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Frustration had me clenching my fists, aching to punch something to make them understand the gravity of my words. “Guys, you’re not getting what I’m saying.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Rhett exploded, getting to his feet. He scowled at me, then looked at Crew. “I need to go to the restroom. Get this asshole’s head on straight and remind him of who actually matters, unless he plans on finding a new pack.”
I started to get up to follow him, but Crew grabbed my arm, yanking me back.
“Dammit, Kell, you couldn’t just let this go for now?” Crew demanded, his blue eyes blazing. “Rhett and Jude need us to be a pack right now.”
I jerked free of his grip, squaring up with the man I’d considered a brother for over a decade. “Crew, this isn’t just some girl. She’s it. You need to trust me.”
“Kellan—”
“Smell me,” I ordered.
His brows shot up. “What?”
I plucked at the white wifebeater I’d had on under the shirt I’d given Hazel. Hazel had been curled up on my chest for over thirty minutes, and I could still smell traces of chocolate cake when I lowered my head.
His face screwed up in confusion. “I’m not smelling you.”
“Do it,” I snapped, holding out the shirt.
Giving me a look, Crew rolled his eyes and barely leaned in to take a whiff of my shirt. It took a second, he had to smell beyond my own alpha scents and the stress of the night, but I knew the second he caught the sweetness that was Hazel.
He reared back, eyes wide. His chest and shoulders seemed to expand, like he was seconds away from busting through his clothes like the Hulk. “Where the fuck is she?”
I didn’t bother hiding my smirk, feeling vindicated that he was so instantly drawn to her. “Told you.”
“Where. Is. She?” Crew gritted out, a feral snarl curling his lip. He wasn’t just going full on alpha—he was unhinged in a way I hadn’t seen in years. Like he was seconds away from going feral.
My smile evaporated. “I don’t know. She’s an omega so they’re protecting her. I was trying to get the nurse to give me some info when you arrived.”
“Stay here and wait for Rhett to come back. Don’t antagonize him,” Crew told me, heading for the door.
“Whoa, hold up. You think they’ll let you see her? We don’t even know her last name.”
“It’s Jones,” Crew shot back over his shoulder.
Surprise rocketed through me, and I was on his heels in an instant. “What?”
He turned sharply, nostrils flaring and eyes wild. “I know that smell. Her name is Hazel Jones. She was Calla’s best friend growing up. Lived next door to us. She moved the summer between junior and senior years after her parents died.”
“Fuck. Car accident, right?” I remembered Crew on the phone with Calla while we were in our room at Quantico. Calla had been sobbing about losing her best friend when Hazel’s only family member had made her leave.
Shit, I might’ve even met her once or twice when I came home over a break with Crew when we were still in college. But Calla was almost four years younger than Crew; it wasn’t like we came to his house and partied with her.
Crew nodded. “Calla tried calling her, but her number changed and Hazel just disappeared. I figured it was teenage girl shit, you know? Hazel found new friends or something when she moved. But none of this makes sense—Hazel was a beta. Her scent was a much more muted version of that.” He waved a hand at my shirt, his face lined with tension that I felt through our pack bond. “Her parents were betas. Now she’s an omega? Fuck.” He punched the wall near the door, and the sheetrock crumbled under the force.
I grabbed his arm as he tried to step out of the room. “Crew, hold up. If what you’re saying is right, then put the pieces together, man.”
His eyes met mine, darkness and fury churning in them. “I already have. Calla used to beg me to try and use my connections to find her. She was convinced something bad had happened. Said Hazel would never just vanish. But I was a rookie agent and thought she was being dramatic.”
“Oh, shit.”
Crew looked away, a muscle thrumming in his jaw. “If this is really Hazel Jones, the Hazel Jones that I’ve known since she was a baby, that means she was taken right after her family died. It means I ignored Calla and never looked for her the entire time she was in hell.”
16
Hazel
