Page 22 of Omega Forged (Hartlock Omegas #2)

Pan

I wonder if Tully knew she moved like prey.

Her head twitched in jerky, mistrustful movements. Those doe eyes begged for mercy and I didn’t want to give it to her.

There was something about her. Not her name. Fame didn’t impress me, not after my ill-fated dip into it.

The attraction itched at the edges of my mind like a torn corner of wallpaper, desperate to be ripped off. Would the adrenaline rush subside now? Would my interest in her fade away, like it normally did?

Lloyd moved his chair closer to Tully’s, and she leaned in his direction, unconsciously.

My ribs tightened, wanting her to lean on me. Her heat lingered on my palm. The memory of her fluttered pulse and paper-thin veins and how I wanted to pull her closer still. A peculiar warmth wound its way around my heart.

I might have caged Tully in between my legs, but she’d trapped me just the same.

“You’re in trouble,” Walden rumbled.

My lover didn’t ask questions, he commanded answers.

Bitterness filled my mouth at the way his gaze rolled up and down her.

She was a puzzle to him as well. One he wanted to swaddle and stuff full of snacks.

He tried to give me that when we first started our relationship, and I pushed him away.

I bristled under his micromanagement. It reminded me of piano lessons where I could feel the burn of my parents' gazes on the back of my neck.

Knowing they noted every mistake I made and saved them up to whip on my sweating back later.

“It’s more complicated than that.” Tully took the seeking hand Lloyd offered, interlacing her fingers so tightly Lloyd’s face twisted in aching pleasure.

Too familiar for strangers, but I didn’t know how they’d met. I hadn’t had a proper conversation with my packmates for months. Too busy wallowing.

“Forgive me for being blunt, but why would a Hartlock have such an unstable living situation?” Ajax asked.

Tully’s eyes narrowed as her white teeth worried at her lower lip. “You mean, shouldn’t I be rich?”

“You’re not,” Walden interjected. “My private investigator.” He explained as she tossed him a pert look of annoyance.

“Is that why you would…” Lloyd trailed off and his eyebrows rose.

Silent words passed between inhales and exhales. A blush painted her pale throat, and Tully shook her head. My lungs expanded with her scent. It was too sweet, like honey baked in the summer sun.

I never cared for the history of Starhaven, like Ajax. My focus was on the present, and I was going to eke out every slice of pleasure I could before I turned to dust.

When I met Walden Baylark, everything changed.

Piano used to make the sharp voices in my head stop.

When I couldn’t turn to my talent like I used to, I had Walden.

He was my rock. The strong alpha who wanted to look after me.

I didn’t realize how revered his name was then, but I did now, and the reputation of a Baylark had nothing on a Hartlock.

Especially after the tragic, heroic way her parents passed.

The media storm of the gilded Hartlock omega being connected to the Baylark Pack meant we’d never get a moment of peace from the press and the public. I ground a fist into my churning stomach.

“My parents didn’t want me growing up entitled.

W-when they died, I didn’t know how to handle everything.

There were people who…” she trailed off with a wince.

“I let them turn my whole life upside down because I didn’t know better.

That was until they realized I was a Hartlock in name only, not fortune. ”

“So you are in trouble.” Walden’s frown deepened.

“What do you mean, not fortune?” Ajax waved his hand to silence Walden.

“My parents were very specific in their will. They wanted their community work to be their legacy. I guess they didn’t think they would d-die as soon as they did, but it left me with nothing.

The Hartlock fortune went entirely to Starhaven charities as anonymous donations.

Which is f-fine, I don’t care about money.

But they left me with nothing. No family, no friends, no resources. Fenella was a last resort, trust me.”

Lloyd leaned in and whispered in her ear. Whatever he said made her eye rims flood. My chest was hollow as I processed what she’d said.

Ajax and I were lucky. We grew up affluent. We’d never wanted for anything, and we still didn’t. When the human rebels barricaded The Barracks, it only hurt the most vulnerable.

“Your family had to know.” I turned to Walden, and he shook his head.

He rubbed his hands together until his knuckles cracked.

“Our families are not on speaking terms, haven’t been for years. You know my parents have been traveling on their speaking events on and off for years. But they sent flowers, and I came to the funeral. You still could have come—” Walden bit off.

You could have come to me .

Why would she? We were strangers to Tully, and she looked like she was about to be sick over the table. How many years had she struggled on her own? Guilt boiled in my stomach at how many opportunities I ruined while Tully struggled with barely a roof over her head.

Sweat prickled on the back of my neck and I forced myself to take a sip of my coffee.

If I was high, none of this would matter. I wouldn’t feel anything.

She sighed, her shoulders slumped forward. “The funeral was all a blur to me, to be honest. I never should have taken my anger out on you, though.”

“She told me to leave, or she’d have me dragged out. Not a sight I’ll ever forget,” Walden explained to us, as Tully flushed a darker pink.

“There is more to it, angel.” I provoked her to distract myself from the restlessness in my body.

The skittering hunger gathered teeth as it bounced around my body.

“Obviously. I’m saving up, so,” —her chest inflated with a heavy breath— “I can leave and start a new life in Astaly.”

“Astaly?” Walden brought his fist down on the table with a shout.

The line between his brow wasn’t anger, although his tone of voice might make her think it was. Walden sopped up his spilled coffee with a wince.

Astaly, an ocean away and yet it could have been another world.

Didn’t Tully know what life was like for omegas over there? They were like precious commodities, controlled and sold to the highest bidder because of their rarity.

“You can’t leave,” Lloyd burst out, his knuckles turned white over her hand.

She shifted, her eyes darting away from the intense stares everyone sent her.

“Why don’t we eat some breakfast? Have a breather.” Ajax eased himself up, his muscles tight with tension.

“Food isn’t a solution for every problem, Ajax.” My sharp tongue flew before I realized what I was saying, and I grimaced as Ajax hunched his shoulders.

Why was I always a colossal prick?

I knew I’d scored him unnecessarily when he rubbed his stomach. Our parents really messed up how he viewed himself, and my careless words confirmed it.

“Ajax, I didn’t mean—” I sighed when Walden snorted, his arms crossing over his broad chest.

The prickle on the back of my neck intensified, and I scratched at it with my nails.

Ajax ignored me and prepared some food.

“To be honest, Ajax’s cooking has solved a few of my problems since I got here,” Tully said, and when Ajax looked up, she gave him a tentative smile. “I’ve been living off junk for months.”

Guilt and self-loathing curdled in my stomach.

Every word Tully spoke was a balm. Just like every word I spat left a bruise. The longing for oblivion intensified. Could I take this tiny omega, fit her between my ribs somehow? She was everything I wanted to be, and yet I was an alpha.

“Can’t you contain yourself for one conversation?” Walden hissed.

I hated that tone on him. It reminded me of my father. There I went again, failing everyone.

You hit every note, but where was the passion? Do you even care about winning?

I curled my useless hands in my lap.

“Should I see myself out? Now you’ve got the omega you always wanted.” My sneer didn’t wobble like my insides.

I didn’t know how to tell Walden how desperately I wanted to crawl into his lap, how I, an alpha, wanted to be coddled.

Sweat made my shirt cling to my back. I wasn’t supposed to crave the submission.

But I’d been this way since I could remember.

A healthy obsession with omegas, both my dads were pleased.

But I wanted to be the omega. I fingered the collar around my neck.

The conduit for the submission I needed.

Tully looked between us with curiosity, and relief that the focus wasn’t on her anymore.

“I have a name, you know. Although I’d rather not get in the middle of whatever this is.” She waved her hands at us.

The scent of her had stayed lodged in my nostrils since she had intruded into my piano room.

I’d been driven to the keys for the first time in months with her trembling lips in mind.

I’d played until my right hand failed, as it always did.

But the music had been a revelation even when I hit all the wrong, passionate notes.

Like Walden and me.

My thoughts crowded with visions of Tully and me on our knees for Walden. How pretty we’d look, begging for him.

“We’re a delicious mess, aren’t we, daddy?” I tapped my chipped, black nails on a bouncing knee.

“Whose fault is that?” Walden sighed, unable to help himself.

I couldn’t stop the teasing, button pushing bullshit. The sneers prickled under his skin, poisoned the love he felt for me. It unfolded in real time, the dwindling patience, frustration, and despair. And yet, I continued. It spewed out of me like a fixation.

This disease rotted my insides, and I still wanted to push him away so I could justify using again. All day long, the effort to stay clean exhausted me. My nerves were tangled webs that ached with empty hunger. There was no softness left in me for anyone.