mind in lust and pain. But bond?
I don’t think so.
My mind drifts to the toys Haven supplied us. The classes where we were stripped and made to take a knot using the cold silicone toys under the ‘caring’ and ‘watching’ eyes of the staff. I might not be a virgin—the toys can attest to that—but I’ve never felt what it’s like to take a real knot. Something I will need to help with the impending agony of my heat.
I have to be totally honest with myself. I can't stay here, and I’m too far gone to find a safe place now.
There’s nothing I can do other than accept the help of three strangers.
These alphas.
My scent is already strong enough to attract attention, and in this building, that attention won't be anything close to safe. I’m leaping from the frying pan into the fire but at least this fire has an extinguisher in the form of one alpha who clearly can’t stand me.
I don’t understand why or how they’re here offering help. I don’t understand how they even found me. Perhaps spending one heat with an omega, even one like me, is better than nothing. A rare lifetime event for which they’re willing to lower themselves. Lack of omega pussy means there are packs of alphas gagging to find an omega of their own, let alone one on the cusp of heat. Which is how and why Mercer is making a killing at her underground auctions. It’s simple supply and demand.
And I’m out of options.
My pathetic nest calls to me even as my rational mind screams about the choice I'm being forced to make. Stay here and risk being claimed by whatever low-life alpha catches my scent first. Get caught and sent back to Haven, where Mercer will personally oversee my “rehabilitation” before selling me to the highest bidder. Or go with these three—two who look at me like I'm precious, and one who, clearly, can barely stand to be in the same room as me.
My heart pounds so hard I'm sure they can hear it. At least with Cole's obvious disgust, I know where I stand. And three known alphas are better than unknown knots invading my body.
“Okay,” I whisper, hating myself for giving in, hating the way my body responds to their presence. “But I'm not agreeing to anything else. Just... just somewhere safe. For my heat.” I eye Adrian, then Zane, then Cole, making sure I have their utmost attention. “And no bonding.”
Adrian's relief is palpable, his scent softening with it, but I don't miss the way his nostrils flare as another wave of my heat pheromones fills the room. “Thank you for trusting us.”
“I don't trust you,” I correct, forcing myself to sit straighter despite the cramping and fever. “I just don't have a choice.”