6. Pack
Pack
" Y ou should have found somewhere closer to hole up," Orion scowled at me. "Driving in whiteout conditions isn't safe and you know it."
He huffed in annoyance, but nodded. "Fine. I get it. But you need to be more careful, cabrón ." He looked toward the living room where I could hear the others talking. "What's the plan with this one?"
"Plan? Same as always, take her back, turn her over and get my overtime bonus."
"And right now? She looks like a drowned mouse that rats gnawed on."
I shrugged. "There's nothing saying I have to clothe her. Just bring her back alive."
Orion's eyes sparked for a moment. "You're not tempted by her?"
"Orion, I literally work with omegas on the regular, why the fuck would she tempt me? You know how I feel about them."
"This is the first time you've brought one home," he pointed out, running a finger over the shiny burn scar on his jaw absently.
"I didn't bring her home," I spat back, annoyed. "I couldn't drive her to the center today, so I've got her here where my pack," I emphasized the word, "can help me keep an eye on her."
"Okay." He grinned at me. "You got her file?"
"In the car."
"I'll grab it. I want to know what we're dealing with here."
"I can tell you. There's not a lot of info. She grew up with her father and sister on a farm, packed up two years ago, ran away twice from that pack and they ended up rejecting her. She's never had a heat, never bonded."
Orion's eyebrows shot up. "How old is she?"
"Twenty-four." I shrugged. "Probably a dud, but they want her back."
"Hmm," Orion moved to the doorway and I followed.
The omega was curled up on the armchair, her face turned toward the fire.
Despite her seemingly calm exterior, there was a tension in the way she held herself, like she was about to fight or run at any second.
Even in the house, near a heat source, she was wearing that ridiculous mint green and yellow windbreaker and the plastic bags on her feet.
If I'd cared, I would have made her shower and change and taken a look at her feet.
But that was the ORC's job, not mine. I just had to return her.
If she wanted to stay in filthy clothes, so be it.
Turning back to Orion, I tried to ignore the twinge that my alpha side gave when thinking about leaving the omega in those damp clothes.
"She's a runner. Tried to fight me, too, but I think she was just too weak from all that running. We need to keep a close eye on her . . . she's going to bolt the second the snow lets up."
"Got it," Orion nodded. "I've already got alarms on all the windows and doors, so we'll be alerted the second she tries to leave."
"Good. I'm going to get some shut-eye, if you don't mind."
"Go," he jerked his head at the stairs. "There's a spare room, last one on the left. Kade insisted."
"Of course he did." I shook my head in amusement and headed upstairs, lifting a hand in greeting to the others as I went up. It hadn't been my longest hunt, but it had been the furthest I'd gone. Driving that far was tiring and I would be a better guard if I got some sleep.
Setting my alarm for two hours, I found the bedroom Orion had told me about and flopped onto the bed.
Sleep didn't come easily. The omega's honey and spiced apple scent clung to my clothes, distracting me. I'd picked up dozens of omegas in my line of work and never had a scent burrowed into my head like this one. It was annoying.
In the car, I'd had a chance to examine the omega a little, in between trying not to kill us both in the blizzard.
She was lumpy in whatever outfit she was wearing, but her face had the look of someone who was malnourished.
Thos big grey eyes, light as a dove's feathers, were wary, darkening with anger when she thought I was rude.
Her dark, curly hair had clung to her head, damp from the snowy walk back to the car, but had dried to soft brown with the heaters blowing on her.
She was pretty, I'd give her that. But that was exactly what omegas were, bait. They lured you in so they could destroy you completely. I'd experienced that first hand. There was no way I'd ever be tempted by those soft, treacherous curves again.
I rolled over, flipping my pillow to the cool side and burying my face in it. This was ridiculous. There was no reason this job should be any different than all the others. No other omega had ever taken up this much space in my brain.
My alarm rang just as I started to drift off and I groaned, debating whether to leave the omega to my brothers a little longer or just get up. In the end, the scent of honey and spiced apples wafting up the stairs pissed me off so badly that sleep would be impossible anyway.
Stalking downstairs, I found Archer still on the sofa, tapping away on his phone.
Orion and Kade were nowhere to be found, but the omega was curled up in the armchair, her sleepy eyes on the fire.
It was a peaceful scene, but I noted that she was still wearing the ridiculous sandals and plastic bags on her feet.
"Take those ridiculous things off," I snapped, pointing at her feet.
The omega jumped, like she hadn't noticed me come in. She sat up in the chair, suddenly on alert, wide grey eyes on me.
"You're going to get foot rot."
When she didn't move, I stalked to her and grabbed her leg, pulling her foot up to my thigh where I rested it as I shucked off the disgusting sandal. It was covered in mold and grime. Wrinkling my nose, I tossed it into the fireplace.
"Hey! Those are my shoes!"
"You don't need shoes, remember?" I knew very well that the ORC didn't allow omegas footwear. Probably because they'd take off like this if they had the chance.
She glared a fiery hole in my face as I tore off the bag and then unwrapped the strips of damp cloth from her feet. Underneath, the skin was wrinkled, the stench of the overly soaked skin an assault to my nose. I repeated my actions with her other foot and dropped her legs.
"Now you won't end up losing your feet. Even second-rate packs don't want an omega with no feet," I told her.
Archer grunted behind me and I turned my gaze to him. The man was pretending to scroll on his phone, but I gave him a death glare anyway.
"And when we leave?" the omega's voice was quiet, but defiant.
"Then I'll carry you to the car and then into the center."
She dropped her gaze to the fire again, obviously unhappy at the thought of returning to the center. Something twinged inside me as her scent turned sharper, more acidic.
Ignoring my wayward biology, I sank down on the sofa and nodded to Archer. "You can take off now. I've got it from here."
"I'm good. Just updating the terms of service on our website. Stuff I keep meaning to do and never get around to." He glanced up at me, dark eyes warm. "Why don't you go grab some food? I think we're all getting kinda hungry."
"Fine." I jumped to my feet and headed to the kitchen to see what they had in the fridge.
The cupboards were filled with most junk food and the fridge had slim pickings. Finally, I decided on fried egg sandwiches for everyone but Kade. He had a stockpile of his favorite Ceaser salads with chicken filling one shelf in the fridge.
Cooking calmed me. I wasn't the best chef but when we'd formed the pack, we'd all agreed we would share the responsibilities so no one person got stuck with the same chores all the time. Some of us were better cooks than others, but I could fry an egg very well.
Slathering the toasted bread with mayo and topping it with the fried eggs, then slices of tomato and some lettuce, I cut all the sandwiches diagonally and stacked them on a plate.
"LUNCH!" I bellowed, carrying the plate out into the living room.
"I'm right here, dude," Archer muttered, setting his phone aside. "Napkins?"
Rolling my eyes, I set the plate of sandwiches on the coffee table and headed back to the kitchen. "There are no napkins. You're getting paper towel," I told him, returning with the roll.
Orion came padding down the stairs, throwing himself down on the sofa, leaving me with the remaining armchair or squeezing between the two alphas on the sofa. I picked the chair.
We all grabbed sandwiches and Orion turned on the television over the fireplace, clicking around until he found a news channel reporting on the blizzard outside. According to the chipper weatherwoman on-screen, we were looking at another two to three days of whiteout conditions.
"This is ridiculous," I growled, glaring at the omega.
She was sitting in the chair with her legs pulled to her chest, eyes scanning us all. She looked very uncomfortable with so many alphas in the room and her posture only stiffened when Kade wandered in from the kitchen with his salad in hand.
Kade scanned the room, then smirked at me and went to perch on the arm of the omega's chair.
Her eyes widened and she shrunk away from the big, white-haired alpha. He was terrifying if you didn't know him and she was obviously terrified.
Part of me chortled at the sight of her fear, but then the alpha in me kicked in and I just wanted to growl at Kade and scoop the little alpha up in my arms. That did make me growl, but out of anger at myself for being even slightly tempted to protect the omega.
She'd done just fine on her own, she'd make it until we got her back to ORC. I just hoped I would make it unscathed.