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“Please check on Hazel. For me.”
It was the for me that had me royally fucked. Jude knew those two words were my kryptonite. I would do anything for him, even when he wasn’t recovering from a bullet wound.
As long as I lived, I’d never be able to escape the memory of running out of that building and seeing him lying on the ground. Never forget the sticky hot feel of his blood coating my fingers as I tried to stop the bleeding.
Hopefully this would be the last round of scans he needed. Sure, doctors kept saying how lucky he was, that the bullet managed to miss any vital organs. The biggest consequence was the blood loss, and he would be weak for a little while.
But all I saw was the end of Jude’s life, which meant it was the end of my life.
And all because he had to save the omega.
The same omega he was making me check on because he, like every other member of my pack, was hopelessly besotted with the little scrap.
Turning the corner that led to the pack suite, I almost paused when I saw Calla come running out of the room like she was being chased by a pack of hellhounds. Or a telemarketer.
Crew had informed us that his parents and sister were on their way to come be with Hazel, which I was all for. Let them take care of her.
But something had to have upset Calla, and that worried me. Most people assumed omegas were docile little creatures ruled by their emotions and hormones, but I knew under Calla’s layers of sweetness there was a backbone of steel. The girl didn’t spook easily, and something had set her off.
I broke into a jog, an uneasy feeling slithering in my gut as I braced for the worst.
The scent slammed into me a few feet away from the open door. Bitter chocolate flooded my senses, coating my tongue and swelling in my throat. I coughed out a breath as I stepped into the room, stunned to shit when I spotted a sobbing Hazel.
I was an alpha, and, despite what my pack currently thought, not utterly heartless, so her sobs cracked through some of the shell around my heart that I’d constructed when it came to this little omega.
She was tiny—too tiny—on her bed, her shoulders shaking as she curled on her side with her arms wrapped around her knees.
My legs ate up the distance between us until I was at her side, my hands shaking with the need to do something. It no longer mattered that she was the reason I’d almost lost Jude. She was an omega in distress, and I was an alpha with a need to do everything in my power to comfort her.
“Hazel.” I tried, her name tasting foreign yet familiar on my tongue.
She hiccuped a sob, lifting her wet lashes to peer at me. When she realized who I was, she started to sob harder, burying her face in her hands. Her thin shoulders shook as she broke down.
Something in her cries shut down the rational part of my brain, kickstarting the primal part, and suddenly I was maneuvering her in the bed so I could climb in beside her. I gathered her into my arms, a rough purr rumbling from my chest.
The sound surprised me at first. It had been years since I’d purred for anyone, but with Hazel, it was instinctive. Natural in a way that stunned me.
She turned her face into my chest, grabbing onto my plain cotton shirt with small fists. It took a second to figure out what to do with my hands, but eventually I settled for one splayed against her back and the other stroking her soft hair.
Footsteps thundered down the hall, and I stiffened, fully prepared to tuck Hazel behind me to face whatever threat was coming next. To become her human shield.
Crew and Kellan appeared, stumbling over each other as they all but tumbled into the room.
“What happened?” Kellan demanded, stalking forward with a glint in his dark eyes that conveyed he was about to pull Hazel from my arms.
As if sensing his approach, Hazel pressed herself even harder against me, unwilling to budge. Pride swelled in my chest that she was trusting me to take care of her.
“She’s fine,” I snapped, shooting Kellan a glare as I rubbed her back in soothing strokes.
Kellan’s brows shot up, and he glanced back at Crew, who seemed to be just as perplexed by my current arrangement, but at least had an explanation for Hazel’s situation.
“Heat flare,” Crew murmured, his mouth pressed in a hard line. “Apparently she snapped at Calla.”
“Calla okay?” I asked, the question automatic because I knew Calla. She was Crew’s little sister, which made her family.
What I didn’t count on was the fierce little growl from the omega in my arms, and I sure as hell didn’t expect to see those green and gold eyes practically glowing with annoyance when I looked down.
Her eyes narrowed, and this close I could see a light smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
