Page 26 of Omega Forged (Hartlock Omegas #2)

Tully

Maybe it was nerves, but the closer we got to their perfect nest, the more my stomach tightened. All the sumptuous heat and longing melted away. The pack’s slumped shoulders, and the kicked puppy look on Lloyd’s face, made me stifle a hysterical laugh.

Was I really doing this?

“We’ll give you some space.” Lloyd loitered on the edge of the nest. Ajax remained outside after he escorted me, and I wondered why he hadn’t come in.

I chewed my bottom lip. “Maybe you could bring back some lunch?”

My stomach was a mess of butterflies as I crawled over the cushioned wall. Lloyd’s eyes gleamed as he nodded. And then I was alone.

I went to the cupboard and pulled out the soft blankets stacked inside.

My spine straightened as I realized the baskets labeled with the Baylark Pack’s names were full.

Their combined scents drifted out, and I shoved my hand into Lloyd’s one, pulling out a shirt.

I pressed it to my nose and breathed until my lungs burned.

I wanted their scents everywhere.

I dragged the baskets out and dumped them into the nest. My eyes rolled back at the delicious combination of them. But the mess made my eye twitch. The balance was wrong. I layered Pan’s silky, ruffled shirt between the blanket, making a soft noise of pleasure.

My heat thrummed under my skin, like it waited for something. I once dreamed about sharing it with Chase. The freedom to not worry about being caught. Unbidden, his voice slithered into my ear.

“I can’t wait to knot you, pretty.” He smiled down at me, white toothed. My stomach flipped with his possessive gaze. His cock slipped out of my body, and he offered some wipes.

The final prototype, one he worked so hard on.

“We got the funding we needed, by the way.” Chase wiped himself down. All traces of our mingled scent nullified. I stifled a scream and tried to hug him, but Chase put up a hand to stop me.

“Can’t have your scent on me. Yet.”

“Sorry, I’m just so excited for you. I wish I could have been the one to invest.” I shuddered as the chemical scent filled my nostrils. “Does that mean you can claim me as your omega soon?”

The sound of footsteps froze us. Fucking in the country club closet wasn’t glamorous.

But Seph invited me today, and we’d taken the opportunity for a tryst. Or rather, Chase dragged me into the storage room and was inside me before he even said hello.

At the rattle of the doorknob, Chase slammed his finger over his lips.

“I don’t have a key to this.” A voice came from outside.

“Leave it. They’re about to make the announcement in five minutes. We’ll get it afterward.”

Silence bled in, and Chase cursed under his breath. He reached out, as if to grip my shoulders before remembering himself. I couldn’t wait until we could tell the truth about us.

“You love me, don’t you, pretty? My special omega. Without your help, there is no way we could have created the prototypes for these so easily.” He waved the scent wipes at me.

I flushed at his rare praise. His high-handedness about the scent wipes usually frustrated me, but I quickly brushed it off. We were going to be in a pack soon. Everything I owned would be his, eventually. What did it matter if he got it early?

“Of course I love you.” My stomach twisted as he licked his lips and nodded.

Pleased with my response, although he didn’t repeat it.

“Just remember, no matter what happens, you’re mine. My pretty toy.”

His words stung. I didn’t want to be a secret, or a toy he tossed aside.

Chase slipped out the door, knowing I would follow in five minutes.

We’d done this so many times, although it was risky doing it tonight.

There was an event on, and people packed the grand hall.

When I ducked out of the small storage room and slipped back into the room, something had happened.

Everyone cheered and raised their glasses toward the stage.

“Oh, Tully, you just missed the most romantic proposal. Seph is so lucky.” One of Seph’s friends grabbed my arm, and I got my first clear view of the stage.

I bowed over like someone punched me in the stomach.

Seph and Chase, locked in a deep, passionate kiss. His brothers whooped and hollered behind them.

A rush of sudden bile coated my throat. Chase released Seph but hauled her close like he couldn’t bear to be without her touch. A giant rock glittered on Seph’s ring finger, almost as bright as her smile.

“They announced their pack bonding. They’d have to get her something big to make it worthy of a Campion.”

We got the funding we needed.

Chase’s words flowed back, and my stomach cramped.

The betrayal was violent, swift. If my scent had been detectable, it would have been sour.

But Chase’s wipes stole every trace. Seph was the only heir to Denver Campion, who was worth millions.

A beta, but that didn’t matter. Not when she had enough money for Chase and his brothers to invest in their scent wipes.

Chase clinked his champagne glass against the crowd that converged on them. His mouth hung open in a raucous laugh. Not a thought of me, as my entire world fell in scorched ash around me. He lied. Never intended to claim me. I had given him everything, and he had used me.

“It’s not the same,” I promised myself, shaking off the painful memory.

Baylark Pack weren’t anything like Chase. From the moment Chase offered me a tissue at my parents' funeral, he’d been a lifeline. He swooped in and made parts of me his.

I set my jaw.

Leaving for Astaly seemed like the only choice when I was stripped of everything.

I hadn’t been raised to use the Hartlock name as currency and didn’t understand how far people would go at my expense.

Chase made his choice, and I was making mine.

I wouldn’t let the scars he scored in my soul keep me frozen any longer.

Even if there was the prospect of getting hurt again, it was better than feeling nothing.

“Lloyd?” I whispered as a grunt came from the tunnel and Lloyd emerged with two bowls.

My stomach gurgled. He passed me a bowl of noodles and I took an appreciative smell.

“Did you dip into your cupboard stash for me?”

“Those aren’t for eating.” His blond hair fell over his eyes as he perched on the lip of the nest.

I swallowed a noodle, expecting him to elaborate. But there was only creeping silence as his shoulders rose around his ears. He shoveled his food into his mouth like he was starving. I put my bowl to the side, my appetite gone.

It was like he didn’t hear me. He glued his eyes to his meal, and only when the last few drops were gone did his attention shift. Lloyd put down his bowl, his gaze glazed, and breath unsteady. I reached out and brushed his knee, my stomach in knots.

“I lied before.” Lloyd’s voice was raspy. “When you asked about it.”

His scent was so salty, my eyes watered.

“Do you feel comfortable talking to me about it?” I reached out and brushed a golden lock from his clammy forehead.

His eyes fluttered closed, and he leaned into my touch. We sat in silence for a moment, as Lloyd weighed the request.

Lloyd rubbed his forehead. “My childhood wasn’t like the rest of the pack. It was just me and mom, in The Barracks.” He winced when he said the name.

I hummed and stroked his hair. A purr bubbled in my throat, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what Lloyd wanted right now. My dad grew up there and I knew how hard it had been at times, how hard life still was for some of the Designated who lived there.

“We lived underground. Character building, my mom always said.” He snorted, eyes scrunched. “You can still wander in and never find your way out unless you grew up there. I taught myself how to get around.”

My chest ached for a smaller Lloyd, one lost in tunnels.

“Mom worked two jobs, just so I could study, and I barely left our apartment except for school. When the HLA attacked, nobody was prepared for how long we’d be trapped.”

My lungs spasmed as I failed to breathe. “I was with them the first few times they tried to negotiate food drops for everyone trapped. I should have been with my parents the day they died.”

I burrowed a little closer, wanting to steal some of his warmth to calm myself.

“The council air-dropped food when they could, but it was the strongest who got the resources we needed. Mom and I survived off one meal every couple of days. The only thing that was half-decent was those noodles.”

Understanding dawned on me.

“The noodles are your safety net. In case it ever…?” I threw my arms around him. Pressed my glistening eyes into his shirt. “Oh, Lloyd.”

“I know it doesn’t make sense.” His breath hitched. “I’m a part of one of the richest packs in the city, but I can’t shake the fear. The hunger, Tully, it was like being eaten from the inside out. I can’t do it again.”

“Nobody would.” I leaned up to press a kiss to his lips.

“I have these nightmares where my stomach is concave again, and hunger is the only thing I can think about. But if I have the noodles, I know we’ll be ok.”

I urged Lloyd into the nest, burrowed down until Lloyd’s pale face rested on my breasts. I didn’t know what to say to make him feel better. It wasn’t what he was asking of me.

You can’t wipe away years of trauma with a well-placed apology.

I knew from my own experiences. But being there with him, letting Lloyd know he was safe and heard, was something I could do.

“Of course, those boxes make you feel safe. Use whatever methods you need to keep the fear at bay.” He nuzzled into my soft chest with a hiccup.

“I’ve never told anyone about the food.” He aimed a shaky smile up at me, and I sank my fingers into his blond locks.

His scent settled, and my heart swelled in my chest. We were curled up on this nest like mates, as if we’d done this a thousand times before. He locked his athletic body around mine like we were one piece, split in two.

“What about your mom?” I asked, wishing I hadn’t when his face fell.