Chapter 46
FORTY-SIX
I’m broken.
That’s the only explanation.
A toy with its wings torn off.
I have been sitting on the floor of my closet, wrapped in a towel, for twenty minutes, staring at my clothes on the shelves.
To get dressed, I have to choose underwear. And once I select underwear, then it’s shorts, and then a shirt.
That’s three decisions, just to no longer be naked.
It’s too many decisions to make today.
I had a set last night at Ache , this up-and-coming fetish club that just opened up in downtown Lunarcrest. It was packed, with patrons dancing and writhing throughout the entire facility. I left right after my set.
I was intrigued by the furniture and shibari demonstrations, but I didn’t have much time to explore the club’s offerings.
It was all too much for me. My nervous system must have been overloaded because I struggle to function today.
I’m not depressed. Mentally, I feel pretty okay, except I miss my Omega something fierce.
And there’s a certain Beta I’d like to see, too.
I’m unsure if anything will go further between me and Gage, but I like the goofy guy, and he was a good fucking kisser, and that’s all that matters at this point. We have plenty of time to figure it out from here.
“Mav?” Speak of the Beta. “Where ya at?” His voice snakes around my home, and I fleetingly wonder how he got in. “Your door was unlocked, dude. You can’t do that shit. I could be a murderer.”
“You’re not, are you?” I respond, still not moving from my position, locked on the floor.
“Not today. But probably soon.” A darkness in his voice tells me he’s not joking and makes me perk up a little. Before I can ask him who we’re killing, he darkens my closet door, leaning against the frame and staring at me. “Why are you on the floor?”
My face flushes with embarrassment, and I look down at my towel-clad body and become acutely aware of the water drops from my hair running down my back. “Uh, ah… I’m stuck,” I say quietly.
His face softens, and he squats down, eye level with me. “Can I help?” I nod slowly, and he grabs my hands to help me get to my feet. My towel falls, leaving me naked in front of the man I’ve got such confusing feelings for, but he doesn’t say anything.
“My mom was a drug addict,” he says quietly. “I didn’t know, at the time, what that was or meant, but a few years after she died, I overheard my foster parents talking about it, and things started to click into place.”
“I’m not high!” I insist.
He cuts me off with a smile. “I know you’re not. I think she used because she had a lot of trauma in her past, and she had some mental health conditions that were made worse by the drugs. I do remember periods of my life when she was sober, and even then, she had moments when she would get stuck. My older brother would help her off the floor and help her get dressed, and I didn’t realize at the time that he was too young to have to do that for our mom.” He reaches into one of my drawers and pulls out a pair of boxers, holding them out for me to step into. “She refused to get help and instead medicated with drugs. I’ve never known my father. I’m sure that he’s some drug dealer, and she traded tricks for a few hits of whatever her substance of choice was at the time.”
My stomach sours. Does he think of me like his mother? Like a burden? I try to yank myself away from him, and he captures my wrist. “I’m proud of you, Maverick. You stick to a solid medication routine and take care of yourself. You’ve not let your mental illness define you or overwhelm your life like my mom did.”
“It’s been hard,” I say thickly. “But my parents are incredibly supportive and have always worked hard to make sure I know that I am more than just my illness.”
“It’s obvious.” He pulls a shirt over my head, his hands lingering on my arms. “But yeah, I tell you this because I’m proud of you, is all. I know we have not known each other long, but I am proud of how hard you work to stay well.” My eyes start to sting a little. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear that. “But also,” he continues, snagging a pair of basketball shorts and holding them up for me. “It’s okay to have moments when you need extra help. If it’s too heavy, let me carry it for you for a while. That’s what a pack does, right?”
I wrap my arm around his shoulders and pull him tightly against my chest. He grunts in surprise but returns that hug, not letting me go until I slacken in his arms. “Thanks, Gage,” I say quietly. “I didn’t know I needed that.”
“It’s no hardship to see you naked,” he quips. His eyes widen, and his face turns beet red, nearly obscuring his freckles. “Oh fuck, that was…” he takes a few steps backward, nearly tripping over the mess on the floor of my closet. I guess when there isn’t a pretty Omega begging for attention, he gets a little shy. “Wow, I… sorry that was…”
He went from confident and sure to a bumbling schoolboy in two seconds, and it’s so endearing that I step with him, crowding him against the wall. “No need to apologize, but if you want to see my cock you could’ve just asked. It is my turn for show and tell, after all.”
His Adam’s apple bobs as he gulps, and it looks like he’s fighting for his life to keep his eyes above my waist. Not only has he successfully broken me out of my executive dysfunction freeze, but he’s woken up my libido with just a single sentence and his adorable blush. Our bodies are so impossibly close that only a sheet of paper can fit between us, and blood rushes to my cock at the idea of having him at my whim.
Gage’s mouth falls open, and his breathing speeds up, his hips canting forward to make contact with mine. I can feel his hardness against me, and it threatens to bring me to my knees.
I’ve never felt anything like this before. I mean, sure, I’ve grabbed his dick, but to feel it pressed against mine makes my eyes threaten to roll back. The stiff heat of his cock presses into mine in a way that is intoxicating and overwhelming. I want to pin him there and rut against him, chasing pleasure that was previously nothing I even considered.
But before we can explore further, Manny turns the corner into my bathroom and spots us. His eyes widen, and his face reddens in embarrassment at our position. He spins around quickly, giving us his back.
“Sorry, I just… Gage, you were supposed to get him and bring him to the living room so you could tell me what’s going on.” The other Alpha’s voice is tight, and I wonder if he’s having a migraine. I’ve never known someone who can function with a migraine, but I suppose when you have chronic pain, you still have to exist in the world, so you learn how to deal with it and make accommodations for it, just like I’ve had to with my bipolar disorder.
Gage groans quietly beneath me, his eyes conveying just how sad he is that this can’t continue. “You’re right, sorry, we got… distracted. We do need to talk.”
I take a step back, letting him slip out from under me. He not-so-subtly adjusts his straining cock, and a bit of pride fills me at the sight of what I’ve done to him.
“What do we need to talk about?” I ask as I follow them to my living room. It’s cleaner than I left it, and I wonder if Manny tidied it up while waiting for us. He seems like a bit of a neat freak. Just has that vibe, I guess.
Oh, fuck, he’s going to hate living with me. I hate cleaning.
“Kieran came to grab Crystal while I was there. Puck warned us, and I hid so he didn’t notice me there, but he had to activate the extraction plan they cooked up early.”
Fear drips through my veins but manifests as anger. “And you’re just now telling us?”
He narrows his eyes at me, about to snap back at me, before Manny cuts in. “Do you trust Puck or not?” he asks gently. “Because we know Puck and Crystal have a plan. We trust her, but do you trust him?” He ruffles his dark hair and sighs. “Despite my hangups with the guy, I don’t believe he’d knowingly let her get hurt. I believe their plan is our best shot at freeing our Omega.”
“But they’re not ready, are they? This is earlier than they thought.” Anxiety claws into my throat, narrowing my vision.
My Omega is in trouble, and I can’t do anything to help her.
I’m supposed to take care of her. I’m her Alpha. And I keep failing.
I never should’ve left Prism that day without her.
I should’ve gotten my Pops involved.
I should’ve done something, anything, to help my girl.
“Mav,” Manny says softly. “She’s going to be okay. She’s tough. And now she has Atlas and Puck inside and Pack Lupine and the Hawks on the outside. She’s more supported than she’s ever been.”
His voice is so soothing that I immediately feel some of my tension leave. “It’s just all so fast,” I whine. It’s an embarrassing sound for an Alpha, but I don’t care. She’s my Omega, and she’s in danger.
“It is,” Gage agrees. “But she’s kept herself safe at Prism for four years without us. She likes this plan, and I trust her.”
“Did she keep herself safe, or did she have no reason to fight?”
My words hang heavy between us.
“Well, she had her sister and niece,” Gage says weakly.
“But she didn’t care what happened to her as long as they were safe. Now she has us to worry about and is trying to get out of there so she can be with us! And we’re going to let her walk into the lion’s den?” I start pacing my living room, tugging on my hair. “We should be there. Maybe I can get a set at the club to keep an eye on her. What if he puts his hands on her again? What if he…” My throat tightens, and my eyes are filled with tears that I bite my tongue to keep in. “What if he gives her to someone? She’s legally his to control.”
Manny opens and closes his mouth several times as if to say something, but he can’t.
Because our Omega is in danger, and there is fucking nothing we can do about it.
Nothing.
The only thing we can do is trust Puck and his contacts to keep her safe and get her out of there.
“I’m not going to sleep until she’s safe in my arms,” I say quietly.
“I doubt any of us will,” Manny responds quietly.
Gage’s phone pings, and he pulls it out of his pocket. We crowd around him as he opens up the text message.
Puck
I’ve got her. We’ve got the plan in place. It’s not ideal, but it’ll work. Right now, I need you all to STAY AWAY. Trust me and trust Crystal. Please.
If something happens to any of you, she’ll never forgive me.
It’s time to get our girl out and end this once and for all.