32
Lark
W atching my omega build a nest in our pack house is a fantasy come true I didn’t realize I had until it started happening right in front of me. “This is so much better than doing it ourselves.” Apollo murmurs from right beside me, and Wren grunts in agreement.
All four of us are standing where she left us like a bunch of creeps, but we can’t help it. We’re all transfixed on the omega marching around the room we designated for our future omega’s pack nest, awestruck.
She’s absolutely stunning. Every time she bends over to adjust a pillow on the mattress, or spread out a blanket, she flashes bare cheeks beneath her little sundress, and it takes all of my will power to stay right where I am.
“Fucking hell. If she bends over again, I’m going to bust a load in my pants like some prepubescent tween.” Apollo voices the same dilemma I’m currently experiencing, and Caito lets loose a soft growl in response. I can’t help but to reach down and adjust my painfully hard dick.
Caito—the fucker—has no room to talk. He came home drenched in our omega’s sex pheromones and sporting her fresh bond mark that made me jealous in ways I’ve never been. The things I’d do to get her to sink her teeth into me…
“We’ve been standing here for an hour. I think we should leave her to finish up.
Don’t you have dinner to start?” Caito directs his last statement towards me, and I scrub a hand down my face to help ward off some of the lingering arousal clinging to me from my dirty inner thoughts.
I’m the only one that hasn’t had a sample of our omega yet, dammit. I can’t help my reaction to her.
All in good time. Patience is key.
When I finally have her, I’m going to make it so she’ll crave me every second of every day afterwards.
“Yeah.” I sigh heavily, looking back at my Dream girl with longing. “Come on. Let’s give her some time. She’s in complete omega nesting mode right now. All the books say it’s best to let her work uninterrupted.”
Reluctantly, I leave the room, the other three trailing behind me down the hall to the kitchen where I’d already begun some dinner prep earlier.
Wren plops down by the mini bar while Caito rounds the counter to pull out two glasses.
“Better make that three, mate.” Apollo says when his huge body thumps down heavily onto the stool beside our pack lead.
Caito grabs another glass, and holds it up to me in question.
I shake my head before moving to the stove to turn on the oven.
The ribs I’d been marinating for the last few hours are just about ready to pop in.
I set to work making up a side salad and slicing up the loaf of bread I made this morning so it can go in the oven with the ribs later for garlic bread.
I’m most excited about the baked potato skins I have planned.
It’s a new recipe that one of my clients gave me to try.
My pack mates start up a low conversation at the mini bar, but I tune it out as I work, falling into a familiar rhythm.
Cooking is something I’ve always enjoyed that has a way of bringing me an inner peace I’m rarely able to find anywhere else.
And cooking for my omega is an entirely different experience that I am enjoying all too much.
I’ve just popped the ribs inside the oven when my pack mate’s conversation filters back to me. “Joey texted late last night to tell me Erossi left the city, but he doesn’t seem to be heading in this direction.” Wren is tapping a finger against the top of the bar, his irritation evident.
Brows furrowed, I moved over to the bar to join them. This is a topic that concerns me. “Where is he going?” I ask, but Wren shrugs, picking up his glass of whiskey and taking a large sip.
“No idea. I asked Joey to stay put to keep an eye on the other two. If Harlan comes here by himself, he’ll be making a mistake. I’ve got guys watching all over the Valley. We’ll be given plenty of warning if he does show his face here.”
I don’t like that. We still haven’t decided what we’re going to do about the assholes that marked our omega against her will just yet.
Wren claims he’s been working on something through all his father’s old channels of connections, but he hasn’t been very forthcoming about what exactly that is.
Unless Erossi comes for Scarlett, there’s nothing we can do at the moment.
“He’s definitely out there plotting. He must know who he’s dealing with now.
I bet he’s pooling together all of his resources so he can rip Scarlett away from us without repercussions.
He can’t have the world finding out he purchased an omega illegally and forced a bond on her.
” Apollo chimes in, and Wren sighs before he nods in agreement.
“Harlan Erossi is nothing. Let him fucking come. He won’t get anywhere near our omega.” Caito says this with such confidence, it’s hard not to believe him.
Just as I open my mouth to respond, a sudden crashing sound startles me, and I whirl around to find Scarlett frozen in the mouth of the kitchen.
There’s a set broken of fairy lights on the floor at her feet, but it’s the expression etched onto her beautiful face that has horror sinking deep into my bones.
Caito is already moving around the bar, Wren and Apollo behind him, but then she flinches.
Fucking flinches . All four of us freeze.
She swallows hard, then shakes her head and glares down at the glass lights shattered at her feet.
“I should be surprised, but I’m not. You four have this way of shoving yourselves into things that don’t concern you quite often.
I foolishly thought you’d leave well enough alone.
It’s obvious that I was wrong in that assumption.
” She growls this under her breath, and Caito’s chest rumbles with his disapproval.
She reaches up and rubs at her chest, and I realize then that she must be feeling some echo of my pack mate’s emotions through their partial bond.
“You were wrong to believe that we wouldn’t make it our business to end any threat against you, mo chroí .
Nothing wrong with that, though. We told you we would prove our devotion to you. Whatever it takes.”
She slashes a hand down in front of her, her anger palpable in the air and swirling with her scent.
The hints of citrus have gone nearly rotten with it.
“I don’t fucking care. You had no right digging into my life like this.
There is a goddamned reason I never brought that sick bastard up to any of you.
You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.
” Her snarl makes my balls clench, which is entirely inappropriate.
Stupid foolish alpha hormones . I’m just as much a slave to them as an omega.
I should not find her glare sexy as hell. It’s wrong on so many levels.
“Sweetheart, we know you’re angry-”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I’m angry!
You had no fucking right!” She repeats on a screech, reaching up to dig her fingers into her hair.
She starts to pace, but then she curses and cries out, falling back against the wall and lifting her foot just as blood begins to drip from her heel. “Son of a bitch.” She growls.
Caito is suddenly there while she’s busy cursing out the universe, and he scoops her up into his arms before she can protest. She immediately starts to flail, but then he shifts until he’s tossing her over his shoulder while he marches out of the kitchen.
We hurry after him to the sound of her snarls.
“Let me go, asshole! You’ve lost your touching privileges!
” She pounds at his back, but he slaps her bare ass under her sundress, unaffected by her little temper tantrum.
Her shocked gasp of outrage is cut off when he deposits her onto the couch. She tries to scramble away, but then Apollo is there, grabbing her ankle and yanking her back towards the both of them. I should put a stop to this, but I know exactly what they are doing.
I move over to the fireplace where we keep a first aid kit attached to the wall, and I grab it down before taking it over to Caito. He gives me a nod of approval as he sets the case down on the coffee table and opens it up to grab out the supplies he needs.
“Stop struggling, love. You’ve got glass in your foot.” Apollo tries to go for gentleness, but then she lashes out at him with the foot he doesn’t have secure. She strikes him in the shoulder, making him fall back against Caito’s legs.
“Give me the goddamn supplies. I can get it out myself.” She snarls, holding out her hand for the items Caito has clenched in his hands.
Because my pack brother is an asshole, he just smirks at her and holds the items firmly. “If you want us to explain ourselves, mo chroí , you’ll let me patch you up myself.”
She bares her teeth at him. “First off, stop calling me that. Second, I don’t need you to explain shit. You went against my wishes and dug into my past without my permission. There’s nothing else to explain.” The smile Caito gives her is not a nice smile.
My body tenses when he opens his mouth to respond to her, but Wren finally cuts in, completely on damage control.
“Give her the supplies, Caito.” He’s the sensible one.
He knows that it’s not the best idea right now to push her any more than we already have.
We are at risk of losing her, and we haven’t even fully had her yet. All because of one foolish little lie.
I knew it was going to be a mistake to keep things from her. I fucking knew it, and I’d went through with it anyway. I am just as much to blame for this fall out as the others.
I just hope and fucking pray there’s a way we can come back from this.