Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

"You aren't the first omega that has been in the townhouse."

A crease formed between her brows at my statement, confused. It almost made me feel bad, but she had to know. It was only right, especially if she meant even a tiny bit of what she said downstairs and would try to stay here with all of us.

Alphas and all.

"Oh?" Ella questioned, though her eyes darting away from me betrayed any sense of aloofness in her tone.

I gathered the rest of my thoughts.

There were so many reasons we thought once upon a time that bringing in an omega to the pack the traditional way with courting and status and all that other shit would be for the best.

To start a family.

To help Marko maybe who still wasn't quite the same as he was before what happened three years ago.

Of course, nothing went to plan.

"About two years ago. No, a little longer ago. The pack had been together for a long enough time and other stuff was going on that Liam and Demetri brought up the idea of introducing an omega into our pack. I don't know how much you know about omegas and how they work in pack life."

"A little."

"Maybe not all the right stuff."

She paused before shrugging. "I've read enough. Not saying romance novels are all that much better."

"Probably better than whatever you were taught before reading them."

She reached out to swat me with her other free hand playfully, but she shook her head.

I bent back out of the way with a chuckle.

"Fine. Either way, let me explain. Omegas are seen kind of as glue when it comes to a pack. Or at least, that is what they are supposed to be without even realizing. An omega in a pack is a center point that holds everyone together with love and purpose to take care of each other," I explained. "When the pack first decided that we would even start looking for an omega we put in our information and scents and turned all the paperwork into Omega Services to see if they could find us a match of an omega who was also looking for an alpha or a pack. For a while, we didn't hear anything back."

After a few months passed, I honestly stopped being anxious about the entire thing. It just wasn't meant to be, and I was fine with that even if Demetri paced most mornings out of the week until he could finally call and ask if there were any updates.

Though he might've seemed cool about everything happening at first, it turned out that he was much more invested than maybe any of us were.

"Eventually we finally got the call of an omega who wanted to meet with us. She was new to the area and just came of age to search before her next heat set in," I said.

I remembered when she first showed up, with perfect hair and perfect manners. The omega had been one much like Liam and Demetri was before they got out into the real world with me and Marko, bred for their designation.

She was, in Liam's words, perfect. "She agreed to come live with us as a trial."

"What was her name?" Ella asked as I paused, gathering my thoughts.

"Bianca."

Ella nodded, the name clearly didn't ring any bells.

Wasn't she lucky?

"Anyway, she came with all her suitcases and moved in to see how she would fit," I said. "Demetri was nervous but was insistent upon basically waiting on her hand and foot. Liam spent the most time with her I believe in the beginning since Demetri was starting with his own business endeavors at the time."

"What about Marko?"

I raised my eyebrows at her question. She seemed genuine.

In most women's cases, they were either uneasy with Marko or too interested. "He was nice enough. He was still working through some... things from retiring from the military at the time and we all thought adding another person to the pack would help, but he was still a bit distant at the time."

She bit her lip.

"What?"

"He seems distant," she said.

"He slept on the floor near your bed for nearly two days when we brought you back here."

She blinked. "He did?"

"He did."

"I don't remember a lot from when I started to... omega-out," she said, using my choice of words.

I was shocked about it too. "That's okay. He probably wouldn't want you to know. That's just how Marko is, especially since then. He's more solitary, but he's a good man."

"Okay," she whispered. "Keep going. What happened? This other omega didn't stay."

I couldn't help but smirk at the venom as she referenced the other omega. And here I wasn't sure if she liked us. "Turned out that she was like a lot of the omegas that came out of the omega academies. She knew what she wanted, and she was very direct about it. She was polite when around others but..."

"But what?"

"In the end, it was very clear that she didn't want our pack."

Ella's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"One night she told Liam that he needed to kick me out of the pack if he wanted her to stay and be the Prestford omega. She was fine with Demetri and though she made nasty comments about Marko often behind his back we all heard, but we figured she'd warm up to him eventually. In the end, though, the ultimatum was me. She didn't like sharing with a beta. Which was clear even before that. She didn't like spending time with me at all because she thought I was beneath her."

"That's ridiculous."

I pressed my lips together.

"What did Liam do?" she asked.

"Oh, Liam... I don't think any of us could point to a time when we'd seen Liam that angry before. He took her stuff and put it outside by the door and told her to get out." I looked away from Ella towards the door. I remembered the yelling that night, mostly from her after that happened.

I also remember how it was one of the only times Demetri pulled me into his arms and let me sleep with him in his bed that night because I was such a mess. I had been threatening to pack up my things and leave for what was best for the pack.

It took a long time before I could see, mostly, that I was just as important as them.

Over the past few days, of course, I felt like I was back at stage one.

Ella's hand settled over mine. I almost didn't realize she reached for me, and I jumped. She didn't let go as I talked until I finished. Only then did she offer her thoughts, though I was unsure what they would be.

What if this was it? After she heard this story and had been through so much she figured… man, she had to get out of this fucked up house.

I almost wanted to laugh at just how bad this all was starting to sound. No omega would ever want to be stuck with a pack like us.

"She sounds like an absolute fool not to see how wonderful you are, Cal. I'm serious."

I shrugged. "Yeah, she was a fucking bitch."

Ella snorted, peeking up at me through her eyelashes.

"I guess that's just why I took a step back after everything. I didn't... I wasn't sure how you felt exactly."

"Well, I guess that's just it," she sighed with a hint of amusement. "I've never been a good omega. And like I said Cal, she is a fool. I'm not. Or at least, I'd like not to think so even if the past few days have not exactly showcased that."

"No." Both of us smiled. "But you"re ours."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not yours."

At the words, it felt like I was shot in the chest. "You're right. I shouldn't have said that–"

"But I'd be lying…" She took another deep breath with a fixed contemplated look on her face. "I'd be lying if I didn't let myself feel good just sitting here. Just being with you or even–"

"Even Liam?"

I glared at me.

Oh yeah, he was already starting to get up under her skin for sure.

I repressed the need to smile. "Just give us a chance, Ella? Please? I know it's a lot, but I still want to see you and make sure you're safe. I don't know what you've been running from all this time, but I can promise you that I won't let anything get to you that's out there. You can be safe now as exactly who you are."

After a long moment, she lay down as if the words I spoke took everything out of her. She sighed, though her breath stuttered.

"Get some rest. We'll figure everything out later. I'll come see if you're awake for dinner later."

She nodded, shutting her eyes.

I continued to run my hand back and forth up her back until I was pretty sure she was asleep or close to it. Only then was I willing to slowly make my way off the bed, careful not to jostle her of her many blankets twisted around her.

I couldn't believe now that I was able to push off her hundred pillows in her room back at her apartment as simply a silly, omega habit.

No shit, Sherlock.

I hesitated by the door, looking back at her. But it was fine. It had to be, even if I was nervous she was going to pull another escape attempt. If she was asleep though, at least I knew that was at least pretty likely out of the cards unless she was a sleepwalker.

Downstairs, I rounded into the living room where everyone still seemed to be, though none of our usually laid-back pack was calm. Even Marko was slowly walking back and forth in front of the window. It was his version of an irritated pace.

Liam followed me a step as I made my way into the kitchen before stopping. "How is she?"

"Oddly okay, I think," I said, reaching to get a water bottle out of the fridge.

Demetri nodded from where he stood with his hands on his waist. "Good."

I looked between them all, high-strung.

And I thought I was a mess the past few days.

"What about all of you guys?" I asked. "Are you all okay?"

"Of course," said Demetri.

"Yes," Marko intoned.

Liam flipped his hand over towards the question, his one eye narrowing at me. "Why wouldn't we be?"

All three quick responses were a little concerning.

Hopefully, my eyes said enough because I was not going to have another designation talk tonight.

I sighed. "Ella is sleeping as of now. She's pretty run down after everything. Care to fill in the blanks, Lee?"

Liam sucked in his cheek before nodding. "Right."

"Because." I went on, teasing him. "You sure smell like you know a lot. And she… doesn't hate you anymore."

He rolled his icy blue eyes before they opened wide. "She said that?"

I couldn't help the bubble of laughter that escaped from me.

Liam shook his head at the antics.

"As I mentioned before, her boss was Rylan Wolfern. He just thought she was pre-heat and she told him to call me. I'm pretty sure I was the only one she knew he'd be able to call since we worked together. She was smart. Smart omega," he finished saying with a fondness in his voice.

God, was this my alpha, smitten?

"And then what?" Marko asked from his spot in the corner, still walking back and forth.

Back and forth with his hand on his head.

Yeah, he didn't look so calm and collected like his normal self.

"I calmed her down. I got her out of there. Of course, then she wouldn't come back with me until we stopped to grab some things from her apartment. I'll get the stuff out of the car. She lives in a step above a shithole."

I snorted. "Told you."

"Yeah. You did," agreed Liam. "When we were there, she started to understand what was going on. Not to mention she started to perfume like crazy."

"Berries," Marko whispered.

Liam shut his eyes as if he could still smell Ella. " She fell into one of those mini heats whatever we are calling them because it sure as shit did not look like a mini anything."

"I knew I felt something down the bond."

I cannot believe I missed that.

If all went well, there would be plenty of time to see my omega writhing under my touch with pleasure as we took care of her.

"Did you touch her?" Demetri snarled.

Liam rolled his eyes. "No, Demetri. I didn't force myself on her. She did most of the touching."

She did most of the touching. I wanted to burst back out laughing. She did most of the touching and I couldn't blame her with my grumpy alpha.

"Anyway," continued Liam. "Then we came straight back here. Nothing crazy though..."

"What?" asked Demetri.

Maybe it wasn't just Marko looking a bit like he was going nuts. Demetri was one step away from becoming completely unhinged.

Carefully, I moved across the counter towards him. At my proximity, he took a deep breath.

"Cal was right," Liam admitted. "Ella has some backward understanding of what alphas are like. Or should be. She has probably seen the worst of the designation somewhere along the line. She didn't seem to even know how omegas are normally treated or matched within the system let alone how she should be treated as an omega."

"What do you mean?" Demetri asked, slightly more in control this time.

Liam paused before he admitted, "On the way home she called omegas objects and breeders."

Marko grumbled.

"Some people do see them that way. Unfortunately, it seems she has had all too much experience with them." Demetri dipped his head in a small nod. Another deep breath. "We will just have to prove to her that we're not like that."

No one said anything for a moment.

"Where are you going?" asked Liam.

I raised the bottle of water. "Back upstairs to sleep with our omega."

"Cal," Demetri stopped him. "She isn't ours."

"I know that. She isn't ours… Yet."

Demetri groaned. "Don't get your hopes up."

Consider them skyrocketing.

" We do all need some rest. We will regroup in the morning."

They didn't already know that I did what for a second there when she ran away we thought was impossible. I got Ella to give us a chance.

I got her to admit that she wanted what we had to offer whether or not she was still terrified about what it all meant. That was huge. That was special. That meant… god, was this girl feeling half as much as I felt for her already?

I raised the glass before climbing the stairs towards Ella. It was too late for me not to get my hopes up. In my head, this was a done deal just like she said when we first ran into each other. Like fate.

And now she was here. An omega.

In my house. With my pack. With me.