Page 6 of Brave New Omega, Part 2

Chapter 6

MAX

K atie slumps at the corner of her bed. I have already made myself right at home in the center of her bed—or nest. We need to get her more nesting materials. Maybe move the mattress to the floor.

How did we not notice how unwelcoming this room is? It's like a faceless hotel room. No wonder she was unhappy. We were so wrapped up in having her here that we forgot how to treat an Omega. We just assumed the courting was accomplished because she agreed to move in with us before her heat.

Loren, bless the Golden Giant, shuffles around the room. He looks longingly at the bed, but I know he's holding himself back. Giving her space.

Well space is what landed us in this mess.

Katie's shoulders sag. I hate seeing my Tough Girl like this.

I'm still frustrated and a little angry with her actions. Maybe disappointed that she would leave us too. That she didn't tell us her plans. Didn't tell me .

But part of me gets it. Fuck, we're aliens to her. Dropped into a foreign world and it's been, what, like eight or nine days ?

Maybe we should be to blame for expecting her not to try and find a way home. Maybe we should have noticed how uncomfortable she was.

But she wasn't. I mean, not when it was just her and me. She enjoyed the way I feasted on her. She couldn't fake the way her body clenched tight around me, trying to pull me as deep inside her as we could go.

Fuck . I need to focus on my Omega and not on how good it feels when she comes around me.

Katie pats the bed, nodding for Loren to join us.

"I need to explain this. No, let me, please. Everything has been like a whirlwind in my head and I need you to hear this from me. Because this," she motions between her chest and each of us on the bed. "This feels like a wound that can fester. I wasn't trying to run away. I know that sneaking out was foolish. I accept your anger and frustration that I lied, or at least didn't tell the whole truth about my interest in the Travelers' sites and stories."

Loren opens his mouth to comment, but Katie presses her fingers against his chest. "Let me finish. I thought that getting my sisters home was the most important thing. More important than what I wanted, or even needed. Because that's how it's always been: me looking after them. Me making sure there was money for ballet lessons, and Prom dresses, and college tuition. Me organizing mom's treatment schedule, and life insurance payouts and… well everything. I got so used to just doing everything for them, I guess I forgot to really listen to what they wanted."

Katie sighs and covers her face with her hands. Loren rubs her back. I sit up and gently squeeze her good knee. She's opening an old wound, and I won't let her think she has to bear it alone.

She lowers her hands, a pained smile pulling at her features.

"I just kept managing them, even after we got here. Even when they told me it was okay. That getting home wasn't the most important thing. I just thought they were putting on a brave face. You know, making the most of it. I didn't hear them, because I was so busy managing what I thought they wanted. I forgot that taking care of someone means listening to what they really need and want." She looks down at her lap, her eyelashes fluttering back tears.

"Tough Girl, we all make mistakes. You weren't trying to hurt them." I rub my hand up and down her thigh. Not high enough to be flirtatious. Just the reassurance of touch, of needing to feel her here and safe beside me.

She shakes her head. "But that's just it, Max. I still hurt them. And all of you. Because I took charge without considering all the angles first. I thought going back to Earth would solve all our problems. But I didn't listen to them telling me they wanted to stay. And, and didn't listen to what I wanted for myself either."

Color rises in her cheeks, a flush that spreads down her neck and into the sliver of her chest that I can see from the gap in her shirt.

Katie wants us. I want to shout and leap up and clap my hands. I want to press her back against the bed and kiss our Omega until she's limp in my arms. She smiles, the first real smile I've seen all night.

"It's only been a week," she says slowly. "But I feel like I've known you both a lifetime. I don't know how things work in packs, and I'll be honest, the idea of relationships with … all of you is rather daunting."

I snort. "Be glad you didn't blood match to one of the traditional packs. Hugo's got like nine Alphas in his pack."

Katie's eyes grow wide, her lips silently forming the word "nine."

"Don't scare her, Max. We just got her back," Loren grumbles, pulling Katie into his chest for a hug. "I told you we could take things as slow as you need, Love. Just tell us what you need."

"You're not angry?" She pulls away, looking up through her lashes at the two of us.

Loren bites his lip. "We thought we'd lost you," he says. "First that you'd left us because of us. Then that maybe you had found a way back to Earth. Then that you might have a forced bond with that feral Alpha."

I growl, my body tensing, I will kill Roark. Though, Callum said Captain Zhao had the piece of shit in custody, and if I know anything about Kev Zhao, it's that he has no patience for Alphas that abuse Omegas. I hope they throw him in the Pen– the maximum security prison for feral Alphas. He deserves to rot.

"I'm sorry," Katie begins, but I cut her off.

"You wanted to go home. That's fair. I can't fault you for that. But, don't ever sneak out on us again. I was ready to rip out throats, Tough Girl. I thought someone had taken you."

I pull her into my chest, and she wraps her arms around me.

"How can we feel so much, so fast?" she gasps, not loosening her grip around my neck.

"You were made for us," I murmur. "Everything about you is calibrated to fit with us, and we were made to fit you."

"It was terrifying not knowing if you were okay," Loren says, nuzzling against her back.

"Yeah, the gentle giant over here almost went feral," I joke.

"Oh Loren," Katie says, loosening her grip on me, to reach for him. "I'm sorry."

"I know, Love. No more of this, now. You're here and you're not going to try and run away to Earth again, right?"

"Right," she says.

"So let's begin again tonight. We will wake up to a new day, a new chance to be Pack."

Loren pulls away, taking her hand and kissing it. "I am sure you're exhausted and we should let you sleep."

I tighten my grip on Katie's waist. It will take the intervention of one of the gods of below to move me from her side. Fuck space. I am not letting my Omega out of my sight.

Katie takes a deep breath, looking between Loren and I.

"No, I want you to stay. Both of you."