Chapter 7
Roman
T he moment that my omega walked into our now-shared apartment, I knew something was wrong. She refused to let me go to the clinic with her and I’d been nervously cleaning our place the entire time.
Maybe if I was an alpha I’d demand to go, wait outside the building, but I was trying to respect her boundaries. We were still new enough I didn’t want to cross a line… not after what she told me about her ex.
When she dropped her bag at the front table and turned those glassy ocean blue eyes on me, I rushed forward. My fingers pushed her long, red hair out of her face, brushing away the tears streaking down her freckled cheeks.
My heart slammed in my chest as my mind started to conjure all the awful possibilities. No matter what she told me I’d stick by her side. We’d figure it out.
“Talk to me, Stormy,” I pleaded as I placed a desperate kiss on her forehead. Her usual fresh rain, citrus, and sea salt scent was tainted around the edges with the pain filling her expression.
“I can’t take suppressors anymore,” she finally choked out. Her scent now laced in the bitter notes of her pain. My heart broke into pieces. “And I know without having my bonded alpha, it will be unbearable.”
Fuck, this complicated things. She said she would never touch another alpha and hers was too busy with his head up his ass to realize what he’d lost. I’d done some research the past few weeks on their bond.
It was rare to not get sick with absence, but there wasn’t enough research on rejection post claiming. All in all, every article talked about how heats could be a mix of uncomfortable, to downright torturous.
I didn’t know how to fix this. Being a beta, I couldn’t be enough. Knotting toys wouldn’t suffice, and she was thirteen years shy of having anything with his scent on it.
My poor omega broke down in my arms, great gasping sobs as she let out years of pain and anguish.
Finally, her sobs turned to sniffles and she stepped back with a calming breath. I watched her eyes harden just a fraction more. The visceral need to end her ex hit me so hard it stole the breath right from my lungs.
“Let’s order in tonight,” she said as she went to the fridge in an almost robotic movement. It worried me.
“Of course,” I said easily, taking the drink from her hands and loading the tray she’d pulled out with snacks. It was a nightly tradition and even a few weeks into living together, I knew what she wanted.
She moved to the sectional as I finished, tucking every soft blanket around her until she was in a cocoon, only her face poking out.
The numb look there nearly killed me.
What would tomorrow look like? After she processed, would she be ready to talk and make a plan?
Her heat was only a month away.
I sat the tray down on the coffee table and quickly turned on one of her favorite true crime shows before pulling up the app to order dinner. I’d made it my job to learn everything I could about her, probably to the point of being annoying, but it was paying off now.
“The usual?” I asked. She didn’t even respond with words, simply nodding her head and staring ahead. I don’t think she even knew what was on the screen.
My omega was lost in her head. She looked so small and fragile, nothing like the fiery woman I knew and loved.
Yes, ‘loved.’ With her, my entire world shifted the moment I scented her. I thought that guarded omega would fight me, but instead, she’d embraced me. She’d seen that I wasn’t scared off by her past and let herself simply feel.
This was fast and crazy, but it was our life. Neither one of us had regrets.
We’d figure this out, too.
We’d barely made it through two episodes and our food before her soft, even breaths told me she was asleep. I knew it would be senseless to move her so I helped her lay down in her cocoon of blankets and pillows, running my cheek over hers before brushing a kiss over her lips. She sighed happily in her sleep as I scent marked her.
At least I could offer her some peace in all this chaos.
She didn’t stir while I made a pallet on the floor and settled in, refusing to leave my omega’s side.
It was still early so I turned on white noise and opened up PackVlog to scroll mindlessly for a bit until I was tired.
Anger swelled in my chest at the sight of the Whitaker triplets front and center. Fucking smug bastards. They were all fake smiles, muscles, and too much cockiness. Everything about them screamed alphahole.
She’d mentioned them and we stumbled across one of them while scrolling one night. I expected her to shy away but she told me more about their relationship as she watched.
Curiosity hit me and I couldn’t resist clicking on the comments. My stomach churned at all the omegas and betas throwing themselves at these alphas.
Omegacutie23: I’d give up my firstborn for a night between these alphas.
GirlypopChrista: This is what a real alpha looks like. Whoever they find to be theirs is one lucky girl. Can I volunteer?
Victorsvlog: Do they swing for my team? I’d move to the boonies in a heartbeat.
My fingers twitched, ready to add a comment of my own. How had no one dug deep enough to figure out that the prick of an alpha Cameron had rejected his own mate. They were here practically frothing at the mouth for his attention and he was literally human garbage.
Anyone who would look into Oriana’s eyes and tell her that she’s not worthy is either a psychopath or delusional. There wasn’t a single bit of honesty to what he told her.
He was lying to himself and her.
Cameron was also a coward.
Fuck it. She never checked their comments anymore, so I had no qualms about sending a shitty comment and stirring the pot.
I hoped someone did dig a little deeper and expose him for what he is.
Checkmate: Yeah Cameron, tell us about your biggest regret… a little bird you let get away, maybe?
With a quiet growl I threw my phone aside and slung an arm over my head. A headache was forming and I was quickly regretting that comment.
A notification had me reaching for my phone. One quickly turned to two, then ten, then twenty. My eyes widened as I clicked, seeing comments filling up my replies.
Holy shit.
Regret hit me strong and fast. Even if I deleted it now I knew the damage was done. I’d have to tell her what I did and I hoped like hell that I kept it vague enough to keep the masses at bay.
The replies kept coming faster than I could read them. They were now begging me for the tea and fuck I wanted to give it to them, expose these assholes for the trash they were.
Yet I couldn’t.
She would inevitably get dragged into it as well. If she wasn’t painted as the bitter ex, she’d get blamed for causing the rift. He was an asshole and a fool for pushing her away and one day, he’d be drowning his regrets in the bottom of a bottle… if he wasn’t already.
They ran a bar after all.
I fell asleep to thoughts about his empty existence, my only solace in a terrible day.
Feather-light touches wake me from a dead sleep and I startled. Ori’s soft laughter pulled me out of the panic and I blinked open my eyes.
“You stayed with me,” she said, her eyes nearly welling up at the small gesture. Reaching up for her hand I yanked her so she fell off the couch and landed on top of me.
Her scent enveloped me and I tucked my nose into her neck, breathing her in. It was quickly becoming an addiction.
“I’ll always stay with you, Stormy,” I told her, though I don’t know if she could even hear with my voice muffled against her skin. I could drown in the fresh rain, tart citrus, and seasalt of her scent. It intensified, the underlying omega sweetness blooming with each stroke of my fingers down her back.
It was moments like these that I wished I could purr like an alpha, help her feel how much I want her down to my bones.
She let out a sigh that had my thoughts turning from heated to concerned.
“Talk to me,” I said as I stroked her long, red hair. She was putty in my hands anytime I ran my hands through it. “Where’s your head at?”
“Angry,” she admitted with a strange, hollow laugh. “I thought I’d feel sad or spend days in bed crying. Yet, right now, I’m so fucking mad that I can’t swallow it down.”
“At him?”
She nodded against me. I needed to keep her talking, but relaxed. Good thing I made it my job to know my omega better than I knew myself.
“Come on,” I urged when she still hadn’t found her voice to answer. She didn’t protest as I shifted us both to our feet and led her to the master bathroom. Her eyes tracked every movement as I mixed together the bath oils and sprinkled in the fresh bath salts that had little bits of wildflowers mixed in. They complemented her scent and they also soothed her.
I held out my hand and she glanced at it, cheeks darkening a ruddy pink at being so helpless. It was something she hated, but when she let me take care of her, it meant everything to me.
As she gazed up at me, ocean eyes swimming with tears and shadows, she was the most gorgeous omega I’d ever seen.
Her lip trembled slightly, the puffy pink of them one of my favorite things about her. She was a natural beauty. Her features soft and delicate—bright, radiant eyes and skin that seemed to glow in the sun, the dusting of freckles on her nose—were gorgeous.
All of it was only made better by the huge heart she had.
Even after he broke it, she refused to change her sweet nature. Maybe I could say that because I missed the healing years in between. But, she was so much stronger than she gave herself credit for.
And now she had me to help her realize her worth. That was a job I would never take for granted.
She didn’t protest as I carefully helped her out of her clothes, tossing them into the hamper before stripping out of my own. I pulled her with me into the bath and settled her against the opposite side so her feet were in my lap and I could see her face.
The tears finally broke again as I dug my knuckles into the arch of her foot. Her eyelids fluttered closed and I knew she needed to talk this out.
Bath time was our therapy. The place we could share our darkest, most painful thoughts, then wash them down the drain.
We’d come out of this even stronger than before.
This time would be no different.
“You’re angry.” It was a solid starting point.
She nodded, the tears drying up as a fire started to spark in her eyes. She glared down at the water now, as if the flowers floating could help articulate the complicated feelings the appointment left her with.
“There’s no good choice in this, Roman,” she said in a rush. “I either suffer for weeks every year, find someone not my match to knot me, though I doubt that would work because my omega knows I belong to him, or I go crawling to him and beg for his help.”
My entire body tensed at those words. Was she considering going back to him now?
I shouldn’t have worried. Her lips twisted into an angry snarl.
“I don’t beg,” she spit out. “Especially not an alpha like him.”
Then her body slumped and she blinked away a fresh wave of tears.
“But I also have this petty need for him to know what he’s done, see the damage he’s caused. He doesn’t get to live this stupid fake life and flirt with all these nameless girls, while I suffer.”
There was nothing I could say to that. She needed to let it all out. When either of us had a moment like this, we didn’t interrupt, we stayed silent and gave nonjudgmental support. It usually wasn’t this deep, but I was even more grateful now for those hard moments at work and frustrating afternoons we vented out in this bathtub. It laid the groundwork for this moment.
So, that’s what I did… I listened. Even as her scent swirled around me with so much emotion mixing in that it barely smelled like her. Her eyes were swimming with tears and I wanted to touch her so badly my hands ached.
“Some stupid wounded part of me wants him to want me. Like I need some twisted, fucked-up validation from the alpha I thought would be with me forever.”
She scoffed as her fist wrapped around a cluster of floating flowers and crushed them, squeezing tight enough her knuckles were white as they trembled.
Fuck, I couldn’t take it anymore. I reached forward, tilting my knees away and wrapping my fingers around her wrists, gently tugging her closer so I could massage her tense muscles.
“Does that make me pathetic?”
Fuck, those watery ocean eyes were going to be the death of me.
“No, Oriana. It makes you human,” I said in a hushed tone. My fingers dug into her shoulders and she dropped her head. I didn’t miss the new tears that fell into the water, rippling it slightly as they hit. “I’m here no matter what you want to do. You know damn well there’s no getting rid of me.”
“I don’t want to get rid of you,” she said fiercely. “You’re the most important person in my life.”
A smile ghosted over my face but I knew it wasn’t a sentiment we could hold onto forever.
“I’ll have to share you someday.”
I think after a few weeks of talking, she was starting to accept that, too. Until this hit.
She deserved a pack and I had to believe Cameron wasn’t her only other pack out there.
They’d have to learn her just like I did, and I’d make sure they were worthy. I knew what she looked like when she was trying to hide her feelings. The way her face scrunched when she cried. How her eyes rolled back when she came.
I also hated that I knew what she looked like heartbroken, and they would not get to add to that pain.
Oriana nodded with an adorable pout. We both knew that finding an alpha would never be a pleasant experience for her. But, if they were meant for her, they’d be able to handle her baggage just like I did.
If they couldn’t, she had me to kick their asses for her.
I’d fight every battle for her if she’d let me, but Oriana wasn’t the type.
She’d rather do it herself.
Despite how she was feeling now she was not a pushover anymore. She was outspoken when she needed to be and stood up for herself. It was exactly how she’d climbed the ladders that she had in her career.
Real estate in a city as big as ours was an alpha heavy industry. Yet she’d kept all of them in their place from the moment she entered the scene.
I had no doubts that the same backbone she earned there, would help her now.
Just after she processed all of this bullshit.
“Dad wants me to go home,” she said, finally meeting my eyes before letting them drop again. “For once, I want to do it. To go there and tell Cameron that he’s a fucking dick, to tell him that he gets this one chance to grovel, to change and show me he’s worth my time, or I’m letting go of him forever. I need the closure and I need to know I did everything. No looking back, no third chances.”
She looked at me from under her lashes, as if gauging my reaction.
A smile spread across my face. Fuck, it was so sexy when she took what she wanted. I couldn’t wait to watch it happen.
Then I winced. It was time to come clean.
“I should probably admit that in my anger last night, I commented on PackVlog.”
Her eyes widened and she gasped, splashing me before letting out a laugh.
“What did you say?!”
“I said someone should ask Cameron about the little bird he let get away and ask if he had any regrets.”
Instead of being angry she gave me a wicked little grin. Now that she had a plan, she was in control again. “Good, that means he’ll be thinking of me.”
“Your lease is up for renewal next month,” I reminded her.
“You’d let go of your job, your art programs? I can’t ask that of you,” she said, chewing on her lip. Conflict started to cloud her ocean eyes, making them downright stormy.
“There are other teachers I could recruit. We could visit from time to time, as well. But I’d give it all up for you, Ori.”
As she smiled up at me, there was an undercurrent of excitement and hope building. I knew this was the right choice.
We didn’t have ties here outside of work and she never stopped wishing she could be back in her hometown.
I’d never experienced small town life, but if she was there, I’d be willing to go anywhere.
“What if you sweetened the deal?” I asked, an insane idea filling my head. “What if we hired a pack to come with us for the first week or so. Pretend to be your pack and drive him wild. Nothing motivates an alpha quite like seeing another alpha living out his dreams.”
Her eyes were wide as she blinked at me.
“I never realized you were an evil genius,” she finally said, laughing incredulously. “God, but making him jealous sounds so incredibly petty. I’m in.”