7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Leah
I tear down the hall, bare feet thudding over thick carpet. The walls stretch on either side, lined with doors that open onto ordinary bedrooms, neat beds made up with comfortable covers. No cement cells. No punishment rooms. But none of it slows my pounding fear.
A shout comes from behind me. "Leah. Wait. Don’t hurt yourself." But I know better than to stop.
My muscles are heavy and slow. I’m not used to running but adrenaline floods what’s left of my body, driving me faster than I thought possible.
I slam past a bathroom and burst into an open living area. I freeze for a heartbeat. To my left is a kitchen, on my right a living area but it’s the large floor to ceiling window that steals my full attention.
Opaque closed blinds filter the light, enough to let me look out but keep prying eyes from seeing in. My breath stalls as I take in the scene beyond the glass. Below us, life moves with breathtaking, impossible normalcy.
We’re four stories up. Cars glide past. I spot a person riding a bike.
A mother bends to zip her kid’s backpack.
Trees lining the street below sway, their green leaves flickering gold when they’re ruffled by a breeze.
I hover, too stunned to move. The world outside is real and alive and it knocks me sideways.
I don’t remember the last time I saw a scene so ordinary. The things I remembered didn’t go away after all. Only I did. The world kept turning while I’ve been locked in the dark, years stolen from me.
Heavy footsteps thunder behind me. Too close, too fast.
I lunge for the door, the only exit I can see, and claw at the handle. It doesn’t unlatch. A keypad glows red above the lock, taunting. Blinking like a countdown.
No code. No way out.
The footsteps coming toward me don’t stop. The Alphas appear in the living room, their bodies filling the space, looming and broad-shouldered. Ronan steps past Gabriel and Jax. "Don’t be afraid."
Says every Alpha to an Omega in heat.
I wrench a lamp from a side table, the shade popping off, and brandish it like a weapon. "Stay away from me! Don’t come any closer. Give me the code to get out or I swear I’ll smash this over your heads. I’m not afraid of you."
That’s a lie.
I’m terrified of them, but I refuse to give an Alpha any more power over me.
I know one of them could bark at me to put the lamp down.
Make me walk over to them. Get down on my knees and present.
Such a good little Omega. Such a good little puppet.
There’s nothing stopping them from using me like that.
Despite whatever they gave me to fend off my heat, that lovely little biological Omega quirk still simmers under my skin.
I’m on Hardwick’s borrowed time. Soon I’ll be mindless enough for them to do anything they want to me.
So why aren’t they?
A sharp cramp twists deep in my belly, but I hold myself tall. I swipe sweat from my forehead, try to keep my grip tight on the lamp.
Gabriel’s posture is easy but his eyes are somber. He smiles and the fine lines at the corner of his eyes crinkle. "Hey, we’re the good guys here. You don’t have to be afraid of us."
I glare at him, words coming out quick and hot.
"That’s not true. No Alpha is good. All you want is control.
Power over Omegas. It’s how you’re built.
" But they don’t lurch for me like Hardwick’s lumbering wannabes.
Or even look annoyed for that matter. They act like they’re listening, and that scrambles me more.
"I understand why you’d expect the worst. Let us show you different. We’re the Alphas who make those sorts of degenerates pay," deep-voiced Jax says.
I grit my teeth. I’m falling apart waiting for them to show me who they really are. "Just stop pretending. I’m not some ignorant little Omega you can train with your fucked-up urges. I’m never going to be that Omega, so you might as well let me go now."
I swear their essences shift, thickening in the air. Musky and sharp with obvious arousal but also with pride and curiosity.
Gabriel’s mouth quirks into a crooked grin, something bright flickering in his eyes.
"You know, I like that you talk back. That you’ve still got fire even after everything you’ve been through.
You wouldn’t believe how many people try to tuck their tails and disappear.
Makes it impossible to see who they really are.
I’ll take feisty over easy any day." His gaze sweeps over me, warm with respect and maybe something hungrier beneath.
"But we’re not here to break you. Only to worship you. "
He… likes me talking back? My words normally ended up with a back-hand across my face for the insolence of speaking up for myself, but I’m close enough to see the thick bulges between their muscular thighs and that’s enough to help me think clearly again.
They’ll say anything to an Omega to sway them back into their nest. They won’t be able to stop themselves.
And just like that, my own perfume spirals out, curling sweet and hot, baiting them whether I want it or not.
It’s a trap for all of us, and I’m the one with everything to lose.
Ronan holds out his palms. "You don’t know us yet, but your instincts should tell you the truth. Scent-matches are sacred to us. You are precious, Leah."
I snort, sharp and dismissive. "Yeah? If I really mean that much to you, let me go. Forget I exist. Find another ‘precious’ Omega for your pack. Even better, get a Beta. At least they can’t be controlled by you. Just leave me out of it."
Jax’s stupidly handsome face softens. "We can’t do that. You are who we want. And you’re in heat. If you go outside, you’re going to pull every unbonded Alpha in this building, hell, probably half this block. It’s not safe."
I know it’s not safe. Nowhere is safe. Not out there, not in here, not anywhere I can think.
That’s the problem, isn’t it? The world’s never made space for Omegas who don’t break the way it wants them to.
I’m hollowed out, scraped raw by the facts of life.
I ache for a way out that leads somewhere, but with each battered heartbeat I know there isn’t one.
The next cramp spears through me. Flames bore down through my spine to pool lava inside my abdomen. My knees buckle, breath shattering out of me. Fuck Hardwick and her drugs. Fuck her to the seven layers of hell and back.
The lamp slips from my fingers, clattering on the tiles at my feet.
I double over, arms wrapped tight around my belly, sweat beading on my forehead.
Their scents rush in, thick and cloying and crowding my thoughts.
I lean against the wall and force myself to straighten as I try not to slide all the way to the floor.
Hopelessness drags at me, drowning everything but my misery.
Ronan lets out a wordless sound, somewhere between a plea and a husk of warning. "Omega!" He steps toward me, arms out like he wants to catch me, and every muscle locks as I look up at him and wait for him to take my choice away.
Yet even as fear spikes, an unvarnished ache pulls under my ribs.
My body craves their touch, aches for the comfort of their hands, while my mind screams no.
Hardwick’s words echo at the back of my skull.
Scent-matches are a curse. The ultimate golden handcuffs.
These Alphas are everything she told me they would be.
Tantalizing enough to make me forget myself, but poison in the same breath.
I’m being torn in two. Longing strangles terror.
My instincts are crossed between wanting them and running from them.
Gabriel’s brows knit together. "At least come back to the nest. You’re burning up, sunshine. You’ll be more comfortable there."
It costs me to sneer at him, but I do it anyway as I fight the way my muscles begin to shake. "Trap me in a small, windowless room under the name of comfort. The first thing you’ll do is set the lock. Been there. Done the time. You’ll have to come up with a better trap."
"Not a trap, Leah," Jax says.
"Choose another place to nest. Somewhere you’ll be comfortable." Ronan takes me by surprise.
He’s willing to compromise?
"Anywhere?" If they want to prove themselves then I’ll take them up on their offer. Call them at their own game…
"Anywhere in this apartment , Sweetheart. No choosing the library. Or the gas station down the road. Or another state or country. Not yet anyway." My gaze flicks to Gabriel to see his full lips quirk as he sends me a wink.
I’m not sure how to take that, but they’re right.
I can’t go anywhere in this state. Not only because my perfume is a siren’s call, but I’ll soon succumb to the effects of this heat no matter what I want thanks to the drugs pumping through my veins.
I will be the mindless creature everyone looks down on.
The slut who will beg for cocks and knots no matter who they’re attached to.
And they’ll be happy to fuck me stupid in the name of helping me. No matter if I really want this or not.
The heat makes everything fuzzy, but as I lean against the wall for support, natural light cuts through the haze. I haven't seen real daylight in so long that it pulls at something deep inside me, momentarily overriding even my fear of the Alphas.
My eyes slide to the window and the world outside this room. At the sun, the sky, the trees, the busyness down there. The life . The normal life I haven’t had since the day my parents took me to Haven. I suddenly can’t stand not to see everything I’ve been denied.
Ronan’s gaze follows mine, to slice of outside I’m desperate for. He makes a quick, decisive gesture with his chin and barks, "Bring the nest out here. All of it."
Jax vanishes down the hallway without question and reappears, hauling the huge mattress in his arms. Gabriel is right behind him, arms overflowing with blankets and soft pillows, the lot trailing behind him like an absurd parade.
They make it look easy, as if moving an entire nest from one end of the apartment to the other is an everyday thing. Just because I want it.
I don’t understand these Alphas.
"Where do you want us to put your nest? You pick, Omega. Wherever you want it, that’s where it goes," Ronan says.
I search their faces for the trap that has always followed "choice" in my life. But they don’t move. They don’t crowd me or rush.
They just wait, patient as time. My body trembles, mind growing thick as an inferno lances under my skin.
I won’t be able to withstand them much longer, not with the slick already coating my thighs, but making decisions is an invitation to punishment.
Then it hits me. This is the real trap.
Alphas listening to an Omega?
Alphas helping an Omega?
Alphas being concerned for an Omega?
Of course this is a test.
How could it not be? I almost forgot myself, almost let the heat, the illusion of freedom and the allure of scent-matching dull my edge. "Gods, I can’t believe I nearly fell for this." How many times should I be punished for not obeying the first and last golden rule?
I’m not allowed to have a nest. Ever. The repercussions always outweigh the needs.
I square my shoulders, hugging familiar bitterness tight.
"You’ll have to try harder, although I guess now you’re still going to punish me for half falling for your ruse.
Jokes on you, though. You can’t do to me what every other Alpha hasn’t already tried.
Do your best. Teach me the next lesson you think I should learn. "