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Kellan huffed a small laugh. “Apparently our girl’s a little possessive.”
I flinched, wanting to retort that she wasn’t ours at all, but something in her gaze dissolved the words before I could form them.
As quickly as the fire lit her eyes, it vanished, only to be replaced with more tears. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” Kellan was quick to jump in, moving to sit awkwardly on the edge of the bed.
Hazel didn’t move from my lap, but she reached out to lace her fingers with Kel’s. “I don’t understand any of this. I hate feeling like this. I hate being a damn omega.”
Crew flinched in the doorway. “We’ll figure this out, Hazel.”
“Will we?” She turned her tear-stained face to look at him. “I have nothing, Crew. No home. No family. I can’t control my emotions or my hormones—I just went off on my best friend in the whole world because I didn’t like her answer to a question or the way she touched my freaking blanket. I wouldn’t be surprised if she never came back.”
Crew stepped into the room, shaking his head. “Calla is your best friend, and she’s an omega. She knows exactly how you’re feeling right now. She won’t hold it against you.”
“What did you ask her about?” I queried, wondering what could’ve set her off.
“She was telling me about all the new laws that have been passed,” Hazel admitted in a soft voice. “I guess I just got overwhelmed? And then I got hot?—”
“Heat flare,” Kellan murmured.
She nodded morosely. “And I just lost it. I couldn’t stand having her near me or smelling her. Then I got pissed that she was sitting on my bed.” A brittle laugh escaped her.
“You don’t have a nest,” Crew told her, his gentle tone one I usually only heard when he was speaking to a victim or one of the women in his family. “Your hormones are telling you this is your nest, and therefore it’s something sacred.”
Hazel’s mouth turned down. “My first nest is a hospital bed. Freaking awesome.”
“You didn’t have a nest… before?” I stumbled over what term we were using to describe the place she’d been held captive.
She shot me an incredulous look. “Oh, yeah. It was on the top floor of the castle I was being held in.”
Kellan laughed while Crew cracked a smile. Even I felt my lips twitch at the touch of sass.
Then it was gone as Hazel froze in my arms, and a fine tremble rippled through her bones as her breath caught. Her scent soured once again.
“What?” Crew demanded, looking around the room for whatever had set her off.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, lowering her head until she was practically cowering. “I was rude and?—”
“Sweetheart,” Kellan cut her off, tapping the underside of her chin with his knuckles.
She flinched and recoiled away from both of us, only my hold keeping her from toppling out of the bed. Kellan shot me a concerned look, but didn’t back away. If anything, he moved closer like he was determined to prove he was a protector and not a threat.
“Whoa.” Crew started to reach for her, but then seemed to rethink the decision. “No one is going to hurt you, little omega.”
My gut twisted as I realized she expected her sarcasm to be met with violence. Rage flared in my blood, and it was all I could do not to set her aside and go after the monsters who had abused her.
Fuck.
It was becoming easier and easier to see why Jude was so enamored with her. Why he’d broken protocol and risked his career—hell, all of our careers—on this omega.
“Hazel, look at me,” Crew demanded.
She slowly lifted her gaze to meet his. With Kellan and I on either side and Crew in front of her, she was well and truly boxed in by alphas. Even as I kept purring, I expected her to panic.
Instead, she held Crew’s gaze and let out a slow breath, relaxing as she let herself be calmed by us.
“Good girl,” Kellan praised, his deep voice a low rumble that had her cheeks flushing a gorgeous shade of pink. He brushed some of her hair away from her face, the tips of his fingers ghosting across her skin.
