Faith & the Dead End Devils (Sweet Omegaverse, #8)(28)

I did not rest through the sound of a fucking drill.

Neither did Chance, the pair of us bolting upright.

"What the fuck?" Chance spat out.

I glared up at the sudden bright light from the outside of the room, from the massive shadow of Bear in front of me.

"You need a proper nest, Butterfly," Bear announced, voice gruff and abrupt. "One I fit in. We fit in," he corrected.

We? But the answer was immediate, as Chance wrapped an arm over my shoulder. I blushed as I imagine being surrounded by the pair of them, and then grew even warmer at the immediate heat blooming between my thighs and the obvious sudden appearance of damp arousal in my sex.

"That's… Did you just drag in a fuck-ton of lumber?" Chance asked.

"King helped. Think we can probably milk him for a little guilt for a while," Bear said. He crouched down again, and this time, he didn't ask Chance to move or leave us—just reached over the beta and wrapped a warm hand around my ankle. "I'm sorry, Butterfly. I should've told King to fuck off this morning. I should've ripped that worthless alpha's dick off as soon as he opened his mouth to speak to you."

I bristled and growled at the reminder of the stranger alpha, but Chance pulled me into his side, dragging a kiss up the side of my face, and it didn't matter that he was a beta. It calmed me.

"You're staying here for your heat," Bear said.

I tensed and blinked at him. "But not… Where am I supposed to go after?" I asked, struggling to control my omega whine.

Bear's fingers stroked around my ankle, sliding under the cuff of the leggings to find my skin. "I can't promise you that you'll be safe with me, Butterfly. And I won't keep you, I won't let any alpha walk away with you, unless I know you're going to be safe and happy from here on out, okay? You're with me until we find you that. Or until you say otherwise."

I tugged at the hem of the shirt I wore, twisting it around my fingers until it bit into my flesh, studying him, considering the words.

Chance cleared his throat. "You need help putting this together, or can I walk her out? Let her get some fresh air, finally."

I perked up at that. "Outside?" I whispered. "Will…will anyone see?"

"It's just us and King here now. Yeah, go on," Bear said. "Get some food and show her around a little."

I licked my lips, hesitating as Chance rose from the nest.

"I'm gonna take care of you, if that's what you want," Bear said softly to me, still holding onto me.

I considered his words, considered my still-prickling anger at being led out to another alpha earlier, the subtle rejection of him deciding I would be passed along after my heat.

"What if…what if what I want is suppressants? And a…" I swallowed. A car. A car I couldn't fucking drive. Not with my injury and my headaches and my blurry vision. "A different plan than another alpha. I don't want that man."

"He's never coming back here, Butterfly. He'll never touch you again," Bear said with a growl.

I relaxed slightly.

"And you can have suppressants. I can get you some. And we can plan," he said.

And what if what I want is you? I wanted to ask. But Chance was standing, watching us, and Bear had already kind of refused me that, hadn't he? I can't promise that you'll be safe with me. No, not quite a refusal.

I sighed and reached up, Chance's hand clasping mine immediately and pulling me to stand in the nest.

Bear leaned back to let me step out, his face turned up to gaze at me. "I'm sorry, Butterfly."

"I know," I said. But I didn't feel safe this morning, and I hadn't quite forgiven Bear for that yet.

Chance led me to the door, bending and helping me into my flip flops. Bear rustled behind us, the sudden whirr and roar of a drill making me wince.

I didn't recall arriving here very well, and I'd been too stressed this morning at the idea of being tossed to some new alpha to really notice my surroundings, but Chance was patient with me as I followed his lead down the hall, the sound of construction echoing after us. I paused, unsettled that my nest was being tampered with, but Chance's thumb stroked the back of my hand and curiosity won out.

"Our club's an old motel. Died out ages ago when the freeway redirected everybody well away from Dead End," Chance explained.

"Dead End?"

He huffed. "Yeah. Shitty fucking name for a town, and it fits too well. There's not much left around here, but King probably owns most of what's still standing."

"Bear listens to King," I said, peering in an open doorway but only finding shadows.

"He's prez of the club."

"Like the head of a pack," I said.

Chance paused in his step and huffed a laugh. "Yeah, but don't let him hear you say that. King fuckin' hates the idea of pack."

I frowned and leaned into Chance's side as he wrapped an arm around my waist to guide me down the stairs. "What do you mean? Pack is… He's an alpha."

Chance grunted. "Yeah. And so are most of the guys in the club, although it's big for a pack. I dunno if it's 'cause he liked club life or grew up in a fucked-up pack dynamic, but he's adamant it stays out of the club."