Chapter Thirty-Five

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

NOW PLAYING: LIKE That- Sleep Token

My alpha rallies to protest Nebula’s rejection of Omen, but I quickly dim what they can feel from me in our bond. None of them will agree with me. Especially not Nebula. He can’t see past his hatred of the Montgomery family. Callisto only wants to support his mates. To comfort their aching hearts and avoid any further conflict. Tee… well I don’t know what is going on inside of my giant alpha’s head. He’s unreadable, and trying to sort out his emotions in the bond is too complicated of a task when my mind is a swirling, chaotic mess.

For the first time since we met ten years ago, I’m going to lie to my pack. “Take him to the hotel’s gym, Titan. Let him wear out this aggression before he gets lost in his anger and hurts someone.” I need everyone to clear out long enough for me to slip away unnoticed.

“That’s a good idea,” Cal whispers. He glances at me, worry filling his dual tone-eyes, but I shake my head and nod to Nebula. With a furrow in his brow and a reluctant sigh, he leads our alpha into his bedroom to get dressed in athletic wear.

I shift from foot to foot waiting for Tee to go get ready too. Instead, he steps closer. Chest to chest, he stares down at me. “You’re gonna go to her?” My breath freezes in my chest as I try to find some believable alternative truth to tell him, but when he smiles softly, I find myself nodding. “Good. Take care of our Firefly, Nex. I’ll keep these two distracted until you get back.”

“You aren’t mad?” I ask.

“I don’t know how I feel about everything Bea told us yet. I do know I’ve seen the fallout of someone’s life being torn apart by a secret they were forced to keep once before, and I don’t want to experience it again.”

That makes sense. Omen’s current situation reminds him of his aunt. The one person in his family to ever truly love him. Hope builds in my chest thinking Titan may be able to help me make Nebula realize how wrong this decision is.

“Be careful,” he adds.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Tee. Focus on them.”

“I’ll always worry about you, brat.” His lips gently brush mine once, twice before he walks away.

Grabbing everything I’ll need to last the next several days, I slip out the front door and hurry to the elevator. I can feel my mates’ anger and hurt in our bonds. I get it. Finding out exactly how much of herself Omen hid from us… My heart aches knowing she didn’t feel she could rely on us to keep her secrets. To protect her from the family who forced her into hiding.

Mentally, I’m stuck between the black hole of never feeling befitting of my designation and the raging, monstrous instincts choosing today to rear their head. How I can feel like an utter failure of an alpha and a savage beast at once I can’t explain.

Omen is our omega. The Fated connection we discovered a year ago. When she would have turned twenty-one. Back then she said she wasn’t ready. She didn’t know if she would ever be ready. She ran from us without having even met us.

Even after we met, she didn’t stop running.

I can’t muster any anger after hearing her fears about what could happen to all of us if her family were to discover our connection. I don’t know what Omen’s life was like growing up, no one outside of the Montgomery household does, but I can imagine it wasn’t pleasant. Even before Elizabeth had met Benjamin, rumors had run rampant about the Pastor’s tyrannical approach to designations within the state of New Hampshire.

Even though the beta isn’t directly involved in the state's politics, he has every single government official in his pocket. Male alphas were discouraged from forming packs with arranged monogamous marriages being the most common practice. Female alphas, male omegas, and female omegas were forced to flee to escape the awful torture they’d undergo as punishment for their designations. Those who hadn’t made it out before being discovered told horror stories about the abuse they suffered. Beatings, starvation, being restrained and forced to suffer alone and unmedicated through their heats.

Even more horrific was the mandatory ‘surgery’ every omega caught within the state had to undergo. Mutilation was a much more appropriate term for what happened to those poor omegas.

The mere thought of Omen enduring even the lightest of those punishments simply for being an omega makes me vibrate with fury. A growl rattles from my chest and I blink repeatedly as I stare down at myself. I’ve never sounded so remarkably alpha.

Through the bond, I can feel my mates' confusion and worry. I send flows of reassurance their way before slowly dimming the connection. I can’t risk them trying to track me down. Not until after I’ve saved our omega.

Bea is right. We don’t know what Omen went through before she was able to get away. Why she’s still so terrified of what would happen if her family found her with us. I can’t leave her to suffer through a horrendous solo heat any longer than she already has. She’s my omega and she needs me. I may not know what I’m doing, but whatever it takes I won’t let her down.

Walking into the car park where we keep our vehicles, I slide into my Audi. I try for the third time to call Bea. She isn’t answering my texts and my calls are now going to voicemail. I guess it’s understandable since, in her eyes, my pack rejected her best friend. Not fully since none of us spoke the words to Omen, but abandoning her to a Fate driven heat is basically the same.

Luckily, I have Lex’s number from when I arranged our bookstore date. He answers almost immediately, sending me an address for the hotel my girl is still at in Boston. Swearing, I quickly pull out of the lot and hit the highway. I can’t afford to wait for a plane so I guess I’ll be driving instead. Maybe I can cut these four hours into three and a half if traffic isn’t too heavy.

My hands shake on the steering wheel. Sneaking behind my mates’ backs leaves me gutted, but what choice do I have? My girl needs me, and for once in her life it’s time someone put her first. At least long enough to get through this heat.

Imposter syndrome strikes hard each time I think about what I’m going to be walking into. I’ve never experienced an omega’s heat. Never had to lead someone in the bedroom. I’m not fully submissive, I just prefer to not have to think. Something my mates enjoy taking care of for me. Will Omen take control once I enter her nest? Or will I have to discover some new side of myself to meet her needs? Am I even alpha enough to help her through this alone? Doubt swirls relentlessly through my mind for the duration of the trip.

Paying the hotel's valet to take my car, I send Lex a text to let him know I’ve arrived and head inside to wait for him. He doesn’t take long, waving me to the elevators as soon as he sees me. We take the private elevators used for heat wings. One that requires a coded keycard to work.

“Is she-– I trail off, unsure of what to even ask. Bea made it sound as if Omen’s been alone for the past week so I doubt her bodyguard knows what I should expect. “I’ve never done this before,” I admit instead. Lex gives me an assessing look as the elevator slows to a stop on the right floor.

“You are her mate. Just follow your instincts.” I nod in response to his on-par, but unhelpful advice. My hands tug at my shirt, suddenly feeling self-conscious about my sweatpants and borrowed shirt. Perhaps I should have–

The door to the suite opens and my thoughts stall as I’m hit with the full force of my omega’s scent. A full-body shudder rushes down my spine and my cock instantly stands at attention. I don’t hear or see Lex beside me, my eyes are locked on the nest door.

Almost as if I’ve been hypnotized, my feet carry me across the room. My knuckles knock against the wood. “Gorgeous, it’s me. Nexus.” There’s a pause before the door clicks open. I can hear her inside, the most devastating sobs escape the room. The sound tears my heart in two.

“May I please enter your nest, Omega?” When she nods, I kick my shoes off and crawl inside, making sure the door closes behind me. My girl is laid out in a pile of blankets. All of her incredible body on display for me. My eyes trace from her toes up her thick thighs and hips to her soft stomach and further still. My cock throbs inside of my sweats, begging to be released so he can find his home in Omen’s pussy.

Pushing my pants down, I stutter when I finally look up to see my girl’s face. Her lips are chapped and raw. Her sea-green eyes red and swollen from crying. She’s barely hanging on. It’s a kick to the gut realizing how close we are to losing her to this heat.

Anger at my other mates pulses sharply through me with guilt following quickly. They each have their own reasons for not being here. I won’t fault them for doing what they think is best. I’m here and I’m not going to leave my girl to this misery a moment more.

I spy an open case of water sitting on the floor and snatch one on my way. My entire being focuses on my girl’s needs. The rest is background noise.

Omen grabs my discarded clothes and presses them to her nose, inhaling deeply. Her body shakes and her shoulders collapse in relief. She carefully arranges the items in her nest. When she turns back, I can see a bit more clarity behind her eyes. Like my presence alone is enough to start to pull her out of the heat fog.

I’m careful not to touch her as I crawl over her body. Hovering above her so we’re eye to eye. “Hello Sweet Girl. Do I have your permission to touch you? To help you through this heat?” She nods, croaking out her approval. A smile crosses my lips hearing her shaky voice. “Good girl. My pretty, perfect Omega.”

My hands work over her shoulders and down her arms before I grip her hands and help her sit up. She complains, but I raise an eyebrow and press the bottle of water into her hands. “Drink.”

While she slowly sips the water, I let my hands continue their exploration of her body. Taking advantage of this lull in her heat to work some of the tension from her overworked muscles. Omen groans happily when I work out a particularly nasty knot from her shoulders. The sound shoots straight to my balls. I have to recite the alphabet several times to keep from blowing my load before I’ve done more than give her a massage.

When she finishes the first bottle, I hand her another. She only makes it halfway through this one before her need starts to rise again. “What do you need from me, sweet girl?” I question, unsure of where to take things next. Do I just fuck her? Foreplay? Is there a heat etiquette I’m unaware of?

“Your knot,” she rasps. She falls to her back, her seductive curves luring me in. I think Cal called her his siren once and the pet name seems very fitting as my own mind starts to grow foggy.

I’ve never knotted an omega before, but I have been on the receiving end of a knot so I know it takes a lot of stretching to make it fit. I drag my palms down her sides, following the curve of her breasts to her waist and down to her hips. I spread her thighs giving myself the first glimpse of her pretty pink pussy. It’s red from days of abuse but still leaking slick for me.

“You’re so fucking sexy, Omega. Those stunning green eyes. These magnificent tits. This pussy that was made for me to worship.”

I need to taste her. Dipping my head down, I slide my tongue down her center, licking up every drop of her slightly floral honey I can find. She’s the greatest delicacy this world has ever offered me. Her slick a drug I’d love to grow addicted to. The small taste I’d had after our bookstore date wasn’t nearly enough. Getting the full flavor profile here, while she’s deep in a heat, I realize what I’ve known on some level all along: this omega is meant to be ours.

“Alpha, knot,” she begs.

I look up and meet her blown green eyes. My fingers press into her core, three at once to start stretching her. I saw a few of the toys she’s been using buried in the blankets and they aren’t nearly as girthy as the real thing. “You want my knot, Omega? You’ve gotta earn it. Let me devour this sweet cunt, give you at least three orgasms. Only then will I give you my knot.”

Omen relaxes as much as she can with my fingers pumping slowly in and out of her, so I reward her with my mouth suctioning over her clit. Her back bows off the bed, a soft drawn-out moan leaving her. I lose myself in her taste. The sounds of her pleasure the soundtrack to my new paradise.

“Yes, please, more,” she cries as her body starts to shake. She falls over the precipice, flooding my hand with her release. I don’t relent, pushing her from one orgasm to the next. I get four out of her before my throbbing cock demands attention.

“How did I get so fucking lucky, gorgeous, to have a mate whose pussy tastes candy sweet?” Pink tinges her cheeks when I push to my knees between her thighs. A puddle of pre-cum pools on the blanket where I was lying. Sliding my fingers through the sticky liquid I bring it to her lips and paint them with my scent. Her tongue peeks out to glide across the skin, tasting me with an intensity that sets my soul aflame.

Shuffling forward, I let my dick slap against her clit before I coat myself in her slick. Omen lifts to one arm with a shocked gasp, her eyes wide as she watches me. “You have a piercing too?”

I chuckle at the question, imagining she felt Nebula’s prince albert piercing when they were dry-humping on the beach. “Oh gorgeous, I don’t have just one.” I grip myself in my fist raising my length toward my stomach to show off the row of glinting metal balls running along the underside. “I’ll let you explore them later. With your tongue. Right now I’m going to sink into this tight little cunt and ravage the hell out of you.”

Omen pleads her agreement as I line myself up with her opening. I take it slow, pushing in bit by bit. My teeth slam into my bottom lip and I let out a low groan when I feel the wet, tight grip of her pussy around my cock. She’s strangling me. This is heaven.

My pelvis is flush with hers, our breaths erratic as we try to adjust to being wrapped in each other for the first time. I feel like I could come from sitting here feeling the rhythmic pulse of her walls around me. Channeling my best impression of Nebula, I pull out slowly then push back in. Keeping the same tortuous pace.

“Alpha, fuck me already!” Omen snarls.

I can’t help but laugh, wondering if this is what I look like when Neb takes his time with me. Fortunately for my omega, my patience isn’t nearly as well built as my alpha’s. I only manage a few of those slow thrusts before putting her legs against my shoulder and pounding into her.

A cloud of perfume fills the air when I bare my teeth at her, the scent of it pushing me toward a rut. You’re in danger, my mind whispers as I start to give in to my instincts. Ruts often lead to bonds. Something neither of us can walk away with. No matter how much my alpha instincts demand otherwise.

Leaning forward so her knees are pressed into her chest, I slam into her over and over again. My knot is already swollen at the base of my cock, begging to slip inside of her tight cunt and lock us together. Every time I push in it bumps against her entrance and I have to fight to pull back out. The way she clamps down around me has my eyes rolling up into my skull. Pleasure skitters down my spine like lightning strikes straight to my balls. I’m losing the will to resist. Her pussy is calling and it’s fucking hungry for my cum.

“Alpha, please,” she begs. “Knot!”

She has to be close with how tightly she’s gripping me. Should I draw this out? Get her off a few more times before–An embarrassing squeal leaves my lips when my girl’s legs suddenly slip down and lock around my waist. She flips us over, my back pressed into her nest as she rides me. Omen glides up until just my tip sits inside of her, then she drops her full weight back down. My knot slips inside of her and swells further.

This is heaven. Or maybe it’s hell. Her walls have my knot locked in a vice grip. It feels so fucking good it hurts.

“Nexus,” she moans, shaking against me as she falls apart. I grind against her, prolonging our pleasure. My body locks up when I fall over the edge, a groan filling the air as I empty myself deep inside of her.

I thought I was addicted to Omen’s scent. Her taste. Nothing compares to feeling her locked around me, milking my cock and writhing in my arms. I want to stay knotted in her cunt forever.

Minutes, hours, days. I’m not sure how much time passes before her fever fades and exhaustion claims her. I remember getting her to drink more water and eat a few of the nutrient-dense protein bars left inside the door. We showered at one point, although we probably got dirtier beneath the water than we did in the nest.

Rut made the time go faster. Our baser nature taking over. My eyes rake over Omen’s body and I let out a soft sigh of relief when I don’t spot a bite mark. I didn’t bond her in the rut haze, which is a real accomplishment.

A phone vibrates from the end of the bed so I untangle myself from my omega’s delectable body to retrieve it. The noise comes from the pocket of my sweatpants, so I dig my phone out. I curse when I see a couple of missed calls and a hell of a lot of texts from my mates. Titan sent me a message letting me know he’d told them I needed time to think things over. I’m grateful for my alpha mate knowing I won’t be returning to hearts wounded by my lies.

At least not until they find out where I’ve really been.

Glancing over where Omen sleeps peacefully, I’m torn. My omega still needs me. Whatever battle she has to face after this heat she’ll do it alone if I leave now. But I can’t abandon my pack and our dreams. Our tour’s only halfway over. My phone vibrates again. A picture from Cal of Nebula and Titan sprawled on our couch. Both sporting new bruises and busted knuckles. Empty alcohol bottles line the coffee table.

Tilting my head back, I make a decision I know I might regret. If I stay with Omen, my mates will never forgive me, but if I go back, then Titan and I can start to work toward making Nebula see she is innocent in all of this. If I leave, I’ll have a chance to earn our omega back later. With my pack mates at my side this time.

I leave a bottle of water, a protein bar, and my shirt on the mattress beside Omen. Taking care of her one last time before I shatter her already fragile heart. “I promise I’ll fix this, gorgeous,” I whisper from the doorway. She stirs a little, as if hearing me walk away, but the scent of my shirt nearby calms her enough to slip back into a deep sleep.

Taking a deep breath, I exit the hotel suite. Leaving my omega behind is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I have to remind myself our separation is temporary. One day soon we’ll find our happy ending.

All five of us.