6. Nash
six
Nash
“What?” Indigo screams, stumbling backward as if she could put distance and break the spell.
Nothing can break a scent-match. It’s a ticking time bomb growing inside the chest of every pack. We might have thought this was never going to happen, but I’d be lying if the possibility didn’t cross my mind when I arrived at the motel.
So much so, I’ve been begging the Alliance to use that fancy new scent-matching program for us, and it wasn’t just because I selfishly wanted to know if my Omega was here, but because I wanted to avoid this from happening.
My heart breaks in a thousand pieces when Indigo steps away. Her perfume changes from so damn sweet sugary peach to something sour, and reality comes crashing through. I might have fulfilled my deepest desire, but my Omega never wanted this. Us.
Who can blame her? These girls are traumatized. They’ve been through a lot. The last thing they need is to scent-match, but biology doesn’t ask when you’re mentally ready for something. It just drops over your lap.
“Indigo, it’s okay—” I try to calm her down, my hands up showing her I’m not a threat.
Yet the meaning gets lost when her gaze drops to my hardening cock straining the jeans.
It’s a nightmare. Her mouth opens in a silent scream as she looks from me to Cassidy and finally to Hank.
It doesn’t fucking help that she’s tiny and her head is way too close to the cock line of view.
Jesus. Scent-matching is scrambling my brain.
“No, no—” She sounds horrified.
“Let’s just calm down…”
And I fuck the whole thing up. Calming down is the last thing on her mind, and she clearly doesn’t love my suggestion. I know exactly the moment I lose her, when she realizes that nothing is keeping her here. My heart jumps to my throat, and she flees through the door.
“Fuck.” Hank puts my feelings so eloquently into words.
My hands shake as I rub my chin, eyes glued on the door, reliving the moment she left us. It hurts like a motherfucker. I take a big breath and lean against the desk, trying to regain any sense of self.
“What are we doing here?” Cassidy explodes, “Let’s get her back here!”
He steps forward as if he’s really going to race after Indigo, but I grab his arm and yank him back.
“She’s scared. Let her breathe.”
Her absence feels like a knife digging into my chest as if it wants to remove my heart so it can follow her, but I have a little smarts left on me, and I know better.
She was trembling like a leaf when she left, scared and confused, and it doesn’t matter how much I want to take her in my arms. She doesn’t want that.
“Are you sure this is scent-matching?”
Hank’s question takes me away from the pain, and I breathe deeply before I can answer. Her sweet scent is like a hand pumping my cock, and her big frightened eyes are the only thing I can see. There’s no way to deny this.
“Have you ever felt like this with anyone?” I arch my brow at him.
Hank closes his eyes in defeat and shakes his head. Of course he didn’t. There’s nothing stronger than the pull I feel, urging me on my feet to follow wherever she goes. My skin prickles and burns, begging me for action. She’s so damn pretty, and I thought so even before the scent-match.
There's a hint of purple in her eyes, and I bet that’s how she got her name.
Her lips are full, perfectly bow-shaped.
Her cheeks are high and rosy. She’s short even for a woman.
I wouldn’t say more than five feet tall.
Her rich brown hair hits right at her shoulders with a slight wave, shining gold when the sun hits.
It all looks so good, and then she watches us, denying everyone a smile and keeping her emotions close to her chest. Damn, she’s tough, and I’ve been intrigued since day one.
This makes my job harder. The responsibility weighs me down, and I round the desk and sit in the chair, breathing out slowly and trying to make sense of things. We are supposed to advocate for them all, but how can I do that properly when all I want is to bury deep inside my Omega?
The Alliance is dragging their feet. What was supposed to last a couple of weeks has now been four months.
I had to inject money here when they wouldn’t, which is not my job.
In the past four months, I made sure to meet with each one of them and learn how best to support them.
I’ve been asking for therapists, medical support, and documentation, yet every single request was met with silence. Not refusal, just nothing.
There’s no one for them but us. I knew that coming in, but now… Now I can’t think straight. Indigo consumes my thoughts. Everything I am is screaming her name, gasping for a release only she can provide.
“How can this even happen after four months?” Cassidy pulls me out of my thoughts.
“They weren’t in full health when we found them,” I hypothesize. “I warned the Alliance. I told them we needed testing. I wanted to avoid this, right here. Fuck.”
I can’t stay still. I leave the desk where I just sat down and start pacing. Cassidy watches me move for a second. He’s at a loss for words after this development, and damn, that’s a fucking first.
“You wanted to avoid this?” he finally says.
The venom in his voice drips down his chin, and I reel back when I hear the implications in his tone.
“Not the scent-matching. I wanted to avoid catching them unaware. I sent multiple messages to the Alliance to blood test everyone in the facility.”
“It wouldn’t change the outcome,” Cassidy growled.
I shake my head. “No, but we would’ve been given time to talk to her. Maybe planned the way we could break it to her.”
Hank nods, agreeing with me, but I can see he’s just as confused, trying to waddle through the muddy thoughts. I want to fix the situation and help Indigo come to terms with this, but all my blood is pulsing down my cock.
“I need to let the Alliance know.” I blow out a breath, trying to organize my thoughts.
“The Alliance?” Cassidy scoffs. “That’s what’s in your mind? Fuck me, Nash. We just scent-matched. Sour Peach just ran away with her big eyes terrified. The Alliance can suck my knot.”
“Sour Peach?” Hank raises a brow.
Cassidy shrugs, and before he has a chance to explain his little nickname, I raise a palm to stop them.
“We can’t look after the other Omegas like this. Especially when Indigo goes through heat. We can’t neglect them because of this. We need help. We need—”
“Nash is right.” Hank clears his throat. “We are compromised.”
Cassidy growls, but eventually nods. He might work for the Alliance, but he’s not exactly happy about it.
He doesn’t believe in the effectiveness of our government, and it is hard for me to say he’s not wrong.
But I believe in being a good presence inside a corrupt government.
That’s what Dominic was until they fired him.
“I’ll call Dominic,” I say.
“What can he do from the unemployment line?” Cassidy asks.
“Fuck me if I know, but he can tell me where to go. Who to talk to.”
“I agree,” Hank says. “I don’t know if I trust the Alliance when they refuse to test the Omegas,” he shakes his head. “The scent-matching program is their pride and joy. But we have thirty unmated Omegas and they won’t even blood test them for matches?”
He’s not wrong. Since the Alliance discovered the first lost Omega living among Betas, they started a scent-matching program.
They have been giving everything to it, every resource.
So why aren't they texting these Omegas? I don’t have the answer, but it has become very clear that the only person I could trust was fired.
Before I start putting all my fears into words, I just grab the landline and press the numbers I know by heart.
“Dominic Savage,” he answers on the other side.
“We scent-matched.”
No sugar-coating, I hate that, and I know he does too. I don’t identify myself. He knows it’s always me calling him about this shithole of an operation.
“Fuck,” he hisses.
“I told them to blood test us. I wanted to be ahead of the game but—”
“How did the Omega react?” He cuts me off.
I close my eyes and shake my head. “Like deer in the headlights.”
“Fuck,” he says again.
“I need another pack here. I can’t look after the Omegas when my mind is on Indigo.”
“Wait, wait.” I hear shuffling on the other side, like he’s standing up for the first time. “You scent-matched with Indigo?”
“Yes.”
“Short spitfire, hates all Alphas Indigo?”
I don’t particularly like his description of my mate, but it is accurate.
“Yes,” I grit between my teeth.
To that, Dominic whistles low. “You have your work cut out for you. You definitely need help.”
“Dom—” I warn him with my tone.
“Hey, hey, she’s lovely. But she has a mouth on her. Fuck, I can’t believe Indie is the first one to scent-match. Couldn't it be one of the chill ones?”
“Think about how you talk about my Omega, Dom,” I say carefully. Hank’s and Cassidy’s eyes whip to mine, alert just by the words out of my mouth. I shake my head, bringing my palm up to let them know it’s okay. I might not like what Dom is suggesting, but he’s not disrespecting her.
“Sorry, man. Jesus, scent-matching has got your panties in a twist. Fuck me, you know I’m not with the Alliance anymore. You know I can’t send a pack to help you. They don’t respond to me anymore.”
“I know. But the Alliance is not being very responsive. Since we got here, not one of our requests has been granted. I need a name, man. Someone to talk to directly who can fix this for me.”
My words sober him up. “How bad, Nash?”
I swallow every truth as I look at my packmates. “We are managing.”
“Shit.” His fourth curse in this very short conversation. “Okay, I have a few names I trust. Have you told Beau?”
Beau was part of the other pack here with us. I shook my head. “It just happened.”
“Just happened?” He sounds surprised. “And your first instinct is to call me? Where’s Indie?”
“She… left.”
“Damn.” And now five.
“She needs time,” I say lamely.
“All right, Nash. Let me make some calls, and I’ll send some names your way. Give me an hour.”
I nod even though he can’t see it. “Thanks, Dom.”
I’m about to hang up, and he says, “And Nash?”
“Yeah?”
“Congratulations.”