7. Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Raece
H ave a conversation with her.
I could do that. I generally didn’t speak to any of the omegas I dealt with on a regular basis, but I was fully aware they could be…emotional. Especially this close to her cycle. She would be riding an emotional rollercoaster until her heat passed.
She hadn’t appeared emotional last night, though. She’d been…pissed. Standoffish. And, as the headmistress had described her, spirited.
Although I thought stubborn was a better description of her.
We were all in the same boat. There was no reason we couldn’t form a friendship. Hell, I wasn’t in love with Dean yet still enjoyed his body on a regular basis. We could easily form the same kind of friendship, enjoying each other’s beds, while loving each other platonically. And the three alphas in this house would be the best way to get her through her heat.
But, like Mateo had said, she didn’t trust us. Meaning there was no way she would let a single one of us anywhere near her pussy until she did.
Reaching for the doorknob, I stopped and raised my hand instead, rapping my knuckles against the thick wood and waited.
After waiting a few seconds, I leaned closer to the door, practically pressing my ear to the surface. I couldn’t hear anything, no television playing or music or anything to indicate she was relaxing in the sitting room.
Slowly, I pushed open the door and peeked around the side to find her watching me from the couch, the almost empty tray of food sitting on the coffee table in front of her.
“Can I come in?” I asked, trying to keep the alpha out of my voice.
“It’s your house. Not like I have a say.”
Biting back the growl bubbling up in my chest, I stepped in and closed the door behind me.
“It’s your house, too. Meaning you don’t have to stay locked in here. You’re not a prisoner.”
“Aren’t I, though? Not like I can simply walk out of here.”
“That’s for your safety, not because you’re a prisoner.”
She made a dismissive sound in the back of her throat and continued to stare at me.
Glancing at the dark screen of the TV, I nodded at the remote on the coffee table. “We have a lot of streaming services if you like movies or whatever. There’s also a pool out back. Well, for when it gets warmer. Or…fuck.” I muttered the last part under my breath.
The whole time I talked, she watched me with nothing short of hate burning bright in her eyes. Or maybe it was simply disdain.
“I have to mark you, Wren. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want, but it’s the law.”
Her chin lifted a little and she continued to stare at me.
“It’ll be more…pleasant if—”
“If you’re fucking me. Yeah, I’ve heard that excuse before.”
Anger burned hot in my chest, and I realized it was more of a possessive rage than anything. “Has someone else tried to mark you or breed you?”
She winced at the word breed, and I could have punched myself in my own dick at my choice of words.
“No. But we are all well trained in how to please our alphas.”
Fuck. There was so much venom in her words and her eyes.
“We don’t expect you to please us, omega–”
“Wren,” she said, cutting me off.
“ Wren ,” I said, smirking as my own anger began to rise.
I was trying, really trying to be civil with her, to make her see me as a man instead of a monster. In my opinion, she should have counted herself lucky to have been brought in by a pack like mine. I knew far too well what the fuck went on behind closed doors in other packs. I’d seen it firsthand time and time again.
“To register the pack, I have to mark you. I can give you my clothes to leave my scent on you in case they want to check to see if we’ve…consummated. But I have to leave my mark on your shoulder.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to stare at me. I finally realized she was wearing some of the clothes I’d purchased for her. And her scent was devoid of mine, meaning she’d showered this morning. She’d washed away my signature after sleeping in my clothes.
Why the fuck did that bother me so much? This was simply a legal arrangement, not a romantic one. The fact she no longer carried my scent shouldn’t bother me in the least.
Yet my alpha wanted to cross the room and rub all over her, to sink my cock into her tight, wet heat, to leave her inner walls coated in my cum so she would carry my scent for the rest of the day.
Shaking my head, I pushed all that shit away. Nope. Not what this was about.
“You don’t trust us. I get that. You don’t know us. And you won’t get to know us if you hide out in your room for the rest of your life.”
“It’s been one day. Less than twenty-four hours. You don’t think I deserve a little time to accept my new life in this gilded cage?”
“Cage?” The house was perfect. Her room and nest were perfect. We’d made damn sure of that when we – I – had decided to pay the high dues to procure an omega for the pack. “Would you rather be back at the Center? Sharing a room with other women? Having your body poked and prodded every month while pack after pack passes you by?”
Her nostrils flared, pink rushed her cheeks, and she slowly unfolded herself from the couch until she was standing inches from me.
“None of that was my decision. Do you not understand that? This wasn’t my choice. My designation wasn’t my choice. Just once in my life, I want to have a say over something, and at the moment, I have the say over my own fucking body.”
I don’t know why but hearing her say fuck sent more blood rushing to my cock. It was like hearing such a foul word from such a pretty face made her appear naughty.
I liked that shit. I really liked when I got to be the one to punish naughty women.
And fuck, I wanted to put her over my knee and pink her ass with the palm of my hand.
“Your heat is days away. What the fuck are you going to do then?”
“I’ll figure it out. Not like I had any of you big, strong alphas to help at the Center.”
I blinked at her. Then blinked again. Wait… “No one helped you through your cycle at the Center?” The thought of her writhing in pain while those who were supposed to watch over her did nothing pissed me off.
“We were sedated. Some of us were given toys to get through the worst of it, but I wasn’t exactly their favorite person. Pain killers and sedation. That was all I had.”
For ten fucking years . She’d never been given relief for her heat cycles in the ten years since she’d presented.
Pushing the anger away so it didn’t spill over onto her, I took a deep breath and softened my voice and expression. “Let us help you, Wren. Omegas need their alphas. Let us do our job.”
She snorted as though trying to hold back a laugh. “Let you fuck me, you mean.”
“You’re fucking impossible. I came in here to offer an olive branch and you’re determined to make me your enemy.”
Her brows raised a little as if she were challenging me.
“Fine. You’ve got days before your heat. Good luck with that.”
And then I stomped from the room, slamming her door behind me with more force than necessary.
I contemplated having her nest soundproofed. Because whether she wanted us or not, the scents and sounds that would be coming from her room within the week would send me, Mateo, and Winter into rut. And there wasn’t a fucking thing any of us could do to stop it.
Especially when she was determined to suffer alone.