Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT

Now Playing: Give- Sleep Token

One long week of agony. Of wondering what happened to my omega, and reliving the horror we all witnessed every time I close my eyes. I’ve barely slept. My appetite is none existent. I can’t stomach the thought of caring for myself when my mind is haunted by the damning image of Omen lying on the church floor. So broken and lifeless. A shell of the woman I’ve fallen in love with.

We are due to go to the label today to work with our producer on another song for our upcoming album. At first, I didn't want to leave our apartment. Why force myself to go somewhere I have to pretend my heart isn’t slowly crumbling to dust? Then I remembered Bea might be at the Soulbound office, and there’s no way my girl’s best friend won’t have an update about what happened to her.

My knee bounces for the ride up the elevator to the executive offices where we’re supposed to check in with Brady. I don’t care about anything but finding Bea and getting answers. The rest of my pack can deal with our manager and anyone else at the label who tries to get in my way.

The doors are barely open before I’m rushing through them. It takes a lot of effort to not run from door to door yelling her name to get her attention. My spark of hope starts to diminish the further into the offices I get without seeing her. Maybe she isn’t here… I can’t think about why she wouldn’t be here or I’ll fall apart in the middle of this hallway.

I don’t hear a word Brady says when Callisto pulls me into the office. My mind is a vortex devouring the world around me and spitting reminders of my failure back at me. Cal’s hand is warm when it wraps in mine. I let him lead me back out of the office and downstairs to the recording studio where our producer is waiting for us.

We’re outside of the door when I hear the voice of my savior. Bea walks around the corner ahead of us with Joey, the bassist from Orbital Somatic. Shaking my hand from Cal’s grip, I beeline for her. Her eyes snap up to meet mine when she hears my hurried footsteps. Disdain twists her expression, her nose turning up in the air as if I’m beneath her.

I know what a piece of shit I am. I’m an alpha who abandoned his omega after her heat. The lowest of the low. But I need answers. I will lose my mind if I have to go another day without knowing Omen’s okay.

“How is she?”

Bea snorts derisively, her eyes narrowed on me. “Catch up with your bandmates, Joey. We can continue this conversation later.”

The bassist nods, watching me warily before stepping around me to head down the hallway. I can sense my mates hovering a few feet behind me, also hoping for some hint about the state of our omega’s health.

“As for you, Mr. Graves,” she sneers my pack name like it’s mud on her brand new heels, “unless you have a question pertaining to your career or the label, we have nothing to discuss.”

I slam my hand against the wall to block her path when she starts to move past me. Neither of us is leaving this hallway without her telling me Omen’s alive. “Please, Bea-”

“I warned you,” her finger digs into my chest. The malicious tone of her voice sends my instincts on high alert. “When I came to your apartment to tell you who Omen was to you. I told you I wasn’t going to let you get close enough to hurt her a second time. I almost lost her once because of your actions, I won’t risk her life again.”

A sliver of relief fills my soul with her unintentional admission Omen is still alive. As long as my girl is still here I can fix all of the pieces of her we’ve broken.

“You. Don’t. Deserve. Her.” She enunciates each word with a sharp poke to my chest. The blows have my jaw clenching. I know I don’t deserve Omen, but Fates dammit, I’m going to find a way to earn her back.

“You’d rather watch her slowly fade away from the ROS than let us fix our mistakes?” Nebula growls from behind me. Watching Omen face her father’s abuse helped my alpha mate have a change of heart. He’s all in now. Ready to do whatever it takes to ensure our girl recovers from the Rejected Omega Syndrome.

“She isn’t facing your rejection alone. She has me, our family, her sister, and our friends. Omen doesn’t need a bunch of worthless men who so easily tossed her aside.”

Nebula’s bond splinters with grief and regret, both emotions showing in his voice when he replies. “You might think your love will be strong enough to tether her here, but I’ve been there Bea. My family poured everything we had into saving my sister and it didn’t work. The only thing that will save Omen from the rejection is us. All you are doing is hindering her chances of recovery.”

Bea shakes her head, ignoring my alpha’s warning. I can see in her eyes she isn’t going to listen to us. I step back, my arms falling to my sides in defeat. We aren’t going to change Bea’s mind, and cornering her in the hallway any longer could get us in trouble with the label.

Stepping into the sound booth, I let all of my built-up emotions bubble to the surface. I’m going to pour my heart and soul into this album. Hopefully one day my girl will listen to these tracks and hear exactly how much I regret not choosing her.

Titan’s phone rings as we are leaving the studio, so we pause in the lobby for him to take the call. The parking garage tends to have crappy signal and we don’t want him to lose the connection in case it’s related to Omen. He grunts and asks a few questions, each of which tells me the person on the other end is the general contractor we hired to fix up the new pack house we bought to share with our girl.

Cal came up with the idea after our show in Philadelphia. Our apartment here in Starburgh is too small for the five of us, especially when it doesn’t have a nest. Omegas need a nest, and our girl deserves the space of her dreams.

We’d poured over hundreds of real estate listings trying to find our perfect forever home. The massive stone lake house was a last-minute discovery during the time off before our show in Boston. Money moves mountains, so it took barely any effort to move the buying process along and get a contractor out to start making the changes we wanted.

The owner of the construction company had kept us updated with pictures while we did the West Coast portion of our tour, but we hadn’t let him touch the nest. Well, Nebula hadn’t. After learning Omen was born Sarah Montgomery his anger wouldn’t allow him to continue to build her nest. We reached out to the company a few days ago to have them start the renovations to prepare the space for our girl.

“They want us to swing by and check everything over,” Titan tells us after he ends the call.

Our general contractor, Tim, meets us out front. Seeing the pictures online hadn’t done this place justice. It feels like a tiny castle hidden in the trees with its multi-level roofs and whimsical back garden.

The perfect blend of modern and fairytale.

I follow behind my alphas, keeping Callisto tucked under my arm as we see the updated interior. A small, enclosed patio sits at the front with an intricately designed exterior door leading to a path down to the lake shore. Behind it is a large sunroom filled with empty bookshelves and cozy reading spots. I already know I’m going to spend a lot of time curled up in here devouring smutty romances with my omega.

As soon as I earn her forgiveness, that is.

My mood sinks each time I remember the devastating image of Omen on the TV screen a few days ago. The gaunt, broken woman we’d seen was barely recognizable. Worst of all, though, is knowing we are responsible for her decline. I did this to her. Broke my omega when I abandoned her. My actions are ones I doubt I will ever truly be able to atone for, but I will spend the rest of our life trying.

Nebula and Tim talk about the sound studio he’d had the house’s office converted into as we head upstairs. Most of the bottom floor space is taken up by two garages, so there isn’t much to see here. The upper levels are where the majority of the construction crews' upgrades are. A newly renovated kitchen, an updated bathroom, and a nest.

Stepping off of the stairs, I look around in wonder at what they’ve accomplished. The entire space is now built for our pack. From the massive bed in the main room to the giant walk-in closet big enough for all five of us to share. A drool-worthy master bath takes up a large part of this story with its raised jacuzzi tub and rainfall shower.

But the most important part of all is the dark space at the end. Omen’s nest. My pack and I stand silently in the doorway, unwilling to enter this sacred space without our omega at our side.

“I’m fucking terrified,” Nebula breathes. His head is leaning against the door frame, his dark blue eyes focused on the scentless nest-bed inside. “I adore how protective Bea is of her best friend–Omen deserves to have unconditionally supportive people like the Powells in her life–but her good intentions are only going to hurt our girl in the long run. I don’t know how to get through to Bea to help her realize preventing us from seeing Omen is only impeding her chance of surviving the rejection.”

“Yeah,” Titan grunts. “Seeing her on the live stream, it was easy to tell she’s hangin’ by a thread. If we don’t get to her soon…” He trails off, afraid to speak the words aloud. We fall quiet, lost in our own thoughts.

I squeeze Cal tighter against me. His bond is filled with confusion, fear, and doubt. Mostly related to our girl, but also from the strain between the four of us. I know he instinctively wants to comfort Nebula, to ease some of his ache over the memories of his sister and his regrets about his actions toward Omen, but he’s holding back. Ever since our trip back home my beta mate has been setting boundaries he never had before. He’s standing up for himself and being vocal about his thoughts and needs. I’m so fucking proud of how much he’s grown in such a short amount of time.

“It would help if she’d answer our calls or respond through our connection,” Titan grumbles.

Across from him, Nebula straightens, running his palms down his thighs. Guilt and nervousness trickle through his bond, shining in his blue eyes when he finally looks up from the floor. “That is my fault. After Bea told us everything, I blocked her number on all of our phones.”

“No, you didn’t.” I dig my phone out, opening my message thread to Omen so I can show him all the messages I’ve sent her. As soon as the images appear on the screen I notice they are all marked as undelivered. “What the fuck, Nebula!”

He runs a hand through his hair, his free arm twitching. “She also sent me a message the day you returned from helping her through her heat.”

“What did you do?” Titan growls, his eyes narrowed. The anger pulsing through his bond matches my own.

“I told her we would press charges if she continued to try to contact us.” Titan’s fist slams into Nebula’s cheek, sending our alpha stumbling back several steps.

“You had no right!”

“I know, okay! Fuck, I know. I messed up, and I can’t take it back. All I can do is try to fix the mistakes I’ve made along the way.” Nebula doesn’t back down when Tee steps closer, nor does he try to stop him when he shoves Neb to the floor.

“You’re an asshole, Nebula. You’d better fucking fix this.” Titan stomps past us, snagging Callisto’s hand and dragging him away too.

I’m left with my alpha, his cheek red and his eyes downcast. Sighing, I offer him a hand and pull him to his feet. I am fucking pissed at him, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy seeing him hurt.

“I’m going to find a way to convince her to hear us out,” he swears. I can only nod in response. A future with Omen at our side seems to grow more impossible with each road bump we encounter.

We linger in the driveway for a few more moments, allowing our longing to pour into the house in the hopes Fate will hear us and grant our plea to bring our omega back to us.

During the drive back to the city, I watch as Titan unblocks Omen’s number and tries to call and text her. The call immediately goes to voicemail and the messages sit unread. “It’s likely she hasn’t gotten her phone back from the DAU.”

“You know,” Callisto starts as we drive back to the city. “Bea isn’t Omen’s only friend. We could try to reach out to Lex or Ridley again.”

My head is already shaking before he finishes speaking. “I text them both several times, but neither one has seen the messages yet. They are either taking Bea’s standpoint, or they’ve been pulled into something with the DAU and aren’t in a position to help us.”

As we’re pulling into the lot of our apartment Cal jerks upright, his eyes wide when he turns to face me. “Lex and Ridley may not be able to help, but Omen is also close with the Wilson Pack.”

“Fuck, that’s right!” Nebula grins tightly, though it falls a second later. “Shepherd is likely to kick our asses, but Foster might help. It’s worth trying.” He pulls out his phone, already dialing the male omega’s number.

The line rings several times before he finally answers. “I considered not answering, since speaking with you assholes would be a waste of my time, but then I realized if I answered I could hear whatever pitiful excuses you have for rejecting my best friend with my own ears.” Foster’s voice is tight and harsh. “So, go ahead, dig your graves a little deeper.”

Nebula sighs, his bond pulsing with the regret consuming all of us. “We fucked up, Foster.”

“A vast understatement. Your actions nearly killed her. This goes beyond fucking up.” Foster sighs. He sounds heartbroken and frustrated. Something we can relate to, but I don’t voice that thought. I’d just piss him off further and he may hang up before we can get any information about my girl. “I’m glad you and your pack are able to admit to your faults, but if you know how severely you’ve mishandled the situation why haven’t you tried to correct it?”

“We’re trying,” Nebula growls. “But it’s impossible to do anything when we’re getting blocked at every angle.”

“You mean Omen isn’t taking your calls?”

“She hasn’t seen any of our messages so we assumed her phone was still with the DAU, or was lost in the chaos,” Cal chimes in quietly.

“I didn’t even consider she may not have her phone,” Foster comments distractedly. Soft murmurs in the background pull his attention away from our call. Annoyance bubbles inside of my chest, but I take a deep breath and slowly blow it out. I’m not upset with Foster, I’m impatient to get to my girl. “That still isn’t a good enough excuse. You could have come to the hospital to visit her.”

“We would have if we knew where she was. Bea won’t let us anywhere near Omen, and their bodyguards aren’t answering any of our texts either,” Nebula counters.

“Lex and Ridley are tracking down Doctor Harrison, so they won’t have their personal phones on them.” Foster pauses. “You tried to ask Bea about Omen? And she shut you down?”

“Yeah.” I finally join the conversation. “I tried to ask her when I saw her at the label earlier, but she insists we aren’t ever going to be part of Omen’s life again. She believes she can save Omen herself.”

“Bullshit,” Foster snaps. “Look, I’m not telling you where she lives, because I don’t think she’s ready to have the four of you invading her safe space. Not after everything she’s been through.”

My heart sinks with his words. He was our last option, the only one who may think clearly enough to give us a chance to make things right with our girl. But even he is unwilling to give Omen the push she needs.

“But,” Foster steals our attention again. “I will tell you Bea and I are dragging her to Candy Courage’s show in Camden tomorrow night.”

“Right, okay. Yeah, we can work with that.” Nebula’s response is distracted, his bond already abuzz with the ideas flitting through his mind.

Foster ends the call with a reminder of what will happen if we fuck up with Omen again. We’re all grateful for his help, and his rightfully earned anger. He’s concerned enough about our girl’s health to help us find an opportunity to see her so we can start to make things right. All we need is one chance, a single moment in her presence, and I swear I’ll never leave her side again.

“I have an idea,” Nebula says as he climbs out of the car. “Let’s go win our omega back.”