Chapter 7
“ S hould we go after her?” Asher asked, glowering in the direction of the closed door where the omega had fled.
I shook my head. "Give her some space. She's processing everything."
There was no denying she was a beautiful omega. Even looking as bedraggled as she had, sitting at our kitchen counter, I was still enthralled by her. Compared to me, she was miniature.
Turning to look at my pack mates, I crossed my arms. "I think the most important thing here is that we need to ensure we are protected. She's trying to lie about what happened to her, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Does that mean she's part of whatever mess she's brought to our doorstep? Or is she actually a victim?"
Carter glowered at me. "Of course, she's a victim," he thundered. "Look at the state of her! There's no way all those injuries are self-inflicted, and she's malnourished. No one can malnourish themselves to that point, surely, especially not an omega."
My pack mate was offended. I could understand it. No one would assume that an omega was capable of anything nefarious. Every fibre of our being insisted that we protect them and look after them. It was pretty much ingrained into our DNA.
"What can we do?" Carter asked, his voice tense. "We're stuck here, we need to get her help."
Asher ran his hand through his hair before speaking. "She needs medical attention, that's for sure. I can only do so much while I'm here, as I said. But she seems okay, for the most part. As long as she gets some good food, rest, and time to heal, I think she'll make a full recovery. Don't get me wrong, though, there are scars that are never going to heal, but..."
"I'm going to check outside again," I said, storming out of the room.
There was a rage bubbling deep inside me, and I didn’t exactly know why or who to direct it at. Out of all my pack mates, I was definitely the most aggressive. Having worked in security for years, I had gotten used to a more violent way of living. That was part of the reason I loved coming up to the cabin so much. There was a serenity and tranquillity to the place that made healing in every way easier.
If all the tiny omega needed was space to heal, then there was nowhere better. But if she needed medical attention, then we were sorely unprepared.
I was cautious of everything. I would have been suspicious of anyone turning up. Too often, I had seen situations in my job where someone unexpected had turned out to be bad or working for the other side. My priority was to protect my pack, and at the moment, the omega was an unknown.
But as I grabbed my jacket and roughly shoved my arms into it, I couldn't help but have a stomach-churning feeling at the idea of that omega leaving us.
Shoving my feet into my large, almost combat-style boots, I stomped out of the cabin without another word to my pack mates. It was still pitch dark and raining, but I wanted to triple-check all the security cameras that I had put up while they tended to the omega. It had been a few hours now since she had shown up, so I wanted to see if anyone else had been on our land.
If it wasn’t raining, I would have been able to look at the terrain and easily tell if someone had been on our land. Tracking was one of the useful skills I had developed over the years, and it helped that I had an alpha’s sense of smell. Unfortunately, the torrential rain meant that any evidence of someone walking on our land was long gone, and the scents were washed away.
I made my way over to the area where Carter said he had found the omega, and despite the rain, the land was heavily disturbed. She had clearly used no finesse as she stumbled through the woodland. How long had she been walking for? Her feet had been blistered and sore, and she was wearing wholly inappropriate shoes.
I considered following her chaotic trail to see if I could figure out where she came from, but I didn't know how far that would be. Besides, it was dark, and even with the best tracking equipment, I would risk getting lost in this woodland. It was dense and dangerous, especially with no signal to communicate with my pack. And the rain was coming down in buckets.
Sighing to myself, I turned to leave and head back towards the cabin. All the cameras were still in place, and I would be watching them like a hawk. Every one of them was installed with night vision, and I had spared no expense when picking the equipment for my pack's home.
As I turned to leave, I noticed a flash of pink out of the corner of my eye, hardly visible in the dark. Leaning forward, I plucked the fabric off the ground. It was the tattered remnant of a dress.
Despite the low light and the rain blocking my vision, it clearly belonged to her. Lifting the scrap of fabric to my nose, I inhaled deeply. Most of the scent was washed away, thanks to the rain, but I could pick up a hint of strawberries and something sort of acidic, maybe even burnt. Was it the smell of her fear, or was it the smell of someone else? Was it the smell of her captor?
Either way, I needed to hold on to it, so I stashed the scrap of fabric in my pocket and started the trek back to the cabin. I didn’t want to leave any trace of her outside in case someone tried to track her. Daylight would be breaking soon, and then I could reassess and search outside a bit more.
I took my time, taking each step carefully because all of the ground was slick with mud. How the omega had made it this far was baffling. She had to have tracked at least two miles, because our land protruded two miles in every direction. Despite her delicate nature, she clearly had some fire to her, and I could appreciate that.
But having an omega in the same cabin with us all winter long posed multiple issues. We had created nice, peaceful lives for ourselves, and we had decided long ago that we didn’t want an omega. Omegas caused trouble, and we wanted to avoid trouble at all costs.
Except now, trouble had turned up, literally on our doorstep, in a painfully adorable package that smelled far too good.
This was going to be a huge complication, but we were in the situation now, and there was nothing we could do.