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Aubrey promised and hung up. I braced myself to ask for Trevor’s help, knowing there was a very real chance he would deny me. No matter how much progress we’d made toward civility, we weren’t much more than acquaintances.
“Ethan, what’s going on?”
“My fathers said something to upset my mom. When she tried to talk back or maybe stand up for—” I flushed, my throat clogging with embarrassment over what my fathers might have said about me or my pack. I grimaced and continued, “I’m not exactly sure, but they used their bark on her to force her to obey them.”
I shuddered as a bolt of fear ran through me because of what my fathers had done to my mother but also knowing how easily it could have been me. Trevor’s scent took on a dangerous quality. When he was sad, it was like walking paths in a damp forest. This was rage like the threat of a fire ravaging through the brush. The anger in his gaze had me shrinking in on myself. He shook his head and looked away, clearing his throat, voice gruff when he spoke.
“Do they need our help?”
I stood there with my mouth gaping—he’d said our help. I really hadn’t expected him to do anything except maybe call the others.
“Um… yes? Aubrey said mom is trying to leave. She called Nate and was talking to him but, after the party, neither of us really trust him. Aubrey’s scared of what will happen if the dads come back when Mom is trying to leave. She asked me to bring Jade or Miles but…”
“Is Daniels there?”
“Who?”
“Noah Daniels, the Alpha who is her assigned bodyguard.”
“Sorry, she never told me his name, just that he was bonded and didn’t want to fu—uh, ignore that. He’s only with her when she goes to school or scheduled events, not at home.”
Trevor nodded and pulled out his phone, then started to walk away from my station. Was he calling Jade? Drake House wasn’t that far from my parents’ house, but the hospital was across town. I needed to get to Aubrey and my mom faster than she’d get here. His steps paused a few feet away from my station and he turned to look back at me.
“Are you coming?”
“Huh?”
“I’m taking you there. Let’s go.”
I scrambled out of my chair and ran to catch up with him. As we walked through the halls that lead down to the garage, he called Aubrey’s guard and told him to meet us there.
“Should we call Jade or Miles?”
“I don’t think anything will happen. From what Jade and Theo have said, your fathers talk a big game but they’re just bullies grasping for power. I’m not worried about it. We’ll call them when we’re leaving.”
“Oh, okay.”
We stepped into the elevator and Trevor nodded to the two Betas already inside. I thanked whoever had arranged this moment in my life, so I wasn’t alone in an elevator with an Alpha whose scent made me want to get naked, face down and ass up faster than any other scent ever had. Damn it, focus. I slipped my phone from my pocket to update Aubrey as the elevator descended.
Me: I’m on my way with Trevor and he called Daniels so he’s coming too. We’ll be there as fast as we can.
Aubs: Okay. I wish I wasn’t such a fucking mess right now because Trevor, huh? Mom said Nate is coming to the house, too. She swears it’s fine, but I don’t know, E.
Me: I know, just call if he gets there before me, okay?
Aubs: Yeah, love you.
Me: Love you.
The elevator had come to a stop and I tucked my phone into my hoodie as we walked toward Trevor’s car. I was chewing on the corner of my lip and overthinking everything when I realized he’d stopped beside a smaller black SUV and was holding the passenger door open for me. My steps stuttered and I blinked up at him. He’d slid a hand behind his neck and was rubbing it but not meeting my eyes. Another gesture that was so reminiscent of Theo that my breath caught. I shook myself and climbed into the seat, buckling myself in as he walked around the front of the car. This whole ride was going to be bizarre. Trying to push that out of my mind, I focused on what was happening with my family.
Betas often lamented about how the other designations had it better or something. But they failed to appreciate how fucked up it was that our instincts flipped a switch inside us, constantly, that made it so we couldn’t get past the most basic desires to mate and breed, regardless of what else was happening. And there was a lot happening right now. My mom was trying to leave my controlling and abusive fathers, and my baby sister was stuck there, terrified. The man I loved was in the hospital, literally having his DNA reorganize itself. Another person I was in love with had just been rescued from a trafficking ring, for fuck’s sake. But all my brain wanted me to think about was Trevor’s scent and his knot and if he wanted inside me as much as I wanted him to be. Ugh.
I must have been lost in my thoughts for several minutes because Trevor cleared his throat to get my attention.
“Are you cold?”
“Um, maybe a little? I can?—”
