Captured Omega

Chapter 24

Olly

I’ve never been so caught between a rock and a hard place before. My skin itches and my insides twist as I look between Gage and Auryn. Despite her size, Auryn stands tall, staring at Gage with a fire that reminds me of that first day. The first day I saw her, standing just beside that cliff. Before she jumped.

The air is thick with the scent of cinnamon and bourbon. It’s sweet, spicy. Heavy, like slow-pooling molasses.

Gage narrows his gaze at her, growling in tandem, and I note the faintest hunch of her shoulders. I’ve seen Gage do the same thing, when he’s ready to attack, and something about that pops the bubble of terror, and I step in. I don’t think for once, I just act, because I know if I don’t, we’ll have more than one bleeding pack member on our hands, and I’m not equipped to run this compound myself.

Sure, I can hold the fort down while the others are out, and I have—many times—but in those instances, usually it’s just me. Not me, a feisty omega, a bloody packmate, and a short-circuiting alpha.

“Auryn,”

I say her name first, my voice low and careful. It takes everything I have in me right now to keep it from shaking because as a beta, every part of my body wants to whine, to whimper.

My alpha is in distress. My omega is in distress.

I am in distress.

But my needs do not compare to the needs of my pack. And my pack’s needs do not compare to Auryn’s needs.

I never thought I’d see the day where I didn’t listen to my alpha. But I guess not even I could have predicted Auryn with all the evidence in the world.

“He is mine,”

Auryn snips at Gage, “and I will be damned if you sideline me, Gage, I—”

“No one—”

I say, sliding my hand into hers and pulling her towards me, flashing my gaze at Gage for a moment “–is sidelining anyone.”

Auryn growls but settles into me, the feeling lighting my insides up.

“I think we could all just use a minute. To process everything. Look at this with a clear head?”

Gage grunts, crossing his arms. The motion pushes the blood from his tubes, and my body shakes from the sight. I’m not squeamish, never have been. In this line of work, being afraid of blood would be the worst thing ever. I see more death and blood than the fucking coroner, probably.

But knowing Gage’s blood is being taken–no, given—to Diego, it just…fuck. I don’t know; it makes my heart ache.

Not that I wouldn’t do the same for Gage or Emmett, if it came down to it. Or Auryn, but…

Gage is right. His blood is the strongest. But a part of me wishes I could help beyond what I’m doing. I’m not certain what I’m doing is enough, but I also know there isn’t much more that any of us can do at this point.

It’s up to fate and Diego now.

“Process?”

Gage bites out. “What the fuck is there to process, I—”

I squeeze Auryn tight before turning to her and capturing her ruthless gaze. “Can you do me a favor?”

I ask softly. My gaze dips to her mouth, noticing the way it turns down in a frown. Cinnamon puffs into the air, and she bites her lip. I can tell she wants to argue with me. Probably wants to tell me to fuck off, but…

She doesn’t.

“Depends,”

she says cooly. “What’s the favor?”

I swallow hard. “Can you go back to your nest?”

She bites her lip harder, those dark eyes set on me like a wildfire.

“Please?”

I ask, imploring her with my gaze. “I just need to talk to Gage. Alone.”

She flashes her angry glare at him before scoffing in disdain.

“Why? So you can talk about me?”

she hisses, and I hate seeing her upset. Angry.

My beta whines, but I know it’s no use lying to her. I don’t want to lie to her. “Yes. But, also there are some things I need to go over with him medically. For Diego.”

It’s not a lie completely. I do need to do my job, but…

Auryn twists her lips. “And if I say no?”

She steps closer to me, and I get the strongest whiff of peppercorn. My beta whines.

“Auryn,”

Gage growls, “now is not the time.”

She presses forth, pushing me back against the counter. Cinnamon and peppercorn assault my senses, and I bite my lip as I hold her fiery gaze. “What are you going to do, huh?”

she bites, and behind her eyes I can see the fear. The pain.

I reach out without thinking, wanting nothing more than to soothe my omega at the moment.

My omega. The words land in my brain, heavy like marble. Because I know undoubtedly, that Auryn is my omega, but…the word doesn’t feel entirely right either.

She is so perplexing. It’s not lost on me that she purred earlier, something an omega should not be able to do. It’s not lost on me either that my beta responded in a way he definitely should not have. Alphas purr to soothe their omegas, and sometimes, in stressful situations, they can do so for their packmates, even if those packmates are not of the omega variety.

But never in all my studies have I heard of an omega purring and soothing a fucking beta.

If the stakes weren't so high right now with Diego fighting for his life and Gage and Auryn about to throw down, I’d be jumping up and down with excitement to research this new development.

But that will have to wait in favor of keeping us unscathed. Well, the rest of us.

We’re no good to Emmett if we can’t get along.

We’re as good as dead if we can’t get past whatever is happening right now. And if I’m dead, I can’t research this striking new development, and that would be a scientific disaster.

Among other things, of course.

A strange sort of sound escapes my throat. It’s low and warm, and almost sounds like a growl, but it’s not angry or demanding.

“I’m not telling you,”

I say. “I’m asking you. Please? For me?”

A soft whine escapes me as I settle my hand on her neck. Her pulse is racing. Adrenaline, most likely. That fight or flight response beneath my fingertips is as intriguing to my brain as it is to my heart. Part of me knows it’s a trauma response. She says, “You don’t know what they’ll do to him.”

Knowing he’s trapped has engaged a part of her we don’t know much about. Sure, we know what happened to the extent of what she’s told us. But I am not so naive to think she’s told us everything. That's where outside evidence comes in. The bodies Gage and Diego brought me. Auryn’s blood samples after she’d bonded with Gage showed an increase in omega cells, but that unidentifiable protein seemed to be fighting those omega cells like a virus. The pieces are starting to come together more and more, but there’s still something that’s missing. Something I’d hoped to discuss with my omega’s bonded alpha.

She purses her lips. She glares at Gage, her gaze flashing to Diego, and then she looks at me.

“You have ten minutes, Olly,”

she says to me, her voice edged with anger. “Don’t leave me waiting.”

The relief that floods me is palpable as I nod.

“I’ll be right there,”

I say, giving her a soft smile.

She turns around and heads for the door, throwing it open with more strength than she should possess. I watch her saunter through and head down the hall, the door swinging from the momentum.

Gage breathes through his nostrils as I remove the tubing from him because he’s starting to look pale. “You should go,”

he says, his tone tired but still full of command.

“And you should eat something,”

I say sternly. I don’t miss the half-smile on his face.

“Was that an order, Olivander?”

I shoot him a glare of my own, feeling my cheeks heat. “No,”

I say quickly, feeling strangely on the spot.

“Look at you, being bossy.”

His voice is faintly tinged with humor as I press a wad of cotton against his wound.

“I am not bossy,”

I recant. “I am—”

He presses the cotton ball, his fingers brushing over mine. He does it without being asked, without being told. This song and dance is familiar to us.

More than anyone, Gage is the one I see in here most of the time. Though this is the first time I’ve done a transfusion from him, and I really am concerned he will pass out if he doesn’t eat. “Just concerned for your health.”

I work diligently to clean up and check Diego’s pulse. It’s faint, but it’s there. He’s still fighting. That’s a good sign.

“Uh huh.”

The humor in his voice is weak, but it’s there. “Go. Auryn needs you,”

he says, the humor fading.

“What about you?”

I look up, noting he’s right beside Diego. His gaze is fixated on him, and I see one tear fall down his cheek. I pretend not to notice. The sight feels too intimate. Like I really should not be here, but…

“I’ll be fine, Olly.”

He slides his fingers in between Diego’s and squeezes. Something about the sight makes my chest ache.

Oddly enough, Emmett’s words ring in my brain. Of all the times he gave me shit because I couldn’t “read the room”

or because I acted “insensitively”

to him. All the times Gage would step in and try to help me understand that my words and actions could make people feel things I was oblivious to.

I’m not unfeeling. I don’t have a heart made of ice like Emmett always implies, I just…

Don’t know how to be comforting. I don’t know how to sugarcoat things or placate a person. All I know are the cold, hard facts.

As I watch Gage disappear for a moment while he looks at Diego, while he holds his hand and murmurs something faintly Spanish that I can’t comprehend, I think I am starting to understand at least what comfort looks like.

Being able to replicate it, however, may be a bit harder, but I want to. I want to be comforting, for Auryn. And Gage, too.

I settle my hand on his shoulder and squeeze. “There’s a basket of cookies in my office. I always keep a stash because you know how I get sometimes,”

I say softly.

Gage licks his lips and nods. “Thanks.”

I take one moment as I stand in the doorway to look at him and Diego and tell myself this is what we all need. A moment of comfort. Then, when we can breathe, we can discuss an actual plan. We can be smart about it. Because I’m not going into that compound on nothing but a prayer. I can’t.

We need to be the most efficient we can be.

Emmett’s counting on us…

I dispose of my lab coat, realizing as I do so that my scrubs are covered in blood. Diego’s blood. One look at the clock tells me I’m down to five minutes. I remove my shirt first and then my scrub pants and toss them in the hamper in the hall outside my lab. My shoes are spattered too, so I leave them beside the hallway hamper, figuring I’ll get them tomorrow. I can clean them while I run tests on Diego if he wakes up.

If.

I try not to think about the implications of that. I can’t. I have to believe that somehow he’ll pull through.

For Gage and Auryn.

For Emmett.

And me, too. I guess.

I never really thought about losing any of my pack. I grew up ostracized for being the way I am—if it wasn’t the autism that irritated people it was my OCD. And let’s not even get started on the relationship stuff. The sex stuff.

When I found Gage, at the institute, the leader of an omegaless pack, I did everything I could to be noticed. To wedge my way into his eyesight. I knew the work would be dangerous, but I could survive as long as I had a lab. As long as I had a pack where I wasn’t expected to be more than just the medical guy.

I never really considered the alphas my friends or anything. The hierarchy, the rules…it was all simple.

I knew where I stood. I knew where they stood. I understood what was expected of me, and I did what they asked, but…

Now…

Things feel different. My chest hurts when I think about what those assholes did to Auryn. To Diego.

What they’ll do to Emmett…

I try to shake off the thoughts as I pad down the hall. Three minutes left. I hurry up, and when I get to the quarters, I see her door is shut. Panic hits, and I check the clock. Two minutes. She didn’t leave, did she? Surely she wouldn’t… I knock on the door, my heart in my throat. Please open the door, please open the door.

Auryn opens the door, those deep brown eyes gazing up at me, and everything falls away. I can see she’s been crying. Her cheeks are stained with wetness, her eyes rimmed red.

I don’t say a word because the sight makes my throat tight. I feel the tears festering beneath my own eyes, but I fight it. I have to.

I need to be strong for her.

I need to be a comfort for her.

So, I reach my hand out and brush one hot tear from her cheek.

“It’s okay,”

I tell her, even though I don’t know that it will be okay. Diego’s fighting for his life. Gage is a mess. Emmett is gone.

But we’re here, my omega and me. We’re here.

“Olly,”

she whispers my name, her small fingers sliding up my bare chest. One hand rests over my heart and she breathes in deep.

She’s scenting me, I realize.

Like she does with the alphas. I know given everything that’s happened, that shouldn’t make me feel excited, but…it does.

Everything Auryn does excites me, and I’m not just talking about the effect she has on me physically, but…

Mentally, she excites me, too.

She truly is an enigma, a multi-faceted jewel. She is simple, like quantum physics.

There’s an anxiety in my chest along with my racing heartbeat, and I think back to my lab. To Gage and his tears. Comfort is not easy for me. It takes a multitude of things to make me feel comfortable. But I have observed it. I have seen it for years, I realize. Every smile Diego cast at Gage when he thought no one else could see. Emmett’s pink, heated face while Gage slid his arm around Em after a spar.

And I realize I have felt comfort, too.

Every time Gage pulled me aside and told me it was okay. That I was okay. Every time Diego dropped off a container of empanadas in my office when I’d forgotten to eat, completely taken over by my fixations. My puzzles.

Even Em has comforted me, I realize. The other night when he simply told me he wasn’t mad at me…

And Auryn’s comforted me, too. With her shocking purr. With her sweet voice and taunting words. I know what it feels like to be comforted, so surely I can do the same. Right?

I slide my hand over hers where it rests on my chest. I pick it up gingerly and slip my fingers between hers like Gage did to Diego in the lab.

I squeeze her hand.

She looks up at me as she squeezes back.

“Tell me…”

I suck in a breath because my mind is now racing with a hundred things I want to say, my heart racing right along with it. “Tell me what you need, Auryn.”

I implore her with my gaze.

She keeps my hand in hers, wordlessly tugging me as she walks backwards toward her bed.

“Tell me,”

I say, trying to make her understand. I’m so worked up from everything that’s happened, I’m not even sure I can get hard at the moment, even if I wanted to. There’s too much going on in my brain, too much going on in this compound. The stakes are too high.

If I can’t fuck her, will she will be mad? Will she leave? Will she no longer want me?

My heart breaks at the idea.

I don’t want her to leave me because I’m different.

Honestly, until we had sex, I didn’t really think I was capable of it. Yes, I experienced erections, and yes, I masturbated once in a blue moon, but sex with another person has never been something I inherently desired in the way my peers or the alphas did.

I was terrified every step of the way to her room. What if I got soft? What if I wasn’t able to satisfy her in the way she needs? I’m not an alpha. I don’t have a knot.

I’m not tough like they are, I’m not built like them. Figuratively and literally.

But all those worries faded away when she took charge of me.

She told me what to do, and I did it. It was simple.

And it did feel good. Nerve wracking, yes, but it wasn’t bad. I came. A lot, but then it had been a while since I did, so that was to be expected.

I didn’t hate sex. But the act itself wasn’t what satisfied me. It was knowing that I was pleasing her. I was making her happy. I was providing her comfort and dare I say…love?

It’s odd to think about falling in love with someone you barely know, but as I let Auryn lead me to her bed, I think I do love her.

Looking at her quiets my brain. I like when she leads.

I like giving her what she desires, even if I don’t desire the same things, in the same way.

“I need you,”

she says, her voice full of pain. “I need you to make me forget, Olly.”

Her words are a choked sob, and I hate them. I hate seeing her cry. There are too many tears in this compound tonight.

My own voice shakes when I say, “I don’t know if I can fuck you right now.”

I have to be honest, because I don’t want to add to her stress. She’s touching me, staring at me, begging me. But my cock is as soft as it was the moment I walked in here.

I whine, feeling embarrassed, and the tears come without warning. Fuck. I look away as I pull her close. I hold onto her tight, feeling the guilt hit like a brick.

“Is that all you think I want?”

she asks, pushing me away. Her eyes are full of tears, and she looks shocked.

“I—”

She grabs me by the throat, her small hands squeezing lightly. “Because I can assure you, it’s not,”

she says solidly. “I meant what I said.”

She pulls me back onto the bed, and I follow her, shaking.

“Auryn,”

I say, swallowing hard. “I c-can’t. Please don’t be mad, please—”

“I want you,”

she says, lying down and pulling me close. “I need you.”

Her fingers slip over my lips, her thumb pulling on my bottom lip for a moment. “I need your touch, your mouth. Your rain and earth. Your warmth.” She curls closer to me, her hand sliding down my chest until it rests above my waistband.

“But if I can’t—”

I swallow harshly again.

“Your cock is just a bonus,”

she says with a smirk. “If you tell me no, I won’t ever force you.”

The weight of her words hang in the air between us. “And I’ll never be mad if you don’t want me.”

I shake my head as I grab her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. I run my nose up her neck and get the heaviest scent of cinnamon and peppercorn yet. It’s so spicy, it almost rivals Diego.

And then I remember something Gage and Diego said. Both mentioned an overwhelming scent of lemongrass. A typical omega scent.

But when I smelled Emmett…he didn’t smell like lemongrass. He smelled like cinnamon.

What if… what if the unidentifiable protein that comes and goes… what if it’s responsible for this change in scent and in turn affects us as differently as it affects her?

Spice is usually a scent attributed to alphas. The most common is clove and allspice, which are in the same family as cinnamon. But before I can grasp this inkling of information, I feel Auryn’s fingers in my hair, and I am pulled back to the here and now.

“Of course I want you,”

I say, feeling vulnerable and open for the first time. “I just want you in a way that’s different.”

I say. “Your…” I clear my throat, feeling a blush as I try to mimic the language of Emmett or Gage, “pussy is just a bonus?”

She laughs. Really laughs as she leans her head against my shoulder. She cries. She laughs. She holds me tight. She smells so fucking good, and her body is warm in my arms, and I like it more than I know I should.

I lift her chin with one hand, imploring her with my gaze.

“You asked me to help you forget. I can do that,”

I say, feeling exposed. “I want to do that for you.”

I lean down and kiss her softly.

Her hand settles on my cheek, warm to the touch, and she purrs again. Louder this time than before, and I have half a mind to ask her a thousand questions, but I don’t get to.

Because when Auryn kisses me back, I can’t think about anything else but her.

She presses her body against mine, and it feels hot. The scent of cinnamon is so thick I think it’s infiltrating my lungs.

“I want to be what you need,”

I whisper against her lips. “I just don’t know how to be what you need.”

I suck in a breath. “I’m not very good at this,” I admit.

“No, you’re perfect,”

she says as she kisses me again. “Everything about you is perfect, Olly,”

she whispers against my lips. “You give me so much more than you know.”

I run my hands up and down her body like she showed me the other day. She purrs again.

“You’re purring,”

I murmur. She rubs against me, her hands sliding up and down my chest as she sucks on my neck like a vampire. The touch feels good, but it also tickles. I chuckle.

“That tickles,”

I say, my cheeks heating. She purrs and does it again, and I squirm against her.

“Auryn…”

I start to laugh.

“I like your laugh,”

she says, breathless. “It’s so fucking sexy.”

I blush. “You are so fucking sexy, Olly.”

All my insecurity fades at those words. Auryn thinks I’m sexy.

Well, fuck.

“So are you,”

I say as I roll over with her, positioning myself on top of her. My cock twitches, semi-hard, but I ignore it for the moment. I grin at her as I settle a hand over her clothed stomach, and I do something I’ve never done with anyone.

I tickle her.

She yelps, clearly not expecting it, and then her laugh fills the air.

I do it again, watching the grin split her face as I press my weight against her, and she thrashes beneath me, but she doesn’t stay there long. She lunges forward and tickles me back.

We roll around in her nest, and I know I should smell the other alphas, but all I can smell is cinnamon. Sweet, sweet fucking cinnamon and peppercorn. We roll around until we’re both sweaty and panting, and I remove her shirt. She slides out of her sweatpants fast, and in a flash, she’s naked. She presses her breasts against my chest as we roll, kissing me everywhere she can. And surprisingly, I am hard. I wasn’t thinking about it. I’m still not really thinking about it, but there’s no denying my body likes this. Likes her.

She grins as she grinds against me, and the strangled moan escapes me of its own accord. She flashes her gaze up at me, the question evident in her gaze.

Maybe it’s because I feel comforted knowing I can say no, and she won’t be mad.

Maybe it’s because I feel comforted knowing she values me, my brain, and my heart over my dick.

Maybe it’s because Diego is lying in my lab right now, fighting to come back to us with Gage comforting him.

But something switches inside of me, and I want to.

I want to give Auryn the comfort she needs. I want to give her all I can give her because knowing she’ll be satisfied regardless of how I feel physically…

It’s enough.

I nod. “If you want my bonus dick, you’re welcome to have it.”

She giggles. “Are you sure?”

“Whatever you need. It’s yours,”

I say, my words not as shaky as they should be. “I’m yours to use as you want.”

Something flickers in her gaze, and it almost looks like the look Gage gets when he’s on a mission.

Auryn presses her lips against mine before sliding down to take my briefs off. My cock springs free, and I watch as she grabs my dick, as she strokes it. Sucks on the head. It feels good. I don’t hate it. My body responds of its own accord, and I arch my back, my fingers digging into the sheets. And then I get an idea.

“T-turn around.” I say.

She pops off of me and looks at me in question.

I clear my throat, nervous as hell because what I’m about to say I know is going to be hard. I’ve had sex once. With Auryn. I’ve never dated anyone, and I’ve certainly never said dirty things to anyone, even as flirtation. But I’ve read a lot of articles on breeding and mating rituals, and I know how I feel when Auryn tells me what to do, so…

I clear my throat and decide to just go for it. Channel my best alpha impression because my beta is nervous as hell right now.

“Turn around and give me that pretty omega pussy.”

I clear my throat again and add a “please,”

because it’s just good manners.

Auryn’s pupils dilate, and she growls. The sound is a rumble, not a purr. A deep, commanding growl. She spins around and shoves her pussy right in my face like an order.

I completely disconnect from what’s happening below my waist. The wet slurping sounds of her working my cock fill the air, but all I can focus on is that spot I’d touched the other day. The one that made her so wet she was able to dislodge from Gage. I slide my fingers along her soaked seam until I find it, and she grinds against me. Curiously, I watch, noting how pink and shiny her folds are, and curiosity strikes my brain. I flick my tongue out, just for a taste. For science. She groans around my dick when I do it, so I take it to mean that it feels good. The taste of her juices on my tongue is…

Sweet.

Like cinnamon, because, of course, her pussy tastes like cinnamon. Her mouth does too, when I kiss her.

I continue to massage and stroke that space beneath her clit, noting as I do so, the tiny bead there starts to swell. I flick my tongue out again, sucking on it just a little bit and she nearly flies off of me with a yelp.

“Oh fuck,”

she says, backing herself against me until my head hits the back of her headboard. The motion makes me jolt. Auryn forces her pussy against my mouth until there’s nowhere else I can go. I focus on tracing my tongue through her folds, around her clit and inside of her entrance, and seconds later, I feel her convulsing around my tongue. I have the faintest notion that something is happening with my dick, because I feel hard as hell, but it’s like white noise. Coming isn’t something I care about right now.

If I do, fine. But my focus is Auryn.

I want to comfort her. Satisfy her. That’s what makes me happiest. Knowing she’s content.

I hold her in place as she squirms, hot, sweet cinnamon liquid sliding across my tongue, down my throat.

“Christ, Olly,”

she breathes. “I don’t know if I can—”

A second later I hear her growl, and that liquid coats my tongue again. I like how it tastes, so I keep going until Auryn is mewling for me to stop.

When I let her go, I think I come too, but I can’t be sure because the wave of exhaustion hits me.

Auryn rolls off of me into her pillows, groaning and purring like a damn cat.

“Better?”

I ask vulnerably.

I lick my lips. The sweet taste of cinnamon clings to them, and I savor it.

Her pupils are still blown as she nods.

I lean down to kiss her, feeling the warmth and contentment spreading through my chest.

Beta made omega happy. Beta is happy.

She wraps her arms around me, purring away. “Don’t go.”

I look to the open door, knowing I should, but—

“I need to check on Gage,”

I say. I don’t want to go either, but…

“Please,”

she says, her whisper so faint I think I almost imagined it.

“Okay,”

I say, settling down into the nest with her. “I’ll stay.”

I know fully well when she slips into slumber, I’ll leave. I’m sure she knows that, too. But for right now, the lie is enough. So, I hold her until she sleeps, and then I hold her some more.

And when I open my eyes, the sun is shining through the windows, and Gage is in the doorway.

“Gage…”

I sit up, careful not to wake Auryn. His eyes are tired, rimmed with red from his tears, and my heart sinks. “Diego…”

I whisper.

Gage smiles. “He’s awake.”