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I am the girl who moves from one one-night stand to another.
I am not the girl who gets picked.
Swallowing down a swell of saliva and nausea. I mutter, “I- um- I’m going to… Excuse me.” Logan tries to hold me as I turn on my heel and flee. I slam the door to my tiny shoebox of a room, and lean against it, fighting back tears I have no right to spill.
They aren’t mine. They were never mine. They’re hers. Can’t cry over something that never belonged to you when you lose it, Sadie.
I swipe at my cheeks angrily and with a huff, grab my bag and toss it on the bed. Then I collect all of my belongings. Not that there are a lot..
I don’t stop when the door opens. Or when a swell of juniper gin hits my nose.
“I’m sorry,” I say, not looking at him, fingers curling into the sweater I’m holding.
He tilts his head at me, like that will help him see me better. “What are you sorry for, trouble?”
I try not to wince at the endearment. The one that had started out as an insult but started to feel like something else. Now it’s just a reminder that it’s exactly what I am: more trouble than I’m worth.
I turn back to the bag on the bed. “You didn’t even want an omega. And now you have two.”
I hear him push away from the wall, move toward me. “I don’t see how that’s your fault, Sadie.”
I glance over at him, not really sure what I can say to that, but he’s watching me with all the intensity of a hunter stalking his prey as he gets closer. I whip my head back around. “It is my fault. I never should have let Luca bite me.”
Maddox is right behind me now. I can feel his body heat radiating out to brush my skin. It takes every ounce of willpower not to lean back into him, to let him comfort me. I don’t deserve it. Claudia was right. I stole her pack. I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t malicious. But it happened.
They belong to her, not to me.
“You planning on going somewhere, trouble?”
I glance back at him before shoving a pair of leggings into my luggage. “I thought I’d go home. Give you a chance to get to know Claudia without me muddying the waters.”
Big hands slide onto my hips, one moves to press into my lower belly, urging me back against him. I resist at first, but he doesn’t relent, and eventually I give in, letting my body sink against his. He lets out a low purr of approval. My eyes slip closed as my head tips back to rest on his shoulder. He nuzzles into my neck, taking a deep inhale, before murmuring, “You aren’t muddying the waters, Sadie. You are the clearest, most important thing to happen to this pack. Claudia might be our scent match.” I stiffen and try to pull away. He nips at my neck, gently, doesn’t let me go anywhere. “But so the fuck are you. We get to choose, trouble. And I can tell you right now, we’re going to choose you.”
Relief hits hard and fast, so much so that my knees almost give out. But… “It’s not right. They stole her pheromones, her hormones. They took that from her. Took you from her. You were supposed to be with her. I shouldn’t even exist as an omega.”
He growls, and I’m sure he has some thoughts on that, but the door opens and Ethan and Logan slip into the room before closing the door behind them.
“She’s settled in the nest,” Logan says, green eyes flicking from me and Maddox to the half packed bag on the bed. My legs almost give out again at his pronouncement. The nest. My nest. How dare she set foot in there?
“We tried to talk her out of it,” Ethan says, coming to sit on the edge of the bed in front of me, his thighs on either side of my knees, fingertips touching my legs. “But she could tell it hasn’t been used.”
The implication is clear. If I was a real omega, the nest would already be scent marked to high heaven. The pillows and blankets would be arranged just so, to my liking. But I’m not a real omega, and I’ve been in denial about my situation, so I never set foot in the room.
Maddox nips at my neck again. “Stop it.”
“I can’t. I don’t belong with you.”
Three growls rumble through the room. I ignore them and try to move away from Maddox and Ethan, but they don’t let me. “I don’t,” I insist. Why can’t they understand? “I’m a fake fucking omega, synthetic. She’s your real mate. You know that.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” The four of us spin to find Luca in the doorway, a scowl on his face. He strides right over to me, extracts me from between the three of them, and wraps me up in his arms. “What did you assholes do to upset our omega?”
The bond between us sings at the claim, but I shut it down. The entire thing. I shouldn’t even have it. “Vixen,” Luca says, sounding hurt. He pulls back and cups my face, making me meet his eyes. “What happened?”
The door slams open again and this time Swift barrels through. “Why is there a random woman who smells like Cherrybomb in the nest?” He moves right over to me and Luca, cuddling into us, nuzzling against my neck with a little sigh of contentment.
“What woman?” Luca says, still staring at me like he can read everything on my face. Maybe he can. I used to pride myself on being relatively hard to read, but these men have broken down my mask.
“Your scent match,” I whisper, losing the fight against the tears that have been hovering since I realized who she is. A sob rips out of me, and all of them move at once to surround me. It should feel soothing, calming, but it only makes me cry harder. Because I don’t deserve it.
