Page 64 of Omega Forged (Hartlock Omegas #2)

Tully

My skin prickled with an overflow of heat. It pressed against an unbreakable barrier and sweat trickled down my back. I tried to move away from the source, whimpering as an arm clamped around me. I thought Chase had been hunting me in a dream. He’d taken my forearm and shattered it with his teeth.

But that was just a dream, wasn’t it? No. I’d escaped Chase. Hadn’t I? But I remembered… something.

The arm pulled tighter, and my skin ached as if bruised. Gunk fused my eyes shut.

“I-I’m sorry.” My muffled apology was necessary.

Chase wanted a perfect, biddable omega. He wanted my signature and capitulation. Panic tightened my scratchy throat, and the threat of tears tickled.

“Angel, oh, Tully.”

There was no anger in Chase’s usually acerbic tone, only relief and tenderness.

So soft it made my heart ache. But it didn’t fool me. This was another method to break me down. As my awareness filtered back in, I forced myself to remain rigid against the hard chest plastered to my back. Hands whispered down my side and my body sighed and sang under the featherlight brushes.

“Please don’t hurt me.” I scrunched my eyes shut.

I tried to remember what happened. Chase surprised me in the alleyway. His teeth… My entire body throbbed like a giant bruise.

“I would never hurt you.” The gravelly tone was a promise, and I curled into bed as the surface shifted.

He was moving away. Relief turned bitter as my skin tightened with the need for him to return.

What was wrong with me?

Why did I want Chase to touch me again? Had he given me something? That must be why I felt so disorientated. Like there was something foreign roiling under my skin.

Heartache and panic, but not mine.

Not mine.

Needles laced the oxygen I desperately sucked down. The scrape of Chase’s teeth. A sharp, unwanted prick. The rip in time as I froze under the rage-filled puff of his breath. I muffled a sob against the pillow as I realized why I was craving the touch of Chase.

He bonded me.

My tongue wilted in my mouth. I jackknifed up, unable to stop the whine that burst through my trembling lips. As my gaze flew open, I realized my mistake. It wasn’t Chase who had his thick arms around me, but Pan.

“P-Pan.” His name was more of a sob as I collapsed against his chest. “I thought you were him .”

Pan’s face flickered with vicious fury, and I felt a rush of lightning through my chest. It stole my breath, and I sagged against him. It was Pan inside me, not Chase. Everything came flooding back. The livestream and the throbbing pain in my shoulder.

“He’s a dead man, Tully. I’ll kill him myself.” Pan’s scent swirled around me. “Our bond expelled him.”

“Our bond.”

It wasn’t a question. We both knew that.

Because Pan was inside me. Now that I knew it wasn’t Chase’s horrific bond inside my chest, I investigated the new link between us.

It pulsed with frenetic energy, and I tugged on it hard enough for Pan to grunt.

Pan was an echo in my ears. He vibrated through until the sensation became a song.

There were spikes, too, that prodded with the darkness he promised.

“Gods, Tully, you can’t know how good you feel. Please forgive me.”

What a strange feeling it was. Pan’s words, at face value, wouldn’t have been enough in the past. Chase used those like sweet treats, while his actions rotted my insides. But I could feel Pan. His regret, his nerves, and underneath, light bubblegum, relief, and adoration.

Pan was orchids at midnight. Sensual darkness. Decadence pooled between my legs. He was a heat that turned on an infinite loop, stealing pieces of my breath. Pan was that first dip in a rollercoaster when you threw your hands into the air and screamed.

“You collapsed after your livestream. Do you remember that? When we took you to the hospital, they found Chase’s bite had created a partial bond. The only way to stop it was another healthy bond. Ours.”

I was wrung out and dizzy, overwhelmed.

“I-I remember, sort of?” I looked up at the twinkling ceiling.

We were in the Baylark nest.

My instincts screamed at me to take the soft blankets and turn this nest into something I could sink into. I’d been here already. It smelled of me. I dragged myself over the lip, despite my screaming muscles. Pan reached for me. A soft, whisper-like growl escaped him.

“You’re safe with us now.”

My face twisted with disagreement, and Pan’s expression wiped blank. The bond between us throbbed, and I rubbed my chest.

“Will this mark last?” I trailed off as my throat swelled with emotion.

Pan’s expression sickened. “It’s permanent, can’t you feel me?” He spread out his tattoo-covered hands.

I couldn’t even string a coherent thought together, let alone process a life-changing decision right now. Luckily, my growling stomach saved me. It rolled like thunder.

“You’re hungry. Let me feed you?” Pan coaxed.

I hesitated as he came to my side. “I feel so out of it.”

Pan’s jaw ticked, and he let out a deep sigh. “The doctor told us you’d be disoriented. You were pumped full of meds, and you’ve been asleep the entire time since we came home yesterday. We were all terrified we lost you, Tully.”

“We need to talk.”

Pan’s jaw clenched, and I knew I wasn’t giving him the reaction he wanted because I could feel it. The disappointment and frustration rolled through the connection between us like smoke.

His hand found the small of my back as I entered the hallway. My nose twitched as the scent of bacon and fresh bread rushed into my nostrils.

“I told them you were stirring.” Pan shook his phone.

My stomach flipped as we walked down the steps and into the main area.

Walden was behind the counter, sprinkling chopped mint over diced watermelon.

Lloyd had his back to me, his shoulders hunched together.

Ajax flitted from plate to plate like a chef.

His hazel eyes snapped to mine, and he lifted a trembling hand to his chapped lips.

My stomach was sharp, as if stuffed full of knives. Their scents settled over me like a blanket, and I was dismayed by how it comforted me. Everything was a mess.

“Tully,” Lloyd breathed, flying off his stool so fast it toppled to the ground. He had his arms around me in an instant. His salt, sun, and beach scent brightened my insides. Lloyd pulled back, framing my face with his hands.

“You had us so worried, honey girl.” He brushed away a trembling tear from the corner of my eye.

“Let me hold you, please.” Walden appeared beside us, vibrating with need.

Lloyd released me, and Walden engulfed me in a soul-shifting hug.

The sharp scent of Walden’s eucalyptus cleared the fog from my thoughts.

A good and a bad thing. My knees wobbled and Walden scooped me up, carrying me to the kitchen.

He set me on the bench but didn’t let me go.

Pressing into the cradle of my thighs and holding my trembling body against his chest.

I didn’t need a bond to feel the relief flowing off Walden, the tiny tremors our bodies shared. Pangs echoed through me from Pan and amplified the sting of tears behind my eyes.

“Gods, it’s so good to see you awake.”

Ajax pressed into the pile.

I let myself sink into their warmth for a moment before wriggling out of Walden’s overbearing shield. Pan’s face fell and moments later, I felt the echo of his hurt.

This bond was a beautiful, dangerous thing. It was hope and despair wrapping my thoughts into knots.

I opened my mouth, but Ajax floated a plate of food in front of me.

“Eat before you say anything. You’ve been through an ordeal, and you need energy.”

The nurturing warmth in his tone brought a flood of tears to my eyes and I dashed them away with a growl.

“It’s the medication,” I explained as the tears multiplied.

I took a bite of perfect scrambled eggs and my appetite flooded in. Even in uncertain times, food was never something I’d turn down. I took a bite of perfectly crunchy hash browns and blubbered. My shoulder itched where Chase’s bite had been purged, but the foulness of him lingered.

“We didn’t know you were hurt.” Pan’s hands gripped the kitchen bench and his elegant fingers trembled.

“I didn’t think it was serious.” My forehead throbbed. “I guess I was wrong.”

“You can tell us anything, Tully.” Lloyd reminded me, and the gentle chastisement in his tone burrowed into me.

“I’m used to dealing with all my problems on my own.”

Pan’s face cracked open. The jagged shards of his expression jangled through our bond. As heavy as the discordant piano I’d overheard him play. Ajax made a noise and Lloyd steadied himself on the kitchen island. And Walden. He hung his head and let out a shuddering breath.

“Of course.” Walden winced as I cocked my head. “Forgive us, Tully.”

Quiet dragged out, too long and cold. A clock ticked somewhere in the house, like it was counting down the demise of this pack.

“Thank you for helping me.” I was too tired to fight with them and I needed a distraction from the throbbing reminder of Pan under my skin.

I could taste him in the back of my throat, and it didn’t disturb me like I thought.

My eyes drifted in his direction, like I might see the emotions that flickered inside me on his face.

“I made a spreadsheet.” Walden cleared his throat.

“Of-fucking-course you did.” Pan looked at the ceiling, but he said it with love.

Walden wandered to the table and opened his laptop, ignoring Pan’s reaction.

“It’s a checklist. For CJ—Chase. We want you to trust us to support you, but that requires honesty.”

Ajax shared a look with Walden.

“Can we add breaking his kneecaps to the list? He tried to mark you,” Pan hissed as Lloyd dragged his hand across my lower back.

My scent had sharpened, and Baylark Pack shifted, on edge as soon as it hit their nostrils. Pan landed in the chair and sat on his hands. Like he had to hold himself back from coming to me.

“If I wanted him physically hurt, I would have asked Thorn to do it. He knows people.”

Walden’s teeth ground together and a frown darkened his features. “You don’t need him. We’ll make him suffer a thousand times over for what he did to you.”

That shouldn’t have caused a flare of heat between my legs, but I couldn’t deny the thought of Walden tearing Chase apart did it for me.

All his cool composure cracked and discarded.

The only time I’d seen Walden truly lose his perfect cool was when he was deep inside me with Pan, during my heat.

I realized he wasn’t wearing a suit again.

The last time had been when Chase attacked me and I’d been too upset to mention it.

“You’re not wearing a—?” I motioned to his casual white T-shirt and dark shorts. Walden wore nothing to bed or a suit. Seeing him in anything else made him look alien.

“Suit? They make me itch lately.”

I tilted my head. “You can afford new ones, can’t you?”

“It’s not the suit, but what they represent, Tully. Can I show you what I made?”

Did Walden wear a suit because it was armor? Like I did with my wardrobe, coming back to life as I found myself?

“Tell me.” I slipped into the empty seat and Walden spun the laptop in front of me. His hot breath puffed over the back of my neck. They explained the illicit meeting they had with Chase, where they exposed him to Campion Pack in order to gain financial compensation and a stake in their company.

“You did this?” I wrapped my hand around my neck. It was red, raw with emotion.

“It had to be done, Tully. Now you have to decide whether you want to press charges for what he did to you.”

“Which time? The hospital or the photo leak?”

Legal action seemed the most unlikely. He was so convincing, and I didn’t trust that he wouldn’t be able to twist it.

Walden reached over my shoulders as I read the last line and added: Break his kneecaps and or/ snap off his penis.

“Just in case.” he nodded, gruff and entirely serious. “Proving he was the one who leaked the content will be harder. But I have someone looking into it as well. CJ targeted you when he thought you were all alone and vulnerable, but you’re not anymore.”

I was buffeted by four Designated who looked ready to go to war for me.

One of them lived inside me with a magnetic frisson.

How strange and beautiful the sensation was.

I slid into the muck of this situation. The mess.

All this time, I’d lived with CJ’s voice in my head.

Believed him when he said I was nothing but a pretty face.

Pan stared at me, like he could see underneath my skin. I felt for the throbbing, tender length of our bond, and yanked on it.

“Tully,” he gasped. “Use us however you will. Just promise me you won’t be forgiving.”

I was a Hartlock, and for the first time, I felt it. My lungs couldn’t expand fully in this space, not when Baylark Pack infused every breath.

I wanted to be seen as something other than the pawn CJ had made me.

The only way to do that was to become a queen.

“Chase is about to find out I have sharp teeth of my own.”

“That’s my girl.” Pan thumped his chest with pride.

His words did the same as our bond. Took up space inside me. And surprisingly, I found I liked the feeling.