14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
Isadora
“ A re you leaving?”
The following morning, the heat wasn’t much better.
My clothes were clinging to my skin. I chose a simple white tee and denim shorts combo, and I braided my hair in two sections over my shoulders.
I could barely think, with my flushed cheeks and all that emptiness between my legs.
I couldn’t stay a second longer in this house with them three without jumping their bones, so I decided to leave. Just leave.
That was until Per and Sven caught me right on the way.
“Hmm, for a walk,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.
It could have worked if it weren’t for the fact that I spoke. I raised the collar of my T-shirt, letting air in, as if we were in the desert and not Sweden.
Per looked so good in the light of the morning. His good boy clothes made me want to eat him whole, and those bright eyes pinning me on the spot was the opposite of what I needed.
“Are you sure you’re well for that?” he asked.
“Mmm.” I nodded quickly.
His eyes locked on my lips as I blew inside my T-shirt, and I watched as he swallowed a lump in his throat.
His neck looked so good from here. I stood there thinking about how delicious his skin must taste when the door across the hall opened, drawing my attention away from Per to Sven coming out of his bedroom.
“We’ll come with you.”
“I don’t need bodyguards,” I said quickly.
No. I needed distance. Even standing there, showered and dressed, my fingers tingled, daring me to remove all clothes and get on my knees.
It was a hook coming from the pit of my stomach, propelling me to do it, a little voice in the back of my mind letting me know if I took their cocks all the way down to my throat, they wouldn’t refuse me.
“Where are we going?” Sven asked, looking at Per and completely ignoring my last comment.
“Nowhere. I need a walk.” And I wagged my finger from one to the other. “Alone.”
The heat was burning under my skin and trickling down my legs. It had me by my neck, demanding action, and left me feeling feverish and disoriented as a result. I needed space to think about how I could survive this without going crazy, without giving in even more.
I rushed downstairs, but I felt the others following me, like I could feel their warmth chasing mine.
When did I become so vulnerable to my desires?
Something about the whole situation made me breathless.
Even when they explained things to me about my own body, as if they knew more than me.
Shit, I usually hated to be in the dark, but with these guys, I couldn’t deny there was something delicious about it.
Like they could make me come in a whole new way.
And then there was the knot. I should have asked Anders to show me his and satisfy my curiosity. Sven was inside me already.
Oh god.
Flashes of the night before danced in front of my eyes, and by the time I closed my hand over the knob, I was all flustered and even crazier than before. I had sex with Sven. I had sex with my dad’s friend while the other friend gently held me against his chest.
He didn’t come, and his knot apparently was never inside me, but still, I felt every inch of him stretching me to my limits.
No, I couldn’t even take my mind going there.
I opened the front door, eager to rush outside just to meet a giant of a man with his fist ready to knock instead of the idyllic sights of this strange Swedish village.
“Hmm, hello?” he greeted me in English.
“Hi,” I replied slowly, my eyes wandering from his to the other two giants beside him.
“Noah!” Per’s voice came from behind me.
His chest brushed against my shoulder as he arrived by the door to welcome the mountain men, and I shivered. Damn, this situation was ridiculous.
I stepped back, accepting my escape was delayed, and let Per deal with the newcomers. I held myself back from lifting the hem of my shirt once again. At least I still had some modesty.
“My friend, I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Noah said to Per, his eyes on me. “We were traveling, and I decided to come over and introduce you to my omega.”
My curiosity piqued, I couldn’t deny, especially when a small woman emerged between the three of them.
She was short with a huge smile. Her clothes were very colorful, and if I knew my people right, she was not from here.
No, she had a brown complexion, straight dark hair that fell to her waist, and deep eyes.
I didn’t know where, but I was pretty sure she looked Indigenous.
“Hi, I’m Julia!” Her accent didn’t betray me, and without meaning, I stepped closer, trying to look at the group better.
They didn’t miss my approach, and Noah’s eyes turned to me and then quickly to Per. “I’m so happy you found your omega. I’m sorry we are interrupting.”
“You’re not.” I spoke up without meaning to. “I’m not theirs.”
The words tasted like ashes in my mouth, but there was nothing but the truth in my statement. I wasn’t theirs. They were ready to send me to another pack as soon as I took that damn test.
“I’m Isadora,” I said to the omega, ignoring the eyes of the other men burning on me.
“Isadora?” she asked with a tip of her head.
“I’m Brazilian,” I said, giving her a nod.
“Oh god, I’m from Bolivia!” Julia laughed and made her way to me, completely ignoring everyone else. “And the village my parents were born in is just at the border with Brazil!”
She was using a slow version of Spanish with me, mixing with a little Portuguese, and I smiled. I knew almost nothing in Spanish. She grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the guys, her mouth working nonstop as if we were in the middle of a conversation.
Damn, she was nice. I wasn’t very nice, but I liked to be around another omega.
“She’s Karl’s kid,” Sven said to the men, and they nodded. That same weight anytime my dad’s name was mentioned followed.
Something in my expression must have tipped Julia off because she next squeezed my hand on hers. “You were leaving when we got here?”
I tore my eyes away from the group of men and nodded. “Yeah, I was going for a walk.”
“A walk? Sure. Let’s do it.”
She got up quickly and pulled me with her and dragged me across the room. “We’re going for a walk.” And with a quick kiss on the guys, we left the room.
It was less than thirty seconds since the door closed before Julia laced her arm in mine as we walked. “Okay, what’s happening? Are you okay?”
My laugh was empty. “What was the giveaway?”
The way I looked absolutely crazed? Was it my damp skin? My T-shirt clinging to my body?
Julia giggled. “No South American girl is going for a walk unless something is going on. When you’re born in the heat, walking is not leisure.”
Oh god, that was so true. I never in my life wanted to go for a freaking walk until now, when everything was falling apart in my head.
My knee-jerk reaction was to push Julia away and just tell her to mind her business, but I found myself spilling my guts and telling her everything.
Every single detail since the moment I landed in this porn version of Midsommar .
“Oh god, I’m so sorry, this is probably my fault.” She cringed once I finished my tale.
“How?”
Julia made a face, and we moved from the square to a bench overlooking the village.
She took a big breath before saying, “Noah called Anders when they found me. I’m a lost omega too.
My dad ran from his pack like yours, and he married my beta mom.
No one tracked me down, though. I accidentally ended up in their village, and my heat started like this.
” She snapped her fingers. “Noah was happy. He wanted everyone to know there were more omegas out there.”
I nodded, looking away from her friendly face for a while. As much as I didn’t want any of this to happen, I couldn’t remain ignorant. I was glad I knew who I was. I was glad I was standing in my dad’s birthplace.
“It’s not your fault. It’s just so difficult. These guys hate my dad, and sometimes they act like I should understand.”
Julia nodded. “Dad made sure never to bring me to his village. I was only there once and never again. Apparently, my uncle said I was probably an omega, but Dad wasn’t interested in cluing me in. It’s hard when an alpha leaves a pack. The ones who stay behind will always be broken.”
Broken.
Is that how they felt? I looked around at the happy families and the sun shining over our heads.
Regardless of my dad’s warnings, this place was starting to look like a paradise instead of the hell he painted it to be.
My hungry eyes followed an omega and two of her alphas.
She had to be the same age as the guys, but her eyes were full of life as she laughed.
Kids played across the street, the alphas gave her a sweet kiss and joined what I could only guess were their kids, and she watched them with the most beautiful smile on her face.
“I’m trying to understand, but…” I confessed.
“I know,” Julia said sweetly. “The bond they share is not something we know, but you have to know, packs bond for life, Isadora. They swear to stand by each other's side, and that promise is forged in fire for them. Even if they don’t find an omega, they stand together.”
I couldn’t look at her, but the omega and her pack in front of me filled my eyes with unwanted tears. It was simply too much right now.
“And when they find an omega?” I dared to ask.
My eyes found Julia’s. She was warm and good even though I’d just met her. It was hard to accept that we were the same, given our contrasting looks, but I felt an unnatural kinship to her.
“When a pack finds their omega, there’s nothing they wouldn’t do for her.
These guys live for their omegas, and they’ve been told it was never happening to them.
They gave up hope and…” Her words hung in the air between us until she took another breath with a small smile.
“You can’t try to make sense of this by using any measure that you learned before.
These guys aren’t just regular guys. They’re alphas.
They’re a pack, and you are not some girl. You are an omega.”