Page 30 of Omega Ruined

"I thought I'd been nice enough. I cooked for you, I made sure Vale didn't hurt you," I said with a frown, not understanding.

"Why did you pick me?"

"I didn't. Zephyr smelled you in the room at the heat dens. But you were in the basement for a punishment, they said. Why?"

"Okay, why did you bring me home?"

"Because you are our scentmatch and you can heal my alphas."

"If I wasn't your scentmatch, would you still choose me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Is this one of those ridiculous questions like 'would you still love me if I were a worm?'"

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "Just answer the question. Aside from my smell, what made you choose me? Would anyone do if there wasn't a scentmatch?"

Something niggled at the back of my brain. Warning me. But foolishly, I plunged ahead anyway. "Yes, I would have picked someone who smelled good to both of us and taken her home."

She nodded. "That's what I thought. Kienan. You don't respect omegas. You're as bad as my last pack. As bad as all the alphas who came into the heat den, looking for a hole to knot."

I sighed. "I'm sorry about the kidnapping. It couldn't be helped. We had no other method of getting an omega."

"And there it is. Getting an omega. Not your scentmatch, that was a happy coincidence. You didn't want me, you wanted any omega to be the fix."

Fuck, I should have known she'd see it that way. "I do want you, but I'm also desperate to keep my packmates from going feral. Is that so wrong?"

"No." She gave me a sad look. "Never mind." She slid off the stool and disappeared upstairs, leaving me wondering what I'd missed.

My entire life revolved around the pack and making sure it functioned at its best. We needed an omega to do that. I'd gottenan omega. I understood she wasn't thrilled about being paid for, but if anything, that showed how valuable she was to us.

It occurred to me that she might not realize how valuable she really was. Maybe that would make her feel better.

I ran toward the stairs, catching her just as she started to trudge up them.

"I just want you to know, we paid nearly ninety thousand dollars for you. You're priceless to us," I told her.

Olivia froze on the stairs, then turned slowly to look at me with a dark look in her eyes. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you need to tell me that?"

"Well, it's a lot of money. I thought you'd want to know you're worth a lot and I didn't just grab any old omega off the street."

"Oh. Thanks." She turned and continued up the stairs until she disappeared out of sight down the hall.

Somehow, I'd found our scentmatch, brought her home, and I'd still messed up. I wasn't even certain of what I'd done. Tomorrow, I'd talk to Zephyr about it. Right now, he was already in Dean's room and I could hear them talking quietly in there. Probably about how badly I'd fucked up.

With a sigh, I headed down the hall to my room and fell into bed, feeling completely worn out. First, Vale had stressed me out, taking off with the omega like that, then the fighting in the living room. But I'd been right. Olivia was the perfect fit for us. Everyone else needed to settle down and realize that, because she'd calmed the two alphas and brought them back to themselves in seconds.

Regardless of what they all thought, my decisions had been the right ones. They'd see in the end.

Chapter eighteen

A New Day

Islept the entire night, as if I hadn't already crashed all day. My body was exhausted and I couldn't blame it on lack of sleep. More like excessive stress.

Zephyr's room was comfortable, but it wasn't quite as nice as sleeping with Vale wrapped around me. Still, throughout the evening, the men had brought me pieces of clothing to tuck around me, so I slept with their scents. The only one who didn't do it was Kienan, but Vale brought me a shirt with his smoky cinnamon scent anyway. That one went at the foot of my bed. Close enough to smell, but not packed around me like the others.