18. Meggie

18

Meggie

T his has been a shit day. The longest day since we got here. Our game was rough and we just barely won, 5-4. But it's not the physical exertion that has me feeling exhausted and irritable. It's missing my nest. Missing my men. We've all followed Harrison's rules for three days now, and I know he was right to make them, but fuck if it isn't miserable!

Sometimes I like to personify the omega side of me, and right now that girl is going nuts, clawing at my insides like a caged tiger. Omegas need physical touch and attention, the comfort of a hug and a nest, the warmth of skin, the reassurance of a kiss. I locked my omega side up so deep inside of me for so long I didn't even realize she was starving until I gave her a feast and then yanked it away.

My skin itches, my muscles are tense, I'm close to crying almost all the time. I don't feel like myself. It's like some monster has taken over and she's pissed. Our match was a great way to let off some steam, but it wasn't enough.

I crash on the couch the second we walk into the apartment. Ellis sits next to me, but keeps a foot of space between us. Nils takes the only chair in the room. While the other guys disperse to the bedrooms, kitchen, and balcony.

"Wanna watch something?" Ellis asks.

I half-growl in answer and throw my head back against the couch. "I hate this. It would all be so much easier if I wasn't a frickin' omega. Why can't I just be a beta? I hate being an omega."

The words are barely out of my mouth before Nils is surging out of his chair. His hands land on the back of the couch as he hangs over me like a foreboding shadow. "Don't you ever say something like that again. I won't tolerate you disparaging who you are."

He's not touching me anywhere, but the heat of him is nearly overpowering. Nils is rarely aggressive with me and sometimes it's easy to forget he's an alpha. But right now, he's all alpha energy.

"You are perfect. To us, you're exactly perfect." His hot breath tickles my face, but he's still too far away. Then he removes his hands from the couch, and he's even further away as he settles back into his own chair. His fingers strumming on the armrests, maybe feeling just as pent up as I am.

I look away from him and see Harrison standing behind Ellis. He's gripping the open balcony door, eyes fiery as hell.

"Nils didn't touch me," I explain, assuming he's upset about how close Nils just was.

Ellis looks over his shoulder at his pack mate and smiles. "That's not why he's upset, sunshine."

Harrison stalks forward, dropping to his knees, putting himself at eye-level with me. The rest of the pack has joined us in the living room now, drawn by the noise through the thin walls.

I meet Harrison's heavy gaze head-on. "You can't tell me it wouldn't be easier if I was a beta."

"You're right," he says. The rest of the pack protests, but he holds up a hand and they quiet. "But not a single man in this room would prefer easy to you."

"Even you," I whisper, voice a little shakier than I intend.

His face doesn't soften, expression as hard as ever. "Especially me." He stands. "You're pack."

"We like you, baby girl," Oz says.

"More than like." Ellis smiles.

I let my head fall to the back of the couch, my gaze taking in the men around me. Nils's fingers are still strumming like he can't sit still, and it tugs a smile onto my lips. "I like you, too. All of you."

"Good," Dante huffs as he turns toward the kitchen. "Because we intend to share." He turns back and the desire in his gaze sparks butterflies in my stomach.

After dinner in the cafeteria, there's a folded piece of paper on my bed.

If I cannot taste you with my tongue, I'll caress you with my words. If I cannot hear you moan my name, I'll write your name on every surface of my life. You are to me the moon that calls the tide, The release after the passion of a climax long held off. You are every thought and every hope I dare to dream.

I flip it over, searching for a name, but there isn't one, and I don't know the guy's handwriting well enough to guess.

"Was this you?" I ask Oz, since he's the only other one in the room with me.

"What is it?"

Okay, not from him. I hand it over. He whistles and fans himself with the page. "That's some good shit, sunshine."

"Do any of the guys write poetry?"

"Who's writing poetry?" Nils asks as he and Ellis join us in the room.

"I could write you poetry, baby," Oz says. "Roses are red, violets are blue, I want my cock in you and my tongue too."

I laugh. Clearly Oz isn't the poet.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Ellis quips. "Thou aren't more lovely and more… fuckable?" Ellis grimaces at his own lack of poetic talent.

"There once was a swimmer named Meggie, she tasted like apple pie candy, and…" Nils pauses, trying to think of a rhyming ending.

"When she was slick, I'd eat her up quick…" Oz takes a breath, and Ellis jumps in with, "And then I would feel very randy."

Their ridiculous antics have me laughing so hard my side aches. The three of them surround me, looking pleased at their horrible poetry attempts. But under the current of amusement, there's a heady sexual tension that all of us feel.

"Damn, I wish I could kiss you," Ellis says. "You look so adorable when you blush like that."

Feeling a little silly, I kiss my fingertips and hold them out to him. He does the same, and for the briefest moment, we let our fingers touch, smiling at each other like idiots. After repeating the little touch with Nils and Oz, we all crawl into our separate beds.

"Goodnight, sunshine."

"Night." I can't bring myself to say it's good. Not completely. Not when we're so far apart.