“I’d like to make you an offer.”
“I don’t think I want…anything anymore,” I said stiffly. “Except to go home.”
“That might not be wise.”
There it was—the death sentence I’d been waiting to hear. I gritted my teeth, shaking my head slowly.
“I don’t give a shit about whether or not it’s wise. I want to go home,” I snarled with all of the passion I could muster, but it came out more as a warbly little whine. Fuck, now I couldn’t even bite someone’s head off when they deserved it. “And you can’t legally stop me.”
“Of course we can’t.” Tobias’ calm, reasonable tone stopped me where I was. The other three weren’t capable of much more than animalistic grunts since we’d visited the hospital, but he sounded semi human. “No one is proposing that. If you wish to be in your own space, surrounded by familiar smells and textures…”
God. Yes. That. I let out a little sigh, seeing my flat, smelling the scent of my favourite candles, feeling the plush blankets on my couch.
“Then we’ll organise for a security team to be assigned to you.”
“What?”
I blinked at him, the light streaming behind him forcing my eyes down to slits, something he seemed to realise. He kept the same distance away from me, but moved so he was standing near the door before flicking the lights off. The semi gloom instantly eased something, which had him nodding.
“What precisely is happening here needs to be determined. You spoke to Riley Taylor and got some bloods done?”
“So much for doctor-patient confidentiality…” I muttered.
“But the suspicion is that you’ll reveal as an omega.” He took a long breath in, and I was treated to the sight of all that composure cracking, just a little. “That’s why you’ll need the best security money can buy. Normally, you would reveal in an alpha run town, where the ruling packs would ensure your safety until such time as you choose your mates.” He shook his head slowly. “It’s different in the city. Alphas don’t rule here, and each pack tends to do things their own way, especially when it comes to the few omegas they stumble upon. Some spend the time wooing them, others use…more primitive methods.”
I shivered, my hands going to my arms, able to feel the press of those feral alphas’ skin against mine.
“You need help through this difficult time, Sage. Nothing we offer you obligates you to consider us as potential mates.”
Lucien let out a rumble at that.
“I admit, keeping you safe in your own home is not the most desirable of options.”
“What do you want me to do?” I snapped, feeling the fire return inside me, and I was glad to hear it in my voice. “Let you lock me up ‘for my safety’?”
“Lock you up? No. You’d be the only one with the access code in or out, but we have a great many properties across the city—beautifully appointed ones. All of your favourite scents could be shipped in, or I would get some people to collect up your stuff and bring it to your temporary home. The level of protection we could offer there would go a long way to reassuring me that you’re OK.”
“Why?”
My question seemed to cut through the dense mood in the office, hanging there, growing and growing until Tobias smiled slightly, then responded.
“Because you wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for us. Our brother, Lucien, didn’t let us know what he’d discovered the night of your date. We caught an intriguing scent on him the next day, but he refused to be drawn on the issue, as he so often is. Still, I assert that if you hadn’t come here, if you hadn’t spent time with us, then the omega side of you would not have wakened.”
“I would’ve discovered my designation the moment I hung around other alphas, wouldn’t I?”
His lips thinned then, even as those brown eyes grew softer.
“Perhaps, but we believe…”
I had a front row seat to the destruction of Tobias’ chill, his hands clenching, then releasing, then clenching again, his feet forcing him forward just one step before he stopped himself. He raked a hand through his hair, dislodging those perfect waves as his jaw muscle flexed.
“We’ve met many omegas over the years, and each one of them smells delectable in a way that’s difficult to describe.”
A small growl formed in my chest at that, as I imagined a parade of elegant omegas trailing past them.
“But yours is different. Lucien picked it up first, probably because he’s shared some intimacies with you, but now…” His voice broke, and his eyes flashed silver. “But now we’re all aware of it. This will be difficult to hear, and I apologise for that. All I can say is we will do everything in our power to keep you safe, no matter what you choose. You never need to see any of us ever again.”
The other three growled in protest at that.