Page 87 of Claiming the Pack's Omega

She believes me.

Shebelievesme.

She believesme.

“You believe me?” My voice is barely above a whisper.

“Of course I do, you haven’t given me a reason to think you’re lying," she shrugs. “How bad was the bullying after all that?”

My tongue runs along the inside of my mouth again. I can feel a buzzing sort of anxiety travelling down my arms and into my fingertips, remembering those few years of hell.

“Bad,” I whisper. “There was a group of boys, they were popular, they’d do things like—like stuffing me in a locker and locking it behind them.”

“Seriously?” She says, her head jerking back in surprise. “That’s like, movie level shit. How long were you stuck there?”

“The longest was six hours,” I whisper, darting my gaze away from her as a wave of shame from the memory hits me like a truck.

I missed all my classes that day. They didn’t let me out until after whatever sports practice they had was finished. By then I’d already soiled myself.

“You’re fucking kidding me," she hisses. “You were what, twelve when that bullshit started?”

I blink in surprise. Her anger is… unexpected. It’s not anger towards me, it’s angerforme.

What in the world have I done to earn the privilege of standing in front of her?

“Y—yeah,” I answer, fighting the shock of her reaction.

“Fuck," she says, pursing her lips together. “I bet you’re not even telling me the whole story too. It was probably worse than what you’re saying. God, that’s so fucked—” Her voice cracks and she shakes her head.

“I—I didn’t mean to upset you,” I whisper.

“You’re not upsetting me. This fucked up situation is upsetting me. My little brother is twelve, if someone did that shit to him, I’d kill them, I swear.”

She reaches out and holds my other hand.

“Why would they do that to you? If you’re half as sweet as you are now, you must’ve been a good kid.”

“I think—I think it became less about the accusations and defending a girl and more about the cruelty of it,” I say softly. “At least for the main group of guys who would torment me.”

“Did it stop, at least? Eventually?”

“It stopped in high school after my family adopted Theo. He—he put one of the ring leaders in the hospital and they stopped.”

She nods firmly.

“Good. I’m—I’m sorry it took so long for that shit to end though.”

She blinks up at me again, her gaze darting between my eyes, before she lets go of my hands to wrap her arms around my neck in a hug.

Her soft curves press against me and I swear to god, I lose all higher cognitive function.

“You can hug me back, you know," she whispers, nuzzling her face into my neck.

Holy shit, she’s scent marking me.

After the initial wave of shock hits me, I bring my arms up and wrap them around her.

“Th—thank you.”