Pack bound, p.1
Pack Bound, page 1
part #1 of A Blissful Omegaverse Series
Copyright © 2022 by KATE KING & JESSA WILDER
All rights reserved.
First published in 2022
King, Kate, Wilder, Jessa
Pack Bound: A Blissful Omegaverse Prequel Novel
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Editing: One Love Editing
Contents
Authors’ Note
Trigger Warning
What is Omegaverse?
1. Bliss
2. Rafe
3. Bliss
4. Nox
5. Bliss
6. Killian
7. Bliss
8. Ares
9. Bliss
10. Rafe
11. Bliss
12. Bliss
13. Nox
14. Bliss
15. Killian
16. Ares
17. Bliss
18. Bliss
19. Rafe
20. Bliss
21. Bliss
22. Wes
23. Bliss
24. Nox
25. Bliss
26. Bliss
Continue
Keep in Touch
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
To the readers who turn the page and ask “Oh…am I attracted to this? No… Am I?”
Authors’ Note
We understand that after reading Pack Origin, many of you already have high expectations for the kind of character that Bliss has become over the last four years. We are often asked if Bliss will be a strong, independent character. Is she going to give the boys hell? Is she anything like Raegan from the Gentlemen?
To this we say, Bliss is not strong yet.
The complexity of Bliss’s character arc is the main reason that Pack Bound had to be split into two books. It is important to us that Bliss be a strong protagonist, but we also felt we needed to give her enough time to get there naturally.
We hope you will trust her and us enough to watch her grow. Bliss will never be Raegan, but she is on her own path.
Trigger Warning
If you are a seasoned dark romance reader, or even a casual dark romance reader, this book likely won’t phase you. Much of the story is light in tone and would fall in the realm of sweet omegaverse. However, please be aware that the underlying world and themes of this story are dark. They will remain dark throughout, and the subject matter may be upsetting for some.
CW: Dub-con, Sex Trafficking, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Multiple references to violent sexual assault and physical abuse by a domestic partner (not within the harem), Kidnapping and Imprisonment, PTSD, Depression, Violence, Murder. One of the characters cuts their own arm. We are including this as a potential trigger for self harm.
Tags: Omegaverse, Reverse Harem, Rejected Mates, Childhood Friends, MMFMM, M/M, Knotting, DVP, Stretching, Heat shenanigans, Touch Her and Literally Die.
What is Omegaverse?
The Omegaverse (or A/B/O dynamics) is a speculative alternate reality where humans live in a wolf-like hierarchical social system, and take on some lycan traits such as scenting pheromones, mating for life and forming packs. People are unsure of their designation until they transition to either an alpha, beta, or omega.
The alphas tend to be larger, more athletic and more aggressive than regular humans. They have the most prominent animal instincts, and are the elite of society. Omegas are rare and physically delicate. They are the perfect biological mates to alphas, and the only ones who can have alpha or omega children. Betas are the most common designation and are essentially average humans.
There is no magic in this book. While the alphas, betas and omegas may have some animalistic instincts and practices, they are not shifters or werewolves.
Pack Bound
A BLISSFUL OMEGAVERSE NOVEL
KATE KING & JESSA WILDER
CHAPTER 1
Bliss
The omega let out a loud moan as her alpha wrapped his hand around her throat, driving into her from behind.
I ducked my head and let my blonde hair fall in a curtain against my desk, shielding me from the show. Still, it was impossible to ignore the noise and the heavy scent of pheromones. A heady mixture of honey and wool.
I picked up my pen and doodled a heart on the corner of my notebook. My notes were awful—rushed and unfinished. I’d scribbled “Omega Heat Cycle: Practical” at the top of the page next to the date and made a few rushed bullet points before giving up.
The omega mewed, and I scratched out a couple of uneven stars around the heart.
Flora leaned over from the desk next to me, digging her long, manicured nails into my forearm. “Oh my God,” she hissed, half-excited, half-horrified. “Serious question. Do you think they get paid for this?”
“I doubt it,” I said through my teeth, keeping a benign smile plastered on my face in case anyone was looking. “No alpha with a mate would need the money. I assume they’re just into it.”
As if on cue, the alpha growled his approval of whatever the omega had just done.
Flora tossed her long, dark hair over one shoulder and glanced down at my paper. She scanned over my notes and snorted a laugh. “I thought you, of all people would be paying attention.”
I shifted slightly so my back was to the instructor standing in the corner and rolled my eyes at my friend. “What, are we supposed to draw a diagram?”
It was a semi-rhetorical question. A couple of months ago, we sat through a memorable class where we were supposed to draw diagrams. I’d lost points on that assignment because my knot picture came out looking more like an inverted lollipop, and I hadn’t been in the mood to fix it. Flora giggled, clearly thinking of the same incident.
In the corner, our instructor, Mrs. Charlemagne, coughed. Shit. I sat up straight again, shifting my gaze back to the couple in the center of the round lecture hall.
The alpha and omega stood in the middle of the coliseum-style classroom, lit by a single spotlight. He had her bent over a desk, her cheek pressed hard into the polished wooden surface. Even at this distance, the red bite marks on her neck stood out against her pale skin. Some new, some scarred and healed over.
The lecture hall could hold several hundred students, but there were only twenty of us here today. Every omega sitting spread out across the dim room was close to graduating and participating in the Agora Ceremony.
A girl in the row in front of us raised her hand. “Will we get pregnant every heat cycle?”
The couple didn’t stop—they either couldn’t hear or weren’t bothered by her question.
Our teacher smiled brightly, like she’d just won the grand prize at the annual student/faculty bake-off. All the teachers loved pregnancy questions. “Likely not during your first heat, but it’s possible.”
Beside me, Flora pretended to gag. I shot her a warning glance. She was going to get us in so much trouble.
The alpha groaned and moved faster, completely losing control and rutting against his omega. Some of the girls in the front row picked up their pens, scribbling quick notes with clear academic interest. I sighed, crossed out my doodles, and wrote, “Alpha rut. Brought on only by omega heat. Both parties are controlled by hormones and unable to use any cognitive reasoning until heat subsides,” near the top of my paper. Just to look like I was doing something.
“Who do you think they are?” Flora whispered.
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t recognize her. She must have graduated before we got here, so she’s got to be at least four years older than us,” she mused. “He’s hot though.”
“Shhh,” I hissed nervously. “You’re not supposed to think that.”
“Right.” Flora ran a hand through her hair, glancing around to see if anyone had heard her mistake. “I knew that.”
The alpha pulled out of the omega, flipped her over on the desk, and thrust back in, locking inside her.
He licked her neck where some of the old bite marks were, and my chest seized. The sex didn’t bother me—we watched it all the time—but I hated this part.
“Mine,” he said against her neck, as though they were the only ones in the room. “You’re perfect. My good girl.”
Seeing mates happy together always reminded me of how I would never truly have that. It’s not fair.
Flora reached over and patted my thigh under the desk in a subtle show of solidarity. “Maybe it won’t go on that long this time,” she whispered.
I grunted, shaking my head. “When has an alpha ever knotted for less than half an hour? I bet we’re not getting out of here before 4:00.”
Flora muttered a noncommittal agreement as the omega moaned incoherently at her alpha. The girls in the front row hurried to copy down whatever nonsense the omega was saying. I groaned, not even bothering to hide my annoyance.
When the couple finally left and the lights turned back on, I let out a sigh of relief. At least we only had this class once a week.
Flora stood and tugged on the neck of her sweater. “God, it’s hot in here.”
It wasn’t, but I nodded, moving to follow her out of the lecture hall.
“Omegas Bliss and Flora,” Mrs. Charlemagne called after us. “Please stay.”
My heart sank. What now?
I didn’t dare look at Flora as we made our way to the front of the room. Mrs. Charlemagne’s eyes bored a hole in me as I walked, reminding me a little of the woman who ran the group home I grew up in. Even though I was an adult now, there were always some older adults who had a way of making you feel small.
“Chatty today?” Mrs. Charlemagne asked.
“No,” Flora said bluntly, at the same moment as I said, “Sorry.”
I glanced at Flora. She’d thrown hair over her shoulder and was making direct eye contact with the teacher—not very omega of her. My stomach churned like I’d eaten a live snake.
“Well, since you two don’t seem to need any more lessons.” The teacher clicked her tongue against her teeth. “You can help guide someone else. A new girl came in this morning. She’s fourteen, from Houston. She’s down at the headmistress’ office now.”
I pursed my lips. Fourteen was young. Not unheard of, but still young to arrive at the Institute. That poor girl probably knew nothing, and now she’d be here for seven years before she got out. Not that “out” was a great alternative.
“Was she a retrieval or a rescue?” Flora asked.
Mrs. Charlemagne raised an eyebrow at the directness of Flora’s question, but answered anyway. “I don’t know. The sooner you go down there, the sooner you’ll find out.”
I sucked on my tongue, holding in a response. Asking questions in this place never got you anywhere, anyway. At least she wasn’t punishing us.
Flora and I shuffled down the long, dimly lit hall toward the main office. Our footsteps echoed off the wall and vaulted ceiling, and I hugged my bag to my chest like a shield. New girls entering the Institute always brought back terrible memories.
“So, what do you think?” Flora kept her voice low. “Rescue or retrieval?”
“No idea,” I whispered back. “Mrs. Charlemagne is right, I guess. We’ll find out in a minute.”
“Imagine not telling us. What the hell? If she’s a rescue, who knows what just happened?”
I swallowed thickly. This was why I didn’t like it when new girls arrived at the Institute. I’d been a rescue. Flora was a retrieval. We’d had very different experiences on our first day at the Institute. “If she’s a rescue, it’s fine. We’ll figure it out. We have before.”
We stopped in front of an oak-paneled door, and I paused to make sure my sweater was buttoned correctly—all I needed was to get a lecture from the headmistress about appropriate appearance.
Flora did the same. “I need to order new skirts,” she muttered, trying to smooth her uniform in the back. “I swear to God, my ass is growing by the day.”
I snorted—I appreciated her light change of topic. I bent to look at her skirt. It was a little short, but it honestly looked better that way. “Don’t let them hear you say ‘ass.’”
She rolled her eyes. “Right. Bend over for your government-assigned alpha, but don’t say ‘ass.’ Fucking hypocrites, I can’t.”
I choked, somewhere between a laugh and a cough. She was absolutely right, of course. The system, and the Institute as a whole, was messed up. My situation was different from all the other omegas, though. No matter how much I hated the Institute, I had no choice but to make the best of the way things were. Graduating from the Institute was the only way to get revenge on the boys who’d put me here, and that was all that kept me going in the last four years.
“You can borrow my skirts if you want,” I offered, bypassing Flora’s comment. “I’m a twelve.”
She scanned my hips, comparing us. “Yeah, alright. Thanks.”
Muffled voices sounded from beyond the office door, and Flora and I glanced at each other. My stomach sank a fraction lower. “We should go, I guess.”
Flora pushed her long chestnut hair behind her ears. “I’m getting too jaded for this shit.” She raised her right hand and knocked softly.
“Come in.”
The door creaked, brushing along the thick carpet, and we stepped inside. The room was already full. Headmistress Omega DuPont sat behind a large desk, her graying hair pulled into a severe bun. In front of her were two women.
No, I corrected myself as I leaned around Flora to get a better look. A woman and a girl. I’d sat in that girl’s chair myself four years ago, right after my world had come crashing down around me. It felt like another life.
“Good afternoon, Omegas,” said Headmistress Omega DuPont without looking up.
“Good afternoon,” Flora and I replied in unison.
The headmistress was one of the few actual omegas working at the Omega Institute. Most of the staff and instructors were betas, partly because omegas were so rare, and partly because it was safer overall for unbonded Omegas to only come into contact with betas. Despite the cocktail of hormone and scent blocker we all took daily, the Institute wasn’t taking any chances with our safety.
My eyes darted to the blonde beta woman sitting across from the desk. I knew her, or at least, I’d met her before. Every omega at the Institute had. Sarah Miller was in charge of rescues and retrievals.
For most omegas—the ones who had grown up with alpha and omega parents—that meant simply calling the Institute when the girl reached the age of sixteen. Sarah arrived on their doorstep and took the girl to live at the Institute until she was twenty-one, when she would be mated. For some omegas, like me, things were a little more complicated.
“Will that be all, Headmistress?” Sarah asked. “Or do you need me to stay?”
“No, Sarah, the ladies and I will take it from here.”
Sarah rose and took a step toward the door, only to realize Flora and I were blocking her way. She smiled at me. “It’s good to see you, Omega Bliss. It’s been a long time.”
“Four years,” I said flatly. Flora elbowed me. I’d sounded rude. I cleared my throat. “I mean, yes. Sorry. It has been a long time. How are you?”
Sarah smiled graciously, glossing over my mistake. Would the headmistress be as gracious?
“I remember your rescue so vividly. It’s one of our best success stories.”
My smile was brittle. “Thank you. I agree, of course.”
The new girl swiveled around in her chair, her head tilting to the side as she stared at me. She was tan, with dark curls and large, light blue eyes that made her look even younger than she already was. My heart broke for her, just like it did for all the new girls.
“We rescued Omega Bliss late in life,” Sarah explained to the girl.
“Rescued late in life” was a polite way to say, “was betrayed by the boys who were supposed to love me and was sent here against my will.” Granted, Sarah didn’t know that. She honestly believed in what she was doing; you could see it in the zealous gleam in her eye.
“I was seventeen when I came to live here,” I clarified, forcing a smile.
“Exactly, extremely late,” the headmistress said as though I weren’t here. “It was nearly a disaster. She didn’t know she was an omega. We rescued her just before four teenage criminals forced her to mate with them. Now, thanks to the Institute, she’ll have a wonderful future.”
My heart pounded, and my breath came faster. No matter how much I wished otherwise, I thought about my former pack constantly. No. Not mine. Not anymore.
“Isn’t that right, Omega Bliss?” Sarah asked.
It was impossible not to think of them, like white noise in the back of my mind at all times that occasionally got louder at times of stress. It had been that way since almost the second I was separated from them four years ago. But I could count on one hand the number of times anyone had brought them up to me. I wasn’t prepared for this.
My heart screamed. A physical, stabbing sensation, like an ice pick through my chest. “Yes.” I smiled through the lie. “That’s exactly what happened.”
Flora watched me out of the corner of her eye as we led the new girl around campus. Her wide brown eyes screamed, “Are you okay? Do we need to ditch the kid and get out of here?”
It was as though she was afraid I was going to crack and start crying right in the middle of the tour. She wasn’t far off.
