Page 20 of Omega Scorned

"Any time," Santi said, shaking my hand and pulling me in for a hug. "You deserve to have fun too, you know."

I gave him a tight smile. "Well, I did."

Punished

Emilia

"Where the hell were you?" Jake roared as I walked into the house. "You're not supposed to leave!"

"I was just over at the neighbors'." I stared at him in shock. I'd known they might not be thrilled with me visiting, but he was so angry the vein in his temple was throbbing. I'd never seen him like this before. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you needed me back before you were home. I didn't know when you would be home."

"That's no excuse. You don't get to just galavant all over town because your alphas aren't here," he snapped.

Candace stepped up beside him, looping her arm through his. "Calm down, sweetie. She didn't know, right, Emilia?"

"She's never left before and now she just up and decides to start 'visiting?'" Jake shook his head. "No, I don't buy it. What were you really doing?"

"Playing a game and talking. We had leftover BBQ for lunch."

"Speaking of food," Rory spoke up. "Is dinner ready?"

"You didn't tell me when you'd be back," I repeated. "I didn't start yet."

"Of course, you didn't. You were too busy 'playing' with the alphas next door." Jake took a deep breath. "You know what? Fine. We'll go out for dinner."

"I'll grab my jacket," I said meekly.

"Not you. I want you in your room for the rest of the night."

I stared at the man in shock. They'd never been a perfect pack, but since the party, my pack was suddenly acting strange. Possessive.

"Emilia?" Daryl took me by the elbow and guided me to my room. "Just stay in here until he calms down, okay?"

"I didn't do anything wrong."

"He just wants to protect you from the comments and behavior of other people."

Right. Protection.

Daryl kissed the top of my head and gently pushed me into my tiny room. The door closed behind him and a second later, the lock clicked. He'd locked me in my room. Without dinner, like a misbehaving child.

Sinking down on my bed in disbelief, I listened to them all moving around and then leaving. The car started up and they drove away, leaving me alone in my own space.

There wasn't much to do. I watched my next tutorial video and sketched out a rough bouquet of flowers, but my heart wasn't in it. I kept thinking about how much fun I'd had with Oren and his pack. They'd treated me like a friend. Like someone they cared about, even Grayson and Santi, who had no reason to be nice to me at all.

Finally, I showered and got into my pajamas, my stomach rumbling a little from hunger. They hadn't even let me make a sandwich before locking me in here. That bothered me morethan anything else. The men who were supposed to care about me hadn't even considered my needs.

I laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling and mulling over my options.

As an omega, I had very few rights in the world. I wouldn't be permitted to be alone, without a pack. If I left this one, I'd end up back at the Omega Reassignment Center, but as a rejected omega this time. That meant I had a low chance of being selected by a decent pack. And even though I'd been in the widow section of ORC, I'd heard about the heat dens and how unwanted omegas were sent there. With my face scarred up, I'd likely end up in the heat dens, forced to serve alphas for the rest of my life.

Shuddering at that thought, I made a decision. I would do what it took to stay here. For the most part, the men left me alone. They didn't really want me, but they weren't cruel and they wouldn't use me now that Candace was here, except when I had my heats. Even if I couldn't leave the house, I could manage. And if I went to the heat dens, I would be stuck there forever.

Decision made, I turned on my side and tried to sleep. It was almost impossible. My mind kept wandering to Oren, Jude, Santi, and Grayson. Wondering what they were doing. Thinking about what it would be like if they had been my pack. It was stupid, of course. They already had their omega, Oren. They didn't need anyone else. Packs rarely did well with two omegas.

Finally, sleep took me and I could leave the reality of my life behind for a while.

***