Building a Pack is Ruff, Part 1 (The Pack Pets Omegaverse #2)

24. Kelly

Chapter 24

I call Teddy after I ate a quick sandwich at the diner. I feel better just hearing his voice. I have to apologize a few times for making them worry, since they know I should have been home already. Still, they agree to come by and pick me up to take me to the clerk’s office and then take any groceries I get back to the house. I don’t know how much longer my car’s going to be, but I don’t want to miss the clerk today and then have to wait until tomorrow or later to finish filing our pack registration.

The store’s pretty empty this time of day, and I can make it through the list that Sam sent fairly quickly. I don’t recognize everything there, but that’s why they make labels. I'm walking down the bread aisle since the list says bagels…but there are five different flavors. I message Sam and Teddy back to ask which ones they want while I grab a loaf of whole wheat bread off the shelf. I know Sam has his bread box with everything but the kitchen sink, but I feel kind of twitchy right now, and just need something familiar. Besides, if I get that and a jar of peanut butter I can take it back to the office for Xan, Ray, and Sal. Ok, probably not Xan, since Jacks usually packs him a lunch.

My phone vibrates with a group chat from Teddy and Sam. Teddy asks for both cinnamon and blueberry bagels, and Sam needs everything bagels. I look at the shelf and grab those, then toss in an onion bagel for myself, because I’m feeling adventurous. Marking bagels off the list, I hear a loud scuffle and hushed whispers. As I look towards the center aisle, there are two large guys that I don’t recognize standing there.

Both of them big, both tall…probably alphas going by the size and the pheromones coming off of them. The one in front's a classic pretty boy with tanned skin, short blond hair and big blue eyes. His pupils go wide as he stares at me, nostrils flaring. The face peering over his shoulder is identical in structure, but the similarity ends there.

His eyes are a vivid emerald green, his hair longer, and bleached white, the roots a darker brown than his friend’s blond. It seems to be pulled back into a short ponytail. Not as long as Teddy’s, but past his shoulders. The whole look combined with his pale skin and how gaunt he is almost makes him appear skeletal. It’s an unusual enough aesthetic that I would have remembered seeing him around town. His arms are wrapped tightly around the bronze god in front of him. And he has tattoos on both hands. Most of his body is blocked, but they look similar enough to be related.

Either way, I’m out. I grab my cart and hurry away, figuring Sam can come back to the store later for whatever I missed, but these two are creeping me out. Raised voices sound behind me as I make a beeline for the front of the store and the checkouts. It’s not a lot more people, but it’s something. Pulling up my phone again, I send a message to the chat asking how much longer they’ll be. I don’t mention the two guys. I don’t want to worry either of them.

Billy, the cashier, gets me checked out in record time, and I take my cart and bolt out the front. Teddy said they were less than five minutes away. I’ll just stay by the curb so Billy can see me from the register in case those creeps come back.

I wait for another couple of minutes, staring at my phone, willing a text or any sort of information to come in. But I know that wishing for my guys to be here won’t make it happen. My eyes flick back and forth from where I can see the garage and farther down the street. I think I see Sam’s truck coming up the road. Thank goodness. That skin crawling feeling is back and I was starting to wonder about the feasibility of taking this cart back to the shop and just returning it later.

A hesitant voice sounds behind me. “Hi, um, Miss, do you need some help?” I turn slowly, now that we’re out in the open I can definitely smell that this guy’s an alpha. He smells like what I imagine a thunderstorm over the ocean smells like…minus the fish poop. Kind of salty and fresh with that weird hit of ozone on the back of your tongue. But his voice. I know that voice. Why do I know that voice?

He stops with several paces between us, but I know that alphas can move fast, and it would only take him a second to close the distance. “Sorry, it’s just really cold out here, and well, our SUV’s down at the shop, but we can give you a ride once we get it fixed. That is, um, if you need one? I don’t know how long it’s gonna be, though, sorry.”

Wait…the shop?

That’s where I know his voice.

I can feel an angry scowl forming, and it’s not a nice look, but I can’t help it. “Sorry, I’m waiting for my pack to come get these so I can go back to work. And my name’s Kelly, not sweetheart.” He gapes at me like a fish for a minute, his ears taking on a hint of red. At least he’s embarrassed by how he acted earlier. That’s something.

His not-quite-look-a-like comes tumbling out the door at that moment. “God dammit, Garret. I thought I told you to find us some food. What the fuck, man?” I start backing away as waves of anger roll off him. He doesn’t seem angry at me, but I don’t want to get caught in the middle of a fight if one happens.

Then, wonder of wonders, I hear the slightly squeaky brakes of Sam’s truck, and turn my head right as it pulls up next to the curb. Sam jumps out of the driver’s seat, glaring hellfire and brimstone at the two alphas who have moved their argument entirely too close to me. Losing all my confidence, I practically throw myself into his arms. Once there, he picks me up and starts purring as he walks me towards where Teddy sits in the passenger seat. Of course everything comes to a screeching halt when the door opens and one of the two alphas behind me lets out a loud bark of surprise.

Teddy’s eyes flick from mine over my shoulder to the two behind me, and his face crumples as he pulls me against him. His whole body shakes and any predisposition I had to act the damsel in distress goes right out the window. If I had a crowbar, I would be letting loose on these two for whatever they did to make Teddy upset.

I wrap my arms around him and pull his head down to my chest, whispering quiet words of comfort. He takes deep inhales against my collar and cries into my shirt. I barely notice Sam as he loads the groceries in the back of the truck and snarls angrily at the two strangers.

Even when he finally gets back in the driver’s seat, he glares at them through the window. I turn my head enough to see them and the blond god is staring straight at me. They’ve switched positions though, and now he’s the one holding his darker half back as he strains towards the truck, eyes fixed on the part of Teddy’s big body that can be seen around mine. The blond’s eyes flick back and forth between us as he pulls the other guy closer.

I don’t know what they did to my omega, but I might need to kick someone’s butt.

Sam

S hit! Shit! Shit!

Something’s wrong, and I need to fix it. Teddy sounds devastated and neither of us can get an answer out of him about what’s wrong. I pull into the parking lot at the garage so Kelly can run in and let them know she needs to leave. She was supposed to leave a while back anyway. I doubt anybody’s going to be upset. She runs into the first bay and Xan smiles and waves. But all good humor drops from his features the longer she talks. I’ve pulled Teddy across the seat, but there isn’t enough room here to pull him into my lap.

His hands are fidgeting with those leather bracelet things he wears, rubbing circles around the outside and up the inside of each arm. I haven’t taken the time I should to ask about those. I haven’t seen him take them off. Even last night in the shower he only took them off while he was getting clean and put them on again as soon as he was dried off. If it’s a religious thing I should probably try to ask without upsetting him. Just, not right now.

Kelly gestures down the street towards the store and points at the truck where Teddy’s curled against me. Xan’s expression is thunderous as he glares between the road, us, and the front office. Even when his gaze stops on us, his ire seems to be directed towards the two guys who were following Kelly at the store. I’m not sure if they’re gonna get their car back in one piece if he has any say in the matter.

Finally, Kelly stops talking. She’s understandably upset, but Xan gestures towards the office and waves her off, before glaring back down the street. I’m half surprised those two assholes aren’t trying to follow her, but better for them that they don’t. She sticks her head in the front door and says something to Sal behind the desk who waves in return. Then Kelly is sliding back in the passenger side and pulling Teddy towards her.

His sobs have tapered off to a quiet sniffle. His reaction threw me for a loop. We’ve only been together for a few days, but that’s enough to get a feel for him, and he doesn’t seem like the crying type. I understand that he’s under a lot of stress but this seems extreme from what I’ve gleaned of his personality so far. “Sorry, Xan said Candice’s car took longer than expected, but he should be done with mine in about an hour. I can come back this afternoon or get it tomorrow. Whatever works best for you.”

Kelly strokes Teddy’s hair, making soft soothing noises against the top of his head where he’s curled against her. “Do you think y’all can take me over to the courthouse real quick so I can sign that paperwork then come back and let me get my car?” Her eyes finally meet mine, and she looks as confused as I am about what’s going on.

Teddy nods against her chest and makes a muffled sound that I take as an affirmative. Kelly squeezes him tightly. “Oh, Teddy, if we need to we can go straight home, afterward. I just didn’t want y’all to have to bring me in at seven-thirty in the morning. But we can do whatever you need, ok?”

Teddy takes a deep shuddering breath and looks back and forth between the two of us. “No, I’m…I’m ok, that was just a surprise.” The smile he turns to me is watery at best, he looks like he’s going to cry again and a low growl rumbles through my chest. I put the shifter in drive and we pull out of the lot towards the city center where the old courthouse is. Thankfully we’re heading away from the grocery, since I see those two fucks walking down the sidewalk.

It takes every ounce of my willpower not to turn around and knock them senseless for whatever the hell they did. But I don’t want Teddy anymore upset, so I glare at them quietly in my rearview mirror as we pull away. My purr fills the truck. I need to comfort my omega and beta both, but I’m not sure what else I can do until we get home and I can hold them properly. Then get them both fed and cuddled up together so I can get more work done on the nest.