Their Stubborn Omega

Ch. 3 The Past

~Dominic~

Xander stares at me, his expression neutral, but his eyes were blazing. With anger at his father, the situation, or the memory of Courtney, I'm not sure. Courtney was the first and only omega we'd courted. To put it mildly, it was a shit show of manipulation and betrayal. Xander, Jaxon, and myself all turned 21 within a month of each other 3 years ago. We had formed our pack at 19 in college. Xander, being who he was, the son of Alpha Xavier Blackwater, heir to Blackwater Enterprises, and the billions that go along with it, meant that his pack coming of age to start searching for our mate was headline worthy. It should have crossed our minds that not every omega is an honest omega. It should have crossed our minds to be cautious because of who he was, and what it meant for our future as a pack. It should have, but it didn't. We were young, naïve, and too trusting.

For the first few months after we all turned 21, we went to every moon gathering at the OEC. We heard the whispers, saw the way the omegas looked at us, hoping we were their mates. But, we never got that instant snap, that whiff of a scent that becomes the center of your existence. Call me a sap or a hopeless romantic, but that's what I wanted. I wanted our fated mate. The omega the gods designed specifically for the three of us.

Mine and Jax's parents' packs were each scent matched mated packs. But Xander's father's pack took a chosen mate after their fated mate rejected them for her human childhood love. A rare, but not completely unheard-of occurrence. You'd never guess they weren't fated mates if you didn't know the story, though. Momma Blackwater and her three alphas are disgustingly in love in the best way. That's why Xander's father is pushing us to take a chosen mate. He thinks we could end up like them. And in theory, we could. But, Courtney had tarnished the thought of chosen mates for us.

I had been adamant we should wait for our fated mate and Jax didn't really appear to want to find a mate at all, but when Xander saw her, he was done for. He'd always been open to the idea of a chosen mate because of his family's story. He claimed that sometimes fate or the gods made a mistake with mates. He wanted Courtney the minute he saw her. She was exactly his type. She was a knock-out, that much was undeniable. Courtney had long blonde hair that fell in soft, luscious waves. Her eyes were as blue as the waters in Hawaii. She had legs for days, but was still shorter than my 6'4. The physical attraction was there, that wasn't an issue. I just didn't feel an emotional connection. Something was off; something was missing.

Her scent was pleasant enough, a soft floral one. I wasn't drawn to it, but I wasn't repelled by it either. She was 21 and had already met her scent matched pack. She claimed she rejected them because they were rough, violent, and aggressive with her, that she was afraid of them. As an alpha, hearing an omega was afraid, clicked our instincts into gear. That was all it took to get me, and an even more reluctant Jax, on board with the idea of courting her. After all, courting doesn't mean we were claiming her.

So, we did. We courted her for months. Much longer than a typical courting stage for shifter-folk, which usually only last around 2 months at the most. She claimed it was because she had trauma from her scent mates. She didn't want to rush things and have us change up on her once we claimed her. It made enough sense that we didn't push it. Besides, things didn't feel quite right with her between me and Jax. We lavished her with expensive gifts, jewelry, clothes, trips and fancy dates. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her over the course of several months. We decorated the nest room in the house to her taste in hopes of getting her to move in with us and stop the heat suppressants so we could claim her, despite things not being perfect.

Xander was head over heels for her, I liked her well enough, and Jax, well really, I didn't think Jax cared too much one way or the other. Money wasn't the issue. Hell, sex wasn't even the issue. We all fucked her, both together and separately. Even Jax joined in the group sex, despite not fucking her separately. Sex aside, she wasn't making any effort to get to know myself or Jax. She spent all of her time with Xander. Whenever I'd try to broach the topic with Xander, he'd say she just needed more time. That's not how omega and pack mating works, though. The omega has to bond with the whole pack for a mating to work, especially in a chosen mates situation. It takes work, effort, and a shitload of communication, particularly in the early stages.

After talking it over with Jax to make sure we were on the same page, we sat both Xander and Courtney down and calmly explained how we felt. She immediately got defensive and began to cry, curling into Xander. She said we were being aggressive and demanding, comparing us to her scent matched pack. She begged Xander to leave with her, that she didn't feel safe with us anymore. Xander stood there stunned, listening to her blubber about how we were just jealous of the connection they shared and that we were trying to make him choose. Jax and I stood there with our jaws hanging open. We hadn't expected this to turn into a confrontation. We just wanted to feel like she was putting in the effort to be our pack omega and not just Xander's pet.

When Xander asked her why she was reacting this way, she begged him to leave with her again. She told him if he left us, broke the pack, that they could form a new one. She had friends, alphas even, that wanted a strong alpha to lead them. Then it hit me and it all made sense. She'd planned this. She'd been scheming since the beginning to separate us. That's why she never attempted to bond with me or Jax. She didn't want us. She wanted Xander, and she wanted him with her true mates.

I wasn't the only one that things were clicking into place for. Xander asked her point blank in that moment if she had honestly rejected her true mates. He used just enough of his alpha command that she would have to answer truthfully. I could see the struggle she was having, fighting against her need to lie and the alpha bark that compelled the truth from her deceitful lips. "No," she clipped out. Xander looked like he'd been hit in the gut with a cannon ball. "Did you have any intention of mating with my pack, not me, but my entire pack?" Again, he imbued enough alpha command that she'd have to be honest. She grunted against the command but finally opened her mouth and let out a quiet but sharp, "No". He instructed her to tell him the truth, the entire truth, from beginning to end.

It was pretty much what I suspected. She'd never rejected her fated mates, but they didn't have the status and money she wanted. So, they came up with this plan because she knew our pack was looking for our mate. They planned to target Xander and get him to break our pack and join theirs. Boost their pack and make her rich by mating with the heir to the Blackwater Enterprises and fortune. They wanted his money, status, and things his last name would bring them.

I remember sitting there, watching as Xander broke. The pain in his eyes, the agony, anger, and betrayal he was feeling were radiating down the pack bond. He looked at her with a cold, dead stare, "So not only did you not want my pack brothers, you don't even truly want me. You want my name and my money, sure, but you don't truly want me." His voice was lethally calm. She flinched from the quiet disgust in his voice. "The mere thought of choosing some conniving, manipulative, deceitful bitch over my brothers is sickening. Get the fuck out of our house. Now!" The last word was somewhere between a growl and a shout.

She'd stuttered, to try and explain and justify that she had real feelings for him maybe, I didn't really listen. When he wouldn't so much as look at her, she huffed an annoyed breath and turned to stomp upstairs like she was going to pack the jewelry, clothes, and other gifts we'd given her.

That's when I finally spoke. I stepped between her and the staircase. "If you think you are taking a single item we paid for out of this house after the complete bullshit you just put my brother through, you're more demented than I thought. Leave or we'll call the cops." I snarled. Her shoulders slumped and her head dropped as she finally left.

We all didn't speak for a long while, until Xander eventually looked at us and said, "All I can do is apologize. I'm so godsdamned sorry. Neither of you wanted her at the start and I should have listened. I can't believe I almost let a manipulative snake break this pack. I don't deserve to be the Prime alpha of us." We both assured him the pack was nowhere near broken, that we knew he'd never break it.

After many discussions, it was decided we didn't need a mate, at least not then. Now though, if Xander wants to claim his birthright, if we want to run the company we've all three spent the last five years of our lives being groomed for and worked our asses off for, we have to find our scent matched, fated mate within the next year, or take a chosen mate.

I look at Xander, "You'd really walk away from the company and your inheritance if we didn't want a mate?"

He swallows, his expression serious, "Yes. I tried to push a chosen mate on us last time and it nearly broke our pack. I'm not repeating the same mistake again. And I honestly don't know that I can trust another omega."

I nod and look at Jax. He's stayed even more quiet than usual since Xander made the announcement. He's tense, his thumb under his chin and his hand covering his mouth. He looks between the two of us and then grips the back of his neck. I honestly didn't expect the next words out of his mouth.