Page 15 of Match (Damselverse #1)

Chapter fifteen

Halle

T he grand re-opening of Penn’s bookstore comes around quickly, and it feels so strange to be above his basement for once.

Unsurprisingly, the inside of Penn’s bookstore is beautiful, and I can’t help but admire his new books as I run my fingers down the spines on each shelf.

He managed to get copies of most of the books he had in stock, and I ignore the lump of bothersome guilt that forms in my throat as I try to live in the moment, seeing all the positives.

The shop is up and running again, and Penn can return to his natural habitat. Cleaning out cat litter trays was taking its toll on him in the end, and I’m glad he can return to doing what he loves.

I almost trip over my heeled feet as I spill my drink. It appears I’m getting a little tipsy. I giggle, throwing my head back.

Once again, I almost fall on my ass.

The party is in full swing in the main part of the shop as I disappear just to get a moment to myself, but it won’t be long until one of them finds me.

Penn has been as kind as ever, albeit still a little shy. However, I do catch that concerned flicker in his eyes from time to time, as if he is telling me that he is there for me and he will always protect me.

Maybe I am reading too much into his covert glances, but I know that Penn wants me.

We almost kissed. But we can’t be together…

I would only bring trouble onto his doorstep.

Penn deserves better than me. They all do.

A balloon drifts my way, and I grip it by the string, spying the note attached. I take it off and read its message, a smile taking over my face.

“A gift for you, Petal.”

Glancing up, I spy Dane speaking with one of his firehouse buddies. He appears to be lost in conversation, but there’s no missing his surreptitious smile as he swigs back his drink, hazel eyes falling on me briefly.

My old pack certainly never gave me balloons. I hold it and the note closer to my chest, imagining it drifting off into the clouds and taking me with it.

I feel as if I have been living in the clouds these last few weeks.

However, something feels off with Aiden.

He is still cautious around me and keeps his distance, and I wonder what I did to offend him. Even now, I feel his probing green gaze as I keep to myself in a corner.

Dane had introduced me to his team from the firehouse, and all the staring had gotten to be too much. Hence why I disappeared for a while.

They know who I am. The Omega Dane rescued from the fire. The one who caused this place to go down in flames to begin with.

The Alpha has been taking time off work just to make sure I adjusted at the pack house, and despite my protests, he wouldn’t hear any of it.

“It would be my pleasure to help you get back on your feet, Petal,” he had said .

But he shouldn’t take leave from work just because of me. I am nothing to him. He’s not my Alpha. He shouldn’t be inconvenienced by me.

Self-consciously, I tug on the skirt of my short cocktail dress, wary of all the male eyes in the room.

If my old pack saw me wearing such a short dress, they would blow a fuse.

Dane bought me this dress, along with a myriad of other things, so I wear it to make him feel better. However, I do love how my legs look in the sheer black satin dress as I run my fingers down my thigh.

Just then, I become aware of someone’s gaze on me, and I look up to find Penn staring at me.

His eyes are heated as he stares at the way I rub my fingers up my thigh, and I swear his jaw ticks as he talks amongst a group of fellow book lovers. He looks ready to pounce on me at any moment, and something dark flashes in his gray eyes.

My heart thumps, but my stupid Omega urges me to go toward him.

Damn, just thinking about what that bookish, nerdy Alpha is capable of is making me… her …wet.

Maybe I should give her the reins for once. Penn certainly wants me, and I want him. There’s no denying the chemistry between us.

So I down the last of my cocktail and saunter toward him. I don’t know what I will do when I reach his side.

Pull him away to a quiet corner?

Take what my Omega needs?

Unfortunately, as I make my way to Penn, I bump shoulders with a Beta, and his familiar, acrid scent makes my spine straighten

Oh, no.

It's Daryl. A friend of sorts of my old pack, and my heart cleaves in two.

Why, exactly, is he here? He doesn’t know Pack Hope.

Penn did declare this an open event, though. So, any member of the public could enter the party tonight.

“Well, hello, parasite.”

My body freezes at the insult, and then I see myself with them all once again. I’m in their living room, removing the disgusting red-hot panties of another woman off a lampshade as they laugh and cheer at my shame.

They tell me exactly what they did to her, how they made her moan, and I close my eyes.

Bile rises in my throat.

Daryl often dropped by to take part in my torment. He was a mere bystander who decided to do nothing. He saw an Omega in trouble and looked the other way.

That’s because he was desperate to become a member of Pack Grim, but he was only ever a pawn to them.

He is sick. His scent of dried piss assaults my nose as I try to keep it together.

Daryl eyes me up and down, a horrible snort grating his throat. “Does your pack know you’re here, flea?”

Again with the parasitic insults. They all called me tick and tapeworm. I ball my fists at the memory.

Still, I decide to play dumb. There is nothing remotely remarkable about Daryl’s face at all. The only reason I recognized him was due to the scent of dried piss.

I once had to scrub at a stain of his stubborn piss that he kindly left on the carpet once, and it took weeks to remove his disgusting scent from my fingernails.

“Do I know you, sir?”

His put-upon growl gives me pause. Is that supposed to scare me?

So desperate to be Alpha.

“Don’t play dumb with me, tick. You know exactly who I am…and what pack I work for…”

At least he acknowledges that he only works for them. He was never an official part of their pack.

I close my eyes. “What do you want?”

He licks his dry lips, his lizard-like gaze raking me up and down again. “You come back with me. Your pack will pay a handsome reward for your return.”

And make you an honorary member of their douche club, I bet.

My fingernails create crescent moons on my palms as I clench my fists, refusing to let the Beta get the best of me.

“No,” I whisper.

The Beta chuckles, stepping closer. “If you come quietly, I won’t make a scene in front of your new friends. Do they know you’re spoken for?”

I meet his beady eyes. “I am not spoken for. I am a free Omega. I don’t bear their marks.”

That’s when his gaze falls on my neck, and once again, he licks his thin, cracked lips. “Well, that can always be arranged...I always saw the way you looked at me, parasite. You want me.”

I scoff. “Don’t kid yourself. You’re Beta. You can’t bite me.”

But that won’t stop him from trying.

I begin to walk away again, but he grips my upper arm, crushing me with his fingers. A squeak escapes me.

“Don’t you walk away from me, worm —”

“Get. The. Fuck. Off. Her.”

Startled, we both look up to find Penn hovering close. He has a few feet over Daryl, being an Alpha, of course. The expression I see in his cold, gray eyes causes all the breath to whoosh from my lungs.

And I thought he looked dark before.

Daryl lets go of my arm, and I know his fingers are going to leave a nasty bruise.

The gross Beta smiles, stepping forward to pat Penn on the back. “There’s the man of the hour. Congrats on the re-opening of your store.”

Before Daryl’s hand even touches Penn’s tweed coat, Penn grips his wrist, twisting it around like a seasoned fighter.

Daryl’s pained scream is like music to my ears, and I gaze at the bookish Alpha now in a new light.

Especially as he drags the pig closer, whispering low enough for me to hear. “Don’t ever touch her again. Leave. Now .”

He pushes Daryl away from me, and the Beta scoffs, brushing off his moth-eaten jacket. “Fuck you, prick. She’s lying to you. She’s lying to all of you…”

Penn’s eyes flash behind his glasses, and then he grips Daryl by the collar of his stained shirt. “I said, leave!”

Aiden and Dane flank his left and right next, and I startle, peering around the bookstore.

We are causing a scene.

“I think you should go, sir,” Aiden remarks, his voice casual as he folds his arms.

Dane cracks his knuckles, backing up Penn. His hazel eyes find mine. “You okay, Petal?”

I smile, holding back tears as I nod for the Alpha.

Daryl backs away to the door. “Petal? Seriously? You just wait, parasite. They will find you… You will never be free of them. You will always be their plaything .”

Dane growls, and I don’t see what happens next as he advances on Daryl, dragging him out of the bookstore.

Penn stands rigid, and it looks as if his Alpha has taken over. He’s not himself, ready to burst at the seams.

He only comes back to us when Aiden places a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Penn. He’s gone. Deep breaths.”

There is no missing the murderous glint in Penn’s eyes as it takes him a few moments to snap out of his trance. When he finally does, his gaze lands on me.“Halle…”

The Alpha vanishes behind a hazy wall of tears, and I rush out of the room, straight towards the one place that makes me feel safe.

The basement.

After all, it had once been my nest. A safe space.

It looks as if the jig is up. The pack have found out about my past.

Now, they will kick me out for sure.

It looks as if I will be on my own again. But so long as I can get away before Daryl tells my old pack that I’m here, then I may just survive.

It’s every Omega for herself, after all.