AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I snarl.
“So, happy to be home, then?”
I give him the side eye. “What do you want, Jet?”
His smile slowly fades. “Is it so awful to be here?”
“It's awful to not have choices.” I reply instantly. “Being here is nice. You’re all very nice.”
“Nice is sounding a lot less like nice.”
Jet exhales and looks around. He gestures to me and starts walking away from the house. I follow him across the still wet grass to a gazebo. The white paint is peeling, and I can see some of the wood needs fixing, but it’s pretty, surrounded by trees with pale white flowers and long flowing leaves. The scent of them is a delicate, sweet floral that reminds me of Gran.
“Did you know we used to have two other members of our pack?”
I make a sound of surprise. “No, I didn’t.”
“Another alpha, Art, and a female omega, Merry.”
I hear the pain in his voice when he speaks of them, and my heart stutters. I don’t want to hear this, but I know I have to. He doesn’t let any sign of discomfort cross his face, though, he just smiles at me like I’m making everything okay just by being here.
“We were a pack before we met Bar. He found us one night at a nightclub, followed us out to the car, and stepped out in front of it. I knew the moment I saw him. It was instant.” Jet looks at me sideways.
I make a noncommittal sound.
“Art came home from a weekend away for work and brought home this omega to surprise us with. Her name was Merry. He was so excited. So, there we were, with two omegas. Art couldn’t understand why we wanted Barren, and we couldn’t understand why he wanted Merry. The pack was divided, and we were thinking about cutting our losses and ending it. When someone, I can’t remember who, came up with the idea to accept them both. It seemed like the best solution.”
I swallow hard. “What happened?”
“There’s a reason two omegas shouldn’t be in the same pack. We thought we knew them both well enough that everything would be okay. But Merry wasn’t honest. She wanted us all. His heat came-” Jet says bitterly and has to stop, breathing heavily. “We almost lost Bar and Gold.”
The story he’s telling me is so intense that I’m barely breathing as I listen.
“It destroyed our pack. We aren’t the same people we were. Gold and Bar most of all. Gold went feral, and Bar withdrew. It took two months just to get him to speak. He hasn’t been okay in a long time.” Jet turns to me and smiles. “And then you come in, and you turn it all around.”
“I…” The weight of pressure he’s putting on me is staggering.
Jet takes my hand. “We are grateful. So grateful. We would protect you. But if he needs you here, we will do whatever we can to convince you.”
I press my lips together. “That’s a lot of pressure.”
“Of course, it is. And it's not fair. We could give you money or gifts, buy you land and build you a house, but I get the idea you’d hate all of that.”
“You’d be right.”
“So it comes down to this…how much would you be prepared to do for a stranger?”
I ponder it. At some point, Jet leaves with one last comment that Taylor is waiting for me. But I’m still leaning on the gazebo rails when the sun sets.
I stand up and start walking and then pause, looking down at the wood. There’s a carved heart with the letters S and G, with a smaller heart in between. Everything was so easy then. I remember the promises we made, to always look out for each other. My first kiss. The first person I said I love you to. Illicit. Immoral. Wrong.
My stepbrother. Who said I was his soul mate.
My best friend who was meant to love me, always.
In my family’s eyes, our relationship was the second worst thing that could ever happen to our family. The only thing worse was my designation.
I sigh and look up, finding him standing on the porch, watching me. Even from here, I can feel the disdain, the weight of his anger. I shiver and force myself to turn away.
