Chapter 31 #2
"I know." I braced myself, preparing for whatever came next—anger, fear, shame, hatred. Whatever she threw at us, we'd take it. We'd weather the storm and come out the other side.
Her eyes opened. For a moment, she just blinked, disoriented, her green gaze unfocused and confused. Then awareness flooded in, where she was, who she was with, what had happened—and I watched the memories crash over her like a wave.
The heat. The claiming. The biting. The way she'd begged for more, offered her throat, told us she loved us.
The purring. Her face crumpled, her features twisting with horror and shame.
"No," Ava whispered, her voice cracking, her eyes squeezing shut, tears already gathering at the corners. "No, no, no—"
"Ava." I reached for her, my hand finding her shoulder, my touch gentle despite the urgency pounding through my veins.
"Sweetheart, it's okay—" She flinched away from my touch like I'd burned her, scrambling backward until her back hit the headboard with a thud, her eyes wild, her breath coming in panicked gasps that made her chest heave.
"Don't touch me," Ava hissed, real fear in her voice now, real horror contorting her features, her hands raised between us like a shield. "Don't—I can't—what did I—"
"You didn't do anything wrong," Caleb said softly, his deep voice gentle despite her obvious terror, his massive body carefully still so as not to frighten her further. "The heat is over. You're safe now."
"Safe?" Ava laughed, the sound sharp and broken, scraping out of her throat. "I begged you to bite me. I told you I loved you. I—" Her voice cracked, tears spilling down her cheeks in hot streams. "I purred. Oh god, I purred."
"That's nothing to be ashamed of," I said carefully, keeping my voice calm despite the pain in my chest, my hands open and non-threatening at my sides. "That's what Omegas do when they're content. When they feel safe with their pack."
"You're not my pack!" Ava screamed, her voice ragged and raw, her green eyes blazing with fury and fear.
"You kidnapped me! You locked me in a concrete cell!
You—you—" She pressed her hands to her face, sobbing, her shoulders shaking.
"I don't know what's real anymore. I don't know what I actually feel and what you made me feel. I don't know anything."
I exchanged a look with Caleb over her head. This was what I'd predicted, the shame, the confusion, the anger directed inward. She wasn't fighting us right now. She was fighting herself.
"Everything you felt was real," I said quietly, not moving closer, giving her the space she desperately needed. "The heat didn't create those feelings, Ava. It just removed the barriers you'd built to hide them."
"That's not true," Ava sobbed, her words muffled by her hands, her body curling in on itself. "That's not—I don't love you. I don't. The heat made me say things, made me feel things—"
"The heat made you honest," Caleb said gently, his deep voice a soothing rumble, his ice-blue eyes soft with compassion. "That's all it did. The feelings were already there. You've just been too afraid to acknowledge them."
"Stop." Ava's voice was raw, broken, cracking on the word.
She dropped her hands, her tear-streaked face twisted with anguish.
"Just stop. Please. I can't—I need—" She looked around wildly, like a trapped animal searching for escape, her green eyes darting to the door.
"I need to be alone. Please. Just give me a few minutes alone. "
Every instinct I had screamed against leaving her. She was hurting, vulnerable, spiraling into panic and self-hatred. Everything in me wanted to gather her in my arms and hold her until she stopped shaking. Pushing her right now would only make it worse.
"Okay," I said softly, rising from the bed, my movements slow and deliberate. "We'll give you some time. But we're right outside if you need us."
Caleb looked like he wanted to argue, his scarred face tight with reluctance, his ice-blue eyes lingering on Ava's huddled form. He followed my lead, standing and moving toward the door, his massive frame somehow conveying both power and restraint.
I paused at the threshold, looking back at our Omega, curled against the headboard, tears streaming down her face, bite marks livid on her throat.
"Whatever you're feeling right now, whatever you're telling yourself—it's not the whole truth," I said quietly, my voice steady despite the ache in my chest. "The woman who purred in our arms, who asked for our bites, who said she loved us, that was you, Ava.
The real you. The you that exists underneath all the fear and the anger.
Don't hate her for being brave enough to show herself. "
I closed the door before she could respond, the click of the latch impossibly loud in the quiet hallway. In the hallway, Caleb and I stood in silence, listening to the muffled sound of her sobs through the wood. Each one felt like a blade between my ribs.
"That went about as well as expected," Caleb said heavily, his deep voice tight with pain, his massive shoulders slumping.
"Give her time." I leaned against the wall, exhaustion suddenly weighing on me like a physical force.
We hadn't slept much during her heat either—too focused on caring for her, claiming her, making sure she survived the intensity of it.
"She needs to process. To grieve for the version of herself she's been clinging to. "
"And then?" Caleb asked, his ice-blue eyes searching my face for answers.
"Then we start the real work." I pushed off the wall, heading toward the kitchen, my bare feet silent on the hardwood. I needed coffee. Food. Something to occupy my hands while I waited for our Omega to decide whether she was going to accept us or destroy herself trying to deny what she felt.
"Mason." Caleb's voice stopped me, his deep rumble echoing down the hallway.
"Do you really think she'll come around?
That she'll accept this?" I thought about the way she'd tilted her head back, offering her throat.
The way she'd purred against my chest, content and safe.
The way she'd said "again" when I asked if she wanted my bite.
"Yes," I said finally, looking back at him, letting him see the certainty in my eyes. "I do. It might take days, weeks, or even months. She might fight us every step of the way. But eventually, she'll get tired of running from herself. And when she does, we'll be here to catch her."
I just hoped we could survive the wait.