AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Theo hummed and gave me a small nod.
“I wish I could say something to ease your worries. I was skeptical after Shae found him. But then I met him, and his scent hit me and he’s so… fuck, everything, that I just knew.”
Nodding, I looked off toward the windows at the end of the hall to collect my thoughts.
“At the risk of completely sounding like a lunatic, you know that Trev and I have a little sister right?”
Pretty sure their little sister was mated and older than Ethan, but I nodded.
“She loves romance books. Even as a kid she was always glued to the TV when it was a prince and a princess. Anyway, she fully buys into the scent matches being a fated thing. I used to give her shit about it but, after Ethan? I believe it.”
We spent the next hour helping Cat get her things arranged. After the big things were in the room and assembled, she chased us all out to set it up the way she wanted. Focusing on getting Cat settled in had successfully distracted everyone from the attack, until they didn’t have a task to focus on, and then the worry and fears drifted back in. Ethan came to sit next to me on the couch, worrying at his bottom lip.
“Are you sure you weren’t hurt, Miles? We could go to Drake House and Shae could look you over with all that new equipment?”
I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face.
“I’m sure. You know Alphas heal faster than normal and he only got one good hit in. Plus, Jade said she hasn’t hired a doctor yet.”
His hands began to twist the corner of one of the many soft blankets on the sectional. Reaching over, I stilled his hands by placing mine over them.
“They caught us off guard, Ethan. We miscalculated how badly they wanted the women like Cat back. It won’t happen again.”
Ethan nodded, a slight blush darkening his light brown skin. I realized my thumb had been running along the back of his hand and I pulled it away before clearing my throat. Theo came over and plopped down, so he was glued to Ethan’s side and tugged his Omega to him. Ethan melted at the contact, the nervous energy bleeding away from him as he settled into Theo. A spark of jealousy lit within me and my brows furrowed. Shae tugged questioningly on our bond and I sent reassurance their way before thinking more about my own feelings. Ethan’s eyes had drifted shut and his head leaned on Theo’s shoulder as Theo ran his fingers lightly up and down Ethan’s arm.
I didn’t resent that they’d bonded. I was truly happy for them, that Ethan was officially part of the pack, because he belonged with us. Especially after Theo, the surliest and least prone to romantic tendencies of anyone in our pack, had declared that he believed Ethan was his fated Omega. So why was I feeling so weird about them together?
My train of thought was interrupted as Shae came to sit between Ethan and I, sinking into my side the same way Ethan had sunk into Theo’s. They opened their end of the bond more and let me feel their worry and the fear they were hiding. My focus shifted entirely to them and feeding as much of my emotion through the bond as possible. I sent affection, confidence, and the feeling of safety to assure them that we would protect them from any threats. I sent pride to try to convey how amazed I was by them at how they’d been there, again, for Cat. Finally, I tried to convey peace, belonging, and care so they remembered that I would be there to catch them, love them, and support them until my last breath.
Shae sighed and closed their eyes, leaning into my chest, mirroring the way that Ethan was being comforted by Theo. As Shae reached over a hand to Ethan, they threaded their fingers with his—without either of them opening their eyes or separating from Theo or myself. That connection of pack and comfort flowed between the four of us and it was incredible.
It hit me then, that was why I’d been jealous. Ethan was still nervous around me. He was so unsure of his place with me on an instinctual level that my presence didn’t comfort him. At least not as easily or as fully as Theo’s did or the way Shae was comforted by me. It was something that would be missing until, or if, we bonded. There was a dull ache in my chest resulting from that if. I wanted a bond with Ethan. I wanted to be his Alpha. Someone he could go to for comfort and care. To be there for him when he was scared or worried, the same way he’d been there for me when Shae had been taken. I wanted to support him and share his joy—share his life. Unease crept in, though, when I thought about his heat and the fact that I knew I wasn’t in a place where I wanted anything sexual from him right then. Would that companionship, a more platonic bond, be enough for him?
Aubrey had arrived home from school as we’d assembled furniture. She and the rest of the West family moved into the living room with us, the two Omegas cuddling into the other end of the sectional as Nate sat in one of the armchairs. Ethan sat up and looked over to his mom and sister, smiling fondly at them. Sometimes I forgot that, not that long ago, his fathers had forbidden them from seeing each other.
“Ethan, I hate to ask this, after what happened today but, Mom was going to text you?—”
“Nathan.”
“What? I?—”
“They have too much to worry about, déjalo.”
“Mom, it’s okay. What did you need?”
Mari shot her oldest son a chastising look that made the Alpha shrink back into his chair before turning to answer Ethan.
“The Primrose Group has its annual fundraiser tomorrow and I was wondering if you and your Alphas would go in my place. It’s not a big deal though. I’ll make my excuses.”
Ethan’s brows furrowed and Shae looked around at the concerned faces of Ethan and his siblings before speaking.
“I don’t know that organization. What do they do?”
Nate responded to Shae before Ethan could.
“They help orphans who haven’t presented or kids who’ve been removed from bad homes. Their group homes are more like posh boarding schools and they help the children come into their designations and transition into their adult lives.”
“How do you know they are worth your money? A lot of those places treat the kids like shit and pocket the money.”
