Page 104 of In Doubt

“I’m not letting you travel back to the hotel alone.”

I sigh. I’m exhausted, no energy left to argue with him. We climb into the waiting car and I try not to think of the last time we were in the back seat together, of all the things he did to me. I stare out of the window, sure his eyes are on me the whole journey but unable to meet his gaze.

At the hotel, he’s out of the car and opening my door before I’ve even grabbed the handle.

He reaches inside taking my hand and helps me out. When I’m standing before him, he squeezes my fingers.

“Giorgie,” he says softly and I swallow down hard, staring at the tip of his ear and not his face. “Please stay.”

I swallow again, tugging my hand from his grasp and scurrying away before he can stop me.

As I do, as the distance between us grows, I feel something yank deep in my chest, tugging me back towards him. I ignore it, ignore the gnawing emptiness building inside me. This is for the best. The hotel doors part and only when I pass into the hotel foyer do I pause, peering back over my shoulder.

He’s still there, standing by the taxi, his hands deep in his pockets, his gaze trained my way.

His mouth moves, forming the word ‘Omega’ and it takes every bit of my will power to drag my eyes away and keep walking.

26

Aiden

When we return to the villa, we find it empty. Our phones are neatly stacked on the counter along with a note from Jake.

Taking Giorgie back to the hotel. She didn’t want me to come. I didn’t take no for an answer.

I read it over Levi’s shoulder, shaking my head and flopping down onto the sofa. What a complete fuck up.

The omega spent the remainder of her heat locked in the bedroom. We could hear her through the door, writhing and moaning in agony. She needed an alpha knot, she needed to come. Nothing else would ease her pain. But the door remained locked.

And despite the fact we nearly gnawed our knuckles raw, none of us were going to plead to be let in. Nor demand it. We didn’t even gently suggest it.

There was no way we were laying a finger on her again after what went down.

It needed to be her choice and she had chosen to remain alone.

After she locked herself away, we sat on the sofa going over events for an hour, me explaining again and again what had happened.

We should’ve been better prepared. We should’ve taken our responsibilities towards the girl more seriously. Quizzed her more about her obvious trauma. If we’d known …

I’d never seen my packmates look so devastated, all of us racked with guilt, our attention pulled frequently to the bedroom door, our hearts wrenching knowing our omega was in pain. Pain we could ease if she only asked.

Jake wouldn’t leave the bedroom doorway once she disappeared inside, sitting with his back against the door and torturing himself with all her noises. I’d never seen the man look so fucked up. He usually exudes an aura of disinterest, like nothing can rattle him – not a fist in his gut, or a threat to his face.

He looked anything but those things right then. Like he’d been hit by a train and then reversed over by a truck.

Levi spent the hours in the garden, ranting at the rising then setting sun, kicking furniture and punching walls. At least he didn’t break anything. Although if he ever gets his hands on the turd that did this to Giorgie, I think he’d break his neck.

Dylan threw himself into his cooking, making dish after dish he said the omega would like. Although nearly every single one ended up in the bin accompanied by a string of expletives. It seemed nothing he made was good enough.

And then there was me, sitting on the sofa and watching my pack fall apart.

It’s not a situation I ever thought possible. Sure our pack is new and we’re still finding our way but we seemed a solid, unbreakable unit to me. The most security I’ve had in my lifetime.

This is why we’d made the decision to wait for an omega. Omegas are difficult, emotional, troublesome. They enter a pack and unbalance everything until you find all of you are toppling to the floor. And while we all want one for the pack – of course we do, a pack is incomplete without an omega – we’d agreed to wait. Give ourselves time as a pack to establish ourselves, to make something of ourselves, to ensure we were ready.

Then Giorgie flips all that on its head.

We’d have been better off staying the fuck away.