Though she be but little, she is fierce.
This omega isn’t broken. Not completely.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Ava
Max gently steers me towards a huge wooden house, and I pause to look up. I’m not sure what I was expecting – truthfully, I didn’t even give it a thought. But this wasn’t it.
Their home is a massive combination of dark wood and beautiful brick, floor-to-ceiling windows across the front and a double door with stained glass panes that immediately draw my eye. Large brick pillars are dotted over the veranda, with balcony space above them.
Sprawled out to the side of us is a vast lake, surrounded by trees. Sunlight shimmers across the blue water.
This is… I don’t have any words. So much more than I expected.
Beautiful. Warm.
It’s worlds away from Stone’s cold estate. The place where I grew up is dark, built in a warped reflection of the omega compound. A prison, not a home. A shiver runs down my spine at the thought, and Max’s arm tightens around me. I glance at him apologetically, realizing that he’s waiting patiently for me while I gawk.
My legs buckle when I take another step. I’m starting to flag – my body is not on the same page as my mind. A frustrated growl echoes from behind me and I flinch.
“Calm down,” Max hisses to Lucien.
“She’s exhausted,” Luc snaps back at him. “Carry her.”
I shake my head. I’m not sure I’d be able to cope with that. Having Max’s arm wrapped around me, his scent entwining with mine, is still too close for me to be comfortable.
Max ignores him. “It’s not far now,” he promises me in a low voice.
We get up the steps, and Luc brushes past me to open the front doors. I slowly move forward, taking in the vast open space, the wooden surroundings, comfortable looking couches and blankets everywhere. My fists clench. The desire to move towards them, to wrap myself up in them like a cocoon nearly overwhelms me, and I stagger slightly. Max catches me, his tone worried. “Ava?”
“I’m fine,” I whisper. “Sorry.”
He leads me carefully to a room just off the main living space. Pushing open the door, he reveals a small space with fresh white walls. A double bed sits against the far wall, full of pillows and blankets that look even softer than the ones in the lounge, with a wooden table next to it, a vase of fresh flowers in place. My eyes flicker from the bed to the large wooden-framed window taking up most of the wall, a comfortable-looking leather armchair next to it. Beyond it, the lake glitters, a stretch of blue beckoning me. There’s a small door tucked away in the corner, and I turn to Max questioningly.
“The bathroom. It’s small, I know,” Max apologises. “We have more space upstairs, but I didn’t think you’d be up for walking up and down them just yet. As soon as you’re ready, we can get you up there, and you’ll have more privacy too.”
I shake my head, my words soft. “This is for me?”
Lucien’s voice filters in from behind us, and I shift slightly. “All yours,” he says roughly. “Nik and Leah put everything together, so you should have the necessities, but we can get you anything that’s missing when we do a stock run. There’s a key on your table in case you’d feel safer with the door locked.”
I close my eyes at his words. A space that’s just for me.
Eagerly, I take a step forward. Max rushes to my side as I stagger.
“Careful,” he admonishes quietly. “You didn’t get all this way just to fall at the last minute.”
He carefully takes my hand, and my fingers flex in his warm grip. He helps me steady myself as I move towards the chair. Lucien stands in the doorway, his piercing green eyes assessing me as I drop into it, my fingers flexing on the soft brown leather.
It suddenly registers that we’re all enclosed in a small space, and my scent spikes again. I bite my lip and both alphas drop their eyes to my mouth. Stiffening, I pull away from Max. Glancing between the two large alphas in front of me, I try not to flinch at the sight of them standing there within easy reach of a bed.
Both immediately take a step away, heeding my ‘back the fuck up’vibes without me having to spell it out for them. Lucien’s handsome face tightens, and he nods to me before turning away and heading out of the door. A tiny kernel of guilt runs through me before I push it away.
Pain flickers across Max’s face, and he shifts from side to side. His brown eyes search mine, seeing too much.
“Ava…we should get you checked over,” he says carefully. “Just to make sure everything’s as it should be.”
I glance down to my stomach briefly and away again.
