“Ah! The pampered princess lives after all!” Siren taunts from behind me.
“Rin…” Phantom’s warning growl sends a shiver down my spine even though it isn’t directed at me, and my shoulders curl forward defensively as I wash the dishes. I can feel the looks on my back, like cigarettes being extinguished.
“What? You don’t see the rest of us getting to sleep whenever we want,” Siren says matter-of-factly.
“Cut the attitude or take a walk,” Phantom says, his accent coming forward.
“I don’t know why you’re defending her. If she has a problem with anything I’m saying, she can tell me herself. Unless she’s too weak to fight her own battles,” Siren says, first to Phantom then to me.
I freeze, my hands shaking. I don’t look up, closing my eyes and willing the ground to swallow me up. I don’t have anywhere to run to escape them right now, and old instincts of staying still and enduring whatever is thrown at me take over.
“See? Absolutely pathetic. I bet your old pack had to wait on you, hand and foot, didn’t they? Probably had them running around, just to please you and spoil you,” Siren says, each word laced with poison.
I shake my head, my hands trembling more and more. No. I pulled my weight with my old pack. I kept the house. I cooked. I did all the things omegas are supposed to do for her alphas. And they adored me, rewarded me with a beautiful home and nest, but never spoiled. Never. I would never do that.
The wet plate slips from my hand and falls into the sink, shattering and making me yelp before I swallow it down. I whisper apologies as I clean up the shards with my hands. Siren laughs and I fight back tears. I just want to hide, to nest, to have a moment to breathe a safe breath. Where is Joker? Why isn’t he here?
“It’s okay, baby girl. Let me take care of this,” Phantom says, teleporting to my side.
I jump and drop the pieces, the edges scratching me, but thankfully not breaking the skin. Ever so gently, Phantom moves me away from the sink and cleans up before I can stop him.
“Stop coddling her. She fucked up, so let her live with the consequences,” Siren snipes from the table.
“Rin, you best get to stepping before I make you regret standing there,” Phantom snaps, nearly shouting before turning a harsh glare onto his packmate.
“What’s going on in here?”
I look up for a moment at the sound of Bones’s voice. He’s shirtless, covered in sweat even as he wears his mask. My eyes linger for a moment on the flat plane of his stomach, the subtle outline of his muscles before I drop my eyes and dash down the hallway. If he’s out here, that means my room is clear. Phantom calls out my name but I don’t turn. I resist the urge to slam my door, but I do lock it before disappearing into my pathetic attempt at a nest.
I pull the blanket around me as I curl up, knees tucked under my chest as I press my face to the cot. It smells like alpha in here, worse than ever. I try to gather mypitiful nesting materials closer, but even they smell wrong. Ash and sour fruit and bitter tannins, my ruined scent.
I let out a few tears, trying to comfort myself. But it’s hard to escape the loneliness swallowing me from the inside. Because even after all their protective words, neither Joker nor Phantom come to find me.
Chapter twenty-seven
Thehouseisthecreepiest in the middle of the night, but it’s also the safest time for me to get chores done. You’d think for a bunch of mercenaries or vigilantes or whatever these people are that they’d be lighter sleepers. But each of them never notices me slipping in and out of their rooms at night to gather dirty clothes.
Joker’s room is easy, as his hamper is right beside the door, so I don’t even have to go inside fully to accomplish my task. My heart aches as I slide the basket out into the hallway, knowing what’s on the other side. A nest, arealnest, full of blankets and pillows and warmth and love. Everything I’ve everwanted, just feet away. But I don’t let myself dwell, quickly replacing the basket and closing the door silently. I shouldn’t ask for more than what they’ve given me. I know better.
Cross’s room is neat enough to navigate in the dark, everything precisely in its place with nothing on the floor to trip me as I move toward his standing wardrobe with the hamper just beside it. It takes a lot of self control not to bury my face in the armful of clothes I carry out into the hallway, his soft, musky scent so soothing to my lonely soul. But I resist, adding the clothes to Joker’s in my basket.
Phantom has started leaving his clothes outside his door for me, which is polite but only makes me more curious about what his room looks like. Is he messy or neat? Does he take up his entire bed or is there room to spare for others to join him? All questions I’m dying to have answered, but I respect the unspoken signal.
I don’t bother trying to enter Bones’s room. Not only because he leaves whatever dirty clothes he uses outside but also because I don’t want to risk getting caught and risk a repeat of the incident in my room the other day. I shudder just remembering it. And I’m still thinking about it when I move toward Siren’s door and open it.
I’m looking down at the floor so I don’t realize anything is amiss right away. Not until a fierce alpha growl freezes me in place, my spine shrinking.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you stupid little omega?!” Siren shouts, some piece of furniture hitting the ground.
The room suddenly smells like burning roses, and I choke, unable to speak or answer as their dominance rolls over me in waves. My spine curls lower and lower as they advance until my legs give out, and I fall to my knees with a whimper.
“What? Can’t even answer a simple question? You’re so fucking pathetic, you know that?” Siren shouts, standing over me.
I hear footsteps in the hall, but I don’t look up, my whole body shaking.
“You were given one instruction, omega. One. Fucking. Instruction. Don’t go in our rooms. And then you just open my fucking door like you own the place? What the fuck is wrong with you?” they go on, somehow even louder.
I whine and flinch, my voice small as I try to defend myself. “I-I-I was j-just—”