Omega House Books 6-10: Alpha Omega MPreg Romance Box Set Page 4

  Their displays have all gone black, and the only thing visible on all of them are four green digits that fill the screen.

  5374.

  I think my heart has stopped in my chest. I know I'm breathing, but there's a moment when I'm not actually sure if I'm even still alive.

  When the lights flicker back to bright, I regain myself and quickly begin turning off the computers. But they refuse to shut down. Their displays still proudly glow with those four tantalizing digits as the lights switch back to dim. I'm once again overwhelmed by the unsettling feeling of sharing the room with something I can’t see.

  Desperate to gain some sort of hold on reality, I begin tearing power cords from their sockets. Deprived of power, the screens go dark, but the lights continue doing their mesmerizing dance.

  Gritting my teeth, I stare up at the light bulb in the living room ceiling. The switch doesn't work, and the lights refuse to obey. The only solution I can think of is to remove the bulbs, but I'm not sure what's more terrifying, this incessant plunge into half-light, or the thought of unending, impenetrable darkness with only my cell phone light for company.

  With every switch set to dim, I feel as if something is coming closer to me. I can't tell what it is, but at this point, I don't care. All I know is that I don't want it near me. If there really is something else in this house, then I don't want anything to do with it.

  I quickly grab my wallet and my cell phone from the table. My keys are on the hook by the door, and I seize them without hesitation.

  As my fingers close around the doorknob, the lights in the house go out completely. Darkness closes in around me, and I immediately feel like a man lost at sea. My only lifeline is my grip on the doorknob. My grasp tightens to one of white-knuckled intensity. If I let go, I don't think I'll ever find my way out again.

  I'm paralyzed.

  Frozen in place by fear or some other unknown force. I don't know for sure, but I can't seem to make my hand listen to my brain.

  It's behind me. There's no doubt in my mind that there's something, or someone, behind me. I can't turn to look, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to see through the darkness.

  "Zachary." The voice whispers through the darkness, and like the first snowflake of winter, it's gentle, almost inviting. And it makes my heart stop.

  It's enough to trigger my fight or flight instincts and kick them into high gear. You can't fight what you can't see. My hand finally listens to my brain, and I tear open the front door. As soon as I stumble over the threshold and onto the porch, all of my fear melts away.

  I collapse into a heap on the ground as the strange presence mysteriously vanishes and the lights turn back on. From where I'm sitting, gasping for breath and trying not to have a heart attack, everything looks perfectly normal.

  I suck in several breaths of night air and pat myself down to make sure I’m still intact. I know it's silly, but it feels like the right thing to do.

  For a brief moment, I contemplate going back inside and chalking this whole experience up to exhaustion and faulty wiring in the house. But one glance back through the front door makes me immediately decide against that stupid plan.

  I climb to my feet, shut and lock the front door, and head for my car. I'm booking myself into a hotel tonight and saving the ghost hunting for another day.

  7

  Seth

  I'm usually not the kind of guy to sit around and wait for things to happen. Once I've got a direction in mind, I'm usually pretty proactive about getting what I want. Which is why this whole situation with Zach has me second guessing myself.

  It feels more than a little strange to say that I want him. I've only known him for a day and our first, and only, conversation wasn't really all that deep. I know almost nothing about him, and yet as soon as I left him, I felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my chest. Ever since then, I've been anxiously checking my phone for any texts that might have come through when I wasn't looking.

  But there’s never anything there.

  I did get a couple text messages, but they were from Sean. He's been sending me pictures of his babies almost non-stop for the past couple of weeks. The constant stream of baby pictures has been both a blessing and a curse that I can't quite escape from. On the one hand, I love seeing my new niece and nephew. I love knowing that my brother is happy, and his family is healthy and content. On the other, it serves as a reminder that he's moved forward with his life and left me behind.

  As I get ready for bed, I consider sending a text to Zach. After watching his late-night move in, I figure it's safe to assume he's a night owl. A casual text exchange right before I hop into bed for the night might be a good way to break the ice. After all, given his social anxiety and the high sexual tension between us when we finally parted, he may be having a hard time coming up with something to say.

  I sit on the edge of my bed with my phone in my hands and try typing out several different texts. They range from a simple "hey" to the slightly more intimate "I've been thinking about you." Nothing I write sounds good though. I'm not the type to overthink something as simple as a text, but Zach's gotten in my head and turned everything upside down.

  I lay back on my bed and attempt a few more messages, but I delete them all before hitting send. This isn't like me at all. I've got butterflies in my stomach. It's almost like my first crush all over again, but this time, it’s so intense that it hurts me to think about it too much.

  I must've fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I know, I'm waking up to an alarm on my phone. So much for my brilliant texting plan. This relationship, or whatever it is, will go nowhere fast if I can't figure something out.

  Would it be too forward of me to just drop by his house later?

  As that thought is running through my head, I notice that I've got a new message on my phone. I must've slept right through the alert.

  It's from Zach.

  Seeing his name on my screen makes my heart skip a beat, and I quickly open the message. It's more of a novel than a text.

  Sorry about not texting you yesterday. I wasn't sure what to say. I know that sounds lame, but it's the truth. I didn't want you to think I was being too forward. Then I didn't want you to think I'm only going to text you when I want something. But I want you to know that I couldn't stop thinking about you all day yesterday. You've been on my mind almost constantly, and it's been next to impossible to get any work done. That's not a complaint really. I don't mind being distracted if it's you I'm thinking about. That sounds really corny, I'm really sorry about that. Anyway, the electricity in the house is on the fritz. I've got repair people coming to look at the wiring and the furnace. I've also called an exterminator because I think I've got mice. I'm not sure what's wrong or even if it can be fixed easily. I bought a bunch of candles and lanterns and a generator and stuff, but I'd really like it if you could teach me how to start a fire properly. Maybe I can avoid freezing. Especially since I've just met such an intriguing omega.

  By the time I finish reading the text, I’m grinning from ear to ear. He certainly knows how to turn on the charm.

  I quickly type up a reply to let him know I'll be heading his way soon. The words fly from my fingertips as easily as if I had spoken them, and I hit send without missing a beat.

  As I hop out of bed and start getting dressed, I feel lighter and more focused than I have in weeks. I know what I want, and I'm not afraid to admit it to myself any longer.

  * * *

  I run all the way to Zach's house without stopping. I'm in good shape, and I run frequently, so it's not too much of a strain. But my cheeks are flushed, and I'm panting for breath by the time I reach the end of his driveway.

  To my surprise, he's sitting on the front steps waiting for me. It doesn't look like he's been there for very long, but there are several bags and boxes sitting by the front door.

  "Did you just get back from your shopping?" I ask as I approach. He mentioned picking up supplies in his text, and I
immediately assume that must be them.

  It's a struggle to ignore my heart jumping into my throat the moment I lay eyes on him. Every single part of me wants to throw my arms around his neck and press my lips to his. Restraining myself only seems to make my heart race more.

  "Kinda." Zach climbs to his feet and fishes his keys out of his pocket. "It's…it's kinda hard to explain." He hesitates by the front door.

  I can tell there's something bothering him. It's almost as if he's afraid to open his own front door.

  "Zach?" I climb the front porch steps and stand beside him. "Is everything okay?"

  "Y-yeah, sorry," he mutters and slides the key into the lock without turning it.

  "Bullshit." The accusation flies from my mouth before I can stop it.

  Zach startles and turns back toward me with a look of bewilderment in his eyes.

  Part of me wants to apologize, but the other part is through with the timid little omega routine. "Look, I know we don't know each other very well," I fold my arms across my chest and take a step back to give him space, "but we both agree that there's something between us, right?"

  Zach nods mutely in agreement.

  "Then if we're going to figure out what that is, we need to be honest with each other." I furrow my brow as I look up at him. "Something's really bothering you. It's written all over your face. All I want to do is help. So, let me do that, Zach. Tell me what happened so I can help you."

  Zach's lips part momentarily, and he looks like he's going to speak, but he stops short and shakes his head in frustration. He avoids my gaze but gestures to the steps where he was sitting when I arrived.

  I take his cue and sit down, waiting until he joins me a moment later.

  "Before I say anything, I need you to promise to take this seriously." Zach's eyes are fixed on the ground as he speaks. "I know how it's going to sound, and I need you to know that everything I'm about to tell you is exactly what happened."

  His disclaimer catches me off guard. "Okay. Yeah. I'll take you seriously, Zach. Just tell me what happened."

  Zach sighs as if he doesn't really believe me, but he continues with his story despite his obvious reservations.

  As his tale unfolds, I can't quite bring myself to believe what I'm hearing. Flickering lights, temperature drops, the dying fire, strange messages on the computer screens, skittering in the walls, a voice he can't explain…it all sounds like something out of a low budget horror movie. Not the sort of thing I usually buy into, but given the look on his face, I can't help but believe him.

  "So, you slept at a hotel last night?" I ask as he finishes his tale.

  He nods in response.

  "And everything was fine once you got out of the house?"

  Again, he nods.

  "Look, I'm no expert, but it sounds like it might be carbon monoxide poisoning. I've heard about people seeing some crazy shit because of that sort of thing." I set my eyes toward the house and frown a little as I turn the thought over in my head. "There's a possibility the chimney isn't venting right. When I looked at it earlier, I thought it looked clear, but I might have missed something. If it's been sitting unused for a long time, there might be something wrong with it. It would also explain why the fire died out so suddenly." I look back at Zach and offer him a reassuring smile. "Whatever's going on, we'll figure it out together."

  He looks a little less pale now that he's been given a plausible explanation for what happened to him.

  "I guess I should find a number for a chimney guy…" he says as he slowly climbs to his feet.

  "We should probably hold off on fire starting lessons as well," I say as we approach the front door.

  He laughs softly, but I can tell he’s forcing it. Whatever he went through last night gave him one hell of a fright.

  Zach unlocks the front door and pushes it open tentatively.

  A wave of heat rolls out and smacks us both right in the face. I look toward Zach and he seems just as confused as I am about the whole thing.

  We advance into the living room one step at a time. It's sweltering inside, and I’m immediately drenched in sweat.

  My eyes flick toward the fireplace, but sure enough, the fire is out—exactly like Zach said it would be.

  "It feels like the furnace finally kicked on." I tug at my shirt collar and try to air my chest.

  "It wasn't doing anything yesterday." Zach approaches the thermostat on the wall to inspect it. "I cranked it up to max, but the house was freezing all day long. Why the hell would it start working now?" He quickly turned the dial down to a more reasonable level.

  "Who knows?" I shrug. "We should get some windows open anyway. Between the heat and the potential carbon monoxide, we really need to get some fresh air moving through here."

  We split up after that, going from room to room and opening the windows as quickly as possible. The cool breeze blows in from outside, and the interior of the house quickly begins to cool down. Despite the chill in the air, I'm hesitant to close any windows to preserve the heat until we can get someone to tell us whether or not it’s safe. I know that, theoretically, as long as we don't light the fireplace again, we should be fine. But I'm still not completely sure that's the root of the problem.

  Better safe than sorry.

  8

  Zachary

  There's a parade of strangers running amok in my house, and I hate it.

  If it wasn't for the fact that there's clearly something seriously wrong with my house, I would have avoided this very scenario like the plague. The chimney guy is poking around the fire place. The electrician has been going from room to room, checking the outlets for some reason. The exterminator I called took one look at the kitchen and told me I definitely have a rodent problem. The furnace guy has been down in the basement for almost an hour now and seems to be as baffled as I am by the ancient device I've got down there.

  The only saving grace is that they seem content to go about their business with little input from me. Actually, since Seth's here, he's handled all the direct interaction with the repair guys. That has been a huge relief to my frayed nerves. The stress of the last few days has me feeling like I'm one short step away from a nervous breakdown.

  "Okay, so here's what's happening," Seth says as the two of us gather in the kitchen for a little pow wow away from prying ears. "The electrician can’t find anything wrong. He says all the power seems to be getting where it needs to go, and he can't find anything to account for the flickering you saw."

  I feel my heart sink a little at those words. "What about the rest of them?"

  "Well, the exterminator is going to get rid of the mice. He already gave you a price for that. The furnace guy says you really need to update your furnace. The one you've got down there seems to be working fine now, but he wouldn't be surprised if it's having issues since it's so old." Seth leaned against the counter and folded his arms as he continued talking. "The good news…well, not really good news I guess, is that the chimney guy thinks the carbon monoxide theory might be right. The chimney definitely isn't venting properly, and he thinks there's something stuck up there preventing it from working right."

  Seth seems a little perturbed by his statement, but he doesn't expand on it much. Instead, he takes a deep breath and claps his hands together emphatically.

  "Once the chimney is cleared and the rodents are gone, we'll have resolved the two biggest contributors to whatever happened last night." Seth smiles at me softly, and I can't help but smile back.

  Having him around has made this whole process so much easier. I couldn’t have gotten through this without him.

  The repairmen clear out after a few more hours of tinkering around. The chimney guy seems confident that he's removed the blockage, a bird's nest of all things, but leaves with strict orders for us to buy a carbon monoxide detector for every room of the house as soon as possible.

  Seth is so intent on making sure that everything is safe, he drags me out to the store right then and there.


  Normally, I'd be extremely agitated by a midday trip out in public, but I find Seth's presence to be more of a comfort than I expected. As long as I can hover in his shadow and follow his lead, I feel like I can get through almost anything. I know it's not typical of an alpha to let an omega take charge, but it feels right.

  Just like being near Seth feels right.

  By the time we get back home, it's already late afternoon. With Seth's help, we get all the new carbon monoxide detectors installed pretty fast. There's something reassuring about those tiny little devices that lets me breathe a small sigh of relief. Hopefully, I won't have to go through anything as terrifying as last night ever again.

  "Well, seems like a job well done," says Seth as we return to the living room. "We've gotten one of the biggest issues cleared up. There are still some bigger ones to tackle, but they'll have to wait for another day." He stretches, and I catch myself admiring the curve of his back as he does.

  I clear my throat and turn away as my cock begins to rouse itself from slumber. Nothing even remotely sexual has happened, but now that the immediate danger has passed, my body seems to be picking up where we left off yesterday.

  I excuse myself to the kitchen and fill a glass with water while trying to will my cock back into a state of rest. My efforts seem to be paying off, so I make my way back toward the living room, only to encounter Seth in the narrow hallway between the kitchen and the living room. We're so close that we brush past one another, and the sensation of his body touching mine, however slight, undoes all my hard work.

  My breath stops in my throat as I catch Seth's eye and we both pause, facing one another, mere inches apart. My heart is pounding in my chest and blood rushes in my ears. I want this, I want him, so badly I can barely breathe.