17. Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
Winter
D oran had been avoiding me all day. After last night, after I’d rejected his advances or even his touch, he knew he’d fucked up.
We had an omega now. And she’d been suffering.
But because of something he’d said to her, she didn’t trust her alphas enough, her pack enough to take care of her to the point she’d been near hospitalization. Had Dean not gone into her nest when he did, it might have been too late.
She now trusted one of her alphas and one of her betas. Dean and Mateo had been locked away in her room for days. Mateo’s and Wren’s pleasure had sung through the bond to the point my cock was painfully hard the entire time. The first day, I’d assuaged my need with Doran. After that…
It felt wrong to slake my lust with Doran when I was thinking about Wren. It felt as though I was betraying them both.
Which was stupid as fuck. Doran and I had been in love for years. There was absolutely nothing odd about losing myself in my beta’s body, his mouth, his hands.
Now, she was all gussied up and spending the day with Mateo and Dean while Raece, Doran, and I waited for them to return.
We shouldn’t have let them leave without the rest of us. Mateo was a big dude, but if they came across a group of alphas, he and Dean could easily be outnumbered and overpowered. Then we would lose Wren.
It was our job to protect her. We’d made that vow when we stood across from her on the dais. And whether I had been on board with claiming an omega or not, she was ours now. She was our responsibility.
After way too many hours, the garage door rumbled up, heralding their return.
Raece was on his feet and heading toward the kitchen before they’d stepped in.
“You look…wow. You look beautiful,” Raece said.
Dean rounded the corner first, a look of nothing short of pride on his face. Mateo was next, a soft smile playing at the corners of his lips.
And then Wren appeared.
She’d cut her hair. It was no longer hanging down to her waist. It now hung only inches below her shoulders and there were layers cut in, making it bouncy. It looked so silky and soft, and I had a mental image of tangling my fingers in the locks while tilting her head back so I could taste her kiss.
Her hair wasn’t the only change.
She was no longer wearing the pastel shit Raece had chosen for her. She was wearing a black shirt that dipped low in the front, revealing enough cleavage to make my mouth water. And her jeans hugged her hips and thighs, flaring out to make room for the heeled boots she wore.
Our omega no longer looked small and broken.
She looked…fuck, she looked fierce and sexy as hell.
“Thank you again,” she said, touching Dean on the forearm before turning toward the stairs, bags hooked over her arm.
“Hey,” Raece said, jogging to catch up with her.
She stopped and tilted her head back to look into his face.
“Could you…would you want to watch a movie? Down here? With us?”
Wren looked around the room at Dean, Mateo, then me. Doran was currently sulking in our room.
After a few seconds, she looked back to Dean and Mateo and it sure as fuck looked as though she was looking to them for permission or confirmation that it would be fine.
“Hell yes. We’ll make a big puppy pile on the couch, order in a crap load of greasy fast food, and watch some gory slasher movies,” Dean said, already kicking off his shoes and moving the couches around so they formed a big bed instead of the wrap around couches.
The sweetest sound escaped our omega as she watched him. Dean had made Wren giggle. And fuck me if that didn’t make me jealous. She hadn’t spoken a single word to me. She barely looked me in the eye. I wanted to be the one she trusted to join her in her nest. I wanted to be the one to take her shopping.
I wanted to be the one to make her giggle and smile.
“Can I change first?” she asked, her voice soft and a little tentative.
“Well, yeah. Or we could all hang out naked.” Dean waggled his brows.
Her smile faltered and a blush washed over her face.
“Damn it, Dean,” I muttered.
“You’re right. That was too far. Mateo and I are the only ones who get to see you naked. Get comfy and then bring your sexy little ass back down here. Any requests for junk food?”
Her narrow shoulders rose and fell. “I’m not picky.”
The smile hadn’t returned, but there were no sour or burned edges to her scent. Dean hadn’t completely ruined everything with his constant flirting. She was going to change clothes and then spend time with the pack on the couch.
The pack minus one.
I was tempted to pull my phone from my pocket and text Doran to keep his ass in the bedroom. Because it had been more than obvious to me when she’d looked around the room, she was making sure the love of my life wasn’t present before she’d agreed to snuggling with us for a movie.
As she climbed the stairs, I turned to Mateo, Raece, and Dean. And then we exploded into motion.
Dean ordered food. Mateo and Raece grabbed just about every canned or bottled drink we had available and carried them into the living room. I sought as many blankets and pillows as I could find.
Then an idea hit me.
Taking the steps two at a time, I went to each of our bedrooms and grabbed either a blanket, pillow, or even something as silly as a hoodie to add to the pile. She would be surrounded by our scents. It would help her to grow more comfortable with us, help her learn our individual signatures. Even Doran’s.
My beta had a lot of groveling to do. The two of them would need to spend some time together. Even if they decided they weren’t romantically interested in each other, they would still have to live together as packmates. They had to form nothing short of a friendship.
By the time we’d arranged the room to look like a small home theater, Wren slowly descended the stairs wearing a pair of sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and carrying a blanket from her room.
Her eyes widened at what we’d done, and a small smile tugged up the corners of her lips before a surprised huff of laughter escaped her.
“We could have just…you don’t have to do all this,” she said, letting Dean wrap his hand around hers and drag her closer to the couches.
“Can’t have a puppy pile if we’re all spread out.”
I hadn’t spent more than a few seconds of time with her here and there and even I could see the way she’d tensed at his words. She’d accepted Raece’s invite, but she didn’t look overly thrilled to be cuddling with her two other alphas.
That was fine. We could keep our distance and let her grow used to our presence.
Raece and Doran had shit to make up for, but I didn’t. I would sit as close as she’d let me and hope she would close the gap. Or at least not shrug away from me if she thought I was too close.
Fuck, please don’t let her shrug away from me .
I had no intention of doing anything to make her uncomfortable. But I wanted…what? What exactly was I hoping would happen tonight?
As Dean lifted her giggling body over the side and practically dropped her onto the cushions, I began to wonder if she would be amenable to going on a solo date with me? It would be a way for her to get to know me without being overshadowed by Dean or even Mateo or Raece.
I could even try to argue on Doran’s behalf, try to explain why my beta was such a jealous fuck.
Not that he deserved her immediate forgiveness. He would have to be the one to smooth things over. He would have to be the one to apologize to her. And I’d beat his ass myself to ensure he did just that.
Mateo climbed over the sides of the couch next, settling in on her other side. Raece and I hung back, unsure of exactly what we should do or where we should sit. With the way the couches had been pushed together, we would all either end up in a row, or one of us could take the chance and stretch out near her feet.
Before Raece had a chance to come to the same conclusion, I hurried to the end and climbed over, settling near her feet before freezing mid-stretch when I realized she’d gone tense.
“Is it…can I sit down here?” I asked. I was a fucking alpha and now I was completely unsure of what to do in the presence of my omega.
“It’s your house,” she said softly. And I didn’t miss the fact she pressed herself closer to Mateo.
“It’s your house, too,” Raece said as he climbed over the end and kept his distance from her. “We want you comfortable. We want you to feel safe–” His words cut off and he winced the same time she tensed further.
He’d forced his mark on her and now was telling her he wanted her to feel safe.
Yep. Even I could see the hypocrisy there.
He fucked up. He knew he fucked up. And he was trying to smooth things over a little step at a time. It would take a lot more for her to trust him than simply suggesting a movie night.
But it was a start.
Before any of us could say anything else, Dean raised the remote and started a movie, turning up the surround sound as though alerting the room that any conversation was officially over.
It took about an hour into the first movie, but Wren began to relax. She even stretched her legs out until they were on my thighs rather than staying curled into herself.
With her surrounded by the four of us, she looked even smaller. She was curvy and round in all the right places, but she was close to a head shorter than us. More than a head shorter than Mateo’s giant ass.
Taking a chance, I reached down and began to gently massage the arches of her feet. When she didn’t tense, I kneaded her calves.
But that was as far as I allowed myself to touch. I couldn’t earn her trust if I copped a feel the first time she let her guard down around me.
It was a start. She was finally out of her room and among her pack. She was allowing her alphas and one of her betas to spend time with her. She was letting two of her alphas and one of her betas cuddle her, touch her.
And for the first time since that moment on the dais, I felt hope for my pack’s future with our omega.