“Sage, we believe that you are our true mate.”
Well, fuck.
19
“Iwant Nikki,” I said. “Wherever we’re going, wherever I’m staying, I need her.”
I also wanted my home, my bed, my blankets, my Netflix, and to bury myself in my bed, nestling down tighter and tighter until all of the panic throbbing inside my body started to ease. I felt like I was mainlining espresso, my heart beating too fast, despite the sedatives the doctor had given me.
Instead, I was walking towards the elevator with the Lockwood pack, ready to be squirrelled away in one of their mysterious properties, guarded like the treasure I apparently was. When the lift door opened, Miranda stalked out, looking her bosses and me over with a critical eye.
“You asked for a security detail?” she said, waving several men in black suits forward. “Is everything all right?” Then her gaze landed on a very bedraggled-looking me. She seemed to take in my T-shirt and yoga pants combo with a withering eye, her perfectly outlined scarlet lips thinning. “Please tell me we haven’t had an incident with Ms Davies already.”
“Not one of her own making,” Tobias said in a voice that quelled any further questions. “She came to harm while in our employ, and as such, we are offering her Lockwood protection.”
“Well, I—” Miranda started to puff herself up right then, only for Tobias to shut her down.
“Everything to do with this situation is on a need-to-know basis. Right now, you don’t need to know. Thank you for bringing security up here so quickly. I’ll handle things going forward.”
She wanted to protest, to complain, her eyes flicking from me to Tobias and back again, but she couldn’t say anything, not without coming across as insubordinate as hell. Finally, she just nodded and then turned on her heel, going back into the elevator and stabbing the button to go back down to her floor.
My arms went around myself as Tobias moved over to talk quietly with the security guys. Max had handed me a blanket when we got on the jet home, and I clung to it now, wrapping myself up tighter.
“Pressure,” Lucien rasped out, edging closer but not by much. He nodded to the blanket. “Lots of bone deep pressure will help make you feel better.”
“She doesn’t need a blanket to do that,” Beau snapped, pacing back and forth. “She needs us. We’ll hold her tight, put her back together. We’ll—”
“Respect Ms Davies’ boundaries and decisions.” Tobias had returned, looking over his brothers with a cold eye. “That’s the only way forward. We’ve dropped her in this situation. We’re not pushing her down deeper into it without her say-so.”
“But—”
Beau went to argue, his eyes wild, his usually perfectly coiffured hair a mess from raking his fingers through it. Mr Movie Star looked like a mess, for me. It was hard not to let that get to me. Part of me begged me to, to let him in, knowing the subsequent comfort and pleasure would be amazing.
Except a larger part was not having that for one second. They couldn’t create this chaos, then be the ones to rescue me from it.
I was not a damsel in distress.
I’d look up what exactly an omega was when I got to wherever we were going, and then I’d work out how I’d provide myself with what I needed. I nodded to myself then, immediately feeling a little better.
“Thank you,” I told Tobias, not daring to look at the others.
Only I felt them,sensed them as all of us piled into the elevator, the capacious cab feeling that much more cramped with all of these men jammed in there, and the sick thing? Some part of me that swum up, like monster from the swamps, liked this, liked this escort of men clustering close to me, liked the way the alphas growled when the security guards got too near. I was dimly aware that this must’ve been the most confusing assignment they’d ever been given—protect, but don’t go near. If they felt confused, though, that was nothing on what I was experiencing.
I held on right the way until we reached the place I’d be staying for the interim. My suitcase made little rattling sounds as it was wheeled across the marble floor of what looked like the penthouse suite of the skyscraper we’d parked under. It could’ve been cold, clinical. There was a lot of gleaming stainless steel and big windows. Then Tobias walked over, pressing a button to roll down an electric awning, somehow knowing that a panoramic view of the River Torrens wasn’t what I needed right now. It was only then I could focus on the rest of the apartment.
The interior designer had to have anticipated this would be made for an omega. The walls were painted a warm cream, not an icy white, and had been treated with a kind of textured finish you didn’t notice until closer, taking away all of the harsh edges. Massive rugs made from plush, minky fabric covered the floor, their soft greyness letting me know my feet would sink into them if I kicked off my shoes. The lounge suite was massive, oversized, and very squishy, ready for me to curl up in.
“Come through here,” Tobias said with a gesture, then walked down the hallway. I followed. Of course I did. What else could I do? Only as I walked down the darkened hallway, the low light and small space allowed me to let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding onto. “Bedrooms are through here.” He opened doors and pointed them out. “But this space…”
I frowned slightly, going to take a step backward at his pause but finding I was at risk of bumping into a very focussed Max if I did so. I pulled the blanket tighter.
“This…” Tobias couldn’t seem to say what he needed to, resorting to shoving the door open, then ushering me inside.
“Oh…”
The sound escaped my lips as I saw it. Heaven. The floor was thick with carpet, sinking under my heels as I moved, begging me to lie down. The walls were a pale warm greige that just seemed to soothe me at every glance, and the huge windows were covered over with a blind that seemed to diffuse all of the light. I could still dimly see the street below, but the people were just dark shapes rather than individuals.
I shouldn’t have done this, but I walked over to the massive bed that spanned the entirety of one wall, and as soon as my knees touched the mattress, my body followed behind. I was curling up on a bed provided by my bosses, by men who thought I was their true mate, and sure enough, they stepped forward, creating a wall between the door and me, but somehow, I couldn’t seem to care. The bed coverings were as soft as cashmere, the sheets had the well washed feel of broken in cotton, and the scent… Lemon, sunlight, clean. I let out a sigh.