Chapter Nine #2
“Ah, that’s what I thought.” Despite being in Oaks’s lap, Everett reached over and pinched my chin, forcing me to look at him.
“All three of us want you in this pack, Babygirl. We just wanted to invite you together. Have a proper talk like we’re doing now.
Some of us are just more impulsive than others.
” He looked up to give Atlas a pointed look and whatever he saw on the other man’s face had Everett’s lips fighting a smile.
“If he showed you the necklace, why aren’t you wearing it, darlin?” Oaks was still rubbing his head against my neck and shoulder, but his words were clear enough.
“Apparently, she has something to tell us,” Atlas said.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to push off Oaks.
I wanted to stand like Atlas was, to clear my mind and present them with the facts.
Except, Oaks tightened his hold on me. I ran my fingers through his blond hair, just barely letting my nails scratch at him like I knew he liked. “I just need to stand.”
Oaks shook his head. “Just tell us like this.”
Neither Atlas nor Everett moved to try and help me. Apparently, I was going to admit everything like this.
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment, before I started.
I decided to begin with what happened a few months ago.
“When I was still working with the OC, I had the privilege of checking in with omegas who the OC thought might be in danger with their pack. I would meet with them and take down notes about their relationship and ensure the omegas felt safe.”
“All right,” Everett said, his tone kind and encouraging me to continue.
“That’s where I met Hannah. She’s an omega, and she had an accident a few months back—”
“I remember seeing that on the news,” Oaks said. “She was attacked at a protest.”
“By the peace officers. Not the betas. She was at the event and left when the officers showed up but one of them scented her as an omega and actually chased after her. They were in the wrong. They should have just continued to follow her and instead they tried to apprehend her, and it ended with her skull breaking open and—”
“Breathe, Babygirl.” The command from Everett had my rambling words cutting off.
He gave me a look that told me he was waiting to see my chest rise with an inhale and no one was continuing until he saw it.
I obliged. “Good. Now, we saw the interview with Hannah. We all rooted for her and for that fucking bill to fail.” Everett glanced over at Atlas, giving him a reassuring look before returning his attention to me. “What does this have to do with you?”
“Well, I was the one sent to interview Hannah at the hospital. Which was all fine. But when I got back to the OC to put in my notes, I saw that she already had a profile. Her pack was being investigated for omega abuse. People had reported seeing Hannah, out alone, on multiple occasions. Those occasions happened to line up with other known protests.”
The next part was harder to admit. I dropped my gaze down to Oaks’s shirt.
His blond chest hair just barely peeked over the round collar, and I let my fingers pet him as I said, “I deleted her former profile. No, more than that. I deleted Hannah’s name from the system.
From any list marking her as an omega that went to protests or broke city laws wandering by herself.
As far as the OC was concerned, Hannah met her pack and bonded with them and was never seen again.
In the positive way. Like she never had any flags. ”
Atlas came up behind me, standing between Oaks’s spread legs. His hand came to cup my cheek, turning my face until I was looking up at him. “You did good, pet.”
A shiver ran down my spine at his words. The praise, the acknowledgement, it felt good. “The OC is supposed to protect omegas. It’s supposed to be a safe place. I don’t know if it’s that anymore. I wanted to do good.”
“What happened?” Everett asked. “After you deleted everything?”
“The OC claimed they were downsizing due to funding. Really, they blamed Hannah. They kept saying her cry for omega independence meant the politicians lowered funding to the OC thinking that less omegas were going to participate in events to find packs. It was all bullshit. They just wanted to punish omegas for Hannah speaking out.” I’d gone on a mild rant, so I took a breath, and continued.
“Anyway, with funding cut, I was let go.”
“It sounds like you were in a senior position. Why did they let you go?”
I couldn’t help the way my shoulders rolled back at the compliment. I was in a good position. “I’d worked with the OC since I was thirteen. Started as a volunteer, then part-time, then fulltime, then I even got a few promotions.”
“And they let you go?”
“I deleted the files on Hannah.”
“But they didn’t know that,” Atlas said.
“Someone with a high enough security clearance could have gone back in and saw what I deleted. They would have known.”
“But if they confronted you about deleting the files, then they had to admit to tracking Hannah before.” Oaks lifted his head, searching my face for confirmation.
I nodded. “So they let me go with a different reasoning. Honestly, it was fine. I felt like I’d done good, and I wasn’t really in a position to trust the OC after everything.”
“What changed?” Everett asked. “All of that was before you came here. But these last few weeks...”
He didn’t have to say that I’d been acting weird. We all knew it.
“I got a letter.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific than that, darlin,” Oaks said.
I gave him a quick glare before continuing. “Apparently, Representative Adam has opened an investigation with the Omega Compound into my abuse regarding omegas.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Atlas said.
“Can he even do that?” Oaks asked.
I lifted a single shoulder in a shrug even though I knew, yes, he could do it.
He was. “I’ve been doing what research I can, but honestly, I need a lawyer.
Which has its own necessary research. Did you know that lawyers have topics they will and will not cover?
I think I need an employment lawyer or a designation rights lawyer. I’m not sure.”
“Okay.” Everett frowned. “I have to be honest, Babygirl, I’m not really seeing how this story correlates to our conversation about you joining the pack.”
“This letter, this whole investigation, is being run by Representative Adam. An alpha who knows that I was the beta working at the OC. Who knows I’m friends with Hannah.”
“You think he’s targeting you?” A growl laced Everett’s words.
Oaks’s grip around me tightened, pressing me even closer against his front.
“I don’t know for sure,” I admitted. Although I truly doubted that this was all one great coincidence. “But I do know that being under investigation will mean eyes on me. On my friends and my new job. It’ll mean attention, and not the good kind, on all of you.”
Atlas scoffed. “You’re protecting us? Without giving us a say?”
“Well—”
“I say we take a pack vote. All opposed to Eve protecting us—say nay.”
Both Everett and Oaks said, “Nay.”
“You can’t just take a vote.” I was shaking my head. And being ignored.
“All those in favor of Eve joining the pack?” Atlas asked.
Both Everett and Oaks said, “Yay.”
“Wait, what’s happening?” I honestly couldn’t tell if this was a joke, but no one was hiding a grin or chuckling to themselves.
“You’ve been outvoted, pet.” Atlas leaned down, whispering in my ear.
“I want to see my pack name around your neck. I want you in my bed, covered in my scent. I want to know the minute you get mail that freaks you out. I want to meet your friends, tongue-fuck you each night, and one day, when you’re ready because I’m ready right fucking now, I’m going to put my claim on you.
” His teeth dug into my neck, not quite breaking the skin.
Gooseflesh flooded my skin, making the hair on my arms stand up.
Even my nipples pebbled, and my core clenched on nothing. Just from his words.
It didn’t help that Oaks’s arms unfurled enough that his hands came to wrap around my waist, his fingers just barely digging in.
I couldn’t explain why his tight hold only made me more aroused.
And that was before I started to feel him harden underneath me.
That had my eyes slamming open, my lips parting on a silent gasp at the extra sensation between my thighs.
I wanted to grind down on him, to feel him truly hard under me, to get closer to my own sensation of fullness.
No matter how perfect my orgasm with Atlas was earlier, I was starting to feel even more empty.
I’d never done just foreplay before. And a partner had ever gotten me off on just foreplay before either.
Shaking my head did nothing to bring back my focus. The words, my arguments, they were all slipping away. That didn’t mean the problem was disappearing. Just that I couldn’t think.
“Babygirl, eyes on me.” Everett’s voice was deeper than usual even as his words were softer, gentler. “Let us help you. That’s what pack does. We support one another.”
“I’m not pack.” My words sounded weak even to my own ears.
Behind me, Atlas growled. He literally climbed on the couch and jumped over the back, stomping his way into the bedroom while all I did was watch him.
I couldn’t even get words out before he was back, fisting a gold necklace like the piece of jewelry wasn’t crazy expensive for their pack name to be engraved on it.
He shoved the necklace against Everett’s chest, forcing the alpha to grab it.
“Put it on her,” Atlas demanded. “Make her pack.”
My gaze fluttered between Atlas and Everett, both of them looking like the idea intrigued them. Honestly, it intrigued me, too. I felt Oaks’s smile against my throat that he tried to hide.
“You going to let us, Babygirl?” Everett asked. “Let us take care of you? Help you? Convince you to keep us? Let us court you.”
I wanted that so badly. It felt wrong to accept the claim, even knowing that Adam wasn’t going to stop with me. Even knowing how much Atlas craved his independence and how much Everett and Oaks wanted to care about someone else. It felt like I was inviting hurt into their life.
And yet, with all those reasonings, there was something illogical about my connection to this pack.
From the first moment, they were sweet with me.
They touched me, and cared for me, and talked to me.
The four of us just ... clicked. Like puzzle pieces from different designs somehow coming together to match up perfectly.
Like the sweet and sour taste of a chocolate covered orange.
Like Atlas’s firewood scent, Everett’s syrup, Oaks’s honeyed cracker, and my chocolate. We complimented each other on a biological level, even if my scent wasn’t as strong as theirs.
I had no idea what it meant to be a part of a pack. Especially one that didn’t want me for my beta tendencies. There wasn’t a role for me to fit into. No guidelines for me to follow. I wanted that freedom.
I’d spent so much of my life doing exactly what I was told.
By my parents, by the OC, by societal rules.
I did what all betas did. I wasn’t in the way.
I was mindful of the other designations.
I never imposed myself on packs. I properly revered omegas and had a respectful fear of alphas.
I did all of that, because I thought it was what was keeping everyone safe and happy.
But it was all wrong. Society was wrong. The institutions were wrong.
I didn’t want to be one of many betas. I didn’t want a love and marriage easily broken by a ring quickly taken off.
I wanted to be me. Eve, whoever that was. Packmate to Atlas, Everett, and Oaks. Our souls forever bound together.
“Yes,” I finally agreed. “I would love to be courted by pack Wilder.”