AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stand up abruptly and leave the room. My stomach turns, and I hate myself a little bit more because I can’t stand looking at him. I find myself sitting on the floor leaning against a wall near the back of the house. Just listening to the rain pour down.
The smell of pine wafts around me a moment before I become aware of another person. I almost smile, knowing it would be him who finds me. He’s like a mother hen, picking up on our ouchies through the bond and running to make them better.
Jet sits on the floor beside me and groans. I don’t look at him; I don’t really want to talk to anyone right now. I just need to think.
“Did you know that Bar has managed to pick two of the three locks on your bedroom?”
I snort in amusement. “He’s coming back, isn’t he?”
Jet rubs my back and leans against me, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Yeah. He seems to be, thanks to Scarlet.”
I wince and know Jet feels it.
“Hey, Acton?”
I turn my head slowly so I can see him. Jet’s expression is serious, and I find myself struck by this rush of affection, of love for this man. I lean towards him and press my lips to his. I pull back when I’m breathless. “Yeah? What were you going to say?”
“Do you want to know how I get through most of our days?” Jet says and bites his lower lip, I can see the mischief in his eyes, and already, I feel this burden lessen.
My lips quirk up. “How?”
“I ignore every stupid thing Taylor says.”
I chuckle softly. “He’s got a point.”
“He’s looking for murderers in shadows. Assassins in panes of glass. He’s protecting us because that’s what he does best, but he hasn’t realised that we’re safe now.”
Jet bites my upper arm, and I shiver.
“You take care of us. Taylor protects us. Gold protects Bar with a psychoticness that is questionable, and yet, I love it.”
“And you keep us sane.” I murmur back to him.
“Yeah, but it’s like an adrenaline high. We’re all still in the red, not coming down, the dangers gone and done. But we haven’t accepted it yet.”
“They got away, Jet.” I growl.
“And we’re ready for her. But this woman is not her. She’s reversing the damage. Reversing the last year of our lives.”
I snort. “I know that.”
Jet hisses a laugh, then he leans in close and presses his lips to my ear. “Bar went into his nest today.”
I freeze, the air in my lungs locks, jubilation, fear, happiness, more fear. Jet eases back from me and stands up. He smiles as he backs out of the room.
I sit for another minute and then stalk up to the third floor, opening the little black door at the end of the corridor.
Barren freezes, turns his head, sniffs the air, and relaxes. He turns in a tight circle, and my heart aches watching as he struggles to do what his instincts scream at him to. He’s got a blanket in one hand and a pillow in the other, but he can’t seem to go towards the bed, he just stands in the middle of the room, fighting himself.
It’s agony.
Even the fact that he’s in here in too many clothes, like he put more on to be in his nest, is just wrong. And the nest is ordered. Blankets folded. The bed made. It looks untouched. Barren is an omega of chaos. Everything about this is wrong.
I walk in and strip off my jumper, lazily throwing it on the pile of blankets. His eyes snap to them, and then he kneels beside it, reaching out but not quite touching. He sits back on his heels with a sigh.
He looks at me then into the dark corner. “I’m sorry.”
Before I can even move, Gold has him, wrapping his arms around him so tight I worry he’ll break our omega.
