Page 32 of Omega Scorned

"We were wondering why you didn't clean or cook anything," he shook his head. "Who locked you in here?"

"How should I know? And none of you thought to check if I was in here after several days?" I snapped, rage bubbling under my skin like hot lava. "You can't just starve people!"

Candace came bounding downstairs and stopped short when she saw me standing there with Daryl's hands on my shoulders to steady me.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Someone locked Em in her room for your entire heat."

"Oh no!" Her mouth dropped open. "Oh, Em, that's terrible! I bet it was Jake. I told him your scent bothered me during my heat."

"I'm using the spray!" I told her. "My scent is non-existent. And even if it bothered you, food would have been nice to have!"

"You were hungry in there? Oh my." She turned toward the kitchen. "I think we have a little bit of chicken leftover from last night's dinner. You need to do the shopping today, remember?"

"Daryl. You cannot treat me like this," I looked into his blue eyes. "You cared about me once, I know you did. But even if you didn't, leaving me to starve for days on end and then expecting me to be the maid is cruel and unusual punishment. You've already taken everything from me. I literally have four tiny walls and a bathroom at this point. You took my tablet. My life is shrunk down to a tiny maid's room!"

He looked discomfited. "It's not like that, Em, we're adjusting to having a new omega. Our scentmatch."

"What if I told you I found my scentmatches?" I asked him. "Would you let me go?"

Daryl sighed. "Sweetheart, if you did find your scentmatches, I'd let you go, of course, I would. But how are you supposed to ever meet them when you don't leave the house?"

"Who made me a prisoner here?" I asked. "It wasn't me. I don't like my face, but I'm not ashamed of it like you three are."

He frowned. "I don't care what you look like."

"She's a monster," Candace called from her vantage point on the stairs. "Just look at how ugly she is!"

"Shut up!" I yelled at her, my rage pouring into my voice. "We don't need to hear from you!"

"Daryl, are you going to let a bitch like that talk to me that way?"

He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. "Candace, can you please go upstairs and let me talk to Emilia for a minute?"

"No. You're my mate. I don't need you being distracted." She crossed her arms and stood there watching.

"Fine." Daryl turned to me. "I'm not one hundred percent on board with everything Jake is doing, but I do think it's importantthat we stick together as a pack. He's the leader and his decisions are final."

"You don't think he'd ever let me go, do you?" My body sagged. I was tired and sad and hungry. This was just too much.

"I don't think so. He feels that you're his."

"He's wrong."

"I know."

"None of you ever claimed me," I said, looking over at Candace. She smirked and tilted her shoulder forward to show me the bites there. "You bonded her, though."

Daryl looked at his feet, his hands still on my shoulders.

"It's not fair. You took me from the center, knowing that you would never bond me. Knowing that you would never give me a real life. You were looking for a placeholder while you waited for her."

"I'm sorry. It wasn't fair, but I didn't think we'd find her. I always imagined you would become our one and only omega."

I snorted. "Oh, that's helpful. I feel much better now."

"Let's get you something to eat," he suggested, steering me toward the kitchen.