Chapter 8

**Sawyer**


The door to my room nearly smashed a hole in the wall when Archer barges in.

“What the fuck man?” I yell climbing off my bed and rushing to check for any damage.

Archer steps in my way and I’m forced to take a step back.

“What the hell is your problem?” I ask him and I swear I have never seen Archer looks so angry.

Our brother has always been a quiet chill guy but right now it’s like he’s been possessed.

“My problem? What is your problem? You are determined to act like a duck even when Elise is upset. She wanted us to stay with her and you acting like a cocky prick ruined that for us. She’s been alone and wanted someone to be there with her tonight and you took that from her. Are you proud of yourself?” He gets into my face like he’s ready to lay me flat out here and now.

Archer may be a chill guy but he’s just as deadly as the rest of us and took martial arts for ten years. So I have no doubt he could lay me on my ass if I push him.

I need to defuse this quick or this might turn into a fight we won’t be able to come back from.

“Archer, I’m a prick and an asshole. I’ve always been a cocky bastard and you know that. I don’t want to hurt Elise but I don’t know how to just accept this either. If I let myself want her then she could destroy me when she goes.” I admit.

“You don’t know that she’ll leave us.” He says and I see his anger already starting to lessen.

“Why would she want to stay here? We are four screwed-up assholes who rather live on the glory of our military victories by opening a security firm doing the exact same dangerous shit. It’s why we lost…” I stop at the almost slip up and say her name.

Archer is pissed right now and bringing up the girl who nearly tore us apart is no way to calm him down. She tore him apart before walking out on us and we don’t speak about her if it can be avoided. We even pulled our application from Haven after everything went down.

“I don’t want to hope for something that can be taken away from us. Maybe she needs us now but what happens when she doesn’t anymore? Why would she want to be part of a pack that can’t be what she needs? We aren’t prince charming with flowery personalities and a fucking ivory castle to offer her. So why would she stay?” My voice grows a little louder towards the end because the idea of feeling that kind of pain again kills me.

I let myself hope for a real future as a complete pack and that was torn away because the girl wanted luxury and to be the center of attention every second of the day. She said we weren’t good enough for her after leading us on and making us think she cared. Archer was hurt the most. She broke him down to the bone by calling him a weak Alpha and pathetic. It’s exactly why his family left him. He wasn’t Alpha enough for them and they threw him away.

She broke me by making me feel like I could have a real pack and a girl who actually wanted me for more than my rank. Then she turned around and cut us up and stomped all over any hopes we had of completing our pack. She even made a point to say no Omega would put up with being part of our pack.

“Look, I get that you always want to put on some act like nothing can touch you but you don’t have to. None of us would think less of you if you gave a damn about something. This girl…she’s different, I can feel it. Just try and let her company make you happy even if it’s short-lived. She needs us and honestly, I don’t even care if this whole thing falls at my feet again. We’ve been going through the motions of life as we think it should be but I want more than that. I think it’s time we are a little selfish and go after something we really want. Don’t you?” Archer says and I can’t help but watch my shy quiet brother with a new kind of respect.

“Okay,” I say and he narrows his eyes at me making me chuckle.

“Okay? That’s it? You’re not going to kick my ass?” He asks with a hint of uncertainty.

I shake my head. “No way brother. You’re right. We have to stop living in the past. This girl can be something important to us, so you’re right.”

“Oh. Okay then.” He says awkwardly and I jump to my feet and head toward the door. “Where are you going?”

“To fix things,” I say throwing him a smile over my shoulder as I pull the door open and walk out.

He doesn’t follow me and I’m thankful. This is not going to be easy for me and I’m glad to be able to do it without an audience.

I stop in front of the door to the nest and take in a few shallow breaths. This is fucking terrifying. I’ve never had to grovel in front of a girl before and I’m not sure I even know how. When I’m with a girl she knows the score. A quick roll in the sheets with no further contact. Simple.

But nothing about this was simple.

This girl was an enchantress who has dropped into our lives and placed us under her spell with complete ease. We were caught in her trap and blinded by our urge to claim her. Maybe it has to do with how long our pack has gone without being complete or that her preheat scent was completely intoxicating, but we wanted her. It was clear as day and in truth we had no right. We were strangers to her, but why didn’t it feel that way?

Why did it feel like she was always meant to be here? Why does it feel like she was always a part of our pack?

Pushing those questions aside for now I lift a fist to the door and knock. There is a beat of silence and I figure she must be sleeping but a few seconds later I hear the sound of the knob jiggling. The door opens and Elise is standing in front of me with puffy red unseeing eyes and cheeks streaked with tears.

A part of me cracks open at the sight of her and I feel my whole body deflate at the pain I cause her.

“Sweetheart…” I whisper and her lip starts to tremble before a sob escapes her.

I don’t waste another second before pulling her into my arms and holding her tight against me.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cause all this trouble. I should just go and-“ I pull her back so I can look down at her and cut her off.

“No. You aren’t going anywhere. You’re safe here with us and that’s where you’re going to stay.” I say firmly making sure she sees in my eyes how serious I am.

“Why? Why are you all so insistent on me staying with you?” She asks looking genuinely confused.

Truth is I wasn’t sure why either but the thought of her leaving and not knowing where she is sends a shot of fear through me. I look down into her searching eyes and all my protective instincts kick into overdrive. She needs me and I won’t fuck this up…not ever.

“Would it be alright if I stayed with you tonight? I don’t want to leave you alone when you’re upset.” I ask her with an embarrassing amount of hope in my voice.

If she let me do this then it meant I hadn’t screwed this up before it could be something real.

She nods and gives me a weak smile. “Yes please.”

I chuckle at her. “So polite.” I tease her and she scrunches her nose at me.

“All Omegas are taught to be polite and proper. Don’t want to ruin things in your new pack with bad manners and habits.” She says with a shrug.

My brows furrow at her words though. “I thought Haven was like a resort for Omegas or some shit like that.”

She laughs as I lead her further into the nest and toward the bed.

“Hardly. We all have single-room dorms and are required to eat all meals at specific times before spending the day in classes. We study cooking and home care so that we can prepared for our role in the pack." She explains and I scoff.

"That makes it sound like you guys are meant to be maids or something." I tease and she nods.

"That's what it felt like. I always hated it. It used to be that Omegas were treated like precious members of society, but now we are made to care only about pleaseing our pack. Whatever they have in mind for us, it is our responsability to keep them happy." She goes on as I lead her to the side of the bed and pull back the covers for her.

She reaches down and feels along the edge of the bed before climbing in.

"That's fucked up." I say pulling the blaket over her.

"Yeah. Maybe thats why they didn't look too closely at the Alphas who sold me. I was told that all packs go through a screening process but clearly that wasn't enough." She sighs and slides down until her head rests on the pillow.

I climb onto the huge bed beside her and lay sideways so I can watch her. That sounded a lot creeper than I meant it too, but it's hard not to look at her.

"I'm sorry." Is all i cane think of to say.

She turns her head in my direction and smiles weakly. "There's nothing for you to apologize for. It wasn't your fault. It was mine for not seeing what was wrong right in front of me. I should have sensed it or something, but i didn't. I was still too young so I hadn't been able to pick up their lies through their scents yet. Maybe that's why they picked me.

"Our sister went through the interviews early too. She wanted to pick out her pack with a clear head, and get to know them before her first heat started." I say recalling the night she told us all her plans.

We didn't take it well, but she ended up with some good guys so it all turned out okay.

"I decided to do it because I didn't want to live at Haven any longer and I kind of felt like a burden to them." She turns her face forward again and rests her hands over her chest before closing her eyes.

"You could never be a burden." I say quietly, but I hear the small puffs of breaths passing her lips as she falls into sleep.

She's porbably exhasuted. It doesnt take long for my body to realx and my eyes to start drooping closed, but before I fall into sleep I feel the bed move. Elise rolls to her side and the smallest whine comes from her. I don't hesitate before I reach for her and pull her against me. I feel her body relax and the slow movement of her arm wrapping around my side.

I fall asleep with my her wrapped tightly in my arms and my face burried in her hair.