Max reaches out, putting his fingers under my chin, turning my face to make me look up at him. There’s a sternness in his eyes, but also still a deep warmth. “Don’t apologise for protecting yourself. You’re right. You should be able to live your own life, nobody else should have a say about how you live it, not even us. Never apologise for doing what it takes to survive.” His eyes linger on my lips and his tongue darts out for a moment, wetting his lips, until he drags his eyes up to mine, steady and strong.
Then he spins around, breaking the spell, leaving me alone, and I stare after him. Hell.
I want him to turn around, I want to hug him, I want him to take me in his arms, I want to thank him for those words. But he just walked off like he wasn’t supposed to say those things, like what he was doing wasn’t right for some reason.
I don’t want to feel attached to him this strongly already. I have to keep reminding myself that, no matter if they show me kindness, they’re still Alphas. They’re Alphas and I’m an Omega. That means that they’re in charge. That means I’ll always have to obey them, always...
17 Max
When I reach the other Alphas again, they’re all staring at me, their eyes narrowing when they don’t see Cyra behind me.
“She’s changing into something else. I didn’t think it right to hover while she’s doing that. I’m not a creep like that. She’ll be right down.” I grab the bottle with rum and pour myself a sizable glass before sitting back on the couch.
Fucking hell. This was definitely not where I thought this evening was going to end up.
Cyra in my house? Maybe a glimmer of a dream, if everything went well. But Liam plus two other Alphas on my couches? Not anywhere near what I could even come up with as a bad joke, more akin to a nightmare.
The griffin, Spence, seems to be the most sensible of the two Alphas. He’s perceptive, though not entirely without impulsiveness. The hydra, Zack... I’d love to punch his face in and tell him to grow the fuck up. And with how things are going, that might still happen before the end of the evening.
Don’t they have any clue as to why Cyra might not want to share what she is? Don’t they have any idea what can happen to unmated Omegas, especially to rarer shifter type Omegas? It’s like they’re blind to what life’s like for those who aren’t them. They must have Omega family members, do they really not know what it’s like for them?
“Now, what?” Liam also pours himself a glass, going for the whisky instead, taking a sip before he speaks again. “We all reacted to her scent. One Omega, four Alphas. That’s impossible. I’ve never heard of that before.”
As he says it, I remember the scent that Cyra had, it was heady, making it hard to think. She smelled like scorched pine, like burning pine trees to celebrate the new year. It was warm and comfortable, making me want to disappear in it forever.
Alphas often react to the scent of Omegas, but only on a ‘hey, someone around here makes my instinct to procreate buzz’ level, it’s interesting but not very intense. What happened to us, the almost losing control over ourselves from only a sliver of a scent, our hostile reactions to each other, the protectiveness we feel of Cyra, that’s a sign of something deeper, something much much deeper. It’s the sign of a mating bond, a fated Alpha-Omega mating bond. It just usually doesn’t come with a multitude of Alphas at the same time...
“So what? What does it matter that we all reacted?” Zack shrugs, like he doesn’t care, but it’s not carefree enough, he’s a little too tense, an edge to his voice.
“You’re not curious why it happened?” Liam glances Zack’s way. And next time he tries to punch the hydra I might not stop him, the hydra definitely deserves it.
“Nah. Stuff like this happens all the time.” Zack leans back on the couch, spreading himself, trying on his best ‘I don’t care’ attitude, and it reads fake, very fake. He has no idea what to do, so he tries what usually works best for him, act like nothing ever gets to him.
“So, walk away. If you don’t care about this, you walk out of this house and leave Cyra with us.” Liam leans forward, his eyes calling Zack’s bluff, daring him.
“Pff. Why would I? Not with this booze here. You’ve got some good shit.” Zack moves his glass from side to side, pulling attention to it. Right. That’s all he’s worried about, the booze. Right. “I’m staying to watch the drama.”
Spence glances to the stairs, before looking at me. “What do you... What could... Did you...?” He seems to be taking this a little more seriously.
I shake my head. “I didn’t do anything. I just showed her where she could find clothes to wear. That’s all. I didn’t dare to leave you all unattended with this much booze around.” Of course, I wanted to find out more about her, but she looked way too scared, too fragile, to push her for answers. No matter how much I craved to take her in my arms, to hold her tight and never let her go, I knew that I shouldn’t. I can’t act like that if I want her to ever take me seriously. I can’t act like some Alphahole if I ever want her to trust me.
Zack pulls up his shoulders slightly, spreading himself onto the
