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I growl at the sound of her name on his lips, and he smiles, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Hey, just asking. She’s a sweet one. Me and my pack are all into her. She told us that someone broke her heart right before she came here. Wasn’t you, was it?”
I shake my head, taking another deep drink. “She deserves better.”
“So itwasyou?” Locke asks.
“I didn’t break up with her exactly.” Though that’s exactly what this feels like. It’s like I’ve severed a bond before it had a chance to start. Like I’ve lost the best thing in my whole life.
The best things, I correct myself. Because Arlo sure as shit isn’t happy with me either.
“Wow, you’re an idiot,” Locke says.
I laugh despite myself. “Am I? What did I have to offer them? I’m broke, just got out of prison. I’ll never be able to hold a decent job. Never be able to take care of them.”
Locke raises an eyebrow. “Look man, I don’t know you. But I do know what it’s like to think you’re not worth it.” He points down to the end of the bar where two alphas are huddled close together, talking softly to each other. They’re both pretty rough-looking, both men, both heavily tattooed and bulky. “Those two? Best thing that ever happened to me. I’d just gotten out of prison myself. Ran into them in a motorcycle bar. I started a fight with them just to get a chance to touch someone, you know? Thought that was as close as I’d ever get to being with anyone again.”
He tosses back the rest of his drink and laughs. “We fought hard, got kicked out of the bar. Wound up fucking them both in the parking lot. And that was all she wrote.”
“You were in prison?”
“Sure. So were they, awhile back. Didn’t stop us from making it here.”
I shake my head. “I’m a felon, though. You were probably there for something less—”
“What’d you do, murder someone?”
“No, actually, but I was convicted of it.”
Locke snorts. “I actually murdered the guy I went to prison for.” He touches his eye. “Gave me this. Another bar fight. Didn’t mean to kill the guy, but he was hitting this omega. Almost killed her. I stepped in. We fought, he fell…” Locke shrugs. “I don’t feel badly about it, to be honest. Fucking monster.”
The bartender pours him another drink, and I watch as he takes a sip. “You were in prison too,” I repeat again, softly.
Locke studies me for a moment and then says, “Like I said, we don’t really know each other. I don’t owe you a thing, but I’m going to tell you this because you look so broken down that it would make a cat cry. None of us are good enough for any of them. All we can do is devote our lives to their happiness. You think you can’t do that, then don’t make a pack. But if you think you can love them better than anyone else, the rest will follow.”
I stare at him in shock as he finishes another drink. Putting the glass down on the bar, he gets to his feet and claps me hard on the back. “And if you don’t take her, we sure as hell will. Told her the other day we were gonna give her a red rose, and that’s what we’re going to do. If she’s into it, we’ll be knotting her before sunset tomorrow.” He winks at me and then strides away, leaving me to stare down at my glass in horror.
What the fuck have I done?
Chapter Twenty-nine
~Haven~
I wake up in Arlo’s arms, and for a moment, I’m so happy I can barely breathe. I thought I had lost him, but here he is, holding me tight, pressing his lips against my shoulder.
Last night, things got a little intense. Beatrice was trying to rile us all up, pontificating on the importance of omega rights. We were all about it, too, getting pissed about our mistreatment, but then everything fell apart when we started talking about the rose ceremony, and Lilah announced she was going to red-rose Pack Four. She said she thought it was her best chance to build a connection with them. Beatrice pointed out that they could have done that themselves at any time, and they hadn’t. She seemed convinced that Lilah was setting herself up for heartbreak.
We left Lilah and Beatrice arguing on the couch, and Arlo and I built a nest together on the floor of my room. It’s not quite right, of course, but it’s a big improvement over anything I’ve had since my last spike.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Arlo murmurs.
I smile brightly. “Good morning.” My smile fades as other memories from last night come back to me. Reese. After everything that was said between us, he still couldn’t admit that we were right for each other.
“Hey. You ok?” Arlo presses a kiss to my hair, breathing me in. His rainstorm scent washes over me, and I sigh as lust pricks over my skin. My heat is getting close.
Arlo squeezes me a little tighter and says, “Haven?”
“I’m ok. Just thinking about Reese.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve loved him since we were little, you know. The idea of being without him again… it’s hard.”
