Page 13 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Twelve

TALIA

Conrad shrunk away from me more and more as West went through everything that happened. His autumn leaves scent soured and the wrongness of it made my stomach turn.

He didn’t want me anymore.

That had to be why he was moving away. This bond that Benjamin had forced me into—maybe it would truly ruin my life after all.

I chewed anxiously on my bottom lip, hating the emptiness I felt as I ended up with less and less skin-to-skin contact with Conrad.

By the time the explanation was done, only our thighs were touching.

It wasn’t right to be this far from him, but I couldn’t force him to want me. Not when we might never have a bond.

“Can you tell me how you’re feeling, now?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Fine. I’ll recover.”

Conrad wouldn’t look me in the eyes. Mercer rubbed my back in gentle circles, but it wasn’t enough to distract me from the rejection.

My alpha didn’t say anything else, either, leaving it with ‘I’ll recover.’ It was obvious he didn’t want me here, so I needed to leave.

Sliding out of Mercer’s comfortable hold and down to the base of the bed, I cleared my throat. “Um, alright then. I should probably leave you to rest.”

Ask me to stay.

I needed him to ask me to stay. There were tears threatening to start streaming down my face if he didn’t, but I couldn’t guilt him into wanting me. That wouldn’t be fair to him at all.

I took a few steps backward, and he still wouldn’t look at me. West caught me before I could turn around and flee into the hallway. “Conrad, I think you probably have something to say to Talia.”

Conrad cursed, crossing his arms over his chest. He finally lifted his face so he could look at me, and what I saw in his lucky green eyes wasn’t what I expected.

They were full of guilt and dismay, brimming with tears just like mine were.

“I’m so sorry, princess. I never should have lost control of myself like I did at the hospital. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but West is right. I need to apologize.”

My tears fell, the dam breaking. Rushing back over to the bed, I threw myself on top of Conrad hard enough that he grunted in pain.

I laid on top of him and buried my face against his chest, sobbing.

His arms wrapped around me like they had so many times before, giving me all the comfort in the world.

“You idiot,” I said between sniffles. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”

“What?” He sounded horrified.

“Because of the bond with Benjamin. I thought... You stopped touching me after you learned about that.”

“Fuck, I would never reject you. I just don’t deserve you, princess. I’m the reason you were out somewhere he could get to you—that happened because of me.”

Of course he would blame himself.

It wasn’t his fault at all.

I had no doubt in my mind that if Benjamin hadn’t found me then, he would have found me another time.

My scent match had a plan far bigger than any of us had assumed.

We hadn’t been expecting how malicious he truly was, so I wouldn’t have been prepared whether he came for me that night or in three months.

“It happened because of him,” I insisted. “Not you.”

And maybe it also happened a little bit because of me, but I knew if I said that aloud they would deny it was at all my fault.

“But I?—”

“You were drugged. That makes it even less your fault.”

He stayed silent, running out of excuses. He would come up with more, just like West would. Mercer seemed to be the only one who wasn’t blaming himself for something happening to me, and I was sure there was something negative going on in his head that he hadn’t exposed yet.

We were quite the group, it seemed.

“I think it’s time for you to shut up and cuddle me. Isn’t the omega always supposed to be right, anyway?” I complained.

He chuckled, hesitantly tightening his grip on me. “I hate to say I’ll disagree with you when I think you’re wrong, but… I will.”

“Well, I’ll convince you eventually that you aren’t to blame, because it’s the truth.”

His lips landed on the top of my head, and I knew I had him back—for now, at least.

Hopefully, forever.

A loud knock on the door broke through my peals of laughter. I’d slept so much recently I hadn’t been tired, and Conrad hadn’t seemed keen to close his eyes either.

So instead of sleeping, we’d helped Conrad back to my nesting room. It was far more comfortable than his makeshift hospital room, with scent marked pillows and blankets that made it perfect for pack cuddles. And a great venue for the guys to share funny stories of their motorcycle club with me.

At each other’s expense, of course.

West and Conrad were on the receiving end of most of my laughter. Mercer had kept his nose clean and eyes on the prize, so they didn’t have much to say about him.

Whoever it was knocked again as I was catching my breath.

“Who is it?” West demanded, getting up from the bed.

“Lavinia. This is a necessary interruption, I’m afraid.”

“Necessary how?”

“Our fathers have arrived. They want to meet you and check on Talia.”

I sat straight up, my good mood immediately darkening. It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy my fathers had come. I was, and it would have been out of character for them to not come sweeping in at the first sign of my distress.

But I didn’t want their judgement. Their pity. Their anger at Benjamin over something I could have prevented if I’d followed the rules they’d laid out when I was a child.

Most of all, I didn’t want them to scare off my pack.

West let Lavinia in, and my sister leaned against the wall beside the door with her arms crossed over her chest. Her foot tapped impatiently.

“Can’t it wait?” I asked.

“When have you ever known our fathers to wait?”

“You and Mira could catch them up on everything that’s happened.”

“We’ve already told them all that we know.” She sighed. “They’re currently most interested in what your motorcycle club has been doing with the O’Connors, and we don’t know a thing about that.”

That was a front and I knew it.

OK, they did need to know about the drugged ammo, at the end of the day.

Their primary motivation for doing it now was definitely to size up my alphas, though.

“Fine,” I mumbled. “Tell Nico that if they come back with any bruises, I’ll never speak to him again.”

“He’s going to request at least one free shot,” Lavinia said, a sly smile crossing her face.

“No free punches.”

“I’ll inform him. If your alphas are respectful, he might even behave.”

He better. I was more fragile than I’d ever been, but I would go on a rampage of epic proportions if he decided to punish the pack for anything that happened. They weren’t to blame—I was the one sneaking around onto Windsor territory to see them. None of them had known that was a problem.

Conrad sighed, pressing a kiss to the side of my head and moving me gently off his chest. “Probably need the chance to test my legs, anyway. Spending time with you healed me right up.”

I would have told him to stay put, but he managed to stand on his own. He didn’t even wobble.

Mercer got up too, giving me an equally sweet kiss on the cheek. “We’ll find you right after we’re done talking business.”

“Assuming we can still walk,” Conrad joked.

Rolling his eyes, Mercer stayed close to his packmate’s side as he walked slowly to the door. West came back to me, giving me a parting kiss—his was placed on the tip of my nose.

As he tried to leave again, my heart rate increased.

Their scents already felt so far away, with no one in the bed with me.

What if they were gone so long that all I could smell was cucumber and moss? Benjamin was trying his best to remind me that he existed, and I didn’t know if I could keep him at bay on my own.

My fingers wrapped around West’s forearm, and he froze mid-step.

“Stay. Please.”

I couldn’t have all of them leave me at the same time. Then there would only be Benjamin’s empty echoes.

“Mercer should stay with you,” West said, gesturing for his pack lead. “Or Conrad.”

Nibbling on my bottom lip, I didn’t let go of him. “Why not you?”

“I’m not…” He trailed off without finishing. “One of them will stay with you.”

Did he not want me? Was the entire heat a lie—something he’d felt he had to do because I was in pain? Would he have cuddled me and scent marked me and stayed with me if his packmates had been by my side first?

Or would he have stayed away, keeping that comfortable distance he was so good at maintaining?

“What if I want it to be you?” I whispered.

Mercer looked at West, crossing his arms over his chest. Conrad was leaning against the doorframe, one hand casually pushed into his pocket but a determined set to his expression.

West cringed at the attention from his pack. He grabbed my wrist, gently prying my hand off of him. I swallowed down my whine—if he really didn’t want me, I wouldn’t coerce him with needy omega sounds, no matter how involuntary they were.

“They’ll be better at caring for you,” he mumbled. “I… can’t.”

“Who said you can’t care for me?” I asked.

“No one had to say it, Talia. It’s just the truth.”

“Well, I disagree.”

“You disagreeing doesn’t make me any less fucking useless.” He loosed a frustrated growl, taking a few steps away from me.

Why did he think he was so useless? He’d been by my side through the worst heat of my life, making everything better. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but by the time he got here, nothing could have made it any better than he did.

I didn’t want to fight with him, but I didn’t want him to leave either.

And I couldn’t let him think that his packmates were a substitute for him, because they weren’t.

“Fine. You can leave then,” I said. “All of you.”

My chest tightened, but I tried not to let my discomfort show on my face. West’s eyes widened. “Conrad will stay?—”

“No. I want you, and if I can’t have you I’ll make do with no one.”

“Talia, you’re being difficult.”

“So are you,” I shot back. “Now leave.”

West glared at me. “We can’t just leave you alone while you’re still fragile.”

“That’s exactly what you were going to do though, isn’t it? Leave me? Why are you doubting your choice now?”

“I was going to leave you with one of my packmates.”

“And they’re not the same as you. They can’t give me the same comfort as you. I asked for you, and you’re going to leave, so just fucking leave, OK?”

Mercer grabbed West’s shoulder, tugging him in the direction of the bedroom door. “Our omega has spoken, and you know better than to argue.”

“She can’t be alone,” West said, trying to resist Mercer’s leading.

“I trust her to know what she wants,” Mercer claimed. “Now get going, unless you’ve changed your mind about staying with her like she wanted?”

I watched West’s expression carefully, noting how it flitted between concern, panic, and dismay.

His body slumped, and he turned to stalk out the door without another word.

It hurt, like a shard of ice jabbing my heart, but I saw a hint of the ‘why’ in his hesitation. I just didn’t understand it, not yet.

Conrad blew me a kiss as he followed West and Lavinia out the door, and Mercer hung back for a second.

“He’s scared,” Mercer said. “I can’t tell you what happened with Violet because it’s not my place, but you should know that he blames himself. No one else blames him, but he’s always blamed himself.”

“I can tell,” I murmured. “I just hope he’ll explain it to me soon, because I don’t really want to be alone.”

Mercer didn’t offer to stay. He probably guessed my reason for why I’d refused him and Conrad—to show West he wasn’t so easily replaceable. “We’ll be back soon,” he promised. “Mira will come check on you.”

Mira would want all sorts of dirty details about everything that happened, so it might be enough to keep my mind occupied even without one of my alphas around. I smiled in a way I hoped came across as reassuring. “I’ll be fine.”

“You will be.” He leaned in and kissed the top of my head before vacating the room, leaving me alone to stew in my thoughts.