13. Discomfort
Discomfort
M y scent was too sweet. Too strong.
As I finished washing dishes and handed the last plate to Archer, who was drying, I caught a whiff of his warm amber fragrance.
It made me want to bury my nose in his armpit.
I'd never had that reaction to an alpha before and it made me shudder.
I couldn't want an alpha, I needed to get out of here.
It was still snowing, but nothing like before. Maybe I could make it if I borrowed Archer's boots and coat.
I looked down at his feet, bare against the white tile of the kitchen floor. Even his feet were sexy. My cheeks heated with the embarrassment of that thought and I jerked my head up, meeting his eyes as he watched me curiously.
"You're perfuming," he said quietly. "It might be better for us to go upstairs."
Sudden fear gripped my heart. "Why? Are they dangerous?"
Archer frowned, "Who, the guys? No, not to you.
But I get the feeling you're not interested in banging them, so we should probably see if we can get those pheromones under control.
Even the strongest alpha will be tempted.
" He paused when he saw my face, "They won't attack you, I promise, but they might not give you the space you need. "
"Let's go." I didn't need half-feral alphas around me and out of all the alphas in this house, Archer was the one I trusted the most. He was also the most likeable and the least gloomy and growly of them all.
"Good call."
We went upstairs to his room, where his clothes were still strewn across the bed.
"Where did you sleep last night?" I asked, confused by the mess.
"Uh . . . there." He looked embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm not a very tidy person. Drives Kade insane, so I try to confine my disasters to my room."
He swept everything into the open suitcase on the floor and shoved it into a corner. "Do you want a shower?"
"No, I showered in the middle of the night with River.
" The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them and I felt the heat flushing my cheeks again.
"But it wasn't . . . you know. He offered to touch me, but I said no and he listened.
" Thinking back to that moment made me gush slick and the room filled with my ridiculously sweet scent.
"It's okay. This is all natural," Archer assured me. "You said you had one heat before? What happened with that?"
I scrambled onto the bed, grabbing a pillow to hug as I leaned against the headboard. "It was horrible."
"Why?"
"We didn't know I was an omega," I told him. "My father thought he had two betas on his hand and that was just fine. Then I suddenly perfumed one day, and he freaked out. Locked me in a room for a week until it was over."
"You didn't have anyone to help you through it?" He looked horrified.
"Uh, no. Turns out, I was the perfect product. An omega virgin who had never known an alpha," I said, my words bitter. "As soon as I finished the heat, he sold me to a pack."
Archer's face transformed. He was a beautiful man, but now he was a beautifully angry man, his grey eyes darkening. "That's illegal."
"So? My father didn't care. He didn't care when I screamed for help when the cramps were tearing me apart." I shuddered. "I can't do that again."
"And you never had a heat with your pack?"
I shook my head. "No, thank goodness. They would have torn me to pieces. There were six of them, and they never even pretended to like me. They were just waiting for me to go into heat again so they could rut me."
He settled on the bed beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I'm sorry. For your father and the pack. I guess they rejected you, huh?"
"They tried to induce my heat, but it didn't work. And I ran away when I thought I was feeling warm one day." I shivered, remembering the punishment for that. "They caught me a few hours later. But the next time, they didn't catch me for ten days."
Archer pulled me closer, and I let myself revel in his scent. It calmed me, and when he started to purr, my entire body relaxed against his side.
Amber surrounded me as I closed my eyes, letting my mind drift. What if I did have an alpha like Archer? Someone to help me through my heat and soothe the pain that came with it?
Reality rushed in when the scent of bitter coffee wafted under the door. Kade must have walked by.
Even if Archer wanted me, none of the other alphas in his pack did. They smelled amazing, but they were basically assholes. Especially River, with his determination to return me to the center. No real alpha would do something like that, not with their need to actually protect an omega.
A shudder ran through me and Archer rubbed his hand over my upper arm. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just wishing life was different."
"What would a different life look like?" he asked curiously.
"I wouldn't have heats and I could do what I wanted in life," I responded bitterly.
"What do you want to do?"
"Help people. I wanted to be a nurse or doctor before I presented."
"You had your first heat late, why didn't you study before that?"
"We didn't have enough money and my older sister was already studying to be a teacher. My father needed someone to stay and work on the farm, so that was me."
"What about finding a pack? If you found one that would treat you well, would you want them?"
I snorted. "Alphas that treat an omega well? You've seen how your pack is. They're vicious and cruel and they don't even want me . . . imagine if they actually did?"
Archer hummed into my hair, resting his chin on my head. "Actually, I think there's another reason for the way they treat you."
Glancing up at him, I raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're justifying their behavior? And I thought you were the decent one."
"No, I'm not justifying it, I'm explaining it. It's wrong, but they're alphas. They've never been taught to think about their feelings or deal with them. I think they DO want you, but that's scaring the shit out of them."
"Why? How can an omega possibly hurt an alpha?"
"You'd be surprised." Archer didn't elaborate and we just sat there in silence for a while.
My slick seemed to have slowed down as I relaxed, but I still felt like my skin was too tight over my bones. Twisting, I turned into Archer and buried my face in his side, sneakily edging my nose into his armpit where he smelled the best.
He didn't seem to mind. He just chuckled and slid down a bit, pulling me with him so we were lying against the pile of pillows instead of sitting against the headboard. It was a comfy bed and I was far more comfortable with Archer than with River. Not to mention, there were no handcuffs in sight.
Sleep was just starting to take over when the scent of smoke and leather hit my nose, making me jerk upright. River was here.
He stood in the doorway, looking at us with that stupid scowl on his face that somehow made him look even sexier than usual. His navy eyes studied me, noting how close I was to Archer and his mouth tightened.
My body betrayed me with a sudden gush of slick that made me press my thighs together as an embarrassing amount of scent filled the air.
"They're plowing the roads now, but just the main ones. Looks like we'll be out of here tomorrow, omega. Don't get any ideas." River narrowed his eyes at Archer. "Don't fuck around, Archer. You think you can't keep it in your pants, you bring her straight to me."
"Hey, I'm just chilling," Archer shrugged. "Don't worry about us."
River inhaled deeply, flushed bright red and spun on his heel, slamming the door behind him.
"This is bad. Why am I perfuming for HIM?" I groaned, then realized I'd spoken the words aloud. "Is there some way to stop this from happening? This is the wrong time to have a heat."
"I think it's pretty natural," Archer told me. "Your body is doing what an omega does. It wants bites and sex, but that doesn't mean you have to give it what it wants."
"Cuz that went so well last time," I muttered. "If he's taking me back tomorrow and I'm like this, I'll be taken straight to the heat dens and probably strapped to the bed."
"They can't do that," Archer assured me.
I gave him a look. "You have no idea what goes on in that place."
"I thought you said you'd never had a heat. Have you ever been to the heat dens?"
"Not yet, but the other women talk. I know what they're like. I've been in the center for nearly a year and I've heard things that would curl your toes."
"So tell me and we'll figure something out for you."
I glared at him. "There is no figuring something out. I have no way out, don't you get it? Even if they don't decide I'm completely defective, they're going to send me off to some random group of alphas who may or may not be nice to me in between using my body."
"That's not how it works," Archer tried to soothe me. "They have to go through testing and sign paperwork saying they will treat their omega well. It's not just throwing you to the wolves."
To my surprise, I burst into tears as I pulled violently away from him. My scent turned the entire room sour as I hopped off the bed and ran to the bathroom.
"Whoa, wait. Quinn!"
I shut the bathroom door behind me and ripped down the pants I was wearing, using toilet paper to clean up my legs. My thighs were sticky with my own fluids and for a moment, I hated that my body was doing this against my will. A flush of heat washed over me.
Outside the door, Archer called my name again. "Let me in and we can talk, okay? I didn't mean to upset you."
I didn't dare open my mouth to answer him.
There was a whine in my throat, just dying to escape and I refused to let any alpha have that power over me.
It was bad enough to have hot tears pouring down my cheeks and sobs shuddering my entire chest. I didn't cry.
I'd never cried at the center, not even when the sharp snaps of electric batons made the tears rise in my eyes. Why was this happening now?
"Quinn, I'm sorry, can I come in?"
I reached over and turned the lock, hearing his sigh through the door. Then I completely peeled off my sticky clothes and turned the shower on cold before climbing into the tub and sitting directly under the icy spray.
I'd been through a heat on my own before. I could do it again. Without alphas.