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“You are that energy,” I deadpanned. Okay, so at the moment, I wasn’t quite sure how to handle this. It wasn’t like I was going to traumatize the girl further by borderline abducting her. Maybe I could get her to change her mind. If nothing else, driving past might scare her into agreeing. “Put it into the gps.”
Miles raised his eyebrows as he tapped it into the dashboard screen, which was a good thing since I wasn’t exactly fond of this option either. But I knew the stubbornness of omegas, and this one wasn’t going to give in without a fight. Let her see the seedy buildings and drug dealers on the corners.
“Should I text the others?” he asked quietly. My nod was subtle, but he caught it, picking up his phone and shifting so she couldn’t see. Mine was already in my lap, and I opened the group chat so I could follow along as I navigated through the city.
Miles: Ellis and I picked up a stray omega, the sister of a friend of his. If I know Ellis, she’ll be staying with us.
Beckham:Is she okay?
Miles:no
That answer had me biting back a laugh, knowing he was riling them up on purpose. He wasn’t wrong, but they’d be picturing worst-case scenarios.
Beckham:Oh god. I’ll prepare the guest room.
Graham:Is this wise?
Miles:No. But that won’t stop your nephew. It wouldn’t stop you either.
Tallon: No. We don’t need this kind of drama. Take her to the omega clinic or something. That’s why we have them.
Wells: He has a point.
Miles:That’s likely not an option. Brace yourselves.
With that, he tossed his phone into the middle console to ignore it, and I did the same. We were now only two minutes out, and she was anxiously tapping her nails on the door. Half of me wondered if she was going to try to run from us, but her suitcases were in the back. My heart rate picked up as we drew closer, everything in my instincts fighting against this awful fucking plan.
As we rolled down the road, the buildings became more broken down, the roads full of holes, and the vibe was getting shadier by the second. Nope. Definitely wasn’t going to let her get out of the car.
The GPS guided us down a dead-end street. The shelter stood at the end, covered in graffiti, and half of the windows on the lower levels were broken. Someone had boarded them up as if that would keep thieves and junkies out, but I knew that was a fool’s dream. A group of alphas stood on the corner a few buildings down, a pile of empty beer cans at their feet and greedy eyes on my SUV, trying to see who was inside.
“No,” Miles said, glancing back at her. “Are you fucking crazy?”
She glared back. “No, I’m just out of options.” The words were underlaid with the first crack of nerves. She knew this wasn’t the place for her. I just needed to give one more little push.
“We told you we have a place for you. You’ll have your own room with a fucking lock on the door and intact windows,” I pointed out. She swallowed hard and studied the building, eyes slowly raking over it from roof to sidewalk. Then her gaze flickered to the alphas, and she swallowed hard.
“This is why they didn’t show the outside.” She sighed heavily. “But I can’t be a burden on you, and no one is going to hire a pregnant omega. I can lie short-term, but I only have about a month before the whole damn world knows I’m pregnant.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Miles said. “We don’t throw pregnant omegas to the fucking wolves around here.”
“Fine, but I won’t stay forever, just enough to figure out what to do,” she said firmly, like that would change our minds.
This wasn’t a time to argue, but I let my next words slip out anyway. “You’ll stay as long as you need,” I growled, throwing the SUV back in drive and peeling away. Her startled gasp was the only sound as I got the fuck out of this part of town. If I hit a rogue puddle and splashed the creepy assholes, well, that was one-hundred-percent intentional.
It took about thirty minutes to get across town. City nightlife was in full swing, so we had to navigate through a horde of drunken people on the busy streets—one of the downfalls of living just outside of what Grove City called downtown.
The towers were high-end apartments, with outside parking for staff and an underground parking garage for tenants. She didn’t say anything as I navigated to the parking level. She was out of her element now and it was obvious. But then again, it wasn’t every day that you agreed to go live with an established pack.
When I parked, we climbed out, with Miles and I grabbing her bags while she gathered herself. She climbed out a few moments later, her face a mask of tension and concern. I hated that look and despised even more that it was because of me, even if indirectly.
“You live here?” She eyed the cars and then the glass-wall-encased elevator lobby. The floors were a shining black and gold marble, and the security desk was manned by a gentleman in a crisp uniform. Everything, from the plants to the art on the walls, screamed money.
“We do,” Miles said easily. “We share the penthouse with some other guys, but we’re a family. Everyone there has respect for omegas. You don’t have to worry.” Her eyes went wide at the mention of the penthouse, but she nodded, still clutching her backpack like a lifeline, and following us into the lobby. We greeted our security man, Stephen, but didn’t say anything about our new guest. I’d let Graham handle that aspect since the situation was a bit trickier than simply saying she was with us. Luckily, part of this place was tight security and full guest and tenant profiles, so our reputation with them would buy us some time to be discreet.
“This is our private elevator,” I said, gesturing to the far left elevator, its doors gold instead of silver. She remained quiet as the doors closed and the gentle cadence of the elevator music played. Anxiety and fear filled the space, and I wanted to pull her in for a hug, to comfort her, but I knew any gestures like that would only make it worse. We were strangers, and she was alone in the world as far as she knew. This was definitely going to be a hard transition for her. I just hoped she gave us a chance to show her the whole world wasn’t against her.
