Chapter 10

I’m curled up alone on my window seat, thinking about what Shaw said to me.

My brother is looking for me.

The boy with the intense, light colored eyes, who always looked out for our brothers, but always seemed annoyed with me. I don’t understand why he’d be looking for me. The paranoid part of me wants to know if he’s looking for a paycheck, or to use me. The logical part of me doubts it.

I’ve spent so many years being hurt, I don’t know if it makes sense to open up wounds that haven’t even closed yet. Is it worth it?

“Wren?” Everest pops his head into the room, making me turn. I’m a little embarrassed by the way I fell apart. Keeping my eyes trained on his forehead, I nod. “Come have something to eat, please?”

My stomach is rumbling at the thought of food, even though my throat is still sore. Surprisingly, my body feels better, and I haven’t needed any more intravenous fluids. Standing, I pad over to the doorway.

“Ah, Shaw is getting you clothes and some things you’ll need,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

My eyes meet his in surprise, and I take a step back.

“Kicking me out already?” I bite out before I can keep myself in check.

Flinching when Everest moves toward me, I dash around him before moving quickly for the stairs. My body reminds me I’m not completely healed, and I force myself to walk slower.

“You know, it kills me when you act like I’m going to hurt you,” he says with a sigh as he follows me. “I fucked up, didn’t listen to the million screaming details that told me I was wrong for being the ring leader to push you out. I hurt you, but I would never hit you, and I certainly will never be a selfish alpha.”

“I don’t believe you,” I rasp, carefully taking the stairs down. I keep waiting for my legs to turn into wet noodles, but they hold steady for me.

“You don’t have to do a damn thing when it comes to me,” he agrees. “You could choose to refuse me as your alpha, dance naked in the rain, fuck everyone in the house except me, and I’d just have to suck it up. You know why?”

Stumbling on the last step at how crazy his words sound to me, I turn to face him, eyes widening as I take in how big he is. Wide shoulders, broad, naked chest, and thick thighs under his joggers. God, I’m in no condition to check anyone out, much less this alpha. Swallowing hard, I force myself to meet his blue, almost colorless gaze.

“Why?” I ask. It feels as if all the spit in my mouth has dried up as I speak. He shouldn’t pull such a reaction from me, and I take another step back.

Fisting his hands, he takes a deep breath. “I don’t own you. You’re your own fucking person. You want to be our bratty omega? Fine. You want to cuddle? Great. We can’t make you doanything. If we have any say in it, no one ever will again, Lemon Drop,” he says.

“Lemon drop?” I ask. I can’t help but feel a tendril of amusement bubble up inside of me at the nickname. I don’t know if I’ll let him make a regular thing of it. It’s cute though.

“It’s what you smell like to me,” he shrugs. “Flynn just made some, and I imagine it’s what…”

The tips of Everest’s ears turn red, and I can’t help the giggle as I realize he’s imagining what my pussy tastes like. It’s endearing that this alpha is trying to curb his lascivious nature for me.

“I see,” I grunt, not wanting him to see my amusement. He can stew in his embarrassment.

Woah, I didn’t realize I had petty in me. Interesting.

“Anyway, we aren’t here to control you,” Everest mutters. “We fucked up, we want you to be ours, and we are so sorry for it, Lemon Drop.”

“I don’t know what I want yet,” I tell him honestly.

“Wren? Is that you?” Flynn asks. Turning away from Everest, I move to find him as if pulled by a string.

It doesn’t work like that for omegas, not really, but we just have this connection that I can’t explain.

“Before you go in, I need to tell you something,” Everest says, his long legs catching up with me easily. “I want to give you the time to figure things out, so I told your brother I found you. It was cruel not to, but I asked him for time before he comes over like a damn bull through our gate.”

“I still don’t understand why he’s looking for me at all. We weren’t really close,” I tell him. I think I just needed time to mourn the old me, the one that was innocent.

A lot of my childhood still feels foggy, and I have a feeling that’s to protect my mind. If that’s the case, I’m not in a hurry to uncover it any time soon.

“I think you’re both remembering things differently,” he says sympathetically. “Jasper says that you were really independent, so he focused on keeping your brothers in line.”

“No, that’s how I remember it, I just remember he used to glare at me a lot,” I say with a shrug. “I don’t know if I want to see him yet, though.”

“Fair enough,” Everest says with a nod as we walk into the kitchen.

“Hey,” Flynn says with a smile. He’s wearing a blue apron, no shirt, and joggers. God, why are the men in this house all so beautiful?

I shouldn’t be interested, not with everything I’ve been through.

“Hi,” I murmur. “Something smells really good.”

I can smell the sweetness of sugar tempered by the tartness of lemons. There are yellow and white cookies out on a cooling tray, and it appears as if he baked for an army.

“There are so many,” I say with a giggle.

“Come try one,” Flynn says, picking one up. “Whenever I bake, I tend to go overboard because I know exactly how much the guys eat.”

“We all know we’ll be running the grounds after one of Flynn’s baking sessions,” Ambrose teases. I don’t know how I didn’t notice him leaning against the back counter, and I have to bite back the tightening in my body as I begin to flinch.

My startle reflex is out of control. Forcing my feet to move, I walk over to Flynn who is still holding a cookie up for me. It’s basically the first thing I’ve eaten today, and as I bite into it, I moan as the flavors burst over my tongue.

Vanilla, sugar, lemon zest. It’s absolutely perfect as I chew.

“Oh my God. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a cookie?” I groan. “So good.”

Flynn, Ambrose, and Everest are standing there with their mouths open in shock. I can scent their arousal in the air, which makes me flush with embarrassment. The only thing I could do to make things worse is to perfume, so I squeeze my thighs together as tight as possible.

“Why not?” Ambrose asks, recovering first as he swallows hard.

Grabbing Flynn’s hand, I take another bite of the cookie, my eyes fluttering as I chew.

“I wasn’t allowed to have sweets,” I explain. “It was easier to just do what was expected of me. Necessity is also why I have so much self control.”

“I have questions,” Everest mumbles, raising his hand like a child. My lips twitch as I polish off the cookie, shaking my head when Flynn offers me another.

“I’ll feel sick if I eat too much sugar,” I tell him with a small smile. As if remembering that I haven’t eaten, Flynn moves to the fridge.

“How is your throat?” he asks. “Think you can eat something?”

My stomach grumbles, making my lips twitch. While my throat is a little sore, it feels a lot better. “I could eat,” I say with a nod. “What is your question, Everest?”

“I don’t want to piss you off,” he mutters.

A surprised laugh escapes my lips, and I lean over the island with my brows raised.

“Still ask.”

“What would happen if you didn’t do what your alpha wanted?” he asks.

“Trey… had very inventive ways of hurting me. Waterboarding, but only to start with, because I wasn’t very pretty when the veins in my eyes broke. Belting my feet so I couldn’t walk was a favorite of his, as well as leaving me in the basement in the cold,” I tell him. “I really hate being cold. He once left me there for four days without food or drink, and then raped me for the next two days because he missed me.”

Everest and Ambrose turn red with anger, and Flynn drops the eggs in his hands.

“Sorry,” I mutter, moving to help him.

“No, I got it,” he says. “It’s just… fuck. You’ve been with him since you were ten?”

Flynn grabs a rag and starts cleaning up the mess, and Everest moves to help him.

“Yep. I managed to draw the short straw in life,” I say.

Ambrose walks so quickly, I gasp as he envelops me in his arms, burying his face in my neck. “You’re never going back to him. I’m going to kill him, cut off his cock, and string him up in the middle of Minneapolis as a warning to all alphas who prey on children and omegas,” he promises.

“Why would you do that?” I ask, my hand ghosting over his back. God, these men don’t believe in wearing shirts, and his skin feels warm and he smells like spicy citrus. I don’t know why, but the combination is perfectly like him.

His arms bind tighter around me, bringing me up onto my toes as he holds me.

“You’re ours. I know it feels fast, and we’re dick heads, but you’re meant for us. We take care of our people,” he growls.

“That means a lot coming from Amb,” Everest chuckles as he finishes wiping and sanitizing the floor. “I think he may even share his cheese with you now.”

A snicker explodes from me, my head dropping back as I laugh. I am not someone who easily laughs, so I’m very surprised at myself.

Ambrose’s lips skirt up my neck, making me shiver. “I might consider it,” he rumbles, purring.

God… I perfume, unable to hold back, and the alphas groan. Stiffening, I step away from Ambrose, making him open his arms to release me immediately.

“We have decent control, honey. It’s natural to perfume, just like it’s natural that I’m going to need to go for a run now because my cock is hard as stone,” he chuckles.

“Mine too,” Everest says with a smirk as he washes his hands. “Maybe we can just suck each other off before the run, though.”

I shake my head as they joke and leave the room, arms wrapped around each other as they make out.

“What just happened?” I ask. I figured the alphas were involved with Flynn, but are they involved with each other too?

Why is that so hot?

“Turned on, Darling?”Flynn teases me, kissing my cheek as he tugs me under his arm. “Let’s get some food started so we can feed you. They have control, they’re not animals. Our alphas will show you that we’re worthy of you.”

As I make what appears to be lunch with Flynn, and I smell orange and nutmeg in the air, I blush as I hear moaning. It doesn’t bother me at all, but it’s surprising to me that this is how they took care of their arousal. They didn’t pressure me or their omega, they just left the room.

The front door opens as we finish cooking, and I hear Shaw’s heavy footsteps as he walks in.

“Guys,” he roars. Flynn laughs, which makes me relax as I start to get scared. They’re big guys, and I still haven’t been able to figure out if I’m safe here or not. “Amb, Everest, do you have to fuck in the front entryway? God, I’m stiff as a board.”

I hear a door slam open, and then moaning. Eyes widening at Flynn, he shrugs.

“They did say they were going to figure out their erections. Maybe Amb decided to fuck Everest’s tight hole,” he says nonchalantly as he plates the burrito bowls.

Shaw walks into the kitchen, rolling his eyes, smiling as he sees Flynn and I.

“Good, I’m glad you’re eating. I bought a bunch of things that may help. Protein shakes that won’t taste like dirt, fresh fruit, blankets, socks, panties, clothing, shit like that,” he explains with a shrug.

Flynn hands him a plate as I hear an alpha groan out his release.

“We’re going to ignore the horny bastards,” Shaw mutters.

A few minutes later I hear them run upstairs and then they’re saying goodbye as they head out the door.

“They meant it about the run,” Flynn says. “Those two can go for hours, they may as well run off the rest of their big dick energy.”

I almost choke on my spit as Flynn gently pushes me to the huge island, handing me a bowl of food.

“This is what I would imagine a frat house to be like, except you fuck each other,” I say without thinking.

Shaw shrugs as he thinks about it. “Maybe we just need a woman’s touch,” he grunts as he takes a bite of his meal. “Fuck, this is good, baby boy.”

Flynn grins as he tucks into his food, and I’m even more confused than before. They’re like no other alphas that I know.