Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Alvaro
Jonathan texted me shortly after the Pack Health Organization agents arrived.
He’d been able to get Kara to his and Anya’s place without any issues.
Luckily, the agents hadn’t inspected our house, but even if they had, Anya would have already stripped the bed and sprayed the room with expensive de-scenting spray.
That still might not have been enough, though.
Kara’s perfume was potent.
All morning, we’d been in our bedrooms with agents, being assessed. They went over everything from our sexual habits, things that showed up in the media, and bodily reactions to stimuli.
That part was the worst. Who wanted to be hooked up to a machine that tracked heart rate, eye dilation, and scent excretion? They showed us videos of everything from alphas and omegas living day-to-day life with each other and alone, to an omega in heat.
Six months ago, my reactions were different; the scenes put me on edge and the heat scene had nearly had me taking my cock out in front of the agents. But this time, I was calm, and when they showed a short clip of an alpha knotting his omega, I was aroused, but more from the idea of knotting Kara.
The final part of the individual assessment was smelling scent cards of ten different omegas.
It was the best way they could keep data on whether an alpha was becoming feral.
Feral alphas were dangerous to omegas and betas because of their heightened sensitivity to pheromones.
All it took was one hit of an appealing omega’s perfume, even if lingering on a beta.
Although the agents’ faces revealed nothing, I had no reaction to the scents on the cards besides my brain recognizing it was an omega, but not my omega. I didn’t know how I was going to explain my lack of response when six months ago, I’d moaned and growled over several of them.
I was most worried about how Avery was doing with his assessment. He’d scored the highest on the risk factors last time, and he’d been in a mood since I’d pulled him away from Kara.
Yet I could still taste her in my mouth. I was such a fucking hypocrite.
It was around lunchtime when we finished the individual portion and the agents left for lunch. We had the pack portion next, and if we had any hope of being eligible for Omega Match, we needed to ace it.
I pulled the sandwiches Anya had prepared for us out of the refrigerator and set them on the island where my three pack mates were sitting. I could feel they were all just as worried as I was, which was better than not feeling their emotions at all.
“How did you all do on the individual portion?” I slid their sandwiches to them. If we didn’t have Anya, we’d probably have starved or ordered takeout more than we already did.
Tate scrubbed a hand over his tired eyes. “It was weird.”
“How so?” I unwrapped my sandwich and hopped up on the counter.
“I wasn’t as affected by the stimuli. The agents kept giving each other looks, but I couldn’t tell if they were good looks or bad looks.” Tate popped open his soda and took a long drink.
Cal, who had been oddly quiet since coming down the stairs and seeing his agents out, had a worry line between his brows. “They asked me flat out if I’d been with an omega recently.”
I stopped moving with the sandwich halfway to my mouth. “What?”
“They asked me the same thing.” Avery started picking the pickles off his sandwich. “How many times do I have to tell her no pickles? They’re gross.”
Cal reached over and plucked them off his plate. “If Kara was our omega, she wouldn’t forget you hate them.”
They all looked to me like I had the solution to the epic shitstorm we’d found ourselves in the middle of. So, I decided to ignore it for now. “What did you tell them?”
“I told them that I hadn’t fucked an omega. It wasn’t a lie.” Cal narrowed his eyes at me. “What did you tell them?”
“They didn’t ask me that.” Maybe my responses hadn’t been extremely different after all, or just not enough.
“They didn’t ask me either. You were both rated six and seven on the scale last time.
Maybe you dropped so much because of Kara that they are suspicious.
I’m sure there is some shady shit that goes on with omegas that aren’t in compounds, and we do have a lot of money. ..” Tate shook his head in disbelief.
The thought of any pack or family doing something like that to an omega made my blood boil. “They can’t really think we’d do that.”
“Not all countries have Omega Match or compounds for their omegas. What’s to stop us from going abroad and finding an omega?” Cal looked down at his sandwich. “Don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it.”
“It’s illegal,” I growled. “And it’s not always what’s best for the omegas. Imagine being sixteen and going into your first heat only to have your family sell you to the highest bidder.”
“That shit goes on here too. Don’t pretend it doesn’t. Even if they do end up in Omega Match, they are still sold or arranged bondings are set up.” Avery pushed his sandwich away. “Are we going to talk about Kara or not?”
I put my lunch down too, my appetite gone. “If we can’t do Omega Match, then we can’t have her.”
“Why not?” Cal looked at each of us. “If we bonded with her and she wanted the bond, then what could they do?”
Bonding with an omega outside of Omega Match wasn’t talked about at all because it didn’t happen.
In high school, girls were closely monitored by the school and their parents for signs of being an omega.
When the transition started, it came fast, and the omegas were taken to a boarding school to finish their high school careers.
Alphas tended to transition around eighteen, and then most of our focus was on establishing a pack.
It was the way our minds and bodies worked.
Of course I had wanted an omega to rut into when I was a fresh-faced alpha with an aching knot, but one alpha just wasn’t enough to meet the physical and emotional needs of an omega.
“If we bonded with her, they still might take her from us and throw us in prison.” I put my plate down and crossed my arms. “And that would kill her.”
Avery shoved away from the counter and stood. “And what about what is killing us?”
The room was eerily silent as we all came to our own conclusions of what we should do in our heads. I wanted Kara, but what would it cost us? What would it cost her?
“There’s no way after what we did this morning that we’re going to be able to resist her now,” Tate said softly. “If they don’t let us do the match, I think we should go for it and deal with the consequences later.”
Avery growled. “What did you do this morning?”
Fuck. He didn’t know what had happened with Kara yet. Now was not the time to have him flip the fuck out on us.
Tate raised an eyebrow in my direction and Cal was picking at something on the front of his t-shirt. It was my job to protect our pack bond, and I’d done nothing but harm it over and over again.
“Is someone going to answer me?” Avery gripped the edge of the counter, his knuckles turning white where there was skin and not ink.
I cleared my throat. “Tate and Cal fell asleep with her when they got back last night, and this morning I walked in after they had some fun with their hands, and I...”
God, just the thought of it made my dick instantly hard, and my knot pulsed with the need to take her.
Avery looked like he was about to jump across the island and choke me. “You what, Alvaro?”
“He had a tasty omega snack. Well, until the doorbell rang.” Cal sighed wistfully. “And there Tate and I were being good alphas and not going that far.”
Avery’s nostrils flared. “You tasted her?”
“I did.” I adjusted my dick in my pants, wondering if I had time to go take care of it before the agents returned.
Avery’s eyes closed, his hands still gripping the counter. “What did she taste like?”
“Like hot chocolate on a cold day. Like the last bit of chocolate frosting on the plate. Like... ours.” I couldn’t keep the growl out of my voice. “She needs to be ours.”
Avery groaned and lowered his forehead to the counter. “We can’t lose her.”
I straightened, my eyes pausing on each of them. “We won’t. If it’s the last thing I do as leader of this pack, I promise you she’ll be ours.”
Now to figure out how to do it.
The agents left mid-afternoon after the pack assessment. They observed us while we were hooked up to the same machines as before, solving puzzles, communicating using a back-to-back drawing game, and sharing compliments and complaints about each other and the pack.
There had been a few moments of frustration and anger, but I could see the want on everyone’s face. We wanted to work as a pack and get through the hurdles we faced. I just didn’t think it was enough to be permitted to do the fall match.
“I need a fucking nap,” Cal muttered, going to the refrigerator. The man worked out like an Olympian and ate like a garbage truck. “Oh, hey! You saved our tacos.”
“I did.” Avery grunted, elbowing him out of the way, grabbing a beer, and heading toward the stairs. “I’m going to game unless we are planning on whisking Kara away to a private island.”
He was already retreating into himself, and I didn’t want that to happen again. I’d seen some of the happy Avery we once knew peek out during our assessment, but it had already disappeared.
“First off, leftover tacos are going to taste like shit. Just eat the meat. Second, Kara is back at her sister’s now and we still have her Squishmallows.” I had been wracking my brain for a reason to go talk to Kara without seeming desperate or making her feel uncomfortable.
“The Gnomes aren’t going to like the four of us marching up to their place and going inside with their omega there alone.” Tate sat on the couch and grabbed the controller. “We should call them first.”
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I pulled it out. “It’s the vet.” I’d gotten an update mid-morning that Gizmo was doing much better and once the vet checked him over, he might be able to come home. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this Alvaro Estrada?” I could hear a dog barking in the background.
“Yes, it is.”
“Gizmo is all cleared to go home. He is lethargic, but that should clear up by tomorrow. You got him here fast enough that there was no damage from what we can tell. The vet will give you more instructions for his care when someone comes to pick him up.”
I sighed in relief, and a heaviness that had been weighing on my shoulders lifted. “Thank you. Someone will be there soon.”
“The Gizminator all better?” Cal shut the refrigerator empty-handed. He’d had the damn thing open long enough.
“He’s still going to be out of it, but he can come home. Do you two want to go get him? Then you can pick up a snack. I’ll go take the Squishmallows to Kara and feel her out.” If we all went down there, it would attract way too much attention and piss off Kayla’s pack.
Cal’s lips pressed together in a tight line. “I’m not a fool, you know.”
“Her sister is there. It’s not like I’m going to do anything.” I threw my hands up, wishing I didn’t have to be the bad guy all the damn time. “Can you handle going over there right now?”
“Let’s go, Cal.” Tate stood and stretched, looking over at me. “Maybe take Avery with you.”
That was why I loved Tate; no matter how he felt about the situation, he usually followed my lead. That was how things were supposed to be in an unbroken pack, and although things felt a little stronger today, it probably would never be as good as it was before.
Cal grumbled all the way out to the garage but didn’t put up a fight or tell me to fuck off, so that was progress.
I jogged up the stairs and down the hall to the second living room that was currently set up as a gaming room. I nudged Avery’s foot hanging off the side of the beanbag because he didn’t even look at me. “Hey. Want to go with me to talk to Kara?”
He didn’t look away from the game he was playing. “What for? We can’t match with her.”
I frowned and sat down next to him, causing us to knock heads. “Ow, fuck. Sorry. I don’t sit on this thing enough.”
“No fucking kidding. You just killed me.” He threw the controller to the side and looked over at me, a chunk of his black hair that was normally slicked back falling into his eyes.
“Do you really think we’re going to get the go-ahead?
OPS said last time we asked that our lifestyle was not fit for an omega. ”
“That’s what we should talk to Kara about. We need to know how she feels when she doesn’t have fingers or a tongue inside her.” I smirked when Avery groaned. “We did well today on our evaluation. That has to count for something.”
“You go. I don’t feel like it.” Avery picked up his controller and settled back into the beanbag. “Our pack might not survive this again, Alvaro.”
My nose started to burn, and I blinked as tears filled my eyes. I didn’t often cry, but hearing the pain in Avery’s voice ripped at my heart. We were all he had since he’d cut his family out of his life.
“She’s ours. If it takes us taking a break from our career or waiting, then that’s what we’ll do.” I put my hand on his arm and he looked at me again. “Our pack isn’t going anywhere.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he nodded. “I still would rather stay here. I won’t be able to control myself.”
I didn’t want to tell him that I was in the same boat, but one of us needed to tell her what we wanted. I just hoped she wanted the same and would be willing to wait for us.