Page 117 of Nest Of Lies

His fist lands heavily in my ribs, and I know I deserve it, so I don’t fight back.

“Mills!” Lia says.

He glances behind him and launches to his feet, lifting her up and swinging her around before dragging her close so he can pepper her face with kisses.

“I thought you were gone forever.”

She waits until we’re all close and turns from one to the next, searching our faces. “You think I want that pack? Is that what this is? I didn’t realise that you thought I’d want them.” She looks so confused. “I don’t want them. I’ve never wanted them.”

The others push closer, their hungry gazes lingering on her, until her eyes land on me again.

She puts a hand to her forehead and manages to look both frustrated and exhausted.

“You idiots. I don’t want them,” she shouts at me.

The last thread of my temper snaps.

“What do you want, then? I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know how to make you happy. Just talk to us, Lia. It’s not that hard,” I roar at her. I’m so mad at her, at us, at fate.

“I want to not be the reason an omega out there is feeling the way I am right now,” Lia says in a small voice.

I gape at her. She cannot be serious. “I don’t give a shit about any fucking omegas.”

“An omega?” Zaden frowns. “A different omega? What other omega?”

“Any omega!” Lia shouts. “Your omega. Your real scent match.”

Zaden grips her by the front of her t-shirt. “There is no other girl, Lia.”

So simple. So clear. Concise.

“But-”

“No. No one holds a candle to you, you infuriating pain in my ass omega. You are our omega. There. Is. No. One. Else,” Zaden growls and runs a hand down his face. “I misunderstood. I thought you were thinking about your scent matches.”

She licks her lips, her eyes wide.

“Listen to me carefully. We found her, Lia. Three years ago. She’s happy, but just because she smelled good, didn’t make her ours. You are ours, no one, not fate nor destiny is going to change that fact, Lia. There is no one but you for us. Whether you are a beta, an omega, or a switch. She didn’t even come close to being you.”

“So you don’t want your perfect doctors?” Mills asks nervously. “I mean, that’s where Ianto took you, right? You met them?”

Lia shakes her head. “Why would I want them? It’s always been you. I just…I’m broken, I didn’t want to be abandoned when you found your scent match.”

I grip her hair and tilt her head back so she’s looking at me. Incensed that she believes such tripe.

“You aren’t broken, you’re perfect. Now be sure you don’t want that pack because I can still kill them so you don’t need to make a choice.”

Lia laughs softly. “Ianto, all I have wanted is you since the day I met you in Zaden’s study. You are scarred and rough around the edges, and I love this club and the family you have. This is everything I want.”

Lia pauses, and her eyes flutter closed in pain.

“I thought you would leave me,” she admits in such pain that it cuts me open. “Because I was sick. Because I wasn’t good enough. I was so afraid I couldn’t even get the words out.”

I’m so struck by her confession. “You weren’t upset about your pack. You were upset because you thought we would leave you? You were silent because you were afraid, not angry?”

And that one thing we know about Lia comes racing back. She freaks out when she’s left alone. I make a mental note to never, ever forget it again.

“Yes,” she whispers.

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