AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tears filled my eyes, and this time when I pushed at Kellan, he reluctantly let me go. I stalked across the room until I was at the far wall, glaring at the four of them. “Logan has no one. Just me. He was tricked into thinking he was going to a pack that wanted him when he aged out of a state facility. Instead of a stable, loving pack, he got a sentence to hell. The things that they did to him…”
I squeezed my eyes shut, choking on tears as I remembered the bruises and the blood. The way Logan would flinch, even from me, when he’d been brought back to our shack.
Sliding down the wall, I wrapped my arms around myself and did everything not to sink into the bog of despair that seemed to keep sucking me in.
“Hazel.”
Dropping my head to my knees, I ignored Crew. I didn’t look up, even as I heard footsteps approach or felt a body draw close.
Pulling in a shuddering breath, I recognized Crew’s scent.
And, like the mature woman I was, ignored the shit out of him.
“Hazel.” My name cracked off his voice with all sorts of alpha authority that made my spine stiffen and my head lift.
Crew’s jaw was tight, his eyes full of fire as he crouched in front of me. “I need you to hear this, okay?”
When he didn’t continue, I realized he was waiting for confirmation. I gave him the barest of nods.
“We’re not giving up on Logan,” he finally said. “We know he’s important to you, and that makes him important to us, but you are the priority for us. You are our omega, and protecting you will always come first. None of us will ever apologize for putting your needs above everyone else’s in the entire fucking world.”
Okay, when he put it like that, it didn’t sound so bad. But there was still some part of me that rebelled at the idea of being anyone’s omega.
Understanding glittered in his eyes. “I know what you’re thinking, Haze. And yes, being the omega of Pack Dutton means that we own you. Mind, body, and soul.” His gaze collided with mine. “But it also means that you own every inch of us. We’re yours, little one.”
“M-mine?” I stammered, blinking. I jerked my gaze to Kellan and found him nodding with a smirk.
Kellan cracked his knuckles. “Consider us your own personal tac team, sugar. Between the four of us, we’ve got all the basic omega needs covered.”
My brows slowly crept up. “And those would be?”
Kellan pointed at Crew. “Crew’s the ultimate protector. It’s why our pack works.” He jerked his head to Rhett and Jude. “Rhett’s the brains. He’s the guy who always finds the loopholes. Jude keeps us all sane and level headed.”
“And you?”
The grin he gave me was downright terrifying and beautiful. “I’m the guy who isn’t afraid to be the monster. The guy who will burn the fucking world to the ground to keep you safe.”
Now the shudder that zipped down my spine was for a whole new reason. Awareness prickled across my flesh, goosebumps erupting in its wake as I took in each man before me.
“Sounds like you guys have it all figured out,” I murmured. “Not too sure why you’d need me.”
Crew’s eyes narrowed. “We need you because you’re you. Being our scent match means you’re meant for us, and we’re meant for you. It means fate intervened and told biology to fuck off, because the five of us are a family. But you’re the center of that. You’re everything we’ve waited for and nothing we could’ve ever expected.”
I pressed my lips together. “I hate being an omega. I don’t want to be some pretty thing a pack owns.”
Jude shook his head. “You’re getting hung up on that word, sweetheart. None of us want to enslave you. We don’t want a meek little omega who will obey our every command.”
“Unless it’s leaving this room to go find her friend.” I scowled.
Crew tapped the end of my nose with a smirk. “Brat.” But the way his expression softened and his voice rumbled let me know he was teasing.
“In a perfect world, we’d court and woo you,” Rhett said. “Unfortunately this is a far from perfect world, and we’re on a bit of a time-crunch, love.”
I shifted my attention back to Crew. “I don’t know what to do. Everything is such a mess, and I… I just wish I could talk to my mom and dad again.”
“I know.” Crew reached out and threaded our fingers together. “I can’t imagine that kind of loss, and it breaks my heart that you never got the chance to mourn your parents. I hate what happened to you. It makes me furious to think of the hell you went through, and I wasn’t there to protect you.”
“None of us were,” Kellan added with a snarl.
