From what she could see of the sky outside the tiny window up near the ceiling of their cell, she suspects it will be first light soon. She considers waking them in case someone walks by the cell and sees them all piled in together like this, but decides against it.
As she relaxes back into the pile of alphas around her, she cannot help basking in the feeling ofrightness. It feels like home in a wayshe's never felt before, because she's never truly had a home.Not before them.
Her mates. That's what they had said. Last night, when Luke had called her that, she thought she had been hallucinating, just a figment of her delirious heat spiked brain, like when she had begged them for their knots.
It felt like it was something that would have happened to someone else, but when they were inside of her, it all snapped into place, and she had never felt more like herself in her life.
When they had asked if she wanted to be theirs, she had been terrified they would laugh and tell her they were just kidding. As if they would want her. She was just some poor omega from a shitty part of town who had nothing to offer except a willing hole to fuck in prison and a double chin.
But they had said they wanted to mate her, like they wanted to keep her, even when they got out and they could have anyone they wanted.
Julius is the first to wake, and he curses colourfully as he rubs his neck, twisting it back and forth to stretch out the kinks, but his smile turns gentle and adoring as his eyes find her.
Tenor wakes next, roused by Julius' grumbling, and his scrambling to keep himself from falling onto the floor lands him even more on top of her. He's hard, but Julius shoves him away with a warning.
"Everyone will be awake soon. It's not the time. Go take a piss."
Luke is the last to wake, pulling her tightly against him as he stretches languidly. He casually rocks his cock against her ass as he does it, but he makes it seem like it's on accident. When he does it again, Eden knows it's not an accident, and a gasping whimper tumbles out of her throat.
"You too," Julius snipes, shoving his second pack brother as well. "Get the fuck out."
And then it's just the two of them in bed, Luke and Tenor getting themselves ready for the day around them. As soon as the automatic locks click on the door, releasing them from their cell, Luke and Tenor disappear to the showers.
As he leaves, Luke leans down to rub his chin along hers, scent marking her. Her body tingles with the memory of their touch on her and something in her shivers with elation at his actions. He's claiming her, marking her so everyone will know she's his.
She jumps when there's a clanging on one of the bars. And when she sees five guards standing there, armed with their cattle prod tasers, her body feels like it fills with lead.
Their cell has felt strangely secluded and quiet the entire time she's been there, which she suspects is due to her mates having threatening words with the few neighbours they have in this isolated block.
They were always taking care of her, making sure no one even thinks to try and linger and catch a glimpse—or more—of anything. There is a sense of privacy in the thick barred door, and she can count on one hand the amount of times she's even seen a guard walk past them on patrol. The pack block was expected to police itself, she guessed.
Seeing this many guards here now cannot mean anything good, and her chest feels cold as ice, her heart pounding in her stomach. It feels ominous, as if they had been waiting to catch her alone or with some of her mates gone, as if they had been trying to take her quietly and prevent a fight.
"North," one of the guards says. "Move your ass, you're going to the SHU."
The shoe? Did he say she was going to the shoe? Like, there was an old woman who lived in a shoe? A hysterical giggle threatensto escape her, but she knows this is something really bad by the way Julius leaps to his feet, snarling at the man.
He places himself in front of her, backing her towards the wall, as if he's going to fight off all of them on his own. His voice is outraged. "Why? What has she done? You can't just take her for no reason."
"A witness places her in a fight yesterday with multiple casualties. That's two months in the hole, Hendricks. You know how this works."
Julius snarls again, and he seems to grow larger as he readies himself to take them on. "You're telling me you think one omega killed eight men?"
The guard sneers. "Why? You wanna' make a statement, Hendricks? You know something about it?"
She sees his shoulders tense, weighing his options. Even if he admits to being there too, she's still going down there, but then it'll be both of them. She can't let that happen. She puts her hand gently on his arm, saying his name so softly the guards can't hear her. "Julius."
She waits for him to turn to look at her. His eyes are wild and frantic. It feels wrong to see him this way, her usually so controlled mate, who always took charge of every situation. "It's okay. I'll be okay."
She won't, they both know that. But she has to do something to convince him. "If you get taken away too, you won't be able to get me out."
He's pulled strings before for her, to get her assigned to the workshop with him, to keep her safe, and she prays he'll be able to do it again.
She inches around him, keeping her hand on him as long as she can as she creeps backwards towards where the guards arestanding, waiting for her.
She doesn't let herself cry. She can't let her mask slip, can't let him see how scared she is. Not without risking him making a scene or getting himself thrown in with her. And the last thing she wants is for one of them to be in trouble again for her.
When she reaches the door, they cuff her wrists behind her back and then cuff her ankles together so she can't try to run. The chains clink loudly with every movement, the sound jarringly loud.
