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“It helps settle our prime alphas and disperse their energy,” Lexie explained.
Maia tried to disentangle herself, but didn’t get far. As soon as she removed one arm, another one snapped into place. So she just looked over her shoulder at me.
“Sorry about that. Ever since we found out I’m pregnant, these guys have been insufferable,” she groused, as she poked one of them playfully in the side.
“Oh my god, Maia. You’re actually pregnant? I thought Pala was joking. That’s amazing. Is that why you’ve turned into a giant sleepyhead suddenly? Why didn’t you tell me?” Ava cried, and pulled away from me.
I stiffened, but three sets of hands suddenly appeared on my body alongside Cary’s, and my eyes closed of their own accord. They were right. It felt amazing to have so many of my pack touching me at once, and my wildness calmed instantly. I’d never felt anything like it. My purr tried to start up, and I had to fight to keep it down. I didn’t want to weird them out.
“If you’d answered the phone this morning, I would have,” Maia said, as she fake pouted. She tried to disentangle herself again, with no success. She tensed slightly, as if she was going to say something, then let out a deep breath. It seemed as if she was humoring her mates, for now, but her patience was wearing thin. “Could we maybe move inside for congratulations and proper introductions, so my guys can calm down a little?”
“Good idea,” Nick said from my side, sounding relieved. “And I’d suggest nobody but Wolf, River, Ryder, or Cary touches Ava for a while. They’re going to be a little on edge until they claim her.”
“You can touch her, too, Nick,” Ryder said, and everyone’s eyes suddenly swiveled to Nick. Max had his mouth hanging open. Nick blushed furiously.
“Clearly we have a lot to share,” Leif said, humor lighting up his face. He seemed much more gentle now.
We moved inside, and the girls took over introductions as we settled into couches in the formal living room opposite the foyer. I just grunted a lot, only taking in about half of them. My beast had calmed down, but words still weren’t coming easily.
Until the blonde omega looked at me and smiled.What had Ava said her name was again?
“Sorry if I scared you,” I said to her, trying to keep the gruffness out of my voice. There was something familiar about her. Not her face, though. I’d never seen her before.
“You didn’t. I’m made of tougher stuff than that. Besides, alpha barks don’t work on me. Even yours.”
I felt the air freeze in my lungs. “Your name’s Maia?” I croaked.
My whole body shook as memories assaulted me. That familiar voice in the dark, as she’d chanted “I will not break,” repeatedly. Her tears, the way she had screamed her frustration at the walls. Her inner strength as they’d tried to bark her into submission, and she’d refused to break.
Ava was suddenly in my lap, stroking my face. “Wolf, what’s wrong?”
My gaze had become fixed on Maia, though. Her brow wrinkled, and she looked confused, as she looked me over, trying to figure out if she knew me.
Down in the cells, I hadn’t been able to stand hearing her pain. I hadn’t known who she was, but knowing she was an omega and I couldn’t help her had made me feel helpless. I couldn’t risk trying to have a conversation with her, knowing we’d have to yell, and they monitored us. So I’d started singing one of my favorite songs in the darkness, after everyone left, and she’d quieted as if by some miracle she’d heard me.
It was an old rap song, but the words had always resonated with me. Music was one thing I’d been allowed free access to growing up. They didn’t bring her down to the cells often, but when they left her down there overnight and everyone disappeared, I’d always sing and she’d calm down. I didn’t know if you could really call it singing. My voice was rough. I’d more spoken them loudly as I’d tapped out a beat. She’d started tapping the beat out against the metal bars in time with me; the sound filtering through to me in the darkness. Then one night, she started singing it with me.
“I could hear you,” I said gruffly, “in the dark, in the labs. You sang with me.”
Maia gasped as she jumped up. Damon tried to grab for her, but she slipped past him and Leif pulled him back gently, wrapping his arms around him. She crossed the room to me and kneeled on the thick golden carpet.
“That was you? The whole time, you were real?”
“Real?” I asked.
“I heard you repeating that same song, over and over. I thought I dreamed it, or maybe hallucinated it. It kept me sane down there in the darkness. I felt so alone,” her voice broke a little as she spoke, “but those words you spoke in that lilting harmony. They got me through. You helped me stand strong.”
I murmured some of the chorus in my husky voice, about taking my hand and breaking out of a cage together. She sang it with me. Her voice was beautiful compared to my gruff rasp. She had me transfixed. A shaft of light from the window hit her and lit her up. She was a warrior queen. She shouldn’t be on her knees for me. A tear tracked down her cheek as I ground to a halt, unable to finish it.
“It was dark for days there at the end, and it felt like it was just you and me left in the world,” I admitted. “Then you went quiet, as if you’d vanished. I clung to the idea you’d found a way out.”
“I’m so sorry I didn’t get you out, too,” Maia said.
I shook my head. It wasn’t her job to rescue me. “You couldn’t have. I had multiple reinforcements on my cage. If it had been possible to get out when the power went out, I would have.”
“Holy shit, they were in different labs, but their cells backed onto each other,” Nick said. His voice sounded strained.
Suddenly, Lexie was on the ground next to Maia. She hugged her fiercely, and it broke a stasis. Ava yanked both girls up onto the couch with us, as my arms went around them all, and everyone in the room suddenly had us circled, arms and bodies entwined. Maia’s weren’t the only tears. I could feel the interwoven connections between these people, built on pain, love, friendship, and shared strength. It was one giant, all-encompassing embrace, and I took a long, shuddering breath as Maia beamed at me.
