5. Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Wren
F ive men stared at me. Five men waited for me to strip and present for one of my alphas.
And they could continue to wait because I couldn’t do it.
I’d tried to make peace with the idea that I’d been chosen by a pack, that I had a duty, that I was to please my pack in whatever way they needed.
Now that I was in their home, surrounded by their scents, in an unfamiliar room while waiting for some clothing of my own…
Nope. No way would I allow any of these men to touch me.
My stomach turned and threatened to expel anything that might have remained after my visit to the porcelain queen back at the reception, but I refused to allow them to see that. It was bad enough Mateo had seen me retching into the toilet then Raece had found me huddled on the floor swallowed up by tulle and taffeta.
My eyes fell on each of them, and I tried to remember their names. Mateo and Raece I remembered. Winter was easy with his white-blond hair, pale skin, and scent reminding me of snow.
I narrowed my eyes at the other two. Dean. The one with the brown hair and dark green eyes was Dean. And he looked like he was prepared to rip my clothes from my body and devour me whole.
The last one had dark brown hair and stormy gray eyes and glared at me as though I was an intruder, as though I’d barreled my way into his home uninvited. Doran. His name was Doran. I vaguely remembered them stating their full names during the vows. Hell, I vaguely remembered the ceremony at all.
Dean looked excited. Happy even. Raece looked determined, as though I was a job he needed to complete and was preventing him from doing exactly that.
The others…well, their looks ranged from pity to outright anger. And I had a feeling by the way Doran glared at me the anger was aimed at me not for me.
Well, he could take his anger and shove it right up his ass. Because I didn’t want to be here anymore than he wanted me here.
I’d asked for privacy, yet Raece had trailed his fingers along the swell of my breasts. There was so little left to the imagination, as though the person who’d chosen the dress had intentionally made sure I was on display.
Lifting a hand, I swatted his away and glared. “I said I want some privacy. Please.”
“We have to complete the bond, omega.”
“Wren,” I said. I was no longer under the thumb of the Center or the headmistress. I hated being referred to by my freaking designation.
He lowered his head a little, moving toward me as I stepped back. He was stalking me like I was his prey.
No .
Planting my feet on the hardwood floor, I dropped my arms to my sides and lifted my chin. If he wanted to take me, I had no intention of making it easy. He would have to fight me, to force himself on me. And then he would have to live with that every day for the rest of his life.
What scared the crap out of me was the fact I was only days, maybe a week, out from my heat. What the hell was I supposed to do then? I would end up in so much pain if I didn’t have at least some kind of toy to knot me, to make my body believe I’d been bred.
I would deal with that when the time came. I would rather hide myself away in the nest until it was over than beg these strangers for help. Especially when they looked at me as though I was the cause of all their problems, as though I wasn’t the one who’d been forced to act as a babymaker to the highest bidder.
Raece stepped so close I had to tilt my head back to look into his eyes. “You realize how painful the bite will be if we’re not—”
“No. To both.”
“Do you think I have a fucking choice in this?” His voice was deeper, louder.
“Yes. You did have a choice. You chose to approach the Center. You chose to ask for a specific type of omega. And you chose to pay. How much was I worth? They don’t reveal that part to us. How much did you pay for the use of my pussy and my womb?”
Raece blinked at me a few times, his clove and cranberry scent turning sour with his anger.
Someone huffed a surprised laugh from behind him, but I didn’t bother pulling my eyes from his face to see who. I refused to give him even a moment, to become distracted for the split second it would take him to overpower me.
“Fine,” he growled, taking a step back. “When they show up for our check-in, I’ll let you be the one to explain why the bond hasn’t been completed. And maybe you’ll get your wish – maybe they’ll pull you from our house and sell you off to another.”
With that, he turned on his heel and left me to look to each of the pack members still standing there watching me.
There was humor and a hint of respect in Dean’s eyes and in the quirk of his lips. Mateo looked completely neutral, not an ounce of emotion on his face. Winter looked sad. And Doran continued to glare at me.
Fuck him. Fuck them. They chose this, not me. They chose to bring me into their house, into their pack. None of them had the right to demand anything from me, they had no right to be mad at me about anything.
One by one, they filed out of my quarters until only Dean remained.
I stayed exactly where I’d stood when I’d faced down Raece.
“If you change your mind, my room is on the right. Last door. I can’t mark you, but…”
But he could fuck me. No thanks .
After the door closed with a soft snick, I sagged against the couch, pressing my hand to my chest in an attempt to keep my heart from bursting through my ribcage. I wasn’t officially pack. I’d avoided their teeth and their dicks.
But how long would that last. Raece was right – I would eventually have to let him mark my shoulder or risk being sold or given to a pack who wasn’t so…patient.
I knew there was a file on me. I knew at least Raece had seen the things they’d written about me. I was also aware the only reason I was one of the omegas offered up was because my cycle was so close. Meaning they could breed me sooner, fill me with their pups, and then I would be stuck raising a child with complete strangers.
My hand was resting on the pile of cotton Raece had brought me. Lifting the shirt, I held it to my nose and detected the clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon of his signature. Why did so many of this Pack smell like winter, like Christmas, like all my favorite holidays?
As much as I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of the clothes leaving his scent on my skin, it was a better choice than sleeping in this uncomfortable gown or completely naked.
Hugging the pile of clothes to my chest, I stepped into the room that would forever be my bedroom and closed the door behind me. No lock. Shit. Hopefully, there would at least be a lock on the bathroom door so I could shower or bathe without worrying about one of them walking in on me.
There had to be something in here I could use to barricade the door while I slept. Except every piece of furniture looked as though it weighed three times as much as I did.
With a heavy sigh, I struggled with the zipper at my back, then let the gown drop to a puddle at my feet before quickly tugging the huge t-shirt over my head. It hung past my knees, covering me. But I still pulled on the sweats and rolled down the waistband to keep them in place.
The dress laid crumpled on the floor and all I could do was stare at it. It wasn’t mine. I hadn’t chosen it. I hadn’t chosen any of this.
And for some reason, I found an immense sense of joy when I kicked it across the room, the fabric merely fluttering to the ground. Not like I could break it.
Although…shame there were no scissors in the room.
The lights were still on in the sitting room. In my bedroom, too. But I didn’t want the dark. There was a part of me that feared the moment I turned them off the entire pack would descend on me like a pack of wolves instead of men. I feared they would take any moment of vulnerability against me.
But I needed sleep. I needed rest. I needed to let my body and mind catch up to my new reality.
I really needed food, too.
But that would mean leaving this room. Leaving this room meant possibly coming face to face with one of the pack.
They didn’t want me here. I didn’t want to be here. So I would keep to myself. I would stay in my own space, only wandering out when I was dead sure the house was asleep. They could have their life, register their pack, and leave me the fuck alone.
A cramp squeezed my uterus as though I needed the reminder of what was to come.
Did the door to my quarters have a lock? Or the nest? Because the moment they caught the scent of my heat, the moment slick coated my core and thighs, they would be rushing in to breed me, to impregnate me, to take me anyway they chose.
Spirited. That was the nicest word I’d ever heard the headmistress use when describing me to the Center control. I knew she hated me and part of me wondered if she’d celebrated when a pack had finally chosen me so I was no longer her problem.
Had my parents done the same? I couldn’t exactly remember a moment where I’d felt love, but they hadn’t exactly appeared upset when they’d driven me to the Center and signed me over. It was their duty, yeah, but they could have at least shed a damn tear, acted as though they begrudged handing their only daughter, their only child , over to the government.
Pulling the bedding back, I climbed onto the bed, the lamp still casting warm light on the room, and laid back. I feared sleep would be just out of my grasp, but my body and mind had had enough. I was out to the world within minutes of resting my head on the fluffy pillow and sinking into the most comfortable mattress I’d ever felt in my life.
The sun was shining through the window when I woke to soft tapping on my bedroom door. It wasn’t pushed open. No one barged in.
Slowly sitting up, there was a moment where I hugged the blankets to my chest as though shielding myself from the person on the other side of the door. Which was stupid being as I was fully dressed, albeit without a bra.
It took me a full minute to conjure enough courage to throw my legs over the side and pad to the door. When I opened it, I found myself craning my neck, looking up and up and up until I found Mateo staring down at me.
“I wasn’t sure if you were up. Breakfast is ready.”
Out of the five, he was the only one who didn’t look at me as though I was nothing more than fresh meat or a complete and total nuisance.
“Do I have to?”
“Have to what?”
“I don’t want to go down there,” I admitted on a whisper.
Mateo nodded his head up and down slowly then stepped out of my view.
Closing the door, I leaned against the wood and exhaled. At least one of them wouldn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want.
Raece had said clothes and other things would arrive for me today. Hopefully, they didn’t expect me to sit around the house scantily clad or in ridiculously expensive clothing. What was the point if my only role was to be here, to simply exist?
Although the bigger part of my role was the one I was rebelling against the hardest. And I sure as hell didn’t need designer labels if they simply wanted me on my back with my legs spread.
Lowering onto the end of the bed, I stared at the door. I wanted a shower. I wanted to pull the pins out of my hair. I couldn’t imagine how I looked after going to sleep on that fancy updo. My curls were more than likely nothing more than frizzy knots by now.
I could always shower and pull the same shirt and sweats back on until the new clothes were delivered. If Raece even bothered alerting me that I had something new. He might punish me and make me stay in his clothes. He sure as hell looked pissed when I’d rejected both his cock and his bond mark last night.
After taking a quick peek through the door and into the sitting area, I pulled the bedroom door open and stepped out, making a beeline for the shower. No lock on this door, either. Had it been planned this way? Or was there a chance the others didn’t have locks on their doors? I hated to think the worst of people I didn’t know, but after living on this planet for twenty-six years, it was hard to avoid.
The bathroom was well stocked, shampoo and body wash bottles on shelves in the shower that could easily fit four or more people. I didn’t bother lingering – although staying under the hot spray sounded like paradise – instead quickly washed my hair and body then rinsed off. The towel hanging on the back of the glass door felt like silk against my skin as I dried off.
Then I was back to wearing my borrowed clothes. Because no way would I put on the gown again, and I sure as hell wouldn’t sit around in nothing but a towel. It would appear as too much of an invitation.
As I’d feared, my red locks were nothing short of a bird’s nest. A brush was in one of the drawers of the vanity. Surprisingly, I also found leave in conditioner, a toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, along with a variety of other toiletries, all produced specifically for omegas. There was even makeup in one of the drawers, the packaging brand new with the look of the high-end kind.
It took far too long to brush out my waist length curls, but at least the spray and cream I found under the sink made the task a little easier and would prevent my hair from frizzing.
This was as good as it would get, I supposed. The makeup from last night was gone, revealing a face covered in freckles, pink lips, and slightly puffy eyes.
As I stepped into the sitting room, I stopped a few steps in. There was a tray of food on the coffee table, a carafe of what smelled like coffee, and a sack of what I assumed was either clothing or other personal supplies.
No one was in here. Someone had come in while I showered, presumably Mateo, but he’d never entered the bathroom to leer at me while I was naked and under the spray. He’d simply brought me breakfast so I wouldn’t have to face the pack and left clean clothing for me.
Food first. The mere smell made my stomach clench and growl. Actually, the clenching came from a little lower, warning me once again how close I was to a week of pain and a dangerously high fever.
Food first, I had to remind myself. I would handle everything else as it came. I would make sure my belly was full, look through the bag until I found something comfortable and warm, then…
I had no idea what I would do next. All I knew was there wasn’t a chance in hell I would let the five men on the other side of that door anywhere near my body.