Page 20 of Pack Frenzy
He gestures toward a door on the opposite wall. “Laundry’s through there. I can wash your clothes while you nap since I know you didn’t sleep much at Nexus. And I’ll order you clothes to try so you’re not stuck in a bathrobe or one outfit.”
I blink at him, waiting for the punchline. For the angle. But his eyes stay soft, patient, like he knows I don’t believe him and he’s willing to wait until I do.
“I do care,” he says, and the words land like a hand reaching through dark water.
The air snags in my throat. I want to say something sharp, something to shove him back to a safe distance. Instead, what comes out is small and honest: “Why?”
He doesn’t answer right away. Just holds my gaze like the question matters. LikeImatter. “Because you deserve it.”
Cassian just rolls his eyes and mutters something about Beta diplomacy, but he’s not annoyed because the edge in his scent fades.
We keep walking through this massive two-story house. Sunlight filters down the hall through narrow windows, landing in gold bars across the floor. The whole house feels designed to breathe: open space, wide thresholds, soft light.
It should feel freeing. It mostly does. But every door still reminds me that I’m not allowed toleave.
Eli stops beside a room with a brass knob and a carved frame. “Yours.” And he pushes it open.
The air smells faintly of eucalyptus and clean cotton. A queen-sized bed piled high with pale quilts, a window seat overlooking the trees, a bookshelf, and a hand-built dresser. A small fern sits in the corner, impossibly green. My throat tightens for no good reason.
“It’s… nice,” I say. Understatement of the year.
“You can change anything you want,” Eli says. “Furniture, curtains, layout. Whatever makes it feel yours.”
Cassian crouches by the bookshelf and pulls out a small biometric lock, turning it over in his scarred hands. “For the door. It’ll read your fingerprint. No one gets in unless you want them to.”
I stare at him. At the lock. “You’re giving me a lock. For a room in your house.”
“It’s your room in our house,” he corrects, voice low and certain. “Your space. Your choice.”
I stare at the lock in his scarred hands. Omegas don’t get locks. Ever.
The Omega Institute told us were were precious while teaching us to be perfect for Alphas: to kneel, to present, to make them want us. They promise we’ll be pampered, treasured, safe.
Sabrina believed them. But she never called to tell us about the Alphas cherishing her. No letters about how right the brochures were. Just nothing. And my mind has filled that silence with every horror story I’ve ever heard of Alphas going feral during a rut, Omegas disappearing into pack houses, protected turning intopossessed.
And here’s this Alpha—this stranger Nexus basically checked me out to on loan—offering me a bedroom with a door I can actually lock from the inside.
My hands won’t stop shaking.
“I don’t—” I press my lips together, hard, fighting back the tears that want to fall. “Why would you do that?”
Cassian’s expression softens. He stands slowly, leaving the lock on the shelf like an offering. “Because you’re not a prisoner here, Jess. And you shouldn’t have to wonder if we’ll remember that.”
I swipe at my face, furious at myself for crying, forfeelingthis much. But he doesn’t look uncomfortable. He just waits, solid and steady, until I can breathe again.
“Thank you,” I whisper. It doesn’t feel like enough. Nothing does.
Eli moves past me to open a small built-in cabinet. Inside, I see a compact mini-fridge stocked with water, juice, and a few protein drinks. The sight makes something cold and cautious curl low in my stomach.
“How long’s that been there?” The words escape before I can stop them. I stare at the drinks, perfectly lined up. Nothing dusty. Nothing forgotten. “You’ve had others here. Other Omegas.”
It’s not a question.
The silence that follows is soft but suffocating.
Cassian straightens slowly. “We’ve tried before,” he says finally, and there’s something raw in his voice. “Didn’t work out.”
Didn’t work out.Like a failed recipe. Like a broken appliance. Except we’re talking aboutpeople. About Omegas who came here and then... what? Left? Were they sent back? Disappeared like Sabrina?
