7. Wren
Wren
My tears soak my single sheet, and I hate how weak I feel right now.
Not just mentally, but physically.
I still haven’t been able to bring myself to eat anything all day, and I wonder if I’ll die of starvation before Teddy sends for me.
“Oh, Pigeon…” Kellan’s sing-song voice sends the worst kinds of goosebumps across my skin as I jump off the bed, determinedly wiping my eyes.
Fuck. It must be dinner time.
He enters just a moment later, a smug grin on his face.
“I’m sorry I’m late for dinner—” I start, but he cuts me off.
“We already ate.” His gaze rakes over me as Victor and Jasper come behind him. Victor just looks bored, while Jasper has this maniacal glint in his eye. “You never really eat anyway, so we figured…why bother you?”
I swallow the lump in my throat, the looks in their eyes making me take an instinctual step back.
“Then what…what’s going on? Are you going to sleep here tonight?” I glance at my pathetic excuse of a nest.
“Well,” Kellan steps further into the room as Jasper leans against the wall and Victor crosses his arms, “we were thinking about how we could…fix this whole…virgin predicament.”
“Oh?” I choke out, taking another step back. My heart is running a million miles a minute, and I’m afraid I might pass out.
“So, we have a proposition for you,” Jasper speaks up. “You can have all your nesting items back tonight—every pillow, every blanket, every fucking little annoying-ass stuffy, on one condition.”
A condition I’m not sure I’m going to like.
“And what condition would that be?” I whisper.
“You let us spend your heat with you.” Jasper gives me a cruel smirk, a strange glint in his eye.
I…I have no idea when I would even go into heat. I suppose I haven't had my suppressants since I came home with Pack Caruso…but I can’t spend my heat with them.
I won’t.
But…maybe I can just tell them what they want to hear? And then I’ll be gone before my heat even makes an appearance. It’s risky, but it will get me my nest back faster than hoping I do a good enough job cleaning every day.
“I…” I accept. I agree. That’s fine. Anything. I try to force any combination of the words out, but my mouth has other ideas. “Can’t.”
The word chokes me, and I watch with horror as Kellan, Victor, and Jasper all turn venomous in their expressions.
Kellan sighs. “You always have to do things the hard way, don’t you?”
My head shakes, my words catching in my throat as I take another step back. Something very, very bad is about to happen.
Jasper pulls something out of his pocket, pulling the cap off and revealing a sharp needle. “It’s cute you thought we were actually asking permission. You’ll be begging for our cocks soon enough.”
My blood freezes, my pulse rushing in my ears. “What?”
“It’s a heat trigger.” Kellan grins. “Got it from your parents, actually, at a good discount. We were going to give it to you either way, but now you won’t even get your nest. Trust me, you’ll be much more receptive to us after feeling nothing but our cocks and knots for days on end.
Think of it as…virgin bootcamp. An accelerated course to get you used to taking our dicks however and wherever we want. ”
“No—” I trip, taking another step back and landing on my ass. “You can’t!” I scramble back, the roar of adrenaline keeping me conscious through the exertion.
Jasper huffs as he catches up to me easily, grasping my arm in his hand before plunging the needle in.
“Fuck!” The scream rips out of me, and I almost don’t catch their laughter. Not with the heat licking through my veins. But not with desire.
With terror. With…rage.
My omega, who has been forcefully neglected for too long, comes to the forefront of my mind, and she is pissed.
So when Jasper grins, taking a step back with a satisfied smirk, clearly convinced I’m about to get on all fours and present…she acts.
It’s like I’m no longer in control of my body as my adrenaline spikes, and I burst forward with a surge of speed, sprinting past the alphas and running out of the nest.
They could have grabbed me, if running away wasn’t the last thing they expected me to do.
Their shock is short-lived though, and in the next second I hear footsteps pounding behind me. I nearly slip on the stairs but I catch myself, my body going into full survivor mode.
I’m a passenger in my own body as my head swivels to the front door. That damn electronic lock is engaged.
My feet skid, and I quickly change directions, heading to the kitchen. There’s a door back there. Maybe Beatrice forgot to lock it.
“There’s no running from us, Pigeon!” Kellan shouts, taunting me. “Do you feel it yet? The heat taking over? The need licking up your veins?”
The kitchen door is locked.
It needs a key.
I turn, my back to the door as I scan the room. Kellan, Victor, and Jasper stand in the doorway, their faces lit up like they’re finally having a good time.
Swallowing, my mind races, trying to think of a way this situation can end without me ending up at their mercy.
This does not bode well for me.
“Nowhere to run,” Jasper taunts, stepping around Kellan and making his way towards me.
I want to cower. I want to flee.
But my instincts…my omega…she has other plans.
I find myself moving the opposite way as Jasper, keeping him directly in front of me. My back hits the kitchen counter, cool and soothing.
“Stay back,” my voice is shaky, and a cramp starts to take hold.
Lucky for me, I’ve been physically disciplined my entire life. This pain pales in comparison.
“We can’t do that, Pidge.” Kellan shakes his head, coming opposite of Jasper so my only exit is blocked. “You’re about to be real needy in a minute, and it can be…dangerous for an omega to go through a heat without any relief.”
My head shakes, and I snarl—a move so out of character, they all seem shocked for a second. “I said, stay the fuck back!”
“Well, well,” Jasper croons, a devious smile coming over his face as he takes a step closer, “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
My lip curls, and when he lunges for me, I don’t think.
I just act.
Before he reaches me, my hand reaches backwards, grabbing the kitchen knife from the granite countertop.
All I have to do is hold it out, and he impales himself.
There’s a moment of shock.
My eyes, trained on where the blade disappears into his stomach, widen in horror.
I…I just stabbed someone.
I blink, looking into the eyes of my victim. His gaze is stunned, his mouth gaping open before his face twists in agony.
No, I didn’t stab just someone.
I stabbed the man who has done nothing but torment me the last two days and fucking drugged me.
“What the fuck!” Victor’s shout breaks the silence, and then he and Kellan are rushing towards us, trying to catch Jasper’s body as he crumples to the ground.
Backing away, I leave the knife embedded in Jasper’s side, wiping the blood on the skirt of my dress.
Another cramp hits, and there’s this aching deep within me, but I can’t stop. My arm bands around my stomach as I stumble backwards, sweat beading at my temple.
I have to get out of here.
How, though?
Suddenly, an electronic beep sounds, followed by a whirling mechanism. The sound…it…can’t be.
That’s the sound the lock on the front door makes when it’s unlocking.
The gods must be smiling down on me, because Kellan and Victor are so preoccupied with Jasper, trying to stop the bleeding, they don’t even hear it.
And again, I run.
I reach the front hall, and thank fuck, the lock really has disengaged.
Heart racing, my hand shoots towards the doorknob—
A sharp cry leaves my throat as I’m yanked back by my hair, my back meeting the ground so hard, the wind knocks out of me.
I gasp for breath, and my head throbs as I stare up at the face of the man who caught me.
Victor.
“You stupid bitch,” he snarls, leaning down and wrapping his fingers around my throat as he lifts me off the ground.
I can’t…I can’t breathe. It’s too much. My adrenaline is fading, I haven’t eaten in two days, and things are only getting worse.
“You better fucking hope Jasper makes it out of this alive,” he yanks me up, his grip tightening, “because if he doesn’t—”
The front door bursts open, nearly ripping from its hinges.
My vision spots black.
All I can see are two shadowy figures in the doorway, and everything is a haze as air suddenly fills my lungs, and then I hit the floor.
But…those scents. Leather, vetiver, blood orange, lemon.
Mine.
My omega finally purrs in contentment as the darkness overtakes me yet again.