27. Delilah
Chapter twenty-seven
The house is the creepiest in the middle of the night, but it’s also the safest time for me to get chores done.
You’d think for a bunch of mercenaries or vigilantes or whatever these people are that they’d be lighter sleepers.
But each of them never notices me slipping in and out of their rooms at night to gather dirty clothes.
Joker’s room is easy, as his hamper is right beside the door, so I don’t even have to go inside fully to accomplish my task.
My heart aches as I slide the basket out into the hallway, knowing what’s on the other side.
A nest, a real nest, full of blankets and pillows and warmth and love.
Everything I’ve ever wanted, just feet away.
But I don’t let myself dwell, quickly replacing the basket and closing the door silently.
I shouldn’t ask for more than what they’ve given me. I know better.
Cross’s room is neat enough to navigate in the dark, everything precisely in its place with nothing on the floor to trip me as I move toward his standing wardrobe with the hamper just beside it.
It takes a lot of self control not to bury my face in the armful of clothes I carry out into the hallway, his soft, musky scent so soothing to my lonely soul.
But I resist, adding the clothes to Joker’s in my basket.
Phantom has started leaving his clothes outside his door for me, which is polite but only makes me more curious about what his room looks like.
Is he messy or neat? Does he take up his entire bed or is there room to spare for others to join him?
All questions I’m dying to have answered, but I respect the unspoken signal.
I don’t bother trying to enter Bones’s room.
Not only because he leaves whatever dirty clothes he uses outside but also because I don’t want to risk getting caught and risk a repeat of the incident in my room the other day.
I shudder just remembering it. And I’m still thinking about it when I move toward Siren’s door and open it.
I’m looking down at the floor so I don’t realize anything is amiss right away. Not until a fierce alpha growl freezes me in place, my spine shrinking.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you stupid little omega?!” Siren shouts, some piece of furniture hitting the ground.
The room suddenly smells like burning roses, and I choke, unable to speak or answer as their dominance rolls over me in waves. My spine curls lower and lower as they advance until my legs give out, and I fall to my knees with a whimper.
“What? Can’t even answer a simple question? You’re so fucking pathetic, you know that?” Siren shouts, standing over me.
I hear footsteps in the hall, but I don’t look up, my whole body shaking.
“You were given one instruction, omega. One. Fucking. Instruction. Don’t go in our rooms. And then you just open my fucking door like you own the place? What the fuck is wrong with you?” they go on, somehow even louder.
I whine and flinch, my voice small as I try to defend myself. “I-I-I was j-just—”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you were just trying to do. We told you not to do something, and you did it anyway. So fucking stupid!”
“Rin! Enough!”
A male voice shouts, trying to enter the room, but I can’t move. I can’t look up, can’t do anything except sit there and take it. Because I am pathetic and stupid and useless and every terrible thing Siren is calling me.
And suddenly it’s not their voice above me, but another voice.
A male voice, not one that belongs to anyone here.
A voice I was told to forget. But one so familiar and terrifying that I gasp for air, my lungs too tight.
I can’t breathe, can’t move. Alpha pheromones past and present keeping me down.
My stomach churns and I gag, just managing to keep what little food I’d had today down.
“If you puke on my fucking floor, you’re going to lick it up, omega. What are you even still doing here? Get the fuck out of my fucking room!”
Siren’s shout has me scrambling on my hands and knees, crawling over feet until I’m out of the room and sobbing on the hallway floor. Hands try to touch me, but I yelp and shove them away, my vision too blurry to tell past demons from present kindness.
“Aww is the baby going to cry some more? That’s all you fucking do. Cry and whine and take up space,” Siren mocks, their fake baby voice cutting me deep.
“Siren, that is enough. Delilah, go back to your room,” Phantom snaps, his accent thick with his rage.
I get to my feet, stumbling as I blindly retreat to my pathetic nest, curling up into a shaking ball.
I can hear more shouting, but my sobs drown out the words.
They’re probably discussing my punishment, or where to dump me, or worse.
My mind spirals deeper and deeper into panic that I can’t breathe again.
There are no comforting scents here to ground me, no soft materials to nuzzle.
Nothing. Just like I’m nothing to these people.
I don’t know when I cry myself to sleep, but sometime later, a hand shakes me awake. I jolt, scrambling away from the person and covering my head with my arms.
“It’s okay, honey. It’s just me,” a soft voice says. Cross.
I lower my arms and try to wipe the dried tears from my face. He’s here to deliver my judgment. I keep my eyes down, trying to contain the urge to beg. I doubt it would do any good anyway.
“Are you okay?” Cross asks gently, far more gently than I deserve.
“Yes, Beta Cross,” I murmur, not looking up.
He lets out a soft sigh, and I flinch, feeling the disappointment in his stare.
“Siren was out of line tonight. We’ve talked to them and they won’t talk to you like that again,” he goes on, tone somber.
“I should apologize,” I say, starting to get up.
Cross reaches out and pulls me back down to my cot. “No, honey. If anything, they should apologize to you. You barely did anything wrong and they overreacted.”
I look up in confusion. “I broke a rule. I need to apologize and accept my punishment.”
Cross’s expression darkens and I flinch back, biting my lower lip.
“Is that what would happen in your old pack? You would make a simple mistake and they would punish you?” Cross asks lowly.
I nod. “If I broke a rule, then yes.”
“How many rules did you have, honey?” Cross’s question comes quick, but I don’t know how to interpret his tone.
I shrug with one shoulder. “I don’t remember. But they weren’t crazy. Not really. And I was good about following them, so punishments weren’t a regular thing.”
I swear I hear Cross’s teeth grind and he clenches his jaw and visibly swallows. I drop my eyes again. Great. Now I’ve messed this up, too.
“You aren’t going to be punished, honey. I’ll make sure of it,” Cross says firmly.
Before I can stop him, he turns on his heel and marches out of the room. He closes my door gently, leaving me in the darkness, more confused than ever.