“Cameras.” He eyes me curiously. “Is Jo in heat?”
My brows shoot up. “Did I not wash all the scent off? Is Declan going to be pissed?”
“There’s no scent.” His eyes quickly dart to our house next door before landing back on me. “She has been having spikes, you’re sporting a fresh bond mark on your neck, and really, there’s no other reason for you to be coming to our door at eleven-thirty-three in the evening.”
“Shit. Sorry.” I hadn’t even thought about how late it would be.
“I wasn’t sleeping.” His bluntness is refreshing and a little jarring all at the same time, but before I can ask to speak directly to Declan, there’s a loud bang from upstairs, followed by a groan.
“Is…everything okay?” I frown.
“It’s just Declan and Nolan.” His expression gives nothing away.
Another bang. Another groan.
“Are they…fighting?” I mean, something is clearly going on, and unless Declan and Nolan aretogether—
“No. They think it’s a secret, but Rory and I both know. But Rory doesn’t know that I know. He thinks I’d…panic.”
Oh.
“Gotcha,” I let out an awkward laugh. “Well, when they’re err…finished, can you just pass along that we’ll be out of commission for a few days? Maybe see if he can hold off on releasing the information about Senator Pierce. I’ll…I’ll text him everything that went down at dinner tonight.”
“Okay.” He nods once, before moving to put his headphones back over his ears.
“Thank you!” I call out before the door closes, and he freezes, tilting his head at me again.
“You’re welcome.”
The door shuts unceremoniously in my face, and as I turn back towards our house, it’s hard to not lose myself in the domesticity of it all. The front porch is a wrap-around, and it’s just begging for a little table and chairs for us to have coffee in the mornings. There’s a big tree in the front yard that would be perfect for a tireswing, and a vision of a little girl with wild, ginger hair—curly like mine, but red like hers—freckles on darker skin, and Jo’s green eyes slips into my mind, making my heart clench.
That is, until the echo of pure anguish resonates through my bond, and then I’m running. I tear into the house, locking the door behind me, running up the stairs two at a time, until I’m in the doorway of the nest, trying to catch my breath as I scan the room.
Jo is knotted to Sam, an omega whine resonating from her. Hayden has his arm around her shoulders, murmuring something in her ear, while Kole looks on with his arms crossed, a worried expression on his face.
Then she sees me.
“See?” Hayden lights up. “I told you he’d be right back!”
Anguish turns to anger as she sniffs, pulling away from Sam, who is now passed out. “You left!” she cries, her body sweaty and naked as she stumbles towards me. “You’re supposed to be here, and you left me!”
Kole tries to put a hand under her arm to support her, but she shakes him off with a snarl.
My heart cracks at the pain in her expression, and I half expect her to fight me as I gather her in my arms, but she doesn’t.
She does worse.
“And you don’t even smell like me anymore!” she wails, weakly banging her fist on my chest.
“Siren,” I sigh, running my hands over her sweaty back. “I had to go update your brother on what's happening, and I couldn’t exactly walk into his house smelling of his baby sister and sex, could I?”
She huffs, hesitantly wrapping her arms around my waist as she rubs her face on my shirt. “I guess not.”
“I’m here now, and I’m not leaving again, okay? Do you need another knot?”
She looks up at me with those damn green eyes that have had me in a chokehold since the moment I met her. “I needyou.” She fingers the hem of my shirt, and I remove it without question.
When I put my hands under her ass, lifting her up so she can wrap her legs around my waist, her chest nearly burns mine. “Let’s get you cooled off a little, yeah?”
