Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

There was an unbonded omega in our house.

Unbonded. Unbonded. Unbonded.

My alpha screamed in my chest. My heart hammered just as loudly as I paced back and forth in the foyer ever since Marko rushed off with her upstairs. She smelled like the best thing I ever scented in my entire life and I didn't understand it. I couldn't even begin to comprehend it let alone what it meant for me.

For us.

"What did you do to her?" Liam snarled at Cal the moment he took another step past the entryway.

Our beta was already on shaky legs, yet he stepped back, dark eyes wide as if in a panic. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything. I didn't even know?—"

"Clearly, you did. She's up there with Marko looking like she was pulled out of some omega..."

"What?" I couldn't help myself. I listened to Liam"s tone curl with distaste. I took a calm step forward between them. I needed to keep my pack calm. We needed not to upset the omega if she was listening. "Not your shiny omega from Omega Services, Liam?"

"Are you…" Liam's lip curled as he shook his head. It"s not like the omega is staying here anyway."

I sighed, looking between the two of them.

Of course, she's staying, my alpha wanted to insist on it. He wanted to do anything to make sure that is what happened because any other option seemed inconsiderable.

But Liam. He was… right.

We couldn't harbor an omega. Especially not one that may not even realize where she was or what was happening.

"We need to call someone," I agreed.

"You can't," Cal stammered, cutting between the two of us with his body as we talked around him. "You can't call anyone or tell anyone that she is here. I won't let you."

Did he think this was going to turn into a fight? By the way, his hands fisted the curls at the back of his head, it looked like he was prepared for it to be whether or not our sweet beta was bound to lose.

My eyebrows scrunched together as I took in the sight of us all in the silence. But it wasn't silent. A buzz tainted the air. Filled it.

Because there was a delicious-smelling unbonded omega upstairs.

I forced myself to focus. I needed to be strong. For all of us. "We need to call Omega Services to make sure they"re aware of the situation, especially if she has already been under their care before. She probably has a family or people who will be looking for her, Cal."

"She doesn't."

"Or anyone looking for her?" That made no sense.

"She doesn't," Cal agreed, nodding quickly. "She understands what is going on. She made it clear after Marko found her that she doesn't… she begged not to let anyone know and I'm not going to break that trust."

"How can you be sure?" I asked, trying not to get frustrated.

Her scent already started to permanently permeate the air and I held myself tight. I could not let myself get all flustered.

I needed to tell my pack what the best course of action was and what we were going to take.

This was the best action to take. All of us had heard the horror stories of packs taking in unbonded omegas before. If it wasn"t some kind of scheme to infiltrate families, it was just a plain bad idea that usually ended up having the entire pack up in court for omega kidnapping from the service center for not following a proper bonding procedure.

"We need to call Omega Services and get this all sorted. Once we do that we can figure out the rest of whatever is going on here."

"No!" Cal calmed himself down. "You don"t understand."

"I think I understand perfectly. This isn"t what you thought it was Cal. I understand that you have already formed an... attachment to her."

"You don"t get it. Ella has been living in a shitty little box of an apartment with her friend whom I've only met in passing but seems to be doing alright for herself for the last seven fucking years ever since she got this city. Alone."

Yeah, I'm sure that's why she was pretending to be a beta? It made no sense.

I looked up the stairs where Marko carried her.

"We need to let her stay here. Please," said Cal though he was still frozen, not going after Marko and the girl oddly enough. "By the looks of her, there has to be a reason that she had been lying low all this time. Can"t we trust that? Trust her judgment just a little?"

"We're not keeping her," I said.

"I didn't mean, to keep her." Cal's forehead scrunched. "Not like that. She doesn't think she's safe and until we figure it out I want her to stay here before we do anything."

"What do you mean?"

"She"s terrified. There has to be a good reason for that. There has to be a good reason that she lied." Cal looked more than a little crestfallen at the last few words.

It looked like we weren't the only ones confused.

Liam grunted as he waved a hand in my direction. He turned his back on us.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I plan on staying out of the way, Sherlock. Before I do something stupid," he huffed, heading down past the living room towards the home office hardly any of us used. "Looks like our beta already did enough of that for us."

At least I wasn't the one to warn him. With a sigh, I slipped my phone out of my back pocket.

"What are you doing? I thought you heard what I said," Cal whined.

"I'm calling the doctor for a house call," I explained, dialing the number. "You need to find out what the number is for this friend she's been living with too so we can get this sorted out."

I couldn't imagine that the omega upstairs could've kept that secret from everyone for the past near-decade.

"I needed to keep my head on straight. If we are going to get in trouble…" We couldn't get in trouble right now. Not with so much on the line. "We need to make sure it"s bare minimum trouble."

Cal nodded. "Okay. I can do that."

"All we need more than an unbonded omega is a sick one on our hands," I muttered heading towards the stairs. At the top of them, I could already hear the harsh crying and sobs.

I heard the softer voice of the alpha I never expected to be a caretaker gently consoling her.