35. Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33
Wren
N o matter how much I’d tried to focus on the movie last night, it was damned near impossible with Dean constantly flirting and the raised hormones from my alphas. I knew something was going on, noticed the way they kept passing a phone back and forth and having these meaningful looks as though they were having a silent conversation.
But for the night, I was determined to pretend everything was normal. Including when none of us could talk Dean out of tearing my clothes from my body and feasting on my core.
That had ended up in a big ol’ pack orgy. I was blissfully sore when I’d woken and was currently soaking in the huge tub surrounded by my pack.
They had waited until I was practically jelly and soaking in bubbles and steam before they’d dropped the new bomb on me.
The hope was they could somehow send me into an early heat to try to get me pregnant. But, even if they could mess with my cycle, would we even know if it had worked? Didn’t it take weeks before my body registered the change?
I couldn’t see a way around a visit to the Center, short of immediately going for a blood test at the doctor to see if I was carrying a child. But again…would my body register anything that soon? It was literally weeks before we were to report for testing. How long would any of the methods they researched work? And what if none of them worked?
The whole experimental drug thing did not sound appealing to me. Although I had been onboard with suppressants, and those were far from mainstream.
“Let’s do a few hypotheticals here,” I said, resting against Winter’s chest, his knees raised on either side of me, and his arms wrapped around my middle.
My legs were on Raece’s lap, his hands gently massaging from my feet to my calves and back. Matteo, Dean, and Doran were wedged as close as they could get, but, while the tub was pretty big, there was only so much of me to go around.
“Let’s say I take this pill and it sends me into heat. Or you guys edge me over and over until my body goes crazy and it works. How would we know whether I was pregnant in time before having to report in?”
“We have resources. We can have someone monitor your hormones, draw blood daily if need be,” Raece said, his hands never stopping the kneading of my muscles.
“Was anything said about whether or not a pregnancy would exempt us from having to report?”
They each looked to each other with questioning looks.
“I’ll take that as a no.” My heart started to thump painfully in my chest as suspicion rose. “What if this has nothing to do with the Center selling infertile omegas?”
Doran sat forward a little. “What do you mean?”
“When we’re put on the list for packs, they always put the omegas closest to heat at the top of the list. What if they’re not checking to make sure infertile omegas are being sold but are looking for…more? What if they’re more interested in testing us for something different?”
“Like what?” Dean asked.
My shoulders rose and fell. “Maybe they’re checking to see whether they can manipulate our systems to carry a specific designation. Maybe they’re looking for those who are truly fertile. Or…” My stomach turned at the last thought. “What if they’re hoping to impregnate us? They could declare an omega infertile and tear us away from our pack. They could either do some weird insemination thing, or…fuck.” My stomach turned. “I’d heard rumors of omegas being sold for…other reasons.”
A deep growl rumbled from Matteo as his brown eyes darkened with anger. “What other reasons?”
“These were only rumors since we weren’t really let out in the public without escorts watching our every move and listening in on every single word we spoke. But, um, have you ever heard of breeding parties?”
Growls erupted so loudly, I raised my hands and clapped them over my ears. I knew none of them were angry with me but for me. For my designation. These five men spent their lives saving and protecting omegas. To find out there might very well be government officials willingly trafficking omegas while using the position of power didn’t sit well with any of them.
Winter tightened his hold around me. It felt as though he was trying to hide me under his skin from the rest of the world.
“Fucking kidding me,” Raece growled, standing and climbing over the side of the tub, suds and water streaming down his naked body.
With the intense hormones permeating the air, I couldn’t even enjoy the sight of my naked alpha. There would never be a time when I didn’t want every one of them, but right now, all I saw was the rage and bloodlust all over his face.
“She’s not going to that fucking Center,” Raece said to the others, his finger jabbing in my direction.
He yanked a towel from the rack so hard the bar was ripped from the wall and fell to the floor with a loud clatter.
“Agreed,” Matteo said, his voice deeper and more menacing than I’d ever heard.
He reached over and pulled me from Winter’s arms, then stood, holding me bridal style, and carried me from the tub. Dean followed, grabbing a towel and drying me as much as possible when my giant alpha refused to release his hold on me.
I didn’t know whether any of my suspicions were true. I didn’t know whether the Center was behind some nefarious plans or whether this was solely on the government.
What I did know was I had a pack who loved me. They didn’t need to say the words. Their actions spoke loudly enough. And I could feel every ounce of affection, every twinge of fear and anger they felt for me through our bond.
And I loved them .
I never wanted this, never wanted a pack, never wanted to be the center of anyone’s life. It had been out of fear, fear of the unknown, fear of being treated like a second-rate citizen, of being treated as a plaything.
But my three alphas and two betas treated me as though I was their entire world. They treated me like a damn queen.
Matteo carried me from the bathroom with the towel Dean draped over me since I was still dripping water everywhere, then he dropped onto the pack bed, rolling us until he could wrap his body around mine, his arms hugging me tightly, his chest pressed to my back, his legs twined with mine. I could feel his cock against my ass, but he didn’t push forward, didn’t touch me in even a remotely sexual manner.
He was anchoring his alpha, covering us in each other’s scents. Not that it would help when the deadline was up. Apparently, it didn’t matter whether we were claimed, whether we carried our alphas’ marks. Omegas were nothing more than property, after all.
And, apparently, the government was officially our master, our owner, and felt they could do as they pleased with the rarest designation of the human population.
“We could run,” Doran said, exiting the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He’d actually taken the time to dry off before leaving the bathroom. “We could fake a fucking passport for her and leave the country.”
“Then what?” I said, huffing a whoosh of air when Matteo squeezed me tighter to keep me from pulling away. “Too tight,” I squeaked.
His arms loosened enough for me to take in a deep breath, but he didn’t release me.
“What do you mean then what ?” Doran asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Then we live our fucking lives.”
“You don’t think there are other packs who are thinking the same thing, that the government isn’t already putting travel restrictions in place to keep anyone from leaving?”
“We have resources those other packs don’t have,” Dean said. “We have connections, we have knowledge of safe houses, we’ve been transporting omegas to safety and anonymity right under the government’s nose for years.”
My nostrils flared as I inhaled deeply. “And if we get caught? Not only will we be separated, but there’s a good chance all those contacts will go up in flames. You’ll never be able to save another omega. Can you live with that? Because I sure as hell can’t. I won’t be the cause of both your and countless other omegas’ imprisonment. Not because of me.”
As terrifying as the prospect of going through the nightmare of being at the Center might be, it was nothing compared to the possibility of losing my alphas simply because they’d tried to protect me, hide me, abscond with me in hopes we wouldn’t be tracked.
“I say we try the whole edging thing. But I reserve the right to cry and curse each of you out the whole time. All five of you try to knock me up. Raece, you said you can have someone come in and take my blood to see if it worked–”
“You realize if it works, you’ll be carrying our first child. That means you’ll be a mother. There will be no turning back,” Raece said.
“Thanks for the reminder of how biology works,” I said. I’d meant it to come out as a tease but couldn’t reel in my anger over the entirety of the situation.
“You’d be so hot pregnant,” Dean said, raising one brow at me.
“You’d think I was hot in the gray tunics we wore at the Center.”
“Well, no shit. I mean, look at you,” he said, waving a hand at my body that was wedged against Mateo’s.
It was awkward to look at each of them from the way my big alpha kept me locked in his arms, but I wasn’t complaining. Even if it was nothing more than a facade, it felt safe. Like I was wrapped in this big, beautiful, muscular cocoon.
“Unless you boys can figure out another solution…looks like you’re all going to torture me until I go into heat then try to knock me up.”
I wasn’t sure which part was upsetting me worse, the whole withholding orgasm until my body did a nosedive into pain and fever or getting pregnant before we really had a chance to fully get to know each other.
I knew how they each felt about me. And I adored all five of them.
But it still felt as though the government was in charge of our relationship instead of ourselves, our own hearts and minds.
“Are you sure we’ll be able to find out if she’s pregnant that soon?” Doran asked. “We’re going to intentionally put her through hell and there’s literally no guarantee she’ll get pregnant, nor can you one hundred percent guarantee her bloodwork will show whether or not this shit worked.”
“They’re going to make me come in regardless,” I said with a heavy sigh.
I was fighting the emotions building in my chest but wasn’t sure how much longer I could pretend to be strong. I knew my alphas had to feel every single doubt and ounce of fear in my heart and soul, but they, like me, were keeping their chins up while looking for a way to keep me out of the hands of those at the Omega Center.
There wasn’t a single doubt the powers that be would find a way to enslave each and every one of us. They might even deny my pregnancy and keep me, telling my pack I was deemed infertile.
Though to be honest, the only reason the headmistress or anyone else who was familiar with me would want me back at the Center would be to sell me as a breeder. You know, since I was apparently so spirited and undesirable that I required constant punishments.
“Regardless of what happens, we won’t leave your side the entire time,” Dean promised, his switch from playful to serious and protective slightly unnerving.
Yeah. I preferred him flirty and unbothered. Because this side of him…
Okay, it was a little sexy. Especially the dark, murderous look in his pretty dark green eyes. But I could feel the underlying fear through our bond, even if it was slightly muted since the betas couldn’t mark me like our alphas.
There had to be a way to protect me and my pack, to keep my pack from doing something that might result in them being imprisoned. And as great as running and hiding sounded, there was way too much at stake.
Including the dozens of omegas who could be at risk when their heroes never arrived to save them from whatever fucked up situation they’d been forced into.