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Cat stared out the window after speaking and the worry I’d sensed in Shae flared. I heard a seat belt click and cursed as Shae climbed from the passenger seat into the back to sit with Cat.
“You know better than to do that, Sunshine. There could have been an accident?—”
“You were stopping at the light, Miles, besides Cat needed a cuddle and it’s my job as her best friend.”
Cat laughed softly and shook her head at Shae but leaned into them all the same. Peeking into the rearview mirror, I took them both in and a small wave of guilt struck me. Cat had closed her eyes to lean her head on Shae’s shoulder. The dark circles under her eyes were more pronounced on her pale skin than I’d realized. Her deep red hair was thrown up into a bun that looked more like something Trevor would do quickly rather than the normally put-together styles that Cat usually wore.
Shae whispered to her softly and I saw Cat reach out and grip Shae’s hand. When Shae and I had started getting serious, Cat had already moved out to be with the pack she’d fallen for. Just before Shae had ended their lease to move in with me, that pack found an Omega who’d wanted Cat excised. Shae had told me about the Foundation encouraging Omegas to excise Betas from their future packs and I’d echoed the rage they felt.
Cat had been a shell of herself after they made her leave. Shae had stayed with her and they helped rebuild her one piece at a time. Looking back on how much losing that pack broke Cat, even though she hadn’t been bonded—her becoming an Omega from that drug made sense. She was already as close to an Omega as I’d ever seen a Beta be. The same way Theo had basically been an Alpha.
I watched the road as we drove from Cat’s apartment, being both vigilant and trying to give them as much privacy as I could, for Cat’s sake. My stomach flipped when I remembered what Cat had said about Ethan’s mom being Shae’s mother-in-law. I’d meant it when I said that I wanted Theo and Jade to bond Ethan into the pack. I had no doubt that he belonged with us but there was still an element of pressure that I felt, with everyone else moving at a pace that seemed fast and unnatural to me. I knew that there wasn’t anything wrong with how fast they’d all moved. Shit, most packs who found their scent-matched Omega wouldn’t have made it through a heat at all without bonding. I just needed time to know him better, without the strain of all the horrible things happening to our pack.
The more I thought about it, the reason I was probably so uneasy was because my feelings for Ethan were developing so much faster than they had with Shae. I wished I could know how much of that was due to his being an Omega and how much was because he was there for me when Shae had been taken.
I’d really liked being around him after that: spending time with him and Shae, and especially that dinner at the beach when it was just the two of us. We needed to find time to do that again. My musings were interrupted by the voice of the GPS, which Shae had changed to an Australian man, amusing themself to no end, let us know that our destination was ahead.
Ethan’s brother, Nate, was waiting out front and waved at me before pointing at the loading spaces beyond the front door. I pulled into the space and Bodhi parked the moving truck behind me. Ethan’s sister was at school, and we weren’t about to allow his mom to help lift things but, from what I heard, she was ready to help Cat get settled. Between all of us, it wouldn’t take long to move the things Cat wanted in her room up to the apartment then the rest down to storage in the lower levels.
Shae and Cat got out of the car and made small talk with Nate while I helped Bodhi get the ramp ready on the truck. The Alpha had a lot of ground to cover when it came to repairing his relationship with his siblings. He was putting in the time to get to know all of us and to welcome Cat, even though he’d moved back into his own apartment.
“I swear it seemed like less stuff when we were loading it all in here.”
Bodhi stood with his hands on his hips and a slight furrow of his brows as he looked into the small moving truck. It was only three-quarters of the way full, but I understood what he meant. Even though we were in good shape, activities like moving house seemed to work the weirdest muscles.
“We’re not getting any younger Bodhi. Shit’s catching up to us.”
He scoffed before sneaking a glance over to where Cat and Shae were laughing with a bemused looking Nate.
“Don’t say things like that, Miles. Still have too much to do.”
He walked into the truck and started loading some things on the hand truck. I whistled over to the others to get their attention.
“Any time you all want to grab a box…”
I was just teasing, but Nate and Cat hustled over. Shae just rolled their eyes and took their time walking to the truck. They placed an exaggerated, smacking kiss on my lips before taking a box that Cat handed down and starting into the building.
About two hours later, we had nearly everything out of the truck. Shae and Cat had come back down to get some of the new nesting materials that she had picked up, that were in the back of my car. They were walking back into the building, comparing the fabrics and textures, when all my senses prickled with alarm. I looked around but couldn’t see anything initially. Bodhi was the first to see the threat from where he had been climbing into the moving van.
Three men had moved so that they were between the building and where Shae and Cat were talking. At first glance, the men didn’t look suspicious until a van pulled to a screeching stop close to where Shae and Cat stood—and then the men moved.
“Cat!”
Bodhi’s panicked cry caught their attention and the men grabbed onto Shae and Cat, dragging them toward the van. My snarl ripped through the space as I ran to close the short distance between us. Bodhi rounded the truck, trying to intercept the man who had his hands around Cat’s arm and was pulling her closer to the van.
The man who’d grabbed Shae had his back to me, since my Sunshine was not making it easy for them. He barely had time to turn before my fist was slamming into his temple. He lost his balance and was starting to fall when I hammered another two hits in the same place on his head. The man’s eyes rolled and he dropped, unconscious. I turned to get Shae as Nate raced out of the building. I reached for Shae, but they shook their head, eyes locked onto where Cat and Bodhi struggled with the other two men. Then there was a shout from inside the van.
“Just get the fucking Omega.”
Cat’s desperate scream ended in a heart-wrenching series of sobs, and that broke through my hesitation. I pushed Shae into Nate’s arms so I could get to Cat.
“Get Shae inside, now!”
Bodhi was fighting with one of the men who’d been holding Cat. Blood was flowing down his cheek but he was holding his position so the other man couldn’t get Cat to the van. There was another shout from the van as I reached the man who had Cat.
“Hurry the fuck up!”
Then Bodhi’s voice seemed to break Cat from the panicked trance she was in.
