Chapter Two

I slept like crap. My entire body felt stiff, like rather than blood running through my veins, it was sand, weighing me down and making it impossible to get comfortable.

Plus, it was colder than I like my nest to be. The OC was filled with assholes, but they at least had independently separated controls for each omega’s nest. I liked mine warm, so I didn’t have to be wrapped up in blankets. Not hot, I didn’t want to sweat. Just perfectly in the middle so I could spread out.

This was borderline torturous. I curled my legs up, trying to nuzzle under the thin blanket and get warm.

“She’s cold.”

Those words had me gasping in outrage. Someone was in my nest. Apparently, a bad night’s sleep could mute my instincts, that’s what they should be teaching me.

I sat up, my vision immediately swimming as I struggled to take in everything. It was all so bright—too bright.

“The lights,” someone snapped. A different someone. How many people were in my freaking nest?

Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breath, scrunching my nose at the harsh smell of chemicals. It was almost overwhelming, but I managed to pull out four distinct scents. Four alphas.

Even with my eyes closed, I could tell the lights had been properly dimmed. By this point, I was starting to realize that something wasn’t right. This bed was definitely not my nest, it was too boxed in and uncomfortable. The room should have been soaked in my scent and I couldn’t imagine the OC allowing anyone into my nest. It was supposed to be a sacred place for omegas, the one place in the entire world that was solely mine.

Omegas had been known to go into rages when someone entered their nest without permission. Even their mates.

“Hannah, how are you feeling?” a third voice asked.

With my eyes still shut, I glared in the direction of the voice. Obviously, something wasn’t right. I tried to think about yesterday, except I couldn’t. What day was it? No one from the OC was knocking on my nest door demanding I get up to attend the mandatory sessions, so most likely a weekend.

Again, I tried opening my eyes. They were blurry at first, which was gross. I rubbed at the eye boogers and tried a third time.

I was right. Four males, alphas by their scent, standing all around me. Rather than stressing me out, my body seemed to relax at their presence, which was definitely not something that was supposed to happen. I’d met alphas before, and they all made me nervous. These ones, they actually made me stressed for them.

Dark circles under their eyes, their shoulders almost hunched, hair mussed, and the air around them was like they were at a 24-hour funeral.

Considering how fragile they looked, I didn’t immediately snap at them for being so close. “What happened?”

The alpha by my feet, the smallest in the group, though definitely larger than me, spoke first. “That asshole officer raced after you. He tried to stop you, but he apparently overestimated his strength because he flung you back so hard you smacked your head on the stone walkway.”

I looked at the other alphas, their anger increasing with each word the male said. On my behalf?

Reaching up, I wanted to touch the back part of my head where the pain seemed to be. The cool texture of my scalp, along with the feel of staples—I screamed.

Regretting it almost instantly as nausea boiled up from my stomach. I threw up once in my mouth and the second time over the side of the bed and into a pan.

“I got you, princess, let it all out.” The nearest male’s words were soothing, and he petted my shoulder which was weirdly comforting as he held the pan for me.

When I finally finished, sitting back against the bed, I felt worse. It was like I could finally recognize the thudding in my head, how much effort it took to move my neck, even the cold. My legs were still curled close to my body, but it wasn’t enough with just the thin blanket on top.

“Blanket,” the large male on my left side snapped. His voice was deep, with a natural growl that had me shivering with just that word.

I must have closed my eyes because I missed whoever set a blanket on top of my lap. I petted it, feeling the familiar weave of the sarape blanket which had me opening my eyes again.

Most omegas preferred super soft blankets, ones that were fluffy and warm. But I’d always preferred the slight roughness of sarapes. I felt like I sweated too much in traditional nesting fabrics, and these were more breathable. Great for keeping me covered without making me too hot.

The design was beautiful. A dark green and brown, the diamond in the middle a light tan. It definitely wasn’t one of mine, except when I brought it up to my face, I could scent myself—the lavender floral of my natural omega perfume.

I guessed that meant it was time to ask, “Who are you?”

No one spoke right away. I looked between the four males, each one radiating fear and sadness and worry to the point that my instincts were demanding I comfort them. I didn’t, though, because comforting strangers while I was in a hospital bed seemed too ironic for even me.

“I’ll get the doctor.”

The male who’d comforted me while I vomited basically ran out of the room, the bright lights from the hallway making me slam my eyes shut until I heard the click of the door shutting again.

“You really don’t know who we are?” one of the others asked.

I looked at the male. His skin was naturally tanned, his features sharp, and his eyes tilted in a way that made him look classically handsome. Even his clothes were good-looking. His white shirt was tucked into his pants, the buttons done up except for the top two, exposing his chest. At some point, he’d curled up the sleeves over his arms, showing off his sexy forearms. Had I ever thought forearms were sexy before?

And his scent. Pumpkin. Not like the dessert, like autumn. He reminded me of fall nights and candle lights. Cozy to the core.

Opposite him was an alpha with a completely different vibe. This male wore a sweater, the V of his collar just barely ripped and proving he wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath. His sleeves were scrunched upwards, bunched at his elbows and showing off ink tattooed into his brown arms. He had his hair shaved close to the scalp with some sort of design on the sides.

His scent was like berries. A whole mix of them together that I’d like to grab a handful of and eat. It made my mouth water and my stomach rumble.

Then there was the final male. He was everything that society thought alphas should be. Large and strong. Built in a way that would have other alphas admiring him. Despite his intense stare, he seemed laid back. No, maybe that was the wrong way to describe him. He was the kind of male that didn’t give someone the time of day if he didn’t care for them. And those he considered his? He’d do anything.

He smelled like crisp apples. Delicious and juicy. Healthy yet even better when dipped in chocolate. His dark skin was an almost shocking contrast to my paleness.

I wanted something to jog a memory. Something that I could tell these men to make them feel better. But I didn’t know them. Not their names, or what they did for a living. I didn’t even remember seeing them before, because I knew that I wouldn’t have forgotten these males if I’d passed them on the streets or spotted them through a window.

“I’m sorry.” I looked between all three. “I don’t know…”

A knock on the door couldn’t break the awkward tension in the room as a doctor came in, followed by the fourth male in this group. “All right, all right. It looks like you’re finally awake. How are you feeling, Hannah?”

“Why is my head shaved?” Not quite what I’d meant to ask, but same gist.

The beta doctor smiled like I’d made a joke. “You took quite a hit to the head. We had to clear the area in order to properly put you back together.”

I huffed, looking away from the doctor’s kind gaze. My own immediately caught on the large male’s next to me. He was still watching me, a sort of intense look on his face like he thought I might disappear if he so much as blinked.

I blamed my instincts for reaching out and squeezing his forearm. Then my arousal for mumbling, “shit, you’re hard.”

Someone laughed which had me yanking my head away from the male.

The doctor cleared his throat, pulling my attention back to him as he asked, “How’s your head? Can you tell me what you last remember?”

My lips parted, ready to say something, except no words came out. What did I last remember? Maybe trying to fall asleep in my nest? I couldn’t tell if that was last night or just a memory of a bad night from a few weeks ago.

“I’m not sure.” I hated how confused I felt. And I especially hated the pain that seemed to form between my eyes as I tried to remember anything. “These guys said I was attacked? I don’t remember that at all?”

Something I said seemed to truly get the doctor’s attention. He’d been content to stand near the foot of my bed, asking his questions. After my answer, he moved two of the alphas away, a brave move for a beta.

“Can you tell me your name?” he asked.

“Hannah Zeal.”

“And what about over there on your left side. What’s his name?”

“If I had to guess—”

“No, don’t guess.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, then I don’t know.”

“What about any of the alphas in here?”

“Without guessing?”

“Yes.”

“No.” I bit my bottom lip, feeling the tension rise in the space. Something behind me started beeping, which made me jump, attempting to turn around and see what it was.

“Just your heart monitor. Maybe we should finish this assessment alone.”

Then the beeping started to go crazy. I was shaking my head, the idea of the men leaving sounded like a terrible idea. They were protecting me. They cared about me. Not knowing their names didn’t mean they should abandon me like everyone else had—

Warm fingers wrapped around the back of my neck. Distantly, I heard the doctor tell the alpha to be careful, but I was fully focused on the dark brown eyes in front of me. “Calm down, rebel. We aren’t going anywhere.”

I felt the stress drain from my body. I inhaled deeply, taking in his apple scent mixed with lavender. No wait, that was me. Leaning forward, the male let me inhale by his neck, where scents were the strongest. I hadn’t noticed it before. He’s been claimed already.

“Are we mates?” I asked.

“Yes.”

Guilt. That was a new emotion for me. At the OC I refused to make any friends. For starters, their families came to visit, whereas mine stopped being welcome after I went into a teeny tiny rage the first week after my imprisonment. Then there was the fact that I snuck out of the facility to attend protests, and I didn’t trust a single omega in the compound to not tattle. I was bitter, refusing to trust anyone.

I never considered that I’d find a mate. My plan was to live at the OC until I figured out how to survive on my own. I hadn’t figured out how to do that yet, nevertheless it was in my plans.

But knowing I had mates. And forgot about them. It felt like I had abandoned them. Treating them worse than my parents had me. I’d claimed them. I could scent my perfume embedded in their scents.

Tears burned my eyes, making my head hurt even worse.

Then I felt it. A vibration in his chest that stopped the tears in their tracks. A purr. I’d heard them before in my mandatory omega lessons. In the OC shoppette, you can actually purchase recordings of the sound in blankets.

Those always felt wrong. It was just a noise like any other.

This one was like the best drugs in the world. Not that I’d actually ever taken drugs. But I would do terrible, sinful things for him to keep going.

“Well, it seems even if bits of your memory are missing, your instincts are still intact.” The doctor’s voice ruined the blissful state I was in.

Pulling back, I reached up to wrap my fingers around the male’s wrist, keeping his hand around the back of my neck where I wanted him. I was starting to think I should get everyone’s name if I was going to be so dramatic in front of them.

I would’ve sworn my emotions were more stable than this. I couldn’t even remember the last time I cried—outside of enduring painful heats by myself.

Coming to stand next to me again, the beta doctor started flashing a little light in my eyes. “I’m going to get a technician ready for some scans of your brain. Memory loss isn’t uncommon with head injuries. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know if it’s permanent or not.”

“What about other side effects?” the blond alpha asked. He wasn’t close enough that I could take in his scent fully, but I was getting something tropical. Not beachy, more foodwise.

“Let’s not borrow trouble, yeah?” the doctor said. “I’ll leave you all alone for a bit to get your images all scheduled. If you need anything, Hannah, there’s a button on the bed rail you can press for a nurse.”

The doctor left, and that time, I didn’t flinch from the hallway lights. Progress.

“So…” I started. “I kind of need to know your names.”

The alpha with the berry scent and tattoos spoke up first. “I’m Zeke.”

“Han,” the handsome, pumpkin scented alpha added.

Fingers tightened around my neck slightly, physically turning so I was facing him. “Jackson.”

I blushed. Heat rushing to my cheeks at the intensity of Jackson’s gaze. When I turned away, he easily let me.

The last male looked like he was in pain. He was the lightest of all the alphas with his dirty blond hair, perfectly unperfect like he’d purposefully ran his fingers through the length in order to style it. As he stepped closer, his tropical scent became stronger, letting me pull out notes of pineapple and guava. Mostly the latter.

In some ways, he was similar to Han in the way both alphas held themselves, prim and proper like they’d been trained to walk with sticks up their asses. Only this alpha, he never relaxed.

“Sebastian,” he finally said. “My name is Sebastian. But you usually call me Seb.”

His voice almost broke. And it felt like my heart was breaking right along with him.

“Should I call you that?” I asked. That instinct to comfort them, to give them what they wanted was pulling at me like the memories were simply hiding inside my head, attempting to fight their way out. I tried, imagining hands inside my brain clawing their way toward the memories, ignoring the pounding in my head that was getting stronger.

“Hey, no, don’t hurt yourself.” Seb said, rubbing his fingers against my temples. It wasn’t where the pounding was, but it still felt good to have his fingers on me. If there was any doubt that he was my mate beyond our marks, the fact that my body simply obeyed his command was proof enough that I instinctually trusted him.

“Well,” someone said, clapping their hands. I turned away from Seb to look at Han who kept saying, “I feel like we’ve had our morbid moment but it’s time to look at the positives. Hannah is awake, and so far, only her memory seems to be hurt. As far as I’m concerned, we can make new memories.”

Next to Han, Zeke started nodding. “A few hours ago, I would have agreed to memory loss if it meant you woke up.”

It was weird. It was like the air in the room physically changed. Becoming something softer, lighter. Shoulders lost their tension, lips turned up naturally at the ends. Everyone seemed to get closer to me—Zeke and Han barely sitting on edge of the bed, Jackson keeping his hand on the back of my neck, and Sebastian reaching out to hold my hand.

Having all four of them so close, without the morbid air distracting me, it gave me a weird mix of calm and arousal. With my one free hand, I reached out to the blanket over my lap, petting it, pretending to arrange it around me as if it needed to be tucked under my legs just right.

For the first time in my life, I wished I’d paid attention to the classes at the OC about flirting—yes, that was an actual mandatory lesson.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling very confident. Especially when I thought of the patch of missing hair. Was it vain? Sure. But it made me worried that the males wouldn’t want this version of me.

Fuck this.

I bottled up the emotions, grabbing onto the negative tail ends and shoving them so deep inside me that I could ignore them. Pulling my shoulders back, I sat up straight. I was letting my instincts run the show right now, that was why I was so trusting. But I didn’t want to get lost in them.

“We’re all mates?” I looked at each male, watching them nod along to my question. “You’re all hot, so that’s good, at least. How long have we been together?”

“Two years,” Han said.

Zeke glared at the other male before turning his focus back to me. “Two and a half.”

“That would make me … how old exactly?” I couldn’t remember the last birthday I celebrated.

“You’re about to turn twenty-two,” Seb said. His fingers were starting to trace invisible designs onto my hand and wrist. With how much attention he was giving the area, I was surprised his claiming mark wasn’t there.

It would be interesting to figure out where all my bites were. Weird, too, exploring my own body.

Someone knocked on the door, peeking in through the crack. I could just make her out between Seb and Han, giving me just a sliver of a view of the room. Considering the scrubs, it was obviously a nurse. “Hey, Hannah. We have time now to get your images taken. You ready?”

“Sure.” I tried to get out of the bed, which was hard enough since the side railings basically blocked me in like a crib. Only none of the alphas moved. Even when I scooted down to the foot of the bed, expecting Han or Zeke to get out of my way, neither did.

The nurse basically shoved her way between them, giving me a wide smile. She looked remarkably happy, as if she was having the best day of her life while working in the hospital. Her smile was definitely contagious.

“Oh, you can stay lying down.” She patted the top where the thinnest pillow in existence was. “I’m going to push the whole bed out of here. Doc says you shouldn’t be walking.”

I literally wasn’t going to argue with her until she’d added that last bit. “I can’t walk?”

Someone groaned, it sounded like Zeke, but I couldn’t be completely positive since I didn’t look away from the nurse.

“Just for a bit. Once we get your head all scanned and cleared of any brain injuries, no doubt you’ll be up and running.”

I could run now . I didn’t say that, but if the muffled smirks were anything to go by, the sentiment was understood through my mating bonds. Not even physical exhaustion was stronger than my spite.

“Be good, rebel,” Jackson called out. The command seemed to wash over me, but it didn’t encourage me to do anything I would have considered good. And his deep chuckle as the nurse pushed me away told me that he knew it too.