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“I just need to remind myself that this shit is temporary,” I said.
“She’ll be home before the weekend,” Gage agreed.
“I’ll put her back to bed.” I slid my arms under the limp omega, lifting her with ease. Despite the strong scent of sickness that clung to her I could still make out the floral notes of her true omega scent. Beautiful and comforting. Her parents clearly had a sense of humour calling their child with a lavender floral scent, Lavender. As a baby her scent would have been muted, but amplified when she presented as an omega. She felt so small in my arms, I had to tamper down my protective instincts.
Lavender wasn’t mine and she never would be, no matter how much I wanted it.
I had only met Lavender because I was following Gage’s orders. He asked me to hack into the Haven databases, no small feat, and see if they kept any information on potentially kidnapped omegas. Sage Rivers had recently gone through the same Haven after a kidnapping ordeal, and we wanted to see if there were any potential leads to who kidnapped Juniper several years ago.
Lavender’s profile had just been there, and I had decided to message her out of sheer curiosity. She had captured my attention pretty much immediately and I was hooked. She was beautiful, but that was normal for omegas, yet there was something so damn captivating about her smile. It felt like stopping was an impossibility, and I enjoyed my time with her so much, I found myself hiding our chats from my pack.
Unofficially, my pack was spoken for in Kane’s eyes. Despite him not beingofficiallypart of the pack, I saw him as family, we all did but he believed so fiercely that his sister was meant to be part of our pack, that he had always resisted officially joining, choosing instead to live on the sidelines in limbo. It was a shame he couldn’t see we didn’t feel that way about Juniper, things could be so different.
Carrying Lavender back to the room Kane had put her in originally, I grimaced at how bare it was. This safehouse was only temporary, but still the barren open space would probably make Lavender feel even more uneasy.
The king bed dwarfed her as I laid her in the centre and pulled the comforter over her. She rolled over and nestled into the blankets instinctively. She was still wearing her jewellery, multiple bracelets and rings on each hand, a lot of it handmade with beads and feathers. She didn’t sleep with them normally, I had watched her take them off many times during our late night video calls, so I gently pulled off each ring, placing them on the bedside table so she would be comfortable.
“This has to work.” Gage frowned as he looked down at her. “We’ll finish this job and return her back to the Haven. We can keep our distance from her, the scent blocker Kane gave her is clearly doing its job. I can smell her but it’s hardly noticeable unless I really focus thanks to the chemical stink and the sickness. The issue is it won’t last and then she’s going to smell potent.”
“We need to ensure she stays healthy while she’s here,” I pointed out. Kane had given Lavender a drug to knock her out but it also muted strong and potent alpha scents so it was working on Lavender despite her being an omega. We all took scent dulling drugs as well; covert work would be really hard if our scents were strong and easily distinguishable. “Juniper would never forgive us if we hurt an omega…any more than we already have.”
“What else do pretty little omegas need?” Theo asked, walking into the room, a bottle of water in hand which he placed on her bedside table. “I heard the sight of your face made the omega pass out. I know you’re ugly, but that’s gotta sting.” He laughed at me. His lanky blonde hair fell to his chin, and I could see the tip of a scar protruding from his hairline, its very presence a reminder of how much the last few years had cost us. Theo had been injured more than the rest of us on our little crusade. We chose this, but Lavender didn’t. I had to keep her safe. “Kane’s been reheating some leftovers if you want to grab some for her.”
“Thanks. None of us have really spent time with an adult omega, so we need to figure out what she needs.” We had lost our pseudo-sister Juniper when she was still a teenager, so our knowledge was limited. Did omega needs change once they reached adulthood? Or were they the same as teenagers, only hornier?
“We’ll ask her what she needs when she’s awake,” Gage said, his eyes still stuck on Lavender’s sleeping form.
“She really is quite pretty, isn’t she?” Theo mused as he looked down at Lavender, sitting gently at the end of the bed as she curled up into a ball, clutching the blankets to her chest.
“She’s stunning when she smiles. Or when she’s chewing me out over my candy choices.”
“Candy choices?”
“She thinks that gummy bears are superior to chocolate,” I laughed, then sighed looking over Lavender. “One of us should stay with her. She’s going to be disoriented when she wakes up.”
“I will,” Theo said. “No offence, but your face made her pass out. Maybe with a stranger she won’t feel so betrayed. Plus, I’m the most handsome of us, it’s only fair.”
“I didn’t betray her,” I growled.
“You weren’t exactly truthful with her either, were you Archie?” Theo raised his eyebrows in a clearyou know I’m right, dumbassexpression.
I deflated. “No, I wasn’t.”
“Go check all the security. I’ll shout if she wants you,” Gage reassured me.
I thanked him and got up slowly, taking one last look at Lavender before leaving, wanting nothing more than to stay. Lavender was mine. Well, she was certainly more mine than any of my packmates.
I watched as Theo grabbed an extra blanket and threw it over her so only her closed eyes could be seen peeking over the top before he flopped down into an armchair in the corner of the room, eyes on the omega as her chest slowly rose and fell. I couldn’t deny my instincts as an alpha, I was hardwired to care for and protect omegas, sure I could go against that instinct and many did, but it just felt wrong. Omegas were more maternal and caring by nature. Whereas alphas were designed to protect their omegas to help foster the strongest packs. I couldn’t lie to myself, I wanted Lavender, but she deserved so much better than my pack.
For the better part of three years my pack had been a mess, torn apart by the loss of an omega who wasn’t even officially ours. We were now tainted, dirty. We had committed crimes and even killed.
We were a disaster no omega should be forced to endure.
ChapterSeven
Lavender
The next time I woke my head was still pounding and I felt like I had a mouth full of cotton balls, but thankfully I could think a little clearer. My whole body ached, and I was covered in a thin layer of sweat and grime. My stomach was only slightly nauseated, which was an improvement, there was no need for a mad dash to the bathroom. Sitting up I pushed the comforter off and looked around, my eyes landing on the alpha sitting on an armchair next to the bed, phone in hand, lazily browsing on his phone.
