Omega (Alpha & Omega #1)

{Chapter Sixty Seven}

My knees hit the hard floor with a crack, but I didn't feel the pain of it, nor the feel of my hands slamming against the ground to try and stop my fall. I hissed out a breath through clenched teeth, and stared down at my stomach in horror.

Normally, I would have had a bit more of a notice that it was about to happen. A smaller twinge of pain, perhaps. Maybe liquid heat pooling in my abdomen. Never just full on pain bad enough to make me crumple.

In front of a room full of alphas.

Between my falling and the moment I looked up, the entire place went silent. I couldn't hear a the scrape of fingernails across glass, I couldn't hear someone breathing, I couldn't hear a damn thing because no one was even moving.

But they were all staring.

Every single alpha, whether they were there at that party with someone else or not, stared at me with eyes I'd only ever seen in horror movies. The ones where I watched and rolled my eyes at, because at no point had I ever heard of a room full of alphas looking at one person with so much heat in their eyes.

Terror crawled up my spine. Absolute, complete, horror. I couldn't breathe, let alone get up and run - which my instincts were screaming for me to do.

I just remembered stories I'd read where some alphas loved the scent of an omega's heat so much, they raped the omega until he, or she, died. And by the looks on every alpha's face, that was a genuine concern, and I should be up and running.

An arm wrapped around my abdomen and I let out a rush of air, that came out more like a moan instead of a breath. The sound made lights behind some of the alphas' eyes glow just that much brighter, and I couldn't stop my body from shaking.

"If you so much as take a step towards her," Keon growled, "we will personally kill every single one of you."

His voice was like an explosion in the silence of the room, and I flinched. I didn't doubt their ability to kill the other alphas, especially with Teo and Seth at their sides.

Theo was the one holding me, his eyes glowing like the rest, but he seemed to be in control. For now. His arm was shaking, and I knew it wasn't because of my weight.

"I can," I breathed, "walk, Theo. Just...let me walk."

His eyes flicked down to meet mine, then raised back up to survey the room. He gently set me on my feet and backed away, leaving room for Seth and Teo to step up on either side of me.

Keon and Cayson stood in front, Theo stood behind. I was protected from all sides. Even so...they could only do so much in terms of protection if all of those alphas rushed me at once.

A man stepped forward, eyeing me through the cracks between bodies. It was Abel, and the cocky smirk on his face made my stomach churn.

"I doubt you will be able to protect her from all of us." The voice wasn't his, and I wondered if anyone was in control anymore. If it was them talking, or if it was the other part of them that made them want to indulge in an omega that smelled different.

Teo turned his head, his eyes flashed, and Abel was on the ground, writhing in pain. He had both hands gripping his head, his fingernails scratching into the scalp. He tried to scream, but no sound came from his open mouth.

I flinched and my legs, once again, gave out from under me. But Keon was there, his arms wrapping around me. He pulled me to him and hugged me tight, kissing the mark he'd left on my throat weeks ago. The contact made the pain flare into pleasure, and once again, the alphas went silent.

"We need to get you out of here," he whispered. "Only issue is that there are people at every exit."

I looked past him through hazy eyes and saw Cayson looking back at me. He looked angry, ready to kill anyone who even looked at me wrong.

"Are either of you able to put her to sleep without the medicine," Cayson finally asked. "With the way things are looking, she'll probably suffer before we can do anything."

Seth and Teo shared a look, but they didn't say anything for a long while.

"We can," Seth finally said cautiously. "But the issue is the fact that we have to get her to orgasm...and in the middle of it...we'd-"

"Get her...to orgasm," Keon and Cayson asked in unison.

In front of everyone? I was all for being put to sleep to make it easier on them to get us out of there...but to put me to sleep, I had to...

Pain made my thoughts stop before I could finish the sentence. But I knew where it was headed. I had to orgasm in front of a group of alphas who looked like they wanted to eat me alive.

Seth sighed and ran a hand over his face, serious for the first time in a long time. Something had been bothering him before we came back into the great hall, and it seemed to wipe any jokes out of his system.

"She wouldn't need to strip," he said, "and we wouldn't technically be touching her. We'd have to wait until her heat fully starts, though."

I wrapped my arms tight around Keon as the pain slowly ebbed into pleasure.

I hated having my heat. I hated the pain, hated the fact that the pain had to be mixed in with the pleasure. I hated that it made me weak and made me look like some back alley whore - as Tracy so eloquently put it.

Why couldn't my alpha side show up when I actually needed it? I wouldn't be so much of a burden, and Keon and Cayson wouldn't have to fight against themselves to let some other alpha get me off.

Another scream of pain came from behind, and I turned my face to see a woman held up in the air, clawing at a hand no one could see. And by the looks of it, she wasn't having much luck. Her hands passed through the unseen arms and she struggled that much harder.

She looked like a feral cat, all bared teeth and glowing eyes.

"I thought they said to stay where you are," Seth murmured, and a crack echoed in the now silence of the room.

The woman fell to the floor, limp.

No one moved. No one even seemed to care, let alone notice that one of their own was just killed. They still all watched me and waited.

If any one of us moved, I was sure they'd rush us. Every single alpha looked like they were about to pounce.

I looked past Keon's shoulder to Jasper and Jay.

Jay was staring intently at Teo, who stared back with a raised eyebrow, as if listening to something.

Teo turned his head and looked at Keon, and after a few seconds, Keon's arms tightened around me.

'Do you trust this omega,' Teo's voice asked in my head.

I looked at Jay. I didn't know him, and only knew that I got him off once. He could be like the other omegas in my parents' house, or he could be different. I didn't have the chance to truly find out which one he was, let alone whether I trusted him or not.

'We need to get you out of here,' Seth spoke into my head. 'Especially before your heat starts. Teo and I could kill everyone, but I'd prefer to keep as many of them alive as possible. You know, mass murder and all that shit.'

I buried my face in Keon's chest and breathed through the rush of pain flooding into my abdomen. It was like I was being struck by lightning over and over again. It was hard to breathe. So that meant I couldn't think through my answer as I blurted that yes I trusted him.

Jay slid into the group of alphas, and I felt Keon tense.

"I'm going to pick you up and run," Jay whispered so quietly that I almost couldn't hear. "On three, okay, Phoenix?"

I nodded.

"One," he counted.

Keon's hands loosened around me.

"Two." Jay's hand slipped around me.

I forced myself to turn, even through the pain.

He picked me up in one swift movement and threw me over his shoulder. "Three."