Chapter 14

“What the fuck is wrong with my sister?” Jasper snarls.

Shaw, Ambrose, and I made a wall between Jasper and Wren the second he walked in. We moved and stepped back in front of him as he attempted to break past us. Our omega is passed out in Flynn’s arms, her body overwhelmed by the sight of her brother.

It’s been ten years since she’s seen him and she’s dealing with some major trauma, I’m not surprised.

“Fuck, I don’t know, Jas. Shock, maybe? We didn’t have any time to ease her into meeting you,” I complain, pushing him back. I may be the easy going one, but I’m just as dangerous as Shaw and Ambrose.

“There are a lot of holes in her memory,” Flynn says sadly, holding her tightly to his chest. “We talk, and at one point she told me once that the name Harley is a dead name to her. She was ripped away from that life, and the memories of when she was happy and safe are really repressed. Her alpha wasn’t good to her. The things he’s done to her…”

“What?” Jasper rasps, eyes wide and tortured. “I didn’t know what they were going to do, but my parents acted really weird when Har… my sister presented as an omega on her birthday. We sang her happy birthday and forced her to stay inside. She sulked, stared out the window, and then went up to her room early. I shared a room with both my younger brothers, while she had an attic room.”

“I don’t imagine you all had heating,” Shaw mutters, thinking about how cold it must have gotten. “Look, she has nightmares, and I think her memories are crowding her mind, trying to get her to remember. This is an overload for her.”

“She screamed for hours when Shaw told her that you were looking for her,” Ambrose says sadly, looking over his shoulder at Wren. “Harley is dead to her, and she’s never going to be that girl again, Jas.”

“Why isn’t she seeing a professional? Instead you have her hidden in the middle of nowhere playing house when you have an omega,” Jasper says distastefully.

Oh fuck no. He is not acting as if he knows better than us right now.

“I’m her scent match,” Shaw reminds him. “Do you know how painful it would be for both of us to be apart? What exactly are you suggesting right now? Having two omegas in our pack isn’t traditional, but I know it happens.”

“I don’t know,” Jasper huffs, pushing his hand through his hair. His typically perfect bad boy look is a bit marred today as his hair sticks up in different directions from his fingers running through it. “I didn’t expect her to fucking pass out at the sight of me. I’m worried about her. My sister is fucking broken.”

“Wren isn’t broken,” Flynn growls. Moving back so we can flank our omegas, I send comforting thoughts through our bond. He is pissed, his body practically vibrating in anger. “She survived ten years of being raped, beaten, and emotionally abused. Anyone else would have killed themselves after that trauma. I can’t even imagine the emotional scars.”

“Scars are a reminder of what you’ve survived,” I grunt.

“Wren is one of the strongest people I know,” Shaw admits. “Flynn needed her after she had something traumatic happen to her, and he figured out how to help. Alphas scare her because she’s very susceptible to an alpha’s bark.”

Ambrose reaches out and wraps his hand around Jasper’s throat, pulling him close. “You will never use that against her, is that clear? We are careful with our bark around her, because we don’t want to accidentally force her to do something she doesn’t want to. Show me you understand!”

Ambrose’s hand is squeezing Jasper’s throat so tightly that I don’t think he could talk around it if he wanted to.

Don’t kill him. Amb glances at me as if the haze of anger begins to lift, and he throws Jasper away from him. Gasping in air, Jas rubs his neck, glaring at him before focusing on his sister who is stirring in Flynn’s arms.

“Understood,” he rasps. “I had no idea. I’ve been so focused on finding her and saving her, I didn’t think about what came next. I can’t imagine everything she’s gone through, nor do I know everything, but ten years is a long time to be in that situation. I hear the stories, even though Nathan isn’t involved in the omega trade.”

“No, but he works with people who are,” I mutter. Nathan is the leader of the British mafia in Chicago, and one of Jas’ closest friends.

“He does, though he’s been using those connections on our behalf or those who have lost loved ones to the auctions, kidnapping, or the like,” Jas says sadly. “I just don’t know what the right thing to do is.”

He sounds lost, but as Wren pushes herself up in Flynn’s arms, I want to shake him to stop fucking things up.

Wren blinks as she stares at her brother, and Flynn carefully sets her on her feet.

“I thought I dreamed you were here,” she says softly.

“Would it be better if I was a dream?” Jasper asks softly.

“Honestly? I don’t know. It’s all so confusing, because I’m not Ha… the girl you knew,” Wren says carefully, swallowing hard. “Trey killed that girl when he bought me, put me in a cage, and never let me out.”

Taking a small step forward, she tilts her head as she stares at him. “Did you know they were going to sell me to a pedophile who likes omega children?”

“What?” Jasper asks, jaw dropping. I feel a little bad for him, but my heart cracks for Wren, and I rub my chest as I roll my lips inward to keep myself from interfering.

Ambrose makes a pained sound, his hands fisting at his sides, and Shaw grits his teeth as Flynn whines.

“I need to know,” she whispers. “Sometimes, in my dreams, I remember how our parents talked about how I was too much trouble to keep. A bratty omega in a house filled with mouths to feed. Then they brought me hot chocolate and I got sleepy…”

“They drugged you,” Jas whispers, horrified. “No, no I didn’t know. I was fourteen.”

Wren’s breaths get faster, her chest heaving, and I worry she’s going to have a panic attack. Her hand touches her throat as she gasps, but I hold my place before I start to move. She has to get this out, stand on her own, but Pack Mohan is ready to be at her side the second she needs us.

“I woke up on a cold floor in a basement,” she rasps. “Trey was there waiting for me, and I learned that day that any thoughts or dreams I had would be burned to ash. For ten years, I didn’t breathe unless he willed it, didn’t eat unless he fed me, and I always hurt so fucking much. He alpha commanded me never to kill myself, so I didn’t even have the luxury of ending it all.”

“Fuck,” he mutters. There are tears in his blue eyes as he meets her gaze. “Ha… Wren. I didn’t know. I swear it. They told me you went to live with Mom’s sister, and while that was kind of odd at the time, they said it was because she was an omega and could help you. Mom and Dad were betas, and they said they didn’t know what to do with you. I remember wishing I could say goodbye. Things were shit at the house, so I moved out a year after you disappeared. I got our brothers out as soon as I could.”

“Why were you looking for me? If you thought that I was fine, living with some fake aunt? Joseph and Bailey Rivers were only children, Jas,” she mutters.

I see a piece of Jasper die as he realizes how blindly he believed his parents.

“I found out they were lying, but not until Bentley came to live with me,” he explains. “He was thirteen, and the baby of the family, but our dad was getting high more often. He told me that Dad kept talking about you when he was half out of his mind, and that’s when I started digging for information. I went to confront them, but someone had already found them first. They fucked someone over, I guess. I pulled the answers I could from Dad before he died of his wounds. They’re both dead.”

“I’m glad,” Wren grunts, her eyes flaring with hatred. “I’ll never be normal, Jasper. I’m still waiting to wake up from a dream, cold and scared, with Trey’s sour scent around me.”

“Normal is overrated,” Jasper grunts. “Normal doesn’t have a pack with two omegas, or people surrounding you that are carrying more firepower than most armories.”

Jas lifts his shirt, where there’s knives wrapped around his body and a gun in a holster at his back. I’m pretty sure he probably has one on his ankle as well. Wren’s eyes move over the weapons before glancing at us as well. I didn’t think Jas would come at us with his knives or guns, but part of this life we chose is about posturing.

“You have a point,” she concedes.

“I wish I could rewind time or fix things, and I’m quickly realizing that I can’t. I would like to be part of your life, as do our brothers. This alpha,” Jasper says as he wrinkles his nose. “Do you know his last name?”

“Thornefield,” she says. God, we should have just asked her. We’re idiots. “No one ever denies him anything.”

“Well, he’s never met the wrong side of a mafia man before,” Jasper says with a smirk. “I’ll see if I can find him.”

“And then?” she asks. Wren is thinking really hard as she gazes intensely at him, and her brother takes a step toward her.

“We don’t know each other anymore, little dove, but I am one of the most dangerous people Trey Thornefield could have ever fucked with, though your pack are also in the running,” he murmurs. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you before. I was fourteen and had no idea our parents were selfish assholes who were looking for a payday. I didn’t know how fucked the world was, not until I left home to start underground fighting. I was scrappy, so I did well. I’m here now, and I want to keep you safe, along with your pack. Can I do that?”

Jasper Rivers called us his sister’s pack twice. Fuck me. We’re courting her, sure, and she’s Shaw’s scent match, but he could hate the idea of his baby sister being in our pack. Standing taller, I wait for Wren’s response.

“You can try.” The words are those of someone who doesn’t truly believe she’s safe. There are cameras, a gate, alphas between her and Trey, and she still doesn’t truly believe it.

He sold her, why would she worry about this?

“Do you believe he could have remorse because he sold you?” Flynn asks, finally giving up the ghost and moving to wrap his arms around her waist.

Wren drops her head onto his chest as she shrugs. “It’s rare to find an omega as young as I was. He can’t control himself around a mature omega’s pheromones, which is why I was on hormone suppressants for years,” she explains.

Jasper glares at the ground, huffing out a sigh.

“What does it mean for him to not have control, Wren? I have control, every alpha in this room can control their urges,” he growls.

“I may have lost my mind when she was hurt and the doctor tried to touch her,” Shaw winced. Jasper waves his words away, shaking his head as he looks up from the ground.

“Protective instincts are different,” he mutters. “I somehow don’t think that’s what my sister is talking about.”

“Trey goes into a destructive rut and kills the omegas he’s with,” Wren says. “He almost lost it when he was saying ‘goodbye’ to me. I’ll save you the details, but it’s why Ophelia the auction owner made me wear scent blocking lotion before being sold. She was worried that I was just exceptionally tempting or something.”

“Maybe I don’t see it because I’m related to you,” Jasper grunts, shrugging. “Weak alphas can’t control themselves, and hurt omegas. I’ve known Pack Mohan for years, and I can grudgingly say that I approve. They fucked up I hear, but I can see they’re trying to figure out their way. If you don’t want to stay here, though…”

Shaw, Amb, and I growl at him as Flynn pulls Wren closer to him.

“We’re figuring out our way together,” she admits. “I’m good here, Jasper, I promise.”

Her brother stares at her for a moment before nodding.

“I may have left my car out at the gate unlocked,” he says with a sheepish smile. “I really wanted to see you, even if it wasn’t the best way to do it. I’m still trying to understand everything with limited information.”

“I know,” she says. “It’s just… Trey took the best parts of being an omega and turned them against me. Any innocence he twisted and perverted until all I can expect is for people to hurt me. Ten years is a long time to exist in darkness. The first night I spent in that house, any hope I may have had that everything was a mistake or a nightmare I would wake up from died. My instincts are all fucked up.”

“So you retrain them,” Jasper grunts. “Can I please have a hug? That is, if your omega will let you go.”

Flynn blushes as he realizes that he’s practically wrapped around Wren’s body. It’s been a little tense, so I don’t blame him. I want to do the same thing. Kissing her cheek, he slowly lets go of her, the heat of him still against Wren’s body.

Taking a hesitant step forward, Wren bites her lip as she gazes up at her brother. Jasper stands with his arms open, simply waiting.

“So you’re not disappointed that I’m not the girl I once was?” she asks. “I’m not fearless anymore, I don’t climb trees, and I’m kind of dull.”

“You’re a badass,” he corrects her, blinking away tears. “And you have the scars to prove it, even if only you can see them.”

Gulping hard, she takes another step forward. “And you aren’t upset that I won’t answer to that… other name?” she asks.

Pack Mohan and I hold our breath as Jas shakes his head. “You could tell me that your name was Princess Tulip, and that’s what I would call you, little dove. It just threw me at first, is all,” he says.

“Okay,” Wren says before she throws herself into his arms.

Jasper hugs her tightly, his eyes drifting closed. “You’re going to have to tell me when to let go, Wren. I’m going to hug you for an inappropriately long time otherwise,” he rumbles.

“I think I’m okay with that,” she whispers.

Slowly relaxing after a few minutes, Jasper pulls back, brushing the tears from his face with the back of his hands. Wren has a single tear trailing down her face and she smiles up at him as she takes a step back.

“I’m going to be obnoxious and call a few times a week, sis,” he says. “Please take my call?”

“Okay,” she says. “I think talking to you would be nice. I want to get to know you better. I don’t think I understood you very well when we were kids.”

“Do you want to know what I was thinking whenever you thought I was glaring at you?” he asks, his fingers raking through his hair again.

Jasper looks slightly unhinged with his wild hair and intense expression, and I get a feeling that he was fierce as a child as well. That’s probably why Wren felt like he didn’t like her very much.

“Yeah, I do,” Wren says with her lips rolled back between her teeth.

“Fuck,” he sighs, crossing his arms over his wide chest as he stands before us. “I thought about how I didn’t have to worry about you, and how glad I was for it. Jackson, Linus, and Bentley were hellions, while you wanted to do your own thing. I respected that.”

“Is that what you were thinking about the day of my tenth birthday?” Wren asks. My girl isn’t letting any sleeping dogs lie today.

“No,” he grunts. “I was thinking, ‘Fuck, an omega is going to be a bitch to take care of.’ Omegas are precious, and even at fourteen I knew there were dangers. Protecting you wouldn’t have been something I hated, by the way.”

“I’m starting to believe you,” she says, another tear sliding down her face.

Jasper hugs her again before saying goodbye to us, blowing out a breath.

“Sorry I broke in,” he says with a wince. “You should probably make that gate higher. Just a thought.”

And then Jasper is gone, the door closing behind him as he leaves. Rolling my eyes, I shake my head as I give into my instincts finally, scooping Wren into my arms.

“Finally, mine,” I growl, burying my face in her neck as she giggles as I kiss her there. “How are you doing, Lemon Drop? That was really fucking intense.”

Shaw, Amb, and Flynn crowd in, eyes worried.

“It was,” she agrees. “I’m glad we talked, though. I think I had a lot of jumbled feelings and memories around my big brother. Even if he did break in.”

“He’s one of the only people who knows where we live,” I tell her, walking upstairs.

I need a snuggle and a nap. Fuck, I’m tired. The guys follow me, pulling off their weapons as we enter our room. Tossing her gently onto the bed, I snicker at her squeal and Flynn’s gasp. I don’t want to treat her like glass, because I don’t see her that way. Our omega is strong, with some jagged edges.

We all have them.

Moving into the closet to put my weapons into the safe, I pull off my shoes as well and socks. My pants are the next things to come off before I’m pulling on soft joggers and tossing my shirt into the hamper.

“Who else wants a fucking nap?” I ask as I leave the closet, crawling into the bed. The guys follow my lead, and Shaw goes into the bathroom to take a piss.

“A nap sounds good,” he says when he returns.

“Why am I so sleepy?” Wren asks, yawning. “It’s alpha magic, I swear.”

“Nah, Lemon Drop, you just know how good it’ll be,” I tease her, tugging her closer to me.

My pack all settles around me on the bed, and I can already feel my lids shutting.

“Guys?” Wren asks sleepily.

“Mmhmm?” Amb grunts. “What’s up, honey?”

“Thanks for protecting me,” she says softly.

The words make the three of us purr in contentment, and Flynn wraps his arms around Wren’s waist, snuggling into her breasts. Lucky bastard.

“You don’t have to thank us for that,” Amb says. “You’re ours. We will always protect our family.”

“You think of me as family?” she asks, shivering against me. My hands rub whatever skin I can touch, kissing her neck as she arches against me.

I’m rock hard, but ignore it. I’m with my pack, cocks get hard. It’s just the way it goes. I don’t have to do anything because it is.

“Yeah, Wren,” I tell her, biting back a yawn. “Just as soon as we can make it official, and you want that, we will.”

“Ball is completely in your court,” Shaw rumbles. Amb is the little spoon to his alpha’s big spoon, which makes our cuddle pile perfect. “You’re calling the shots here.”

“That’s quite enough sports analogies,” Flynn says with a chuckle. “We’re serious, though. No more worries that our alphas can’t love more than one omega, Wren. Their instincts have been pulling them to you since the moment they laid eyes on you. I fell for you the second I saw the terror in your eyes with that goddamn collar. I love you, Darling. I can wait until you love us back.”

“You have my heart, Flynn,” she says so softly I wouldn’t have heard it if I wasn’t holding her. “I just have to convince my heart I’m safe.”

I can feel her body relax against me as she drifts off to sleep and I glance up to meet the intense gaze of my pack.

“I’m not even mad Flynn got the first ‘I love you’,” Shaw rumbles, a smile on his lips.

Flynn blushes as he sighs happily. “I don’t think she’s going to run anymore,” he says. “I don’t think everything will magically change, but I think this is progress.”

“I can live with that,” I murmur. Closing my eyes, I let the deepening breaths of the omega against me lull me to sleep.

We can wait. For now, this is enough.