The Orphaned Omega

Chapter 15

[Dorothea’s POV]

I opened my mouth to speak, to say something, anything that may get Thorin to step back from me. Clearly, Alpha Ian’s Lycan was not taking the hint from either of us that this mate-bond thing was not going to work out. Then again, I couldn’t entirely blame him. With him so close to me, his warm breath fanning my face and neck, and his scent swirling around me, the broken bond beckoned to me too. The remnants of it were fainter now, but they rose to the surface all the same.

Thorin took the chance to capture my mouth with his, crushing his lips into mine. I felt myself kissing him back, almost as if I had no true control of myself anymore. His hands trailed down my arms and took hold of my hands; he pulled my arms up above my head and pinned them there with one hand. His chest pressed in closer to me. My heart started hammering in my chest – he was trapping me against the wall, using his weight and size to pin me. His knee shifted between my legs, parting them.

He broke his lips free of the kiss and trailed his lips down my neck. Faint sparks danced across my skin and a sigh broke free of me. It would be so easy to give in to this feeling. Every part of my body wanted to sink into him and let him have his way with me. His free hand had found my waist, fingers inching under the hem of my shirt. His fingertips brushed the sensitive skin of my lower stomach and goosebumps broke out over my body. I felt like I was somewhere deep in my mind, and I was desperately trying to swim back to the surface to take control again. Thorin’s lips pressed a kiss into the crook of my neck, where a mating Mark would go. I jerked in his hold, and he held me tighter. Pressed closely.

“Shhhh,” he murmured, breath tickling the shell of my ear. “I won’t hurt you, little mate.”

I shook my head softly, trying to find my voice still. Trying to regain function of my limbs. He kissed the marking spot again, and then I felt the prick of his canines against my skin. I heard him take in a breath, and I thrashed against him. He was trying to Mark me! Thorin was trying to Mark me! He reared his head back to avoid my shoulder smacking his nose.

“No!” I screeched, thrashing hard in his grip. “No! Ian—Thorin, stop! Please!”

His shadowy gray eyes flickered, and suddenly golden eyes were staring at me. It took Ian a moment to register what was going on, and his lip curled up in disgust. He gripped my wrists tighter in his hands and threw me onto the ground away from him. I slammed into the floor and coughed at the impact. Quickly, I scrambled to a sitting position and stumbled back away from him. I looked up at him with horror. A shiver ran down my spine at the look on Ian’s face, and not the good kind. He looked like he would slice me open right here and let me bleed to death. His Alpha aura poured out of him, thick and oppressive. I cowered closer to the floor, bracing for the worst. This is the day I die, I thought to myself.

He took a step toward me, his entire body looking lethal. He loomed over me, jaw set in a hard line. “You need to get it through your stupid skull that I do not want you. I don’t care what my Lycan says to me. You are not worthy of being mine.”

I nodded quickly, averting my gaze from his. A tremble started in my bones. His words cut me to the core. Part of it was having to relive my biggest fear over again – the fear of never being wanted. The other part was that his words seared against that stupid bond. It was like the words themselves were a painful brand on my heart. “I…I…”

“Spit it out,” Ian snarled. “Grow a f*****g backbone.”

“I understand,” I whispered.

“Louder,” he growled.

“I understand,” I said, raising my voice.

“Good. Now get out of my sight, and do not come near me again.”

I got to my feet as quickly as I could and ran from the room. As I rounded the corner, the smell of Ian’s cinnamon scent gave way to bergamot and lemon. I hadn’t noticed that smell in here before, but I was thankful for the distraction from anything related to Ian. I darted down the stairs, ran through the bottom floor of the Alpha’s wing and ran straight to the omega’s quarters. It was only when I got down into the laundry room, calming myself with the smell of fresh linen, that I realized I had left my cleaning supplies up in Alpha Ian’s room. I groaned, rubbing a hand down my face. I knew I’d be in for at least an earful from Ms. Hardin tomorrow about the missing supplies, and for the bathrooms not being finished, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I also realized, with a growing sense of dread, that I would not be able to truly avoid Ian forever while I worked in this Goddess-forsaken packhouse. It would be impossible, as it had already proved to be.

I dragged myself back up the stairs from the laundry room and into the kitchen. I figured I may be able to lessen my impending punishment if I did a thorough job on the kitchen. Plus, cleaning did bring me a sense of peace. It was one thing I could control. The omegas working in the kitchen looked up at me and frowned. They were all eating a quick meal before getting to other duties or leaving for the night.

“Are you all done with the dishes?” I asked.

A dark-haired guy named Jeb nodded at me. “Yup. All yours to clean.”

I nodded, heading over to the sink to get started. From the pile of dishes, it looked like they had made chicken parmesan for the pack tonight. I turned the water on and plugged one side of the sink to start allowing it to fill, dumping some dish soap in there. I heard the small group leave, one of them muttering curses at me as they did. I rolled my eyes, too tired and too emotionally exhausted for their barbs to affect me today.

I spent the rest of the evening scrubbing the kitchen spotless. I didn’t stop until there was not a single crumb or fleck of dust anywhere. Not a single dish to be cleaned, none even left in the dishwasher. I cleaned and reorganized the walk-in freezer and the industrial refrigerator. I scrubbed the floors on my hands and knees - I scrubbed and scrubbed until my hands were bleeding and full of raw blisters. I didn’t even notice until a fresh drop of bright blood landed on my immaculate floor. I sat back on my knees and looked at the wounds on my palms. A distant pang hit me as I remembered countless days with my hands like this as a child under Ms. Jillian’s care. It had taken me several weeks to build up callouses so that I wasn’t bleeding all of the time. I swallowed, thinking for a brief moment that I would take that life back in favor of where I was now.

-x-

I got little sleep, tossing and turning over the encounter with Ian. I dragged myself to Moonlight and all but chugged my first cup of coffee, hoping it would breathe some life into me. I was grateful that Paige wasn’t here today, and neither were either of the others that worked part time. Fran was in Lori’s office working on inventory, and Lori was at a meeting. I had the counter to myself this morning and could be as quiet and miserable as I wanted to be.

Around noon, Bailey walked into the coffee shop. She had a pinched look on her face and was frowning. Instantly, the look set me on edge. Bailey never looked upset like this. She was always a ray of sunshine in this otherwise bleak world of mine. The golden-haired girl approached the counter and glanced at me, pursing her lips.

“Hey, T,” she said, her voice a sad sigh. “Can we chat?”

I felt my heart plummet. Everything about her told me whatever was coming was going to be bad news. I nodded anyway, wanting to rip the Band Aid off. “Yeah, sure.”

She glanced around. The shop was pretty empty, aside from two women over on the sofas in the other corner. They didn’t look our way. She looked back at me and sighed. “My father, he…he caught wind that we’ve been hanging out, and he is super angry.”

My blood ran cold. This was it. Hello, other shoe. I chewed on the inside of my lip for a moment before I nodded. “I understand.”

She looked up into my eyes, her blue eyes filled with sorrow. Bailey knew what I meant. I understood what she had come here to say. Alpha Harry didn’t want Bailey hanging out with me, a lowly omega and the daughter of the male who had gotten his brother killed. She was coming here, essentially, to break up with me. “I-I’m so sorry, Thea,” she said, her voice breaking.

I reached out and touched her arm, smiling softly. Sadly. My heart was breaking too, but I can’t say I didn’t expect it to come at some point. I also had a feeling it had been Ian that let it slip to Alpha Harry. After last night, I’m sure he was doing everything he could to ensure I had no points of contact with him or his family. “It’s okay, Bailey. Family and duty first.”

She shook her head, sadness replaced by frustration. “It’s just so…so stupid! You wouldn’t hurt a fly, and he’s…he’s…”

She made a grunt of disapproval, at a loss for words. Then she sighed. “I’m going to still try to visit you here. My dad has people watching me, I’m sure, so it may not be every day.”

I shook my head. “Don’t get yourself in trouble on my account.”

She glanced toward the window, seeing something that made her groan and roll her eyes. “I’ve gotta go,” she said quickly. “I’ll stop by as soon as I can!”

With that, Bailey darted out of the café and into the bustling throng of shop-goers outside. I pressed my hands on the counter and breathed in a few deep breaths, holding back the tears that were threatening to well up in my eyes. There went my best friend…gone in the blink of an eye, because of prejudice. The whole thing made me so angry; if we weren’t even allowed the freedom of choosing our own friends, what choices could we make for ourselves?

I spent the rest of the day stewing over all the past few weeks had brought me. I truly, overwhelmingly wished that I had not gone to the Alpha Ceremony. Or, at the very least, had had the good sense to go home immediately after dinner. Maybe all of this heartache could have been avoided – maybe the bond wouldn’t be taking so long to break if we hadn’t had the chance to sleep together as we had that night. Maybe then I would have had a chance to keep Bailey as a friend. And maybe things wouldn’t feel so bleak, so out of control. I longed for the simplistic days of chores, work, and homework, without the complications of relationships. I even wished that I could be human, freed from this life of pack duty and hierarchy.

By the time I went home that night, I was utterly exhausted. I ate a pair of Poptarts for my dinner and crawled into bed before the clock even struck eight. Mercifully, I fell asleep nearly as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was awoken sometime later by a sharp knocking on my front door. I groaned, looking at the time on my phone. It was well past midnight. Who the hell would be knocking on my door at this hour? I dragged myself out of bed and pulled on a hoodie as I made my way down the hall. I could hear rain pounding on the roof, and there was a distant crash of thunder just as I reached the front door.

I peeked through the peephole and frowned when I saw who it was. Kelsey and her cousin, Emma, stood under the awning of the porch, arms crossed and looking angry. I couldn’t fathom what in the world they could possibly want from me at this hour. I debated tiptoeing back to bed and pretending that I hadn’t heard them on the porch. With the storm raging outside, it wouldn’t be a bad excuse. I even turned to do so, before I heard Kelsey’s voice from the other side of the door.

“I know you’re there, Dory,” she hissed. “I heard you come to the door. Open up this instant!”

I rolled my eyes but turned back around, despite my better judgement. I unlocked the front door, and I opened it part way. “Can I help you?”

“You’re on my last f*****g straw, mutt,” Kelsey said, taking hold of the door and shoving it the rest of the way open. As she did that, a sudden whiff of lemon and bergamot hit my nose. Her scent. It was familiar somehow in a way that tugged at my memory, but I couldn’t quite place why.

“What are you talking about?” I frowned, truly confused. I hadn’t even seen Kelsey in weeks. My eyes flashed to the girl behind her and back. Did this have something to do with the weekend at the lake and Emma?

“I saw you the other night,” Kelsey said. “Trying to make a move on the Alpha. I don’t know why you think you even would stand a chance, but I have had it with you.”

My eyes blew wide. That’s why the scent was familiar – I had gotten a whiff of it as I fled from Alpha Ian’s floor last night. She had seen us? And she was blaming me?! “Kelsey, it’s not—”

“Shut up!” she screeched. “Ever since Ian became Alpha, you’ve somehow become a bigger thorn in my side! He was already supposed to have Marked me by now, but you keep seeming to show up and pissing him off.”

Kelsey took a menacing step toward me. “First, that night in the guest room when you interrupted us. Then, he wouldn’t shut up about your little stunt with Javi and how annoyed he was about it. He takes you all the way to the lake house by himself and comes back so angry he can’t even look at me! And now, you try coming onto him in his own room.”

I didn’t even have time to formulate a response. Honestly, I didn’t even have a response. Kelsey was scarily close to the truth, to the underlying reason under all of it. She launched herself at me, and I managed to dodge out of the way at the last second. She went crashing into the open doorway, slamming hard onto the ground. I made to move off the porch, but as I did, she reached out and grabbed my ankle. I was sent sprawling to the earth, smashing my knees and shins into the bottom step and landing with my face in a puddle of mud.

Emma reached down from where she had been standing and grabbed a fistful of my hair, dragging me off the steps and further into the muck. “You don’t deserve to be friends with Bailey, you conniving brat. You have messed with the wrong f*****g family! We’re going to get rid of you once and for all.”

I grappled with where she had a hold of me, my hands slick with rain and mud. I couldn’t find purchase on her arms for a long moment as she dragged me, until finally I was able to sink my nails into her skin. I sunk them in hard and ripped down, satisfied when she yelped and let go of me. I scrambled to my feet, slipping in the mud. I managed to stand and wobble back away from them, putting distance between us. Kelsey had gotten to her feet by now and was storming down off the porch. I glanced between her and the door to my home but knew I would not be able to get past her. Instead, I turned quickly and ran off toward the forest. I was a fast runner – maybe not as fast as the two Lycans behind me, but I trained every day. I hadn’t seen either of them out running before, and I hoped their stamina for sprinting wasn’t as good as mine. I also knew the trails to take through the woods if I could just reach it. Maybe that would give me an advantage.

Adrenaline and fear fueled my legs, even as they began to burn from the effort of sprinting over soggy ground. I heard them behind me but didn’t dare spare the time to look back. I managed to break through the line of trees, and I darted off through the underbrush. I heard a chorus of curses as they reached it shortly after me and the telltale crunching as they burst through the vegetation. I looped around a fallen log and took off in a different direction like a bat out of hell. My legs pumped as fast and as hard as I could make them go. I had a momentary thrill that I may be able to lose them now, but that disappeared quickly when something heavy and furry collided with me. Emma had transformed into her Lycan and easily gained the ground it took to catch me. I was sent careening through the air and slammed into the ground with a heavy thud. It knocked the wind out of me, and I gasped for air, trying to force myself to sit up.

Kelsey reached me and she kicked me hard in the side. I coughed; that pushed what little air I had had left right out of me. She smirked, crouching down on top of me and sinking all of her weight down on my stomach to pin me in place. Emma circled around us, still in her Lycan form, as if she were just waiting for me to try to escape again.

“I’m really going to enjoy watching the light drain out of your eyes,” Kelsey said lowly. “And the best part? No one is going to even realize you’re gone, because not a single soul cares about you.”

She gripped me around the neck, fingers pushing hard on my trachea and occluding my air flow entirely. I thrashed beneath her, hands coming up to grip her arms in an attempt to get her to let go the way I had freed myself from Emma. No matter how much I tore at her skin, she didn’t budge. There was a mad glint in her eye, her face a mask of focus and concentration as she attempted to choke me to death. Panic started to fill me, and I couldn’t seem to think straight anymore. My hands fell away from her, sprawling in the dirt and leaf litter. I could see my vision darkening around the edges, my lungs screaming for air. I thrashed again, trying to dislodge her by shoving up with my hips. It was futile. My wriggling just served to cause her to apply firmer pressure and drain me of precious energy faster.

My fingers brushed against something smooth and hard. I scrabbled for it desperately, fingernails scraping on the edge of the stone as I tried to get enough purchase to pull it toward me. Finally, I managed to get it to flip one turn over and that was enough to grab hold of it. I couldn’t see hardly anything now. I could feel the fight in me beginning to ebb, darkness beckoning me closer. Everything felt dense, all of my limbs as heavy as lead. With one final heave, I managed to swing my arm up and arced it toward Kelsey. I made impact with a sickening c***k! and she let out a cry.

Her hands went slack against my throat, and I breathed in a rush of air. It burned on its way down, but my lungs delighted in the sudden burst of oxygen. Her body slumped, falling sideways off of me. I moved out from under her fully and crouched beside her. My head spun as I sat up, woozy from the lack of air for so long. There was a surprised bleat from nearby and then Emma was beside me, shoving me away from her cousin.

“Get away from her, you b***h!” she screamed. I moved away; eyes wide as I took in Kelsey’s limp form.

“I…I didn’t mean…I…” I swallowed. I saw a gash on the side of her head and blood pouring down her face. Her lids were half open, eyes rolled to the back of her head and her lips still parted in a perfect expression of surprise. She was completely limp and lifeless against the forest floor. When Emma picked her up into her lap, her body jostled like a rag doll. Dread and panic filled my system. I hadn’t truly meant to hurt Kelsey. I didn’t know where I was even aiming when I picked up that rock. I thought maybe I’d be able to smack her in the shoulder and get her off of me. Nausea swarmed, vomit threatening to come out of me. Oh Goddess, what had I done? Had I truly just killed Kelsey?