1. 5 Kit
Rubbing the outsides of my arms, I stood in front of a window in a dingy hallway above ground located in a building near the docks.
Now that night had set in, I let my eyes scan over the darkness outside the compound.
For being on the level above ground, we didn’t allow much light to not give our position away, so I was tucked within a shadow for no one to see me unless they moved closer.
One flickering light in the center of the room creeped strangers out enough to stay away.
This became my spot to hide, but I had a few other spots I rotated to in order to get a different view for my territory.
This time of night I dedicated solely for me.
It was my time to unveil what I hid so well all day long.
Most people never understood why I didn’t sleep, but we all had nightmares to deal with at one point or another.
The icky sensation from mine still clung to my skin, and I could never scrub it away.
It lingered in the depths of my soul and haunted me when I couldn’t see completely around me.
Being afraid of the dark hadn’t been something people needed to know, but I gained that fear.
A bone-chilling terror that came when you couldn’t see what planned to attack you.
I remembered that helpless feeling of being hunted in the dark.
My mind often drifted to it because it had been someones that I thought I didn’t need to be afraid of, two men and my mother.
Now that I had to deal with certain people from my past, it left a gap of room for my weaknesses to be revealed.
I felt scared, but it wasn’t just the dark igniting that sensation within me.
That complex emotion came from having to hide my true feelings that never went away for the group of men now being harbored in my home.
My hand reached for my neck, skimming over the two raised bumps that marked me from the bite, showcasing a claimed Omega.
They saw it. Four out of the five saw the scar that made me a marked female.
Kayos was the one to comment on it, having the audacity to look hurt by it.
That small and insignificant expression bothered me right now.
I played it cool that I’d been taken, but it troubled me to see him hurting.
More than ever, I detested seeing he still cared for me in some way because he abandoned me with the others.
They left for their schooling, and it left me an easy target.
They were what lit the fire that forged me into becoming who I became right now.
I wasn’t good enough for them, so his look should have been meaningless from when he chose to leave me.
Even though I knew the logic behind all my reasoning, it was still hard to not think about.
They were the very reason I had the cardinal rule I did when claiming lovers.
That helpless sense of abandonment came during the night, leaving me isolated and cold in my empty nest that I once shared with the heat of their strong bodies.
I used to purr and preen under their gentle touches, but I never let myself purr since then.
Not where others could hear it at least.
Anika and I did what we had to do in order to build this empire.
The two holes in my neck didn’t come from teeth.
We made a branding iron and burned our necks in the same area to look as though we did.
Only the inner circle of my most trusted men bore the branding, so everyone thought we belonged to the same Alpha.
I was even smart enough to make a scented spray that made it fragrance the air with our matched pack scent.
As long as no one got too close or thought too hard about it, we were fine.
We did have a pack, but there’d been no Alpha guiding us.
With all the corruption already brewing in the city, I knew we had to hold our own or else we’d lose too many of us.
The Sellers would come and claim majority of those who chose to join for safety.
My men knew how much they meant to me, and I provided the means to make sure they survived while living a life that wasn’t on the streets or as a pained plaything.
Anika and her brother helped me build the gardens and farms below the ground that gave us a bountiful harvest without needing too much reliance outside our community.
It took us the first few years of setting this up, but the six of us did it.
The five I trusted most, helped me begin all of this and encouraged my idea of hiding under a false Alpha.
All of us fought our basic instinct to want to be a pack under an Alpha, but we did it because we had been burned by false loyalty.
There were promises made to each one of us that left us broken and vulnerable for the city to prey on.
That’s how I found the people who joined our ranks because they went through something similar.
I offered them a home here, one they could leave at any time, if they did find their pack.
There were a few stray Deltas and Alphas among my people.
Some Alphas had made their own packs within my walls, and I supported this, making sure they had the necessities to provide for their family.
No one should be refused if both parties wanted it.
No one should ever have to feel like trailer trash and not good enough for the boys on the other side of the river like me.
It hurt, and I still remembered the day I met all of them.
It was my freshman year of high school when Ryatt found me.
There were no words that could ever be expressed for how I felt under his attention, smelling his mix of pepper and cinnamon.
There were no words for how Kayos made me feel seen in the sea of people in the halls.
Turner used to leave notes in my locker that wished me to have a good day, and Kashmir made sure to take the seat in front of me in class, so he could turn around and talk to me.
Franco had always been quiet, but he came and snuggled with me if I slept over at one of their houses.
He was the one who held my body the closest as though he couldn’t think of anything worse than losing me.
I never knew his worst nightmare would become my own.
I lost them all, and now I had to pretend like it didn’t matter.
“Can’t sleep?” The stranger’s voice asked me in the dead silence, spooking me into jumping just a bit.
To my surprise, I found their Omega to be lurking above ground where he shouldn’t be. It was easy to see his naivety with his youthful grin and hands in his pockets. “It’s not safe for you up here. If you want us to keep you safe, you need to remain where people won’t see you.”
He smiled at my words before moving to stand next to me in front of the window.
There was this boyish charm about him that told me he didn’t go through the hardships of life that I had.
In a way, he reminded me of myself before I’d been abandoned by his very pack.
Instead of answering me, he continued his own conversation.
“I’m not much of a sleeper too. Nights always feel off, and I can’t ever describe it properly to others.
It leaves me with the dire need to wander the premises and make sure it’s safe. ”
“Does your pack know that their Omega wanders without protection?”
“I could ask the same about you.” His jovial ways tried thwarting the jealous hate I built against him years ago, but I didn’t like thinking about when I returned to find I’d been replaced.
“My Alpha treats me as an equal,” I clipped. I knew there was no way in hell that Ryatt’s pack would be okay with him wandering. Ryatt had always been a hard ass when it came to me wanting to be alone for a while.
“That’s pretty impressive. When we were escaping, Ry wouldn’t even put me on my own feet to run.
” Snorting, he shook his head with a laugh and smile.
The way his mouth stretched was almost too easy, and it made me wonder if he wasn’t part of their drug trades.
There was no easiness when running an empire, so how did he stand before me as though none of it tarnished his soul?
“Ryatt is like that a lot.” The words left my mouth before I could think of them through, giving away I knew his pack before he joined. He must’ve already noticed with how I responded to their entrance, but I led the conversation there again without wanting to.
“You knew them?”
“High school,” I gave a short answer with a tight smile. It was only then that I realized my hand was still covering my mark. His eyes kept drifting to where I held my neck, having too many questions within them that I didn’t want to deal with. “I kinked my neck earlier.”
“Oh, I’m sorry for staring.” He acted shy and timid, reminding me of myself when I was younger. Always quick to apologize and stammer in place when I felt like I offended someone. Now, I was the woman who chopped heads off for offending me. “So you went to school with them?”
I wasn’t sure how he was missing the mark that I wanted to be left alone because I knew it exuded from my body like a stench.
Holding my breath, I hated that I was standing right next to my replacement, and I had to play nice.
Not that this man ever deserved my wrath, but I didn’t like him immediately because of what he symbolized in my own life.
“Yes, back when this wasn’t our lives.”
“You know, they don’t speak about their past very often. It would be nice to learn more about it, if you’re willing to tell me.”
“Their secrets are their own,” I said back to him, keeping my gaze out the window. My eyes kept tracing every movement in the shadows out there to not reflect on the ones within.
“You’re right, I’m sorry for asking. I can tell a lot burdens them from their past, but they never tell me what those burdens are.
” He kept opening up to me as though I could be his shrink.
I wasn’t about to be the person to break his little, na?ve heart about the true cruelty of the world.
I wouldn’t be the one to tell him that the salacious acts were usually handled by his lovers.
“And I realize I never offered you my name. I’m Jericho. ”
When his hand extended out to me, I knew I had to play the part of an accepting Omega.
As the spokesperson of our community, I couldn’t let one feel singled out.
Even though he was the one being here that I resented.
Finally clasping his shake with my own hand, I felt the warmth of his touch linger against my cold hand.
“I’m Kit, but everyone here calls me Omega. ”
“Jericho!” The boy jumped when a loud voice barreled from down the hall.
There was a staircase that we found Franco coming up to find his wandering Omega.
Relief struck him when he finally found his little pet, but his shoulders locked up just as fast when he saw he was with me.
Walking our way, I noticed the timid steps he took because he wasn’t sure what we were talking about.
This told me they never informed my replacement of who lied in their nest before him.
“You know you’re not supposed to walk this place alone. ”
“Sorry, but I couldn’t sleep. I ran into Kit along my way. She’s been keeping me company.” The easy swagger of the young boy bothered me in ways I couldn’t describe. My eyes slowly tracked up and down his body in a calculating way to understand why they picked him.
Before Franco could say anything, I cut my eyes toward him, giving him a hard stare. My eyes narrowed, knowing, and he could see the heat staying within them. “He’s safe with me, Franco.”
“You’re an Omega, Kit.”
Once upon a time, I wanted to be kept by them, protected and treasured.
I wanted that leisure life in the lap of luxury they promised me.
Their words always spoke of keeping me safe and fighting for my innocence to stay just like this young one, but that promise was broken the night they abandoned me.
That code of conduct relinquished its authority when it hadn’t been their hands that were holding my body down to use me.
“I’m sorry. I believe you misunderstood my purpose in this place, Franco. I’m not an Omega, I am Omega.”
“Just because your Alpha let you have a fancy title, doesn’t change what you were made to be.” Franco crossed his arms, squaring off with me. Quite frankly, it pissed me off.
“Oh? And what was I made to be, Franco? Why don’t you tell Jericho and me what I was supposed to be.
” The threat of me knowing the truth finally silenced him.
It was also the first clue for Jericho to understand there was a lot between us that remained an open wound.
Dipping my chin to his silent answer, I gave him a devilish smile.
“Don’t worry, I learned who I had to be in order to make it in this dog-eat-dog world.
So when I tell you your Omega is safe with me, I mean it. ”
Out of nowhere, Franco swung his arm in my direction, trying to prove my words wrong.
My sharp senses analyzed the movement the second his stance shifted in order to support his swing.
Dropping low, I kicked my leg straight out and spun it, knocking his feet out from below him.
His hand struck the empty air above me, but I was able to lay him flat on his back.
Standing and fixing my nighty, I made sure to hover over for him to take in this moment just a little longer.
He was on his elbows and glaring at me once again.
“Proof enough? Or do you need to go another round?” Sticking out my hand, I helped him to his feet.
He refused to answer, filling with rage that I bested him and showed him I changed. “Come on, Jericho. Ryatt has been worried sick about you.”
“Glad to see you guys are capable of caring for someone… and keeping them.” The dig was sharp, and I knew it cut Franco where he stood.
There was no undoing what came out of my mouth, but he got the hint to stop messing with me.
Turning my head to Jericho, my bitterness hadn’t found her end.
“About what you said when you mentioned burdens, you’ll soon discover your heart is the biggest burden of all. ”
Franco was quick to take Jericho’s hand and began tugging him back to be below the ground. I watched their backs as they walked toward the staircase, but I knew Jericho had even more questions than when he first found me. He could see a lot more in our history than his mates ever told him.