23. Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
Raece
I t had been a week since I’d found out there was a shit load more to the Omega Center than I’d ever thought possible. Not that I ever believed the omegas there were treated the way they should be.
But never would I have thought they were being abused.
Parents literally sold their children to the Center to be trained as the perfect omega for a pack. Not that the family packs had a choice.
It was law. All omegas were to be surrendered to a local Omega Center the month they presented. I’d heard of children as young as twelve being surrendered when they perfumed for the first time.
Wren refused to give us a single name of any alphas – or other employees – who had mistreated or abused her. She shrugged it off as though it was perfectly acceptable that some cock sucker had laid a finger on her in any way.
Had they raped her? Molested her? Abused her?
The words on her file came to mind every time I dwelled on it and made a sense of pride over my omega’s fight and strength swell in my chest.
Spirited. Stubborn. Multiple escape attempts. Resistant to training.
Our girl had fought. She’d fought off her abusers, had tried to win her freedom. And for some reason, the headmistress had actually believed those tidbits would turn us off.
Honestly, we’d chosen her because we believed she was mentally strong enough for the life we lived, not to mention she wasn’t some blushing bride, barely learning about her omega instincts. She was in her mid-twenties and had fought me on our bond.
But it was done. She was ours. In more ways than simply carrying my mark.
If I could go back, I would have done as the others and actually spent time getting to know her and let her get to know me.
Instead, I’d let my temper take over when I contemplated the fact she could be taken away by the Center. I didn’t want to think about what kind of pack she might have ended up with had we lost her.
We were making plans to return to work, but none of us liked the idea of leaving her home alone all day, especially when we never knew whether we would all make it back alive. That meant someone needed to stay behind with her.
Every single member had volunteered, but it had to be an alpha. While I had zero doubts either Doran or Dean could not only protect her but would give up their own lives for her, they would lose in court if the rest of us died. They were mere betas. They couldn’t mark her, claim her, form a pack with her the way Winter, Matteo, or I could.
As pack lead, I had to be on each assignment.
Okay. I didn’t have to be but being as the entire underground business we’d built had been my idea, I wouldn’t allow anyone to risk their lives if I wasn’t willing to put my own neck and freedom on the line.
Wren’s soft laughter lifted on the air and squeezed my heart while making my dick twitch. I wanted her so bad it fucking hurt. But I wasn’t sure if I’d ruined any chance of having her in a romantic sense. And I would have to be content with that if she only wanted to sleep with the rest of the pack.
It was my fault. I’d forced my claim on her. Yeah, it had been to protect her, but there were so many other ways I could have gone about it without causing her both emotional and physical pain.
The clicking of my keyboard mixed with the voices in the other room. I would much rather be in the living room, snuggled up to my omega. But I didn’t feel I’d earned that right yet. She was okay with me joining them all on the couch for pack cuddles, yet I refused to make the first move.
I’d heard Winter, Dean, and Matteo talking last week about Dean romancing her, about how I would have a struggle on my hands to earn her respect and trust.
And I would absolutely do whatever it took to make that happen.
But for now, we had to get back to work and rescue more omegas.
We had a job to do. There were others like Wren, others who had been sold to breeding centers, who were treated like slaves by their packs who needed to be rescued and relocated.
And maybe I was finding any and every way I could to avoid actually having a one-on-one talk with our omega. That would mean admitting I was wrong and finding a way I could fix it.
It wasn’t the one on one – it was the thought there might not be a way for me to fix it, that she might always hold resentment in her heart for me, that she might never trust me the way she did the others.
Doran had treated her like shit in the beginning and she now treated him like he hung the moon. They’d become close, they’d fucked on several occasions, and the whole of the pack – minus me – slept with her in the pack bed.
I didn’t feel as though I’d earned that right just yet.
Tuning out the sounds and heightened scents of my pack, I leaned closer and tried to zoom into the layout of a compound I planned to infiltrate. This one would be iffy, especially if it was only four of us. There was no way for me to find out how many guards were onsite without doing some physical surveillance.
Scribbling notes on the legal pad sitting on my desk, I bit back a frustrated growl when someone knocked on the doorframe of my office.
“Yeah?” I barked out before raising my eyes to find Wren standing there in one of the outfits I had bought for her in the beginning.
The only time she’d worn them was when her hormones were raised and she needed the softness against her sensitive skin. She should be months away from her next cycle, but being around so many alphas and attentive betas was making her omega a little needy.
And yeah…I loved seeing her wearing something I picked out, even if the pastels didn’t quite fit her personality.
“Something wrong?” I asked, and mentally winced at how harsh my tone came out.
She was twisting the strings of the sweats around her fingers. “Dean and I are going out for dinner tonight.”
I nodded, unsure why she felt she needed to tell me.
“And I was, um, wondering…if maybe you’d like to take me out, too.”
“Tonight?” I asked, my brows furrowing.
I knew what Dean was doing – he wanted some private time with her in hopes of seducing his omega and making her see him the same way she saw Doran and Matteo.
“No. I mean, yes. He’s taking me out tonight. And you can come if you want. Although I should probably ask Dean if that’s okay. I just, um, we should probably spend some time together since you’re pack lead or whatever. And you bonded me into the pack. But you don’t really talk to me.”
I could have sworn I could see the anger building in her eyes and in the flush of her pretty face. She’d started out outright refusing to have anything to do with me. But now…
“I just think since you made me your omega you should probably try to get to know me better. And let me get to know you better. Instead of ignoring me all the time.”
Pushing my chair away from my desk, I folded my hands in my lap and rested my elbows on the arms of the high-backed chair and tilted my head.
“I wasn’t ignoring you. I was giving you space.”
And there was a little part of me – or maybe it was a big part – that wanted to goad her to see that spark come back into her eyes, the same fire I’d seen when she’d refused to allow any of us near her that first night, the same fire she’d had when she’d thrown pillows at my head when I’d tried to join her in the nest during her first heat with us.
“You’re the only one who’s marked me. I’m your omega. You’re my only official alpha. I wasn’t given a choice in any of this. The least you could do is…I don’t know. Be nice to me like they do.”
“I’m nice to you.”
“You treat me like a roommate and ignore me most the time. You don’t touch me when we all pile on the couch. You don’t sleep in the pack bed.”
“Do you want me to sleep with you in your bed?”
Tilting my head, I watched so many thoughts and emotions flit across her face and fought a smile. I could see when she realized what she’d said, could see when she was thinking it over whether she actually wanted me that close or not.
Finally, after a few moments, she lifted her head and jutted out her chin. “Can Matteo and Winter mark me, too? Or only you?”
“Why would you think your other alphas couldn’t mark you?”
“Because Winter barely touches me other than snuggles and small kisses. And neither of them has attempted to bite me. And the only person who has sex with me is Doran. Not that I’m complaining,” she said, her cheeks flaming red. “I’m just saying…I don’t know what I’m saying.” She muttered the last part under her breath.
Waving her forward, I pressed my lips into a line to hide the smile when she crossed her arms and popped out a hip. And there was the headstrong omega we were warned about.
“I’m not going to bite. And I’ll never use my bark to hurt you again. I’m sorry I did that.”
“Why did you? Why couldn’t you just give me time?”
Her question felt like a punch to the dick and the heart at the same time.
Pushing to my feet, I crossed the room and felt like an asshole when she flinched away a bit as I reached behind her to swing the door shut.
“What are you doing?” she asked, dropping her hands to her sides and fisting them as though prepared to fight me off.
I hated that that was her first instinct with me. I could understand her weariness over alphas, but me? I would never hurt her.
Hadn’t I already, though?
Putting space between us to ease her anxiety, I leaned against my desk, stretched my legs out in front of me, and crossed them at the ankles.
“I wanted to protect you,” I said with a small shrug.
“By forcing me to stand still so you could bite me?”
“Omeg—Wren,” I said, quickly correcting myself when she tensed at the use of her designation. “I don’t know what you went through at the Center, though I hope you’ll tell me someday. Including the names of any and every motherfucker who hurt you. But I know damn well there are far too many packs who would enjoy breaking the spirit of a beautiful, stubborn omega like you. And I couldn’t stomach something like that. Yeah, you’re right. I should have given you time. But I panicked. I wanted you safe. I wanted you . We hadn’t originally wanted to include an omega, but we had to…we had our reasons. Once we met you, though, well fuck. The moment I saw you walking toward us down that fucking aisle, I knew my life – our life – would change irrevocably. Because of you. I knew your presence in our life would change everything.”
“Why did you need an omega?” she asked.
I sighed. “I’d rather not–”
“If you want me to trust you, you have to start being honest with me. You have to include me in whatever the five of you whisper about when you think I’m not paying attention.”
I couldn’t hide the smile this time. I couldn’t picture her hiding around corners and eavesdropping, but there was no way she’d missed our hushed conversations when she was in another room.
“It could put you in danger,” I said.
She recrossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “ Knowing could put me in danger or the big secret could put me in danger?”
“Both,” I said after a few seconds.
“Just tell me. I’m in danger every second of my life because of my designation.”
A new wave of anger chased away my earlier amusement.
Fuck. How much should I tell her? And should I call in one of the betas or even Matteo as a buffer? Not that she needed protection from me. But she was obviously more comfortable with them than she was around me.
And that was on me.
Which meant it was on me to fix.
Nodding to the loveseat against the wall, I huffed a laugh when she merely frowned at me.
“Please,” I said softly, then rounded my desk to lower into my chair in hopes of putting her a little more at ease.
With a frustrated huff, she dropped her arms and crossed the room, dropping onto the couch like she was pouting.
“I want you to know, no matter what, we will always keep you safe,” I started.
She said nothing.
“We…extricate omegas from dangerous situations.”
Her russet brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“We needed an omega so we could register for a legitimate business. The money we earn isn’t exactly done…legally.”
Her brows popped up to her hairline. “You guys are criminals?” she whispered-screamed, and I had to bite back another huff of laughter.
“I guess that depends on who you ask.”
“Okay. I’m asking. Are you criminals? Did you bond me to, like, some gangster pack or something?”
This time, there was no way to hold back my laughter. Fuck. She was so cute, so sexy, so damn innocent and I’d missed out on weeks of time with her.
“Again, it depends on who you ask. According to some government officials, yeah, we’re criminals. To the omegas we rescue and relocate to safe houses, I’d say they would call us something else.”
I preferred to think of ourselves more like Robin Hood, except instead of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, we saved omegas from shitty situations and delivered them to safety.
“Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “You guys are real?”
I frowned. “What?”
“We’ve heard of people like you, alphas and packs like you back at the Center. We’ve heard stories of omegas who’d been sold to disgusting packs or put into the trafficking rings who were saved by other alphas. The omegas disappeared, and we were always told they were somewhere safe. I always assumed they’d been killed. Or that the whole alphas in shining armor thing was a fairy tale we told each other to keep from unaliving ourselves.”
“Unaliving?”
“Suicide.”