Their Stubborn Omega

Ch. 9 Pizza Party

~Jaxon~

Watching Dom, my rarely serious packmate, have a sweet, tender interaction with our mate has made this all so real. Noelle is my mate. Our mate. Listening to her explain why she'd always felt the way she had about omegas, how she felt she had no identity outside of omega, and then her friend Sarah's story was painful. Knowing her biggest fear is being mated to a pack who mistreats her, and knowing how Xander has behaved, my gut twists. We could lose her. It's difficult, but not impossible, to walk away from a true mate pull.

I shake my head, clearing out that line of thought. Losing Noelle after the gods granted my prayers for her to be my mate is not an option. That's why, when the pizza is delivered, I pay for it, grab some paper plates and napkins from our pantry, and take it back to the media room. I yell at Xander that it's here as I pass the stairs. If he wants to eat, he'll have to come be around our mate to get the food.

I walk in the room to Dom cuddling a smiling Noelle and something tight in my chest eases. She'd been so raw and sad talking about her fears, and my instincts were pushing me to fix it. The problem is, it's not something I can fix alone.

When Dom asked if he could hold her, I almost growled. Newly found mate bonds are always erratic. Maintaining my grasp on my emotions and reactions, not to mention urges, until we claim her will be difficult. That's partially why most courtships between true mates only last a month, or two at most. The need to claim, both sexually and with marking, is overwhelming. It's much less intense for chosen pairings, so those courtships are usually a bit longer to ensure all parties truly connect before marks are exchanged.

I fix her a plate of one slice of all 3 types of pizza. I remember she loved cheese pizza growing up but myself, her brother, and some of our other friends all picked on her for liking 'boring' pizza, so she stopped asking her mom to order it. I grab a soda out of the minifridge we keep stocked in here and bring it to her on the couch. Her face lights up, and gods is it a thing of beauty.

"Cheese! You remember!" She turns to Dom. "Cheese is actually my favorite, but this one," she turns a playful glare at me, "and my brother and his other friends all made fun of me for liking what they called, 'boring pizza', so I stopped ordering it when anyone else was with me." She's grinning, despite talking about one of the ways we made her life difficult as kids. I grin in response.

We all pause as we hear footsteps coming down the stairs. At least he isn't stomping like a petulant 3 year old now. He comes into the room, avoiding eye contact and looking at the floor.

"Don't stop the party on my account. Just getting food," he mumbles. Hurt flashes across Noelles features briefly, but I saw it. She clears her throat. "You could stay, you know? Eat with us?" she asks in a timid voice, as if she's afraid of him. It makes me grit my teeth. She's scared of being mistreated by her mates and here he is, being a tool.

He stops and turns to her. He rakes his eyes over her, noting she's in Dom's lap. His lip curls slightly, from what feels like jealousy through the bond, but the words that come slinging from his mouth next are like knives of anger. "Looks like you're getting all the attention you need. You sure work fast." His words hit their mark. Noelle inhales sharply. She gets up and sets her plate down on the couch and strides out of the room. A few seconds later we hear the front door click shut. She didn't even slam it.

Dom is in Xander's face before I can blink. "What the fuck is your problem?" he yells.

"Nothing. I just made a simple statement that she works fast. She was already in your lap, probably minutes away from panting like she's in heat," he retorts.

This time I'm the one that snaps.

"You have no fucking idea what was going on, or why she was sitting in his lap. Not to mention the damage you just did to our very new, very delicate mate bond. She is terrified, Xander, absolutely terrified of being mated to assholes that mistreat her. She'd been crying and Dom asked to hold her in order to comfort her. You walk in for 30 seconds and call her a slut off the assumption that she was what, dry humping him while eating pizza? Pull your head out of your godsdamned ass, Xander, before you fuck this up beyond repair. Now, I'm going to go find her and offer to take her back to the OEC because I'm fairly certain, whatever headway Dom and I had made with making her comfortable with us, was just smashed to shit."

Dom is shaking his head. "I'll go after her. You stay and deal with our idiot Prime. I don't want to risk punching him." With that, he turns and follows after our mate.

Xander blows out a breath and runs his hands through his hair. "She'd been crying?"

I let out an exasperated groan. "That is your only response to everything that was said?"

He shrugs. "Look man, my head is seriously fucked over this. I thought we'd have months, not find her on the first damn moon gathering. I wasn't expecting this. I don't want to risk our pack again over an omega who may or may not be using us. It's going to be hard for me to let her in."

I shake my head, "You don't get it. She's not the one risking this pack's bond right now, you are. Dom and I are on the same page, but I'm starting to wonder if you're even reading the same book. How will you know if you can trust her if you don't even give her a fucking chance, Xan? Does the fact that I have known her, hell, that I have wanted her, even prayed for her to be my mate one day mean absolutely fuck-all to you? Does my judgment of her character hold no sway in your mind? Because if you think so little of my opinions, why are we pack?"