Page 43 of These Bonds that Unite Us
“There is nothing to think about, sweet girl. I should have bonded you the minute I walked into the nest during your heat. You’ve always been mine, and I’ll never be able to express how fucking sorry I am for ever making you feel like you weren’t. If you need my bond, it’s yours. I’m yours. Take the heart from my chest if it will take your pain away.”
Rivers flow down my girl’s cheeks as she stares at me, her lips parted in shock, but I can see the doubt and confusion swirling in her green orbs. She’s still uncertain about our pack. “I’ll show you.” I breathe the words. “Earn back your trust and prove myself to you.”
My fists clench at my sides to stop from pulling her back into my lap. The alpha inside of me demands we sink our teeth into her pretty throat and give her the bond she so desperately needs.
I won’t take the choice away from her though. Even if every fiber of my being fights against it, I let her walk away.
As soon as she slips down the stairs, I collapse to the floor. My head thuds against the wood, but I can barely feel it. Hopelessness and despair rage so fiercely in my heart I feel like the emotions are pummeling me from all sides.
I know we fucked up. She almost died because of us. Her heart literally stopped. But damn does it gut me to hear hersay she needs time to think when the only choices she has are bonding with us or death.
I knew from the moment we met I wanted this omega to be mine. I also knew I would never be good enough for her, now I’m out here proving it by constantly ruining her in ways she doesn’t know if she can bounce back from.
What are we supposed to do if she decides she’d rather die than be with us?
Nebula must feel my thoughts in our bond, or maybe he’s thinking the same thing because he grips my shoulder tight enough to hurt. “No. We aren’t going to let her choose anything but life. Even if we have to force her to take our bond. I won’t let her die the same way Liz did.”
“We can’t–” Callisto starts to protest but Nebula cuts him off.
“You can’t, but I can.I will. She can spend the rest of her life hating us, as long as she’s alive that is all that matters.”
As fucked up as it is, I agree with my alpha mate. I’m not letting our girl go so easily. She’s mine and I’m hers, from now until eternity.
Omen Powell is stuck with me, whether she accepts us as her mates or not.
“Perhaps we need outside help,” Titan murmurs from where he’s sitting beside me. His arms are folded across his knees, head hung in defeat.
“Her doctor was already here, who else could help us?” Callisto asks.
Raising his dark eyes to us, the best solution falls from his lips. I feel silly for not thinking of it myself, but that’s why being in a pack is so awesome. When one of us falters, the others can pick up our slack.
“Let’s call her sister. If anyone can make Omen see sense, it’s going to be Hannah.”
Being hard all the time fucking sucks. I don’t deserve to feel the pleasure of a release when my omega is downstairs falling apart, but the urgent desire pulsing through my veins could put us both in danger. The insistent need to bite, to fuck, to claim is almost impossible to ignore.
Shit, the last thing Omen needs is for one of us to go into a rut when she’s nearby.
The bathroom door clicks open and Nebula’s musky scent fills the room, mixing with my woodsy notes. His arms wrap around my waist, and he buries his nose against my back. Our bodies sing with the small contact.
Things haven’t been the same between us since I left after Omen’s heat. Part of me blames him for pushing her away. I know he alone isn’t at fault–we all made shitty choices when it comes to handling our girl’s secrets–but it didn’t make it easier to forgive him when every word out of his mouth was trashing her in some way.
“I’m sorry, Nex,” he whispers. “For everything. Not seeing what the separation from Omen was doing to you. Getting pissed at you for choosing her. The fighting. I’ve made a grand mess of things between us, and I need to own that.”
Letting my head fall back against his shoulder, I blow out a long breath. “You are already making up for everything by putting in the effort to manage your grief.”
“And my feelings for Omen,” he adds gently.
I turn to look at him, mouth parted in surprise. When he first started seeing his therapist again, he had been adamant about avoiding discussing Omen. He wanted to focus on finding ways to deal with his anger over Elizabeth’s death.
“You’ve been talking to Mia about Omen?”
“Yeah,” he nods. “I think… I was scared. Learning she was born into the Montgomery family and knowing the horrific things her brother said to Liz, my brain was convinced she would be like him. That she also would have been brainwashed into rejecting us. I didn’t want our pack to have to suffer through the same misery I watched my sister experience.”
“But she isn’t like them.”
“No, she is not.” He admits, his tone a little bitter, but I know it is directed at himself. “My misplaced fear led her down the same path Liz went. I don’t know what is going to happen between the five of us next, all I can do is take things one step at a time and try to show her how sorry I am for how I reacted back then.” He shrugs, but it is tense. Filled with his regrets and worries for the future.
“We all are going to do our best to save her,” I remind him. “Teamwork makes the orgy work after all.”
