Chapter Eleven
Eden
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Tenor and Luke accompany her back to her nest, their eyes skirting over her nervously as she starts the painful task of rebuilding it that she did each evening. It tore her apart every morning as she had to dismantle it and return the blankets back to the other bunks to pass inspection.
The only time she ever fully tore her nest down before was when she was being moved to a new foster home. Otherwise she just cleaned each blanket individually before adding it back in, never taking the nest fully apart. It felt wrong to do it, like she was removing a limb every morning.
The males seemed like they were trying to make themselves seem smaller and less threatening again, as if she might reject them now that she knew they were in on a murder charge.
She guesses she should be more upset than she is, but at the same time... she had already seen Luke and Julius kill multiple men already like it was nothing, like it was just another Tuesday for them. It's not really a surprise to hear that this isn't the first time.
Was this a dealbreaker for her? She knew what the answer should be. Eden abhorred violence. She worked so hard with the kids at the school to try and help them find another path, to try and keep them from becoming... well, criminals. And look how well that had worked out for her.
But... she'd never met any alphas, any men at all, who made her feel safe. Not until she'd met them, no matter that it was in a prison.
Was it because of the prison that she felt safe with them? She didn't think so. It seemed like the opposite, like maybe she'd be even more attached to them outside, when she wasn't constantly on edge and at risk of being raped and murdered by the rest of the inmates.
These three alphas were the only ones to ever make her feel safe and comfortable, like she could really trust them, like she might actually fit in with them.
They were the only ones she'd ever desired like that. The way they set her body buzzing with need for them, even outside of her heat spikes, the way they'd made her feel things she didn't even know it was possible to feel, was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
Was that insane? Maybe. But how could she fight it right now?
It wasn't like she had a ton of other options, and despite seeing their violence firsthand, it didn't scare her as much as she thought it would have.
As much as they had shown her firsthand the violence that they were capable of, it had been for her, to protect her.
All she had known in her treatment by these men was kindness and generosity and tenderness.
Even when they could have taken advantage of her.
Even when they could have forced her to do things she didn't want or degraded her or used her like a.
.. what had Luke called it? A prison wife? They had still treated her gently.
It wasn't like she hadn't dated alphas before, but it had been nothing like this.
The last foster mother she'd had before she'd aged out of the system had tried setting her up with some alphas. The beta female had meant well, Eden knew. She just wanted her to have someone to take care of her and keep her safe.
None of the alphas she'd grown up with were good men.
Most of them were hardened criminals before they were sixteen.
She'd thought about trying to date a beta man too, thinking that maybe they would be safer, but none of them had ever looked at her like a person.
She was nothing more than an omega to them, a novelty. They didn't actually see Eden.
Her foster mother had used some sort of agency to set her up with alphas from the better parts of town, alphas who lived lives of luxury and comfort and who would take care of her.
Omegas were rare, and some alphas would pay good money to meet one and get the chance of mating one to centre their pack and balance their hormones.
She'd gone on one date with a pack of doctors who had looked at her with so much pity when she sat there in her second hand clothes and had no idea what any of the French words on the menu were.
They had been so patronizing she had been frozen to the seat, unable to stammer out more than one word answers. She didn't see them again.
Then there was the pack who owned some sort of publishing house.
They'd been nice, older even than the doctors, but they hadn't made her feel like some stupid little girl.
They'd been handsome too, in a silver fox kind of way.
They'd offered to let her pursue a university degree if she wanted, but they hadn't felt right.
They were too withdrawn and polished, leaving her feeling cold.
Then there was a pack who already had a female beta bitten in and were just looking for an omega to hormonally balance them. That was a hard no. After that, she'd decided not to try looking anymore.
She'd gotten her childhood education degree and started working and never looked back. She was fine on her own. She liked her solitary life, even if it was kind of unnatural for an omega.
Until she'd met them. And now she somehow couldn't imagine her life without them.
Tenor looks surprised when she invites him into her nest.
"You're good men," she says softly as she drifts to sleep, safe in his arms.