10. Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
Wren
I t had been two days since Raece had barged into my room when I wore nothing but a towel and forced his mark on me.
I had hidden away during the times I knew Mateo would deliver my food. I didn’t want to see them. I didn’t want to see any of them.
The only evidence of Mateo’s entry into my room three times a day was the food tray and his lingering scent of spring rain. We hadn’t spoken more than a few words, but of the five, I trusted him most. Simply because he hadn’t done anything more than tended to my needs.
He hadn’t forced himself or his mark on me, hadn’t leered at me, hadn’t made any suggestive comments. All he’d done was make sure I ate every day.
Yet…I didn’t have much of an appetite. It was done. Whether I’d avoided having sex with any of my new packmates, I could feel them through the bond, could feel their varying emotions, though I had no idea who was who.
I could feel anxiety, fear, anger, lust, and concern. If I had to assign one of those emotions, I would assume the concern was from Mateo. Since I wasn’t sitting on the couch watching TV when he entered, he more than likely wondered whether I was locking myself in the bedroom – as much as I could with no locks on the damn doors.
They didn’t want me here, yet they’d made sure I could never leave. They didn’t want an omega, yet I noted the increased hormones when the pack had congregated in my room that first night and then when Raece caught me coming out of the shower.
So, I was nothing more than a breeder and a legality. Yay me .
I hadn’t exactly enjoyed my life at the Center, but at least there I was able to pretend there would come a day when I would earn some illusion of freedom. That maybe the government would declare me a spinster and send me away.
There was still the risk of rutting alphas if I wasn’t claimed, but I could have found some black-market suppressants and walked the world as a beta, hid my scent from those in public and built a life of my own.
Those dreams were officially over.
Tears burned the backs of my eyes as my body grew warm, my skin grew tight and uncomfortable, and cramps began to squeeze my lower half.
My fucking heat.
There were no sedatives here. No toys provided to help ease me through. And there was no way in hell I would ask a single one of Pack Stryder for anything. I would hide away in my nest and pray it passed as quickly as possible.
Snorting to myself, I began to gather things I might need for the next week and carried them into the nest. My heats always lasted no less than a week. Even with the sedatives and pain killers, I’d still suffered.
But at least there’d been people on staff who could monitor the fever, who would ensure I was hydrated even if that meant inserting an IV into the crook of my elbow.
Mateo brought juice, coffee, milk, or soda with each meal. No water bottles. But there was water in the bathroom. I could simply head in there when I got thirsty or even leave a note for Mateo to leave the food trays outside the nest door each meal.
Right. A note. Not like there was a desk in here. I hadn’t seen any form of writing tools or paper during my snooping of my new space.
New clothes had been delivered last night when I soaked in the tub. Soft as silk blankets were folded on top, fluffy socks were at the bottom. Someone had gone shopping again. And I couldn’t help but wonder if Raece was trying to apologize with gifts.
It would take a lot more than a bag of fabric to erase what he’d done to me.
Turning to hole up in the dark for the next week, I stopped and turned, glancing at the bag. The blankets would help. So would the socks.
Hell, nearly everything in the bag would help since the clothing I currently wore felt like sandpaper against my skin.
I slipped my hand through the loops and carried it with me, setting it on the floor so I could strip out of the outfit I’d chosen for the day before slipping on the cashmere knee length dress. Or maybe it was a nightgown. Either way, it would be perfect.
Once my body was covered, I sat on the cushioned floor and pulled the socks over my bare feet, then wrapped myself in a cocoon of the blankets.
My omega hated the bland, clinical scent of everything in here. She wanted her pack’s scents for comfort.
I , however, did not.
That would mean they would either have to be close to me or would have to scent mark everything in here. Which, of course, meant they would be in my proximity.
Another wave of cramps doubled me over and pulled a whimper from my lips. I knew my perfume was radiating from me, making me thankful for being in my own space. The scent alone would send the alphas into a frenzy. I’d only ever slept with betas, but the Center had warned us time and time again what happened during our heats when with alphas, that they couldn’t control themselves, that they often hurt their omegas when they went into rut.
Unless we remained pleasant. Unless we were pleasing and submissive to our alphas.
Nope. I would get through this on my own.
Maybe it was stubborn. Or stupid. I supposed it depended on who you asked.
But I would rather deal with the pain with nothing more than the bottle of ibuprofen Doran had given me than have the pack destroy me in their frenzy to get to my pussy.