Chapter 15: Chapter Fifteen — Damaged Goods

The next morning Maria woke completely satisfied and with a big smile on her face. After the shared bath and dinner yesterday they had quickly returned to the bedroom for more… tenderness, so she wasn’t surprised to find a buck naked Joseph right next to her with an equally satisfied smile on his face.

“Good morning,” she whispered, reaching up to plant a kiss onto his lips. He replied with a sleepy smile and a kiss on her forehead.

“How about breakfast in bed?”

“Sounds like a mighty fine plan to me,” he said, his smile widening as he released her from his embrace. Maria slipped out of bed and searched the piles of clothes on the floor for a shirt that would cover her sufficiently.

“I could watch you all day.”

Maria turned around and smiled widely. She could watch him like that, naked, relaxed, and full-on Alpha in their messed up bed as well. But her stomach growled and reminded her that they couldn’t live from air and love alone.

“Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Butterflies fluttered in her belly as she hurried into the kitchen. The sooner she started breakfast, the quicker she would return to the bedroom and probably spend today just like they had done yesterday. It was hard to believe that not even two weeks ago, she had been trapped in a loveless marriage with an abusive husband. Everything had changed thanks to Joseph.

She fixed a quick batch of pancake batter and prepared coffee, even digging out some cream Joseph had stored in the back of his pantry. The only thing missing now was strawberries, but they could get some once the streets were cleared. She couldn’t wait to bake pies or cakes and prepare all the elaborate meals he deserved.

Moose sat beside her with slobber running down his maw. He was giving her the biggest puppy eyes, but she knew she needed to stay hard. If she gave in once, he would expect treats for begging all the time.

“No, Moose, you are not as hungry as you think,” she told him and heard a chuckle from the hallway.

“I believe he disagrees strongly with you on that one.”

“I told you to stay in bed,” she said with a slight pout as Joseph closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her from behind. With his mouth pressing light kisses up the side of her neck, he ground his hardening member into her backside.

“I missed you,” he murmured and sucked on the lobe of her ear. An involuntary shudder ran down her spine and her eyes fell shut.

“What the fuck?”

Maria’s body tensed as the strange voice echoed through the kitchen. Joseph turned around immediately and shielded Maria from their witness.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Joe. At least cover yourself when you’re hard.”

“Alma, what are you doing here?”

“Getting traumatized,” the woman replied and covered her eyes with her hand. “After you called me about that fever, you didn’t answer the phone. I was worried about you. Now, please, for the love of God, get dressed! The boys are waiting in the car.”

“You brought the boys?”

“Yes, get some pants on your ass,” she replied and let out an annoyed sigh. Maria was at a complete loss. Alma was his sister if she remembered correctly, so the boys she was talking about had to be his nephews, but her being here also meant that they were no longer isolated from the world.

Joseph turned around to her, a strange mixture of worry and relief clouding his scent.

“Maria, how about you make some more pancakes so we can all enjoy breakfast together? Don’t worry about Alma, she might bark, but she doesn’t bite.”

“You know that I can hear you, right?”

“And she has bat ears,” he added with a wink before he left the kitchen.

Maria was suddenly alone with this strange woman and as much as she trusted Joseph wouldn’t leave her alone with someone dangerous, she was still a stranger to her and she was cautious.

Alma shook her head and dropped the hand she still had over her eyes, looking Maria up and down with a sharp gaze. When she reached Maria’s face, something changed in her expression.

“You are that mayor’s wife,” she said and let out a little laugh. “Well, no wonder. They found your car pretty close by.”

“I don’t know who you are talking about.” Maria had never been good at lying, but she needed to try it nonetheless to keep Chad from finding her.

Alma slowly stepped closer, narrowing her brown eyes and pursing her lips. “You are and I am completely certain my brother didn’t kidnap you. You have your reasons to be here and to hide, but I don’t know you. I don’t trust you either. Just so we are on the same page, if anyone finds you here, you better tell the world that Joe had nothing to do with your disappearance. Am I clear?”

Maria stared at the Beta in front of her. Her threat held a lot of love for her family, like a lioness protecting her pride. She nodded in response just as Joseph came back to them, limping a little more than usual.

“Your leg is getting worse again,” Alma stated with a frown and crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you call Dr. Fleet before the storm like you promised you would?”

Joseph swallowed thickly. This was enough of an answer for his sister. She let out an annoyed groan and threw her hands in the air.

“I swear to God, you are worse than Charlie. You big, stubborn baby.”

“Calm down, Alma. I am fine.”

Alma shook her head, anger and concern equally strong in her mild scent. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Joe. You can lie to yourself all you want, but leave me out of that denial.”

Maria felt like she was intruding on a much more private conversation and turned her back to them to concentrate on the pancakes instead. It didn’t go unnoticed by Joseph who took his sister up into the loft space to speak a little more quietly.

Still bits and pieces of their conversation traveled down into the kitchen. They spoke about his leg, her sons, and eventually Maria. She strained her ears to pick up more, but at last, the only things she heard were “Omega”, “car accident”, “domestic violence”, “money” and eventually “damaged goods”.

Her breath hitched in her throat when she heard the last part. So, he thought of her as damaged goods—broken—just like she did. A burden he had to put up with because he had no other choice during the storm and the subsequent days. She turned off the stove after finishing the final pancake and returned to the bedroom to get dressed. If she was such a bother, she would not force him to house her another day. When the streets were clear, that meant she could leave again, thank him for his kindness and… Well, where was she going from here with no documents, no car, and her face still all over the news? Maybe North and sneak over the Canadian border? Maybe back home? Chad had said he missed her. Maybe her disappearance had shown him how much he truly loved her after all? It was a sliver of hope she needed to believe in.

Maria returned into the living room when she heard loud happy children screeching and calling out for “Uncle Joe”. The sound cut through her heart like a knife. No wonder he called her damaged. What kind of an Omega didn’t have heats? Had lost her baby? She gathered her nerves and joined the family she was no part of.

Joseph sat on the couch with two much darker-skinned boys bouncing around him while Alma stood to the side watching with a motherly smile until she saw her approaching.

“Boys, this is Uncle Joe’s friend Maria. Say hi to her.”

Immediately the children let go of Joseph and bounced over to Maria. She didn’t mean to but she still took a step back when the older one reached out his hand and showed a wide tooth gap at his upper jaw.

“Hi, I am Charlie and this is Aiden,” he said, nodding down to his maybe four-year-old brother. “Nice to meet you.”

They were definitely well behaved, Maria thought and shook his hand with a smile. “Nice to meet you too.”

Right after letting his hand go, the two children returned to bouncing over the couch while Joseph did his best to hide the pain it caused him. Moose seemed to be the only one looking concerned about Maria’s stale scent. A lump in her throat threatened to choke her. She needed to leave before she could turn herself into an even greater fool. To think that he might actually want her to stay. Who wanted a broken Omega?

“Thank you very much for taking me in and looking after me, Joseph. I will never forget what you did for me,” she rushed out quickly before her voice could break. Maria turned away and hurried for the mudroom to put on her shoes and light winter coat. She didn’t want to take anything that wasn’t hers.

“Maria?” he called after her, but her mind only repeated “damaged goods” over and over again. He had only been nice to her to get her into bed, to keep her from polluting the air with her constant fear, for any other reason but the one she had told herself up until a couple of minutes ago. He didn’t care about her. He saw her as damaged goods.

“Maria, wait.” She was deaf to his words.

Run, just run.

She opened the door to the still snowy outside and gasped when the glistening cold hit her in the face and filled her lungs with an almost sterile freshness. Her ankle boots got stuck in the deep snow quickly despite following the trail Alma and her kids had already made for her.

“Maria, stop,” came the serious voice of Alma before a hand closed around her arm. Panic shot through her, flashes of painful memories flickered up in her mind, and her first instinct was to cry out, expecting to be hurt.

“I’m sorry,” Alma quickly said, letting go of her and holding up her hands to show she didn’t mean any harm. “What are you doing? You can’t simply walk away. The next town is miles away and it’s still below ten. You will freeze to death.”

She shook her head with an expression akin to hurt clouding her sharp eyes. “At least let me take you to the next town even if you want to drop my brother like a hot potato.”

Drop him? Maria crossed her arms over her chest, hoping it would keep her a little warmer. All she wanted was to go back inside and hear Joseph’s comforting purr, for him to tell her lies, for him to make her stay.

“I don’t want to be a burden,” Maria whispered, her throat still stuffed with that lump of raw emotion.

“From what he told me, you aren’t…” She stopped and looked Maria up and down again. “We should have this conversation somewhere warmer.”

Instead of heading back into the house though, Alma pulled out her car keys and motioned toward the black Subaru to their left. Once they both sat inside the car and Alma had turned on the heat, the tension in Maria was ready to burst. Everything smelled strange here, of Alma and her sons, groceries and cigarettes.

“Now, why the hell do you think you are a burden to my brother? I have never seen him more smitten with anyone but his nephews. I mean, I walked in on you while you were definitely not a burden to him.”

“I heard you and him talking about me.”

“Sorry, not sorry. I need to make sure my brother isn’t just acting on his lower instincts. Being an Alpha comes with that sometimes.”

“With that you mean going after damaged goods?”

“What?” The color in her cheeks faded a little. “I’m afraid you’ve got that all wrong. You’re not the damaged goods we were talking about.”

“Then who?”

Alma couldn’t meet her eyes and sadness tinted her scent. “I think Joe should tell you that. But you are definitely not the damaged goods, honey.”

There was a long pause in the completely silent car. If she wasn’t supposed to be the damaged goods then who? It’s not like there were a lot of people left he could have been talking about. Even though she didn’t really believe Alma, Maria still followed her as they went back into the house. The sweet smell of hot chocolate, Joseph, and a lit fireplace enveloped her quickly. It smelled like home now. When Maria and Alma returned into the kitchen, Joseph leaned against the counter while his nephews were already busy munching on Maria’s pancakes.

“Did you two pirates leave something for the rest of us?” Alma asked and ruffled her younger son’s frizzy, black hair.

Joseph stepped to the side to reveal the remaining stack of pancakes.

“Perfect.” Alma rolled one of them up and temporarily put it into her mouth before she lifted Aiden up and sat down with him on her lap. All the while Joseph and Maria shared a long look that bordered on a silent conversation.

“Do you want to leave, Maria?” he asked eventually as the silence grew too heavy.

She shook her head and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist. “Do you want me to?”

Joseph answered the same way she did and extended his hand as an invitation. Maria almost ran to him before she crashed into his arms with a quiet sob. Home.