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“What does Kian think?”
“I talked to him earlier. She’s gotten to him somehow, even though their only interaction was the blow she gave him to the side of his head.” I smiled, remembering how the little omega had told me she’d taken down the girl she’d found in Pack Deloney’s house. She had so much fight inside of her, despite her sweet disposition. She belonged with a pack that could handle her and treat her like the jewel she was. “He’s obviously against getting her involved with us. But I think it's inevitable. I can feel his conflict.” Maddox rubbed his chest. Because of his closeness with Kian, he felt the bond more strongly. “I think she’d be good for us. What do you think?”
Cy watched him, his light sage eyes always assessing and thinking ahead. “I think she’s already changing us. But I want to spend more time with her. You two have been hogging all the omega.” He stood up, brushing off his pants. “I call dibs on her when she wakes up.” He cracked a smile and left the room. Maddox looked back over at me.
“We need to get a nest ready as soon as possible. Which room should we use?” I thought about our house, only an hour from here. It was a veritable fortress, and we had plenty of extra space.
“We could use one of the guest rooms. We’d need to pick up some supplies quickly though. I can smell her, and her perfume’s getting stronger every hour. I’m sure it will come soon.” He nodded and pulled out his phone.
“I’ll call around and find a place for supplies. Leave Kian to me. I’ll talk some more sense into him before our pack meeting.” If anyone could get Kian to come around, it was Maddox. Kian had taken him in at the lowest point in his life, and all of us knew he was Kian’s only weak spot. The two of them would be adorable if they let their affection show more. But our lifestyle didn’t allow for weaknesses. That’s why we’d never considered an omega. As a pack, we’d never actually helped one through a heat. Most of us had been with one before individually - omegas craved alphas and needed their protection. Before I had joined the pack, I had helped several through their heat.
Omegas without protection or wealth often had to rely on whoever they could find, and that led to some unsavory alphas taking advantage of them. But Cy, Kian, and I had a reputation for being helpful for them and never forcing a bite.
Maddox was the only one of us with no experience with an omega. I knew he was deeply affected by her scent, though. I’d seen it when he held her in the room, his eyes going all gooey and obvious even with his mask on.
“Jameson - What’s it like? With an omega.” I knew what he meant. I could tell that all six foot two inches of this killer beta was still nervous about helping an omega through her heat.
“It’s incredible. It satisfies something deep inside you to see an omega in the throes of passion, her pleasure blending with your own. You won’t remember parts of it, since it goes on for days and you’ll be in a cloud of pheromones. It’s tiring, exhausting and one of the best experiences you’ll ever have. I’m sure as a beta it might be different, but that’s what it’s like for me.” His eyes were glazed over as he got lost in his thoughts. “But each heat is different depending on who is involved. It reduces people down to their base personalities. And the omega will be at our mercy. Which is why we have to make sure she feels safe and absolutely comfortable.” I thought about what it would be like, a heat with the whole pack. We played with each other to relieve stress, and often individually with others. But this would be something new for all of us. I was determined that Bella would have a good time and that she would feel wanted afterward. It seemed that heats were a sore spot for her. She had always wanted to be in love for her first heat, according to what she had disclosed earlier. My chest tightened thinking back about her story, how heartbroken she must have been to go through something so intimate with a pack she trusted, only to have everything ripped away from her afterward. Then I felt my anger boiling up at the pack who had been the cause of her downfall. Their punishment could wait, though. The good thing was that ultimately it brought her to us, and I was beginning to think it was fate.
“I’ll do some studying up then, and make sure the nest is perfect.” Maddox turned to start on his nest project while I looked at Bella through the monitor. She was sleeping peacefully, and I wanted to get her out of that room and into her own comfortable space as soon as I could. But we had one thing we needed to do first, and it wasn’t going to be easy. We needed to get Kian on board.
Chapter 33
Maddox
You could cut the tension with a knife. Our pack was in the living room and the alpha attitude was overpowering, all three of them trying to posture to gain control. It was overwhelming. Cy was spinning a knife in his hand, laid back on a chair looking relaxed but curious. I knew he was anything but chill - he always had a plan, was always looking at every possible angle. Kian was standing in the middle, his body letting off waves of irritation. He wasn’t used to being challenged. Jameson was hulked on the couch, looking stubborn as hell. And I was sure I probably looked miserable. I hated going against Kian. He was my everything - my pack leader, my lover, my best friend. But I was going to do everything in my power to keep the omega, no matter how much we fought over it.
“Time’s running out. We can’t keep her here forever, and her heat’s coming soon. It’s going to set us all off unless we offload her somewhere or take care of her ourselves.” Cy said while Kian rubbed his five o’clock shadow. I’d never seen him looking like this. Like he hadn’t slept, like he was running on fumes.
“And we all need to get back to work, unless you all forgot about our other commitments.” Kian’s words stung. We did have an operation to run, and Kian took responsibility for handling most things. He was the face of the legitimate side of our business, and he couldn't stay at a safe-house with us indefinitely.
“Kian’s right.” Our heads collectively swiveled to look at Jameson. “We can't keep her here. She’s safer if we take her to our place.” Kian breathed in slowly, which wasn’t a good sign. He was trying to stay calm.
“Our place? What shall we do with her there, let her rummage through our files and know exactly who kidnapped her? She’s already seen our faces. We’ll never be able to return her once she knows who we are.” Kian growled as Jameson smirked.
“Exactly. She doesn’t need to go back.” Jameson folded his massive arms across his chest as Kian glared daggers at him.
“We can’t keep her indefinitely! She’d be our captive forever!” Kain had his palms out, trying to reason with Jameson. It was a lost cause. The most dangerous alpha on this side of the Eastern Province was a goner for the little captive.
“Kian, don’t you see? No one’s looking for her.” I pleaded as the pack looked at me. “Think about it. Any other omega, yes, it would be a huge problem. But no one’s even filed a missing person report for her. No one at the Darlington Ball, one of the most publicized and prestigious events in the nation, even cared to look into her disappearance.”
“Yes, obviously, they covered it up. I’m sure they know something happened, but they probably kept it quiet since she’s a nobody. It would have been a PR nightmare for them if they thought someone important was taken. If they really believe she wandered off, they’ll probably just increase the presence of guards next year.” Kian responded logically.
“Exactly - no one wants her, Kian.” I felt my voice go hoarse at the words. It was true - no one where she came from wanted her. I’d heard enough of her backstory from listening through the monitors that I knew she had been overlooked her whole life.
“I want her!” Jameson interjected in a growl. I turned toward him, trying to emit some beta energy to fight the rising aggression in the room. I tried again to make my case.
“I know - I want her too. She’d be safe with us, and regardless of how we feel about her, she’s the one who asked for us to help us through her heat. It would be best to do it at our home, where we can have an actual nest, keep everyone safe and monitor everything more easily.” Kian scratched at his stubble again, thinking.
“What if she wants to go back after her heat? What then?” he asked. I didn’t even want to consider what would happen if we helped her through a heat and then had to let her go. Cy interjected, his words sounding cool and logical. “So? If the official word is that she ran off and disappeared, then no one’s going to think much of it if she comes back telling tales of being with a pack from the Eastern Province, especially if we take her back in perfect condition. The most that would happen is a small story in the papers. It’s true, she didn’t have anything to her name. No one paid attention to her before, and they won’t if she goes back.”
Jameson interjected. “She won’t betray us. You all know I can read people better than anyone. If she wants to go back to the state funded group home in Haven, which I highly doubt, she won't point a finger at us.” I believed Jameson. Being around Bella was like a breath of clean, fresh air. She was sweet, pure, and not quite as naïve as she seemed. I was sure she knew we weren’t into any kind of legal business, but she trusted us just the same. I looked at Kian, silently willing him to agree with us. I knew we’d already discussed it to death, but it was hard for him to be in opposition to his pack. I could barely recall any other time when we’d been in such a strong disagreement with him. He looked around, reading the room. Finally, he took a deep breath and sighed, his broad chest moving under his shirt.
“Fine. You want to take her to our home? It’s on you. Anything bad that happens afterward is on your hands, not mine.” I could feel the relief course through the room. I was half worried that Jameson would challenge Kian’s place as pack leader if he didn’t let us take her home. “Obviously, she’s not allowed to know any of our business. Keep your mouths shut and keep her away from anything confidential. And do what you need to for her heat, but I will not be taking part.” He ran a hand through his hair, his poker face back in place as he turned and left the room.
Jameson looked happier than I’d ever seen him, and Cy looked excited, breaking his mask of cool indifference. Jameson stood, a grin taking over his face. “I can’t wait to spoil her. Let’s get packed and get her home soon. You never know how unstable her hormones might be. After all, she’s been through a lot.” He left, presumably to go check on our captive. I looked over to Cy, who stood and started to leave.
“Besides the nest, do we need to get the house ready for her first?”
