Chapter Twenty-Nine

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

NOW PLAYING: TAKE Me Back To Eden- Sleep Token

Finishing the guys’ show in Philadelphia, I rush back to my bus to put away my camera. Last night’s and tonight’s shows were much lighter. No one was protesting outside and we were in pro-pack cities. My soul feels brighter without the extra stress the protests have been causing.

Swinging out of my mini-nest, I rush to the front of the bus. Lex and Ridley are still away working on whatever assignment they were called into the DAU for, so we’ve been assigned two new guards until they return in a few days. Hendrix, the older of the two, is getting ready to climb into the driver’s seat when I stop him.

“Hey, I’m going to ride back to the lot on Primordial Covenant’s bus. Um, if that’s okay.”

Hendrix sighs but agrees. Standing at the door he watches me cross to the guys’ bus. I don’t bother to knock since I already told them I was planning to hang out here during the drive home. Their TV plays loudly in the living area and I can smell the scent of their anger as soon as I touch the bottom step. My instincts are on high alert. The need to escape their fury nearly unmanageable.

Fighting past my flight instinct, I hurry up the stairs only to come to a standstill when I see the four of them watching a recording of tonight's evening news. A campaign ad for Senator Pierson plays on the screen. My stomach churns seeing the vile alpha spread hatred and promises for a ‘better’ world. Memories of those same ideals spoken from my birth father’s voice threaten to resurface, but I manage to force them aside.

I can’t afford to spiral when my pack needs me.

I turn toward Nexus where he stands rigidly beside their couch, my mouth open to ask them what’s wrong, when the voice on the TV changes. The haunting familiarity of it threatens to bring me to my knees. I watch in horror as my birth father’s image appears on the screen. He’s being interviewed about his very vocal backing of Pierson’s campaign.

My lungs won’t seem to work, frozen in terror as past memories flicker rapidly through my mind. Broken bones, heavy fists, shattered glass, degrading words, loneliness. I can’t breathe.

One slow blink, my head spinning from the sudden lack of oxygen, and I come face to face with a paralyzing realization. Nexus has seen me without my contacts. He’s seen my real eyes. The same eyes that are reflected back at me on their television screen. They’re going to figure out who I am. I need to–

No. I’m done running. I already have plans to tell them the truth anyway, I might as well do it now. I trust them. Even without Lex’s input, I know in my heart these men would never hurt me. I’m meant to be theirs as much as they are meant to be mine.

Nebula slams their remote down on the coffee table, shattering the plastic backing and sending the batteries flying across the floor. “Fucking worthless, lying piece of shit! How can they not realize he’s bullshitting them? Using them to gain more power so he can ruin more lives.” I’ve never seen him so livid before. The weight of his rage has me instinctively curling in on myself to escape his notice.

I must make some noise because four pairs of eyes snap to where I’m standing. Nebula curses again, but it’s Callisto who closes the distance between us and wraps me in his arms. “It’s okay, starlight,” he whispers. He hugs me tightly against him, my head tucked into his neck for easy access to his soothing beta scent. The soft notes of violet and cedar help me shake the effect of Nebula’s anger quickly, but my body still trembles from the fear hearing my birth father’s voice caused. “Nebula isn’t mad at you.”

“I know,” I rasp out.

“I’m sorry, little omega,” Nebula says from across the room. His voice still tense with anger.

“Are you okay?” I manage to ask, though I’m not sure he hears me with how quiet the words come out.

“He has a personal hatred for Pastor Montgomery,” Cal tells me.

“Not just the Pastor. There isn’t a single soul in his entire family who has any redeemable quality. They’re all repulsive, anti-designation liars who commit atrocious crimes and use their followers to cover them up.”

“What crimes?” I swallow thickly. My heart is somehow both racing and sinking, like a motorboat driving directly to the bottom of the ocean.

Cal’s eyes soften as he glances back at his alpha. A mixture of sadness and concern lighting up the dual-toned orbs. I don’t want to know the answer, not really, because I have a feeling whatever reason Nebula has to hate my family will shatter everything we’ve been building between us.

“Benjamin Montgomery is the alpha who rejected Elizabeth.”

The glass plate shatters against the wall less than a foot away from where I stand. I keep my eyes on the floor, not flinching or reacting despite the small shards now sticking into my skin. I learned long ago what happened to kids who cry and whine in this house.

“An omega! Not only did he start releasing alpha pheromones in the middle of a public campus, he laid with an OMEGA!” my father roars. Another piece of the pretty china my mother sat out for dinner is tossed across the room, thankfully landing farther away this time. I will be lucky to escape with only the tiny cuts on my arm as a remnant of his anger. “I’ll end their life myself before I let an omega into this family.”

“He let his instincts control him,” my uncle grunts, his voice full of disgust. “Says he rejected her as soon as he came to his senses though.”

My heart aches for the poor omega who has been scent matched to my older brother. Rejection is rough for anyone, but it is especially hard on omegas.

“And where is my bastard son now?” My father’s words come out in a feeble attempt at a growl.

“With Doctor Harrison.”

My stomach rolls, the small dinner I ate threatening to resurface with my uncle’s words. Doctor Harrison is New Hampshire’s very own mad scientist. A beta obsessed with finding a ‘cure’ for the different designations. One of his so-called ‘cures’ is to perform black market surgeries where he attempts to remove alpha knots. He also recently started illegal and unethical trials for hormone treatments to eliminate omega traits, including heats and perfumes.

Even though I dislike my brother, I still wouldn’t wish for him to experience whatever treatment he is seeking from the madman. Especially not when I know he will still have to face our father’s punishment when he returns home.

“Mmmm.” My father finally seems to lose the fatal edge to his anger. He doesn’t share my concern for my brother’s safety. In fact, he seems thrilled with the idea. I suppress a shiver when his dark brown eyes turn to me. “Make yourself useful, and clean up this mess.”

I rush to do as he asks, gathering the broken glass in the bottom of my dress and carrying it to the kitchen. My hands bleed where the shards cut into my skin, so I quickly rinse them. I’ll have to sneak into the bathroom later to grab some bandages. The dining room is still quiet and tense as I slip back inside and return to my spot against the wall. I won’t be excused to my room until Father decides he’s finished tormenting me.

“Mary,” my father snaps at my mother. “Call Governor Pierson’s wife and invite them to dinner this weekend. It’s time to arrange Sarah’s marriage.” I didn’t hear him move and barely manage to stop myself from flinching as he towers over me. “Before she can become a disappointment like her brother.”

The sound of the guys’ conversation is a muffled buzz in my ears. Their scents fade into the background. Like a breaker blowing, I can feel all of my emotions shutting down. I’m left numb. Frozen to the spot as Nebula’s words and my memories merge to become some twisted nightmare inside of my head.

But this isn’t a nightmare.

This is real.

I was so close to a happiness I never imagined myself capable of finding and now it’s all going to be ripped away in the blink of an eye. There’s no way Nebula and the others will accept me as their omega once they learn Grant Montgomery is my father. Hell, my brother is the man responsible for Nebula’s sister’s rejection. That alone will be enough to convince them to reject me.

I have to go. I can’t stay on this bus with them when my heart is being demolished by the weight of this revelation. “I–” A sob cuts off the words, but I swallow it down. “I think I need to go back to my bus. To my nest. To center myself.”

Nexus jumps to his feet to approach me, worry lining his brows, but I put out a hand to hold him off. I also step out of Callisto’s hold. As much as their presence soothes me, I no longer deserve their comfort. I’m a Montgomery after all. Just another child tainted by my birth father’s ideology.

“I need my nest.” I repeat the words aimlessly, unable to convince my body to cooperate. My instincts are urging me to go to them. To let their soft words and sweet touches take away the insane amount of stress my body is currently experiencing. Their shoulders fall when I manage to choke out the words, but they don’t argue.

Callisto offers to walk me back to my bus and I accept so none of the alphas will offer in his place. I don’t know how much longer I will be able to maintain control of myself without giving in to my body’s instinctual demand for their comfort.

When we get to my bus Hendrix looks shocked to see me, but he quickly opens the door. It seems like everyone is ready to leave now, so I barely made it off of Primordial Covenant’s bus in time. Bea sees me from where she’s lounging on the couch and calls out but I don’t respond. I bypass everyone and dive straight into my nest.

Only when I’m buried deep beneath my blankets, wrapped in a consuming darkness, do I let the tears flow. Heaving sobs wrack my body as all of the pain and fear reaches a fevered peak.

I never should have agreed to work this stupid fucking tour.