Page 27 of Omega Shattered
"Omegas, some omegas, can turn off their ability to go into heat until they're in a safe environment. They do it unconsciously. She just started her first heat since she was home, no?"
I nodded, the pieces coming together. "You think she feels safe with us?" The joy that spread through my chest burst out in a smile on my face.
"Neh, cabrón.She feels safe because of our scents, but she still doesn't trust her. I think she's our scentmatch."
I stared at my packmate in shock. "That can't be. We don't do omegas, right?"
"We all know you'd be happy to take an omega," he said. "But that has nothing to do with scentmatching. Alejandra was a scentmatch for one of my old pack mates, Diego. He told me her aroma was the best thing he'd ever smelled and that every time he scented her, he got hard."
Well, that was something I'd noticed from the start, but when I looked up at Orion again it hit me. "You mean, she's not just affecting me like this?"
"She smells like heaven and home all in one," he said quietly, sadly. "Pretty sure the other guys feel it to, but they won't admit it."
"Fuck, what now? If she's our scentmatch, we can't just send her away. Another pack will take her . . . or she'll end up in the heat dens."
Orion rubbed his scar like he always did when he was nervous. "I dunno, man. River would never accept it. Kade probably won't either."
The hope that had sparked in my chest flared and died. He was right. Our whole pack had to be in on this or it was pointless. But part of me felt drawn to the girl in the bathroom. She'd stopped crying now, but I could hear her quietly shuddering breaths under the pounding of the water.
"She's gonna get frozen," Orion said suddenly, frowning at the bathroom door.
"She's in the shower."
"And it's cold. No steam."
I turned and saw that he was right. There was no steam curling out under the door.
"Quinn?" I called through the door. "Hey, I'm coming in, okay?"
She didn't answer and I pulled a pen out of my pocket and jammed it into the hole in the doorknob to release the old-fashioned lock. The door swung open and Orion was by my side as I stepped into the freezing cold bathroom.
Quinn huddled under the icy spray, hugging her knees to her chest with her head bent over them. Her dark hair drooped over her legs, mostly hiding them from view, but it was her back that was shocking.
She was skin and bones. Her spine stuck out so far, it looked ready to break through her skin. Ribs cut through the skin, so sharp, I could count ever single one. There were burns on her body, too. Nothing big, just little spots where someone had jammed something like a hot nail against her skin. They littered her sides and back.
Orion was deadly still beside me. I knew he'd seen the burns. After his experiences, burns were a trigger for him and his eyes were glued to her damaged skin.
"Baby, what did they do to you?" I whispered, breaking out of my shock.
But it was Orion who crossed the bathroom in two strides, switching off the water and wrapping her in a large fluffy towel before scooping her out of the tub. Quinn looked so tiny and fragile in his arms, her wet head leaned against his chest.
Orion strode past me and out of the room.
I ran after him, curious about what he was going to do. I followed him down the stairs to the living room where the fire was roaring. When he jerked his head at the sofa, I understood immediately and shoved it closer to the fire, hopping over the back to settle in my usual spot.
Orion sat next to me, dropping her feet onto my lap as he adjusted the omega in his arms until she was perfectly bundled against him. "We need to talk."
"I don't want to talk," came her voice, thready but fierce.
"Too bad."
He stared into the fire, rocking slowly without seeming to realize it. "You need to know more about us."
There was silence and then Quinn lifted her head. "Why?"
"Decisions have to be made," he said quietly, his voice heavy. "Not just ours. Archer? You wanna start?"
"Guess I'm the least traumatizing." I shrugged and started massaging Quinn's cold little feet. "I'm from a pack in Kansas.Three dads and an omega mom. Grew up well, with nothing really bad happening to me until I fell in love when I was 15. This beta girl, Emilie, went to my school and she was just so perfect. She broke my heart though . . . ran off with an alpha pack three months after we started dating. I decided that I'd only date again when I had a pack to back me up."
