8. Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
Wren
S o close. I had come so close to admitting to Raece that I would appreciate help during my heat. But that would be relinquishing far too much control.
What really scared me was the fact there would be no pain killers or sedatives available. I would be going into this cycle feeling every damn minute of agony for a week.
He’d alluded to the fact I’d been unwanted by any other pack before his, as though I should be dropping to my knees and kissing his feet.
I wasn’t sure whether any other pack had been interested. I knew damn well the headmistress gave them a list of every time I broke the rules, of every time I’d tried to steal suppressants and birth control. It made me look erratic. And what alpha wanted an omega he couldn’t control.
I huffed a laugh. Apparently Pack Stryder either didn’t care that I was hardheaded, or they thought they could break me. Good luck, assholes.
After Raece left, I dropped onto the couch and stared at the dark screen. Streaming services. We’d been given limits on how much television we were allowed to watch at the Center and each and every show or movie we’d watched had been chosen for us.
No one was here to stop me from watching whatever I wanted.
As I reached for the remote, there was another tap on my door. I huffed a sigh and intended to ignore it. If it was Raece, he would just shove his way inside again.
But it was Mateo. “Lunch,” he said when he opened the door.
This was the second meal he’d delivered to my room today.
He lifted the first tray to make room for the new delivery.
And then he turned and started to leave the room.
“Mateo,” I called out before he could close the door.
He stopped and raised a brow.
“Thank you.” For the food. For being nice to me. For giving me space .
I wanted to say all of those things but kept them to myself.
He nodded his head with a soft smile then pulled the door closed behind him, leaving me alone again.
Of the five, he was the only one who didn’t look at me as though mentally undressing me, or with absolute resentment.
Not that I hadn’t noticed the bulge in his pants. But he was an alpha. I was an omega. Our biology caused the attraction and nothing more. It was the primal urge to breed. Nothing more .
Yet…Mateo had done nothing but bring me food. He’d found me in the bathroom after the ceremony and offered to get me something. He’d told the pack to take me home so I wouldn’t be subjected to a whole night of what I felt was public humiliation after being sold to strangers.
If I were to allow any of them to mark me, it would be Mateo. It was obvious Raece was the pack lead, but I didn’t trust him. I wasn’t sure I even liked him.
He was good looking, sure. They all were. And they all smelled amazing, even if I’d barely gotten small hints of Dean, Winter, and Doran. They all stood six feet and taller. Mateo had to duck his head slightly to get through the bedroom door. I assumed he was close to seven feet tall and made me feel like a doll beside his big, broad body. He was all muscles and masculinity and smelled like the first rain of spring, so clean and warm and earthy.
My body tingled and slick began to coat my core just thinking about him, thinking about how big he would be without all those clothes, how he would feel pressing me into the padded flooring of the nest.
“Damn it, Wren.”
Hormones. It was nothing more than hormones. I was so close to my heat and my baser side was starting to push to the front.
I had to keep control. I couldn’t allow my hindbrain to take control when my cycle hit. Because no way would I beg any of these guys, even Mateo, for their knot.
Maybe tonight, after the house went quiet and everyone went to bed, I would sneak out of my room and see if I couldn’t find some form of pain killers, something to take the edge off when the pain was too intense. They more than likely had nothing stronger than some ibuprofen or acetaminophen, but it was better than nothing.
Pushing all thoughts of Mateo’s big body, my upcoming heat, and my plan to sneak out later away, I settled onto the couch and perused the large selection of movies and television shows. I had no idea which to pick since I hadn’t heard of half of them.
Finally, after eating almost my entire lunch while scrolling through my choices, I settled on a series about two brothers who hunted monsters and ghosts for a living and relaxed onto the couch.
Mateo had brought more food than I would normally eat for one meal, but he’d also brought a bottle of water and two cans of soda. Enough that I would have snacks through the fifteen seasons of this show. Not that I could get through that much in one sitting.
With a full stomach and by the fourth episode, my lids grew heavy. A soft as bunny fur blanket was draped over the couch. I held it to my nose for a second before shaking it out and covering my lower half; it was devoid of any scents other than the faintest hint of Raece, confirming my suspicion that he’d been the one to choose a majority of the stuff in this room.
But at least there were no scents of other betas or omegas, meaning no others had used this room before me.
Why should that matter?
I shouldn’t have cared whether or not they’d entertained men or women in this room. This was an arrangement none of us wanted but were forced into because of the stupid ass laws put in place by the government.
Yep. Hormones. My cycle was coming sooner than I wanted, which only encouraged me even more to leave my room tonight in search of anything that might help me through it. I should probably pilfer some water bottles to stash in the nest. I wouldn’t starve to death if I didn’t eat for a few days, but I would have to keep myself hydrated, especially if the pain made me vomit as it had in the past.
Closing my eyes, I listened to the show and let the sounds follow me into my dreams. The characters were currently played by my pack. Not my pack. The pack.
Because I’d successfully avoided being officially claimed in any way other than public declaration.
A crash had me jolting awake, sitting up and searching for danger.
But it was on the show still playing in the background.
The sitting room was dark other than the glow coming from the TV. How long had I been asleep?
My eyes fell on a new tray of food and an icky feeling crossed over me. Someone, presumably Mateo again, had entered my room and left another meal while I’d been out cold. He could have done anything to me, and I wouldn’t have known it.
Okay. I probably would have woken up if he’d touched me, but how could someone that big be so damn quiet? I hadn’t heard the door open, hadn’t heard him set down the tray, hadn’t heard his big feet against the hardwood floor when he entered or exited the room.
Searching the room for a clock, I finally found the time on the menu of the main guide on the screen. Holy crap – I’d been asleep for hours. It was after eleven. How could I be so tired from doing nothing? All I’d done since arriving here was sleep or lounge on the couch.
Although, I hadn’t slept much in the week leading up to the ceremony. My mind and body were exhausted from the rush of hormones, emotions, and mental stress.
No matter how much I ignored them, no matter how hard I tried to fight my damn omega instincts, they were all still there, still demanding I find an alpha to rub against, still demanding I connect with my new pack.
Good thing my stubborn streak was way stronger.
After eleven. Did that mean the house was asleep? Did the pack stay up late?
If they were like what I’d been told, they would have been given leave to spend time with their new toy…me. Meaning they would be home for a few more weeks, at least until after my heat came and went.
Until after they’d attempted to impregnate me.
Ignoring the dinner tray – especially since the food would be cold by now – I shoved my feet into a pair of thick socks I’d found in the bag of new clothes and padded across my room.
A few moments passed with my ear pressed against the door and I didn’t hear anything. Not that that meant anything. The house was huge; they could be anywhere and I wouldn’t know it.
The only way to find out was if I sucked it up and left my room.
My hand on the knob, I took a few deep breaths, letting the cool metal ground me, then twisted it slowly. The door opened silently, not even the slightest squeak of the hinges to give me away. Not that they would yell at me for leaving my room. Raece had pretty much told me I was allowed to wander the house as much as I wanted, that this was my home now, too.
My home . It was just a place where I currently lived. A place where I was only a little better off than I’d been at the Center.
But that wasn’t completely true. Raece had been right about a few things. At least here, I didn’t have to share a bedroom or bathroom with a half dozen other omegas. I had a whole section of the house to myself complete with an area to relax and watch anything I chose.
And there wasn’t anyone doing weekly inspections of my lower region, my breasts, or taking blood to track my hormones.
Turning my head left to right, I breathed a sigh when there was no one in the hallway and all the doors were closed.
Tiptoeing out, I left my door open and snuck toward the stairs. I waited at the top, peering down and straining my ears for any noise at all, even something as simple as a video playing on their phones.
Nothing.
The house was quiet. Honestly, I was a little shocked a house full of bachelors turned in so early. I supposed I had always simply assumed a pack of alphas had nonstop orgies and parties.
As I descended the stairs, thoughts of Mateo made my conscience rear its head. I was making a whole lot of assumptions about men I didn’t know. There were only three alphas, Dean and Doran carrying the signatures of betas. None of them had done anything to me to make me hate them, to make me carry so much animosity toward them.
And Raece had attempted to make nice with me. He’d come to my room to talk, even if he had a gruff way about him, even if he reminded me more than once that his job was to mark me, to protect me, and to fuck me.
Was it wrong of me to want more out of this kind of arrangement?
When I was younger, when I was first delivered to the Center, I – along with all the other young omegas – had been fed these fantasies about finding our Princes, about the way we would be put on pedestals by our alphas.
And then I’d seen the reality with my own eyes when we were allowed into public. I’d seen the way omegas were forced to stay at their alphas’ sides, the way their eyes always looked devoid of any emotion other than fear or sadness.
I was mildly surprised none of the stairs creaked under my feet as I finally made it to the bottom and peeked around the wall. Still nothing. The only light came from somewhere in the kitchen as though they’d left on a nightlight. For me? In case I wandered from my room in an unfamiliar house?
Where would one keep something like pain killers? The bathroom? The kitchen? And where the hell were all the rooms? I had only seen a little of the house before I’d been escorted to my personal quarters where I’d stayed since last night. A house this size could end up being a maze.
The dim light only allowed me to see the outline of large pieces of art on the walls, some key pieces of furniture, and kept me from tripping over my own feet. I wasn’t brave enough to turn on any lights, fearing the pack would somehow see it through the walls of their bedrooms.
Stupid, yeah, but I never claimed to be the most rational person.
After a few minutes of wandering through the house, I found a large library with a huge desk, a living room that was bigger than my entire wing, and then finally the kitchen.
Rows and rows of cabinets lined the walls. A fridge big enough to hold food for a full pack, a six-range stove, and a huge farm sink made it feel as though this was a restaurant rather than a family kitchen.
Standing on my toes, I started opening cabinets in search of some kind of medicine box or first aid kit.
“Looking for something in particular?” a voice asked from behind me.
I whirled with a squeak, lifting my fists as though ready to fight. Not that I’d ever actually been in a fight – not a successful one, anyway.
“I…” I couldn’t find my voice. Doran sat at the table, his feet propped on one of the chairs, a glass of what I assumed was whiskey or some other liquor in front of him.
I knew nothing about any of these guys, really, but Doran was the hardest to read. The one time we’d spent more than a few minutes together he’d done nothing but glare at me as though I’d had any choice in my presence in his home.
“Pain killers,” I finally blurted out as I dropped my hands to my sides.
His brows pinched together. “You in pain?” His nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. “You don’t smell like you’re fully in heat yet.”
I hated that. I hated that he could detect the changes in my body by the scent around me.
And I hated more that he looked disgusted when he’d mentioned my cycle.
Right. Because if I’d been given a choice in the matter, I would have chosen a dangerously high fever and agonizing pain every few months for the rest of my childbearing years.
“I’m aware,” I retorted.
He went back to glaring at me.
“So…will you tell me where they are?”
He slowly pushed to his feet, tipped his head back and finished off his drink, then stalked toward me, that glare still on his beautiful face. For a brief second, I couldn’t help but think how breathtaking he would be if he didn’t look as though he wanted to throttle me.
Doran crowded me until I took a step back, the sink hitting my hip.
“You’re determined to make our lives as hard as possible, aren’t you? Do you think any of us had a choice in whether or not we accepted you into the pack? Raece made the decision, and we were forced to go along with it. And here you are, sneaking around in the middle of the night–”
“It’s not the middle of the night,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady even though his proximity and the look in his eyes were making me nervous.
He reached over my head, and I hated that I flinched the slightest bit. When his hand came back down, he held a white bottle with a red lid.
“This won’t do shit for you. Might as well let the alphas do their job.”
He set the bottle on the counter and took a step away.
“I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here.”
He huffed a laugh and I wondered for a second how many drinks he’d had. If he was drunk, he might very well be taking his anger over the situation out on me. Or he could even hurt me in some kind of blackout stupor.
Doran didn’t seem the type to hurt an innocent person, but I knew literally nothing about him other than the fact he was a beta and apparently hated me for some unknown reason.
“Why don’t you do your job and let Raece knock you up. Then maybe my pack can return to normal. As normal as we can be with omega pheromones polluting the air.”
He set his empty glass in the sink, looked me from head to toe, then turned his back on me and stalked from the room.
Omega pheromones polluting the air . What? I hadn’t even left the fucking room since I’d been dragged here last night.
And let Raece knock me up so the pack would return to normal? Did that mean they were doing something outside the norm since my arrival? Maybe he was determined to get back to work.
Whatever the reason, it was more than obvious I wasn’t wanted here.
Mateo was kind to me. Raece obviously felt he needed to mark me. Other than that?
I was a nuisance to these men. I was nothing more than a tool for them to climb the ladder in society.
Well, they could all kiss my ass. Pain, fever, and whatever nightmares came with my heat, none of them would come anywhere near me. I would barricade the door if I had to.
Because the last thing I wanted was to be knocked up or to let my pheromones pollute their precious air any more than it already had.