Rory’s eyes go wide, and I quickly look to Declan, who now looks just as murderous as his sister. “Your scent iswhere?”
The beta holds his hands up. “Okay, that sounds bad, but it’s not what it looks like—”
“Whereis your scent, Rory?” Declan snaps, taking a menacing step forward.
“On a sweatshirt he snuck into her room.” Jo crosses her arms.
I frown. That doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to get this upset.
“Where else?” Declan hedges.
“Her hair.” Jo seethes. Man, if looks could kill, Rory would be a very dead beta on our couch. “I couldn’t place it at first when mytraumatized-as-fuckbaby sister was sobbin’ into my arms, but when I handed her the sweatshirt she had been wearin’ to cover her scars, I caught it full-force.”
Something in me stirs at Jo being familiar enough with another beta’s scent to be able to discern it on someone else, but I push it down. A jealous man is the last thing she needs to deal with.
Maybe if I had been present for Jo’s heat spike in the back of the van last night, I wouldn’t feel so possessive.
“Explain. Now,” Declan growls, and in the blink of an eye, it’s not Jo’s brother I’m looking at. No, I’m staring straight into the face of the head of the Irish Mafia.
Rory runs a hand over his face. “Okay. I’ve never, ever touched her likethat. You know me well enough to know that, right?” He looks between Jo and Declan. “Right?”
“I know,” Jo admits begrudgingly. “Thatis not the point though.”
“Right,” Rory nods, letting loose a breath, “so, it all started when we brought her—and the other omegas—home. There’s something about her, something that makes me unable to stay away from her.”
Sam stiffens next to me, and I curse internally. Jo hadn’t meant to keep it a secret from the rest of the pack, but I have a feeling the idea that Declan’s pack might be Mabel’s true scent matches is about to become public knowledge.
Rory keeps talking, even as Jo’s face turns slightly pale. “When we got back, she was still unconscious, and Dec put me in charge of moving her, since I’m a beta and she has alpha-related trauma.” His throat bobs. “I swear, I smelled…” Then he shakes his head. “I just kept guard at first. I slept in the tree outside her bedroom window, just to make sure she was safe.”
“You know that nobody gets within a mile of this house without me or Aidan knowing about it,” Declan snaps, irritation showing on his face. Though I’m not sure if it’s irritation at Rory’s actions, or at the fact Declan didn’t think of it.
“Yeah, but I couldn’t help it!” Rory throws his hands up in frustration. “I needed to know she was okay. And then…” He trails off, looking guilty as hell.
“And thenwhat?” Jo hisses.
“Right.” He shakes his head to clear it. “She has…PTSD or something. Makes it hard for her to sleep. So Doctor McFadden prescribed her some sleeping medication. Only thing is…well, it makes her have night terrors.”
Jo’s frown deepens. “She hasn’t said a single word about that.”
Rory sighs. “That’s because she doesn’t know about it. The first time it started, I was…leaving my sweatshirt for her because…because I heard her talking on the phone with you about hating her scars and having to look at them. So when she startedthrashing around and screaming in her sleep, my first instinct was to go to her. As soon as I touched her, her body relaxed, and the nightmare stopped. So…I…” He chokes, tears lining his eyes as he looks up at Declan. “You don’t know how she sounded, man. I’ve heard some shit, and I’dneverheard a scream like that. So I climbed into bed with her, and laid on top of the covers.”
My omega’s expression screws up in anger. “I told you to stay away from her. Until she was ready. Until I knew for sure—”
“Until you knew for sure,what?” Rory explodes, bolting to his feet. “What aren’t you telling us?!”
Hayden and Sam let out low rumbles of a growl, but Kole holds his arm out. “This is Jo’s fight. The beta will not hurt her.”
They take a step back, but I can still hear Hayden grumbling.
“She isbroken, Rory!” Jo shouts, her voice cracking. “She spent the first six months of her omega-life with a pack that made her fall in love with them, only to turn around and force-bond her durin’ her first heat! Then she was abused for a year and a half before she killed them to protect me, and then she was tested on for three years after that! She’s been heretwo fuckin’ weeks! She needs time to heal, not to be sniffed at by the first pack that comes across her after bein’ rescued. You don’t have the right to stomp all over her boundaries just because you’re her—” Jo’s lips snap shut, her eyes wide as she realizes her mistake.
But they heard her. We all did.
“He’s her what?” Hayden whispers loudly, making Rory, Declan, and Jo all glare at us.
Hayden shrinks back, and Declan turns to Jo. “I want to know as well, Jo. He’s her…what?”
Jo’s lips tighten again, her eyes screwing shut as she shakes her head.
