Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

NOW PLAYING: DRAG Me Under- Sleep Token

Working DAU-sponsored protests is one of my favorite activities. I always manage to meet so many interesting people with such heartbreaking stories. Some of my best work has come from these events.

Attending the protest at United Square today isn’t as inspiring. Not because the crowd lacks the emotional spark or back story I usually find myself fascinated with but because of the limits placed upon me. Donovan insisted I shouldn’t attend the event alone. I didn’t want to drag my new bodyguard out on his day off so I called my friends Shepherd and Foster to attend with me.

“I bet standing here in the middle of the crowd with us is driving you crazy,” Foster laughs. He’s dressed casually in ripped jeans and a graphic tee from one of the local breweries they like to visit. His lemony scent mellow despite the pressing crowd.

A calm I find myself envying. Without the blockers I took this morning my own scent would have drawn unwanted attention when my discomfort was blasted into the space around us. I usually stick to the edges of the group or find a high vantage point to work from.

Surrounded by so many people I can’t help but look from face to face searching for some hint of recognition or suspicion.“Yeah,” I swallow and force myself to turn away from the crowd to face my friend. “It makes me antsy being surrounded by so many people.”

“No one will recognize you,” Shepherd cuts in. His sharp golden brown eyes trained on me. He recognizes and respects my fear of discovery.

We both know all too well how my birth father will react if he ever gets his hands on me. As a DAU undercover operative, Shepherd often goes into hazard states to help bring at-risk citizens to safe houses until they can transition into a new life in a safe state.

Which is how we met. He was working in New Hampshire when my older sister Hannah reached out to the organization for help getting me out of the state.

“Even if your sperm donor himself were to walk by you on the sidewalk, he’d never know it was you. He’s still searching for the broken, meek child he created. Not the confident, independent woman you’ve become.”

“He’s right, Omen. You’ve grown so much since we met you,” Foster encourages softly.

I appreciate their support, I truly do. It isn’t that I don’t trust them to protect me, I know they will. No matter how secure I feel with their support, I won’t be able to rid myself of the fear of my birth family until they are proven to no longer be a threat to my safety.

I wasn’t expecting Pack Graves to show up today. The rock stars leave for their tour in a few days so I’m surprised they have the time to attend a protest.

I guess I might also still be amazed to see the four handsome men a second time without their masks. Though I do kind of miss the fantasy behind their anonymity already.

It takes all of my willpower to not react to the vibrant outfit Nexus is wearing. I didn’t know they made pants that tight. Or sparkly. Though his ass looks phenomenal wrapped in the magenta material. A loose black and white checkered button-up dips low to reveal most of his chest and upper abdomen. Somehow it suits him with his messy auburn hair and the joy shining in his warm brown eyes.

I’m still shocked by my reaction each time I see him. The urge to taste his skin. I’m going to embarrass myself if my instincts keep demanding I lick Nexus’ abs like they’re covered in melting ice cream.

I bit my tongue instead. The pull I feel to Pack Graves scares me. I’ve never been drawn to someone as completely as I am to these four men. A small voice in my mind suggests they may be the pack I’m Fated to be with, but I shove the thought away.

They aren’t.

They can’t be.

Fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to put my Fate matched mates within arms reach knowing I can’t be with them yet, right?

I’m spared from our slightly awkward conversation about my association with the DAU when a ruckus at the front of the crowd draws our attention. Someone has stepped outside with a microphone to address the crowd. A spokesperson for the capitol building or maybe for one of the Senators. I scramble onto the bench Shepherd and Foster stopped near, my camera in hand.

My fears and concerns revolving around my pull to the pack behind me slowly fade away as I watch the crowd from behind the lens. My focus completely on the reactions of the groups around us.

United Square is a small but beautiful oasis in the midst of a political swamp. The large white brick capitol building acts as a stoic, heartless background for the majority of my shots. The center of the square houses a huge, circular ground water fountain with several dark bronze sculptures of children playing beneath the spray. However, the city made sure the fountain would be off for the duration of the protest to prevent as many accidents as possible if things get rowdy.

Most of what the government representative says goes unheard but he catches my attention when he mentions Doctor Harrison. Disgust has my nose scrunching when he tells the crowd they are presenting another attempt to repeal pack protections after the discovery of a new drug to help alleviate the worst of an omega’s heat symptoms. Any drug created by the madman my biological father helps fund is sure to have cataclysmically awful side effects.

The few times I was forced to interact with the Doctor were enough to scar me for life. He’s a modern-day mad scientist who avidly works towards stripping all mankind of the genes that give us our designations. Alpha, omega, beta he doesn’t care. He wants them all gone. And he will do absolutely anything to see his goal achieved. Black market surgeries, illegal testing, kidnapping- the list of his sins is endless.

The rest of the speech fades from my thoughts as I turn my attention back to the crowd once more. A pack stands huddled around a woman, her eyes pained as tears coat her cheeks. Her worry is palpable even through my lens.

I capture the image of her fear with their reassuring words and physical acts of support. Together they perfectly encapsulate how a pack bond should be. The symmetry between them. Each member helps to balance out the needs of the others while the pack as a whole helps to even out the demands of the population.

That’s the purpose of a pack after all: balance.

Time flies by as I remain lost in capturing the heightened emotions of the other protesters. I barely register Pack Graves’ presence. At least not until strong hands grip my waist and pull me down from my perch.

Blinking rapidly to force myself to leave the trance I often go into while shooting, I nearly get lost in the obsidian eyes peering down in concern. Titan Graves is massive. Towering over all of us. Sculpted muscles flex along his biceps as he steadies me on the ground.

Up close it’s easier for me to catch his soft leather and pink pepper scent. Masculine and a little spicy. I unintentionally sway toward him, eager to bury myself against his throat to smell him directly from the source.

“Time for a break,” he says as he presses a water bottle into my hand. The cold against my skin shocks me enough to allow the world around me to filter back in. I grip the bottle with shaky hands and offer him a grateful smile and murmur of appreciation.

“Alphas,” Foster chuckles beside us, his blue eyes rolling playfully. “They can never just trust the process.”

I smother a smile, trying to ignore the joy I feel hearing they were worried about me. Chugging half the bottle I turn to see what the rest of the group is doing now that Titan has backed away. Nebula stands stoic with Shepherd as they both keep a careful eye on our group. Nexus has been pulled into a conversation with a nearby group and has Callisto wrapped beneath his arm.

A pang of longing for their closeness hits me.

I frown at myself, my eyes on the bottle as I pick at the label. I shouldn’t be feeling like this. I can’t even entertain the thought of growing close to these men.

They deserve better than to be tied to an omega who can’t even be honest with them about her identity. Whose presence could lead them to ruin if I were to be found by my birth family.

I won’t put them in danger by forming any sort of genuine connection with them. No matter how badly I long for their adoration to be shared with me.

Giving myself a shake, I force my thoughts away from the pull I feel toward these men. Every time I’m around them my mind is torn between the desire to belong to them and the sorrow of knowing they can never be mine. These thoughts are already getting repetitive and old, and their tour hasn’t even started yet.

I watch them all for several minutes before the sound of fighting and shouting reaches us. Glancing through the crowd I can see a brawl has started several yards away. Yet another reason why I stick to the outer edges of these events.

“Time to go,” Foster informs me when he steps back to my side. His aquamarine eyes study me with an intensity that makes me wish I could slip through the crowd and disappear. He’s always been able to read me too easily.

Whatever he sees in my expression has a soft smile stretching his own lips. “I’m starving. There’s this really cool diner a few blocks away we planned to grab dinner at. We should all go together.”

My brows furrow, ready to deny his offer, but my stomach rumbles loud enough to hear. I won’t get out of eating with them now. “I guess I could eat,” I grumble. I’d rather grab fast food on my way home and avoid more of these crowds.

“Perfect!” Foster links his arm through mine and drags me a few feet to where Shepherd watches the growing fight. “We’re ready to go but you need to feed us, Alpha,” he demands as soon as his mate’s attention turns to him.

“Making demands now are we, Omega?” Shepherd raises an eyebrow but his lips twitch slightly like he’s fighting a smile. I roll my eyes behind Foster’s shoulder. Like he would ever deny his omega anything he asks.

“You guys are coming too,” Foster tells Nebula. He doesn’t give the other pack an opportunity to say no. He simply grabs my camera bag and pulls me into the crowd in the direction I presume the diner he mentioned is. Shepherd quietly scolds his omega when he catches up with us a moment later.

I steal my camera bag while Foster is distracted and fall into step behind them. As soon as I’ve gotten everything repacked and the strap of my bag is slung over my shoulder, a heavy arm wraps around the top of my back.

Amber and oud cloud the air around me, reminding me of being wrapped in a soft blanket on a chilly fall evening. I swallow a moan at the warmth of his scent and the lack of space between our bodies.

I’m going to lose my mind having this much attention on me so often.

“Nex,” Callisto scolds his alpha gently. “You should ask before you invade her personal space.” He is walking on my right and I can sense the other two alphas following close behind us. Watching our backs in case the brawl we witnessed heads this way.

The slightly familiar sense of comfort that draws me to them also helps ease my anxiety from the number of people pressed around us as we work our way through the crowd.

Nexus’ face twists for a moment as he stares at Callisto. Pleading brown eyes turn to me. They’re as warm as his scent with shades of mocha and almond in a starburst pattern around his pupil.

He reminds me of a golden retriever the way he silently begs. I can picture his tail wagging when I don’t ask him to move away.

“He’s fine,” I mutter to Callisto when I force my gaze away from Nexus. I imagine I look like a strawberry right now with the heat rushing up my neck and cheeks.

“So where are we going?” Nexus asks.

“Foster mentioned something about a diner,” I reply.

The alpha seems to perk up even further. His excitement is palpable and I can’t help but smile alongside him. “Yes! Food is definitely one of my love languages.” His pack laughs at his statement but you can tell by the look in their eyes he’s being serious.

“If you tell him your favorite snacks he’ll keep the bus stocked with them,” Callisto whispers. “He has a cabinet filled with everyone’s top picks.”

I giggle, glancing up at Nexus from beneath my lashes. His auburn hair has fallen down across his forehead giving him a boyish look that has my heart melting.

“Just give me a list, sweet girl,” Nexus grins. My heart thumps rapidly hearing the nickname fall from his lips.

Fighting the connection I feel to these men is going to take a herculean effort. I hope I have the strength to resist them.