15. Chase
15
Chase
The carbonara is frustratingly good.
She made it with the speed of a seasoned chef, like she'd been working in kitchens her whole life. I would be happy to be served this at a restaurant.
Not that I tell her that.
"Nora, holy shit, this is so good," Blaine says, taking a huge bite. The girl fucking beams at him. Her entire face lights up as if he gave her the moon.
"Thank you so much for the compliment, Alpha Blaine," she says, taking a small, dainty bite. Her portion is tiny, barely half of what she served each of us. She seems to be watching us more than she eats. Normally I wouldn't pay attention to the portion on a woman's plate, but I can't remember if I've seen her eat at all since she got here.
She's got to be starving, right?
After a bit of eating in relative silence, Nolan, again, has to be the one to break it. "Are you amenable to talk about what happened earlier, Omega?"
She wipes her mouth with a napkin and rests her fork, tines down, on the side of her plate. "Absolutely, Alpha. Let me begin by saying just how sorry I am that all of you had to see me in that state." She slowly makes eye contact with each of us as she speaks. "I know it is not the ideal behavior of an Omega to be so wanton with her emotions. I don't have an excuse for how I reacted, and I will do my best to ensure something like that does not happen again."
Her words are calm and collected, but I can see how she twists her napkin in her fingers as she speaks. Are the others paying attention? Is she nervous we're going to call her on her shit?
"Honey, I told you you don't need to apologize," Blaine says softly. All of them speak to her as if she was a scared animal. She's a fucking person and a fake one at that. Why can't they see that?
"He's right, Nora," Levi says. The man is gentle by nature, so the way he speaks to her is not much different than his normal voice. It does not surprise me at all that he's all in on her. "You're allowed to have emotions."
Confusion flashes across her face. She's getting to be a better actress the longer she's here.
"What I'd like to know, Omega," Nolan says, "is about your hair."
Her nose wrinkles up, and fuck, it's actually cute. I may not be able to stand the Omega, but there is no denying she is beautiful.
"What about my hair?" she asks.
Nolan reaches out and touches her hand. "We noticed you had pulled quite a bit out."
"Oh! That?" she asks with a laugh. "That's my self-soothing method. Mother told me if I ever felt like I needed to show emotions that may be unbecoming, I could remove a chunk of three hairs from the base of my neck." She ducks her head. "I did remove larger chunks, though. I know that was very self-indulgent of me, but I couldn't seem to stop at just three."
It's quiet as fuck in the room, all of us holding our breath and looking at her. This seems to be happening a lot around the Omega.
Her mother taught her to rip her hair out rather than show emotion?
That can't possibly be right. I must've misheard her. That can't be true.
"Does it hurt when you do that?" Joey asks quietly. I can see the gears in his head turning, and I know exactly where his brain is at. I've known the man a long time, and he's realizing he may have more in common with Miss Perfect than he thought. Levi has a similar look on his face.
Two little masochists in our pack, I guess.
"The pain is minimal but still serves as a good way to channel unfortunate emotional reactions," she says, tilting her head curiously at Joey. Blaine coughs as he takes a sip of his beer.
Yep, everyone is picking up what's being put down except the little Omega.
Joey reaches across Nolan to pat Nora's hand. "I don't like the idea of you hurting yourself that way, but I know what you mean. We can work on some alternative soothing techniques that may work a little better, okay?"
Nora nods happily, clasping her other hand on top of Joey's. "That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Just Joey."
"We think we've gotten to the root of why you were upset, sweetie, so we do not need to rehash that," Nolan says after Joey moves back to his plate. I'm surprised he isn't licking the thing clean. He glares at me, and even though I feel a twinge of guilt, I keep my face flat.
Looking around the table, every single one of us except Nora has cleared our plates.
"We'd like to propose some activities," Levi says. Nora swings her head towards him and smiles. He almost looks nervous at her undivided attention. "We all work, and with tomorrow being Monday, I'm going to be at the school. Joey and Chase work hectic, irregular schedules, Blaine works mostly evenings, and Nolan has some flexibility in scheduling himself. We're going to ensure that at least one of us is here with you every day."
"Wow, how lucky am I!" she says, sighing. "To always have a pack member with me is a dream."
Damn, she is laying it on thick.
"Well, each of us wants to take you out when we're here with you, show you a little bit of what we like to do, and get to know you better. Nolan will be home with you tomorrow," Levi continues. "We'll let you know each evening who will be with you the next day. That way, you can wake up prepared."
She's nodding like a bobblehead doll, her big blue eyes wide with excitement. Levi continues to outline how we each may ask her to do certain things for us each day and that even if they seem strange, we'd all be pleased with her if she did them.
This feels like it's bordering on manipulation. If all of this isn't an act, which I'm not convinced it isn't, we're essentially using her existing programming to mold her into what we want her to be. Where is the chance for Nora to tell us who she is?
But I keep my mouth shut because any criticism of their Omega plan will be met with anger.
"This all sounds wonderful. Thank you, Alphas and Just Joey, for being so thoughtful in coming up with a plan for me." She smiles serenely. "It helps me feel very safe and comforted to know what is expected of me." She looks at her lap and the way her arms move makes me think she's wringing her fingers. "I do have something I need to bring up with the pack, though."
"Anything, honey, whatcha got for us?" Blaine says.
"Well, I'm unsure if you're aware, but I'm twenty-six years old."
I'm not sure how old I thought she was. All of us are in our thirties, with Joey being the oldest at thirty-five, but in all honesty, I thought Nora was younger. It's got to be naivety.
"I've been on heat suppressants for ten years," she continues, "and they have started to lose their effectiveness." It's almost funny how quickly all of the shoulders at the table push back and the spines stiffen. "It is expected of me, now that I have a pack, to go off the suppressants," she continues. "Even though you haven't officially bonded me yet." That part is said much quieter.
She can't possibly be upset we haven't bonded her yet. We just met her. I don't give a fuck if she is our scent match, which I've yet to get confirmation of, and truthfully, I don't care to. We can't just go bonding with an Omega the moment she skips into our home.
"I wanted to know when it would be convenient for you all to support me during a heat. It'll happen a month or two after I stop taking the suppressants."
You could hear a mouse fart at the table. I roll my lips inward, stifling a laugh. None of them have anything to say, and she looks at all of us curiously.
"I just… I want to make sure I'm understanding here," Blaine says, worrying his bottom lip. "You're asking when it would be convenient for us to… help you through a heat?"
I want to shout that she's asking us when would it be good for all of us to take three to five days off of work to fuck her senseless, but that feels like it may offend Miss Delicate Sensibilities.
But she takes the question in stride and nods. "I have not had a heat yet, obviously, but the literature and guides that I've been given suggest that my body will become quite needy and require the assistance of all of my pack. I understand that it could be an imposition on your work schedules, so I want to make sure it is at a time that is the least amount of interruption."
I sigh, tossing my napkin on the table. "Look, Nora." All heads swivel towards me. Nolan is giving me shut the fuck up vibes, but I can't let this group continue to trudge through this conversation like it's mud. "I'm not sure how much you've actually been told about heats, so let me be real with you for a second, okay?"
Her back straightens as she crosses her hands in front of her on the table. "I appreciate your willingness to be candid, Alpha Chase."
Ugh. That subservient submissiveness is probably a huge turn-on for half the guys here, but I prefer them a bit more bratty. It makes it more fun to break them. Still, the girl needs to know what she's getting into. "When you go into heat, you're going to be in a lot of pain, and the only way to get relief from that pain is going to be to fuck an Alpha, okay?" Her brows shoot into her hairline in shock. "They didn't tell you that?"
"They…" She inhales deeply, her hand creeping up to the back of her neck. Levi notices and grabs it, holding it within his own. "No, they did not tell me that."
What the fuck are they teaching at these Omega schools?
"What did they tell you, birdie?" Joey asks.
"Well, I was told by my mother and Dr. Greene that my body would be needy and that I needed to lay in my nest, and my Alphas would take care of the rest."
Blaine stands up from his seat and begins pacing around the room. I almost want to join him. This Perfect Omega was told to what, lie back and think of the Queen? And didn't she talk about this with anyone other than that doctor and her mom?
"I can bring you some legitimate texts if you like, Nora," Levi says, patting the top of her hand.
"No need," I interrupt. "Here's what you need to know, Omega." She seems to perk up at me calling her her designation. Why is that? Does she prefer that to her own name? "You will be out of your mind with lust, okay? It's a time when your Omega truly takes over, and our Alphas tend to lose their shit as well. It's some sort of biological thing to make breeding easier, though you know with the Design Clinic, most Omegas have some form of permanent birth control and…"
I'm on a tangent. I shake my head, clearing my thoughts. "Anyways, a heat can be really fun, but it sounds like you've been told that you're to lay there and let us do our thing?"
"I have been informed I'm expected to wear lingerie, too," she says quieter still. She can't bring herself to look me in the eye, and for once, I'm grateful for it. It makes it easier to be straight with her. "I have quite a few lovely pieces for you all to choose from."
Holy fuck. What in the goddamn hell is going on in this room right now? Every single one of them is thinking with what's between their legs now, their eyes hazy with arousal. How am I the one that's got my head on straight?
I run my hand through my hair before shoving both in my pockets to stop from fidgeting. "Alright, yeah, look. Maybe we need to get you to watch some porn or something so you understand, but I can tell you right now exactly none of us want you just laying there and squeezing your eyes, waiting for it to be over, okay?"
"I understand. Perhaps that's what we can do on our day together?" She looks at me earnestly, the question hanging between us.
Fucking shoot me. How did I end up here? This has got to be some fucking cosmic joke. The guys barely contain their laughter, all of them refusing to help me and letting me swan dive into Omega Sexuality 101, I guess.
"Nora," I say with a hint of a bark. "You're not understanding me here. Porn is videos of people having sex. Your heat is a three to five day fuck fest, okay?" I run my hand down my face. "Please, for all of our sakes, stay on the fucking suppressants until we can help you understand what you'd be signing up for going into heat, okay?"
Her face is so red it looks like she has a sunburn. At least she finally understands what the situation we're in actually is. "Ab…Absolutely, Alpha Chase. I'll stay on the suppressants for now." She looks at Levi. "Maybe I will take one of those texts, please? It appears that there is a gap in my education."