34. Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32
Winter
W hen the piece of shit governor had made his little declaration this morning, we’d all tried to come up with a plan. While Matteo had tried to calm Wren, Dean and I discussed begging her to let us get her pregnant. After all, that was the whole reason for the Center wanting the omegas of a certain age returned.
If all this bullshit wasn’t some fucked up way to make more money through bribes, blackmail, or simply reselling the omegas, did that mean there was some shady shit going on in that place?
Stupid question. After hearing the little that Wren would divulge about her time there, it was obvious the place was fucked up. They literally let alphas rape and torture the omegas as some way of training them, teaching them to please their future packs.
To me, it was nothing more than fucking abuse of the rarest and most fragile designation.
We had decided to discuss our plans to try to knock her up, beg her if need be…but it turned out we wouldn’t have enough time. Every pack with an omega was to make an appointment with their local Center.
I’d rather see the fucking place burn to the ground than condemn her to more trauma. If any of those fuckers thought for one second we wouldn’t be in the room every second of the so called exam, they were in for the rudest awakening of their fucking lives.
One month. One month before we either risked prison time and having her ripped from our lives or risked our sweet omega enduring more abuse while we were helpless to stop it.
That was not a feeling I relished.
We weren’t some weak ass alphas, or a weak pack. We fought on a regular basis to free omegas. We spent our time, energy, and resources to ensure they were sent somewhere safe. We fought against numerous alphas on a regular basis and had yet to lose a single one of us.
Not that we didn’t oftentimes receive a few wounds. Never anything time didn’t heal.
Physical wounds and emotional wounds were worlds apart, though. Wren would carry the memories of her time at the Center for the rest of her life. We would spend every day of our lives together helping her heal, but she would always carry invisible scars on her heart and soul.
If we thought doing time behind bars was enough to protect our omega, all five of us would do it without batting an eye. But as Doran and I had pointed out, that would leave her unprotected and would give the government and the Omega Center the right to send her to another pack.
Fuck…no. Over my dead fucking body.
I might be the calmer of my packmates, but even I was fighting my own fury over the situation. But, unlike Raece, I wouldn’t bother trashing my own room or lashing out at anyone else. That shit wouldn’t solve anything.
After Wren had chased Raece down the hall – and then they’d made love right there on the floor – Wren had declared a cuddle night. She demanded all conversation about the future be tabled for the night.
I could give her that. We would give her that. After her panic attack in the kitchen, she had to be worn out.
Dean had made it his mission to order every single one of Wren’s favorite drinks and snacks and had it all delivered by the time she’d cleaned up after being knotted by Raece while the rest of us pushed the couches together to make enough room for all six of us.
There would be a hell of a lot to clean up tomorrow if the way Dean opened almost every bag of chips right there in the middle of the couches was anything to go by.
“Couldn’t you at least pour some of that in bowls,” Doran said with a scowl.
“We could crumble them all over our omega and eat them off her body,” Dean offered.
“Hey! I thought the snacks were for me,” she shot back with a grin.
The goofy beta snapped his fingers. “Right. New plan. We’ll crumble the chips and shit all over me and you can eat them off my body.”
Wren rolled her eyes with a shake of her head, but she couldn’t suppress a smile as she leaned back against me, snuggling against my side when I raised my arm to make room for her.
“Wait…you did give me a raincheck for a little between the thighs time. Everyone heard it,” he said, jumping to his knees and pointing at each of us as though waiting for one of us to back him up.
Honestly, I didn’t care if he wanted to bury his face between her thighs. Ever since hearing her soft, throaty moans in the hallway, I’d been sporting a boner. Hell, I wouldn’t mind burying my face in her slicked pussy. I would gladly smother in her, drown in her slick and release and die a happy man.
“Can you not keep your libido in check for more than a few minutes at a time?” Doran said as he aimed the remote at the large TV and searched for something to binge.
“Um…have we met? I’ve never been able to keep my libido in check. For any amount of time. And come on…look at her with her swollen lips and that just got fucked glow. You can’t tell me you haven’t been picturing her bouncing on your cock all day.”
“Dean!” she whisper-screamed, tossing a throw pillow at his head. “You’re such a—”
“Slut. Yep. Never tried to hide it.” His grin was unrepentant as he flopped back so his head was resting on her stomach, even tilting it back to wink at her before getting comfortable.
I had no doubt one or all of us would end up pleasing our omega before the night was over. There was this frantic need in me to be touching her, as if the moment she wasn’t pressed flush against my body she might disappear forever.
I had to get out of my head, stop with the doomsday mentality. We would protect her.
Matteo and Raece had remained quiet during all the playful banter, their attention solely on their phones. I’d been able to catch a glimpse of Matteo’s screen since he sat closer to me – he was researching omega biology, pregnancy outside of heats, forcing heats with alpha hormones, and legal loopholes.
Eventually, everyone relaxed against the cushions and focused on the movie Doran had chosen. My girl rested her head against my chest, dipping her hand into the bag of chips Dean held up periodically and bringing chips to her mouth.
After about an hour, I caught movement from Matteo out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head, I frowned at him in question, then took his phone when he offered it.
He’d found an article with ways to induce a heat in omegas, one not following their normal cycle. There was no sound scientific proof, mostly anecdotal, but fuck…I would try anything if it meant helping her avoid going through all that shit again.
Pulling up the notes app on Matteo’s phone, I typed out a quick note about waiting until tomorrow to bring any of this up. The sour hint was no longer tainting her sweet scent, and she was relaxed against me as she threaded her fingers through Dean’s hair.
He nodded and took his phone back, turning to hand it to Raece and waiting for his reaction. After a few minutes, our pack lead glanced at Wren, then nodded his head once.
This was going to be a shit show of a conversation, but one that needed to be had. If our omega didn’t want to try for a baby yet, we would accept that decision. Filling the house with pups hadn’t been our main reason for attaining an omega.
But now that she was so ingrained in our lives, so embedded in each of our hearts, I was personally having a hard time ignoring the fantasy of seeing her with a round belly, carrying a child from one of us.
My eyes were on the screen, but I couldn’t tell you a single thing about the movie other than it was loud. My mind was on the article, about the various ways to induce an early heat including an experimental medication.
Were we willing to risk our omega’s health for this?
That wasn’t really our decision to make, though. None of it was. If she was completely against the idea of a child now – or ever – the five of us would respect that. We had been fully content before she’d come into our lives. But she’d made it complete, made us feel like a true family. Children would be great, but the lack of little ones running around wouldn’t take anything away from what we were building together.
One of the methods mentioned was by keeping her aroused without giving her a release. That would be absolute torture. For all parties involved.
I was still sporting a boner and my balls ached. The thought of edging her over and over again with the sole purpose of bringing on the pain and fever of her heat…well, that sounded downright fucking evil.
No matter what route we took, it would one hundred percent be her decision. Never would any of us force anything on her ever again. I knew Raece was still beating himself up over forcing his mark on her in the beginning, even if it was his own fucked up way of protecting her.
She now carried her alphas’ marks, our scents, and our hearts.
And there had to be a way to protect her from the very government who had forced her into our lives to begin with.