Page 140 of Claiming the Pack's Omega

“Yeah, I don’t do very well with blood like that. Especially blood on knuckles, it—it reminds me of that night.” I let out a bitter laugh. “Working at an illegal fighting ring probably wasn’t a good idea.”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry, Wildflower, I didn’t know.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for. I was the one who freaked. You were just trying to help me. And you did.” I spin the glass around on the table to give my hands something to do. “I should be thanking you, actually. I don’t think I ever did, that night.”

“Of course, I’d fight off everyone in that fucking building for you,” Stone says with such conviction it makes my fingertips tremble around the glass.

“So that’s how you met your old pimp, how did you end up working for him?” Theo asks, a hardness in his voice I haven’t heard before.

“He asked me if I wanted my heat to stop and I said yes. Begged him to make it stop. Told him the last thing I ever wanted was to go through that again,” I say, my voice growing tight. “So he tossed me his jacket because at that point, they’d torn off all my clothes and said he had something he could give me for that. For a price.”

I gesture down at myself and laugh bitterly.

“So I took the job. It was a mindfuck, going from almost getting raped to letting douchebag alphas fuck me for money and actually becoming the whore my ex-boyfriend called me, but it helped me afford those suppressants and take care of myfamily. It kept me up at night, when I’d think about it too hard, but I think part of my brain just went numb. It felt like I was just moving through life, looking down at my body foryears.” I glance up at the four of them, wiping away the tears that still linger on my cheeks. “Until I met you guys, I guess.”

I feel a sense of peace wash over me. The underlying anxiety is still present, heavy in my chest, but it’s no longer buzzing. They know now. Now I won’t be tricking them into something they’ll end up not wanting to be a part of.

“There it is,” I say, pursing my lips. “I just—I just needed you to know everything before you guys made a decision about us being scent matches that you’d regret.”

“What the hell would we regret?” Killian growls. If gazes could cut, he’d be able to slice through diamond with how furious he looks. “Why in the world would you think that any of what you just told us would change how we feel about you?”

“I mean, look at you right now, you look like you’re ready to punch someone,” I say, shrugging.

“Yeah, I want to murder all the people who ever betrayed you or touched you without your consent.” He leans his elbows on the table, leaning forward. “I’m not angry at you, Princess. None of us are.”

I glance at the rest of them and swallow hard. Killian is right.

“I—I guess I just thought you guys would think I was broken. Used goods, or something like that. I—I loved Nate but he obviously thought so low of me that he’d try and rape me with all of his buddies.” I shake my head, pressing the palms of my hands onto my eyelids so hard I start seeing stars. “I just—I just couldn’t be blindsided by someone I really liked again.”

“You’re not broken, Spitfire,” Theo says softly. “You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever seen. You carry yourself with this unwavering determination to take care of everyone around you, even if you don’t receive any of that energy back.”

“We want to take care of you, for a change,” Milo says softly. “Speaking for myself, I know that’s all I’ve wanted to do since I first spoke with you.”

“Same,” Theo nods.

“You’re not alone anymore,” Stone says. “I know I’m speaking for all of us when I say that even before you told us that you’re our scent matched omega that you were it. In the short time that you’ve been in our lives, you’ve changed things completely. We’ve all got a bad habit of sticking our heads up our asses and drowning ourselves in work when we want to run away from our issues. That’s changing now.”

“You’re ours, Princess,” Killian says, standing from his chair and making his way to me. He approaches me slowly, giving me plenty of time to tell him to stop.

I crane my neck back to look up at him as he towers above me as I remain seated. He’s so tall.

Then he falls to his knees next to me, resting his forehead against my shoulder.

“We will find everyone who ever wronged you. And they willpay. I promise you that,” Killian growls, his voice deathly soft.

My heart races in my chest. I’ve never had an alpha fall to his knees in front of me before. I don’t know how I feel about it, yet. It feels so unnatural, an alpha as strong and dominant as Killian showing anyone a sign of submissiveness. But at the same time, that only adds weight to Killian’s words.

He’s making a vow. Kneeling before me like a knight in front of his queen. It makes my heart want to fly out of my chest.

“That—that sounds an awful lot like you’re planning on doing something illegal,” I say, letting out a soft huff of laughter as I reach up and run my hands through his hair.

He leans away from my shoulder, a devilish smirk tugging at his lips.

“There are plenty of legal ways to make someone pay," he says.

“What do you think this whole case is for?” Theo says, standing from his chair and kneeling by my other side. He reaches up and brushes some of my hair away from my face. “We’re going after everyone we can, Spitfire.”

“Damn, that’s a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, if I’m the star witness,” I say.