Chapter 3
Nash
T he look on Avery’s face as she stalked into Whitaker Brews told me I was in trouble. The issue was, I had no idea what I’d done.
One glance on either side of me to my brothers told me they were just as confused as I was.
“It wasn’t me,” Cameron hissed, both of us turning to Maverick.
“What the hell would she be mad at me for?” he demanded, glaring at us both.
“Family chat. Now.”
Avery’s words were sharp and she sat down at one of the empty tables. At least we had a few hours before opening and at least one hour before staff started to show up for their shifts. This seemed big.
“What’s going on?” Maverick asked. “Are the babies alright?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, they’re fine.”
“Then what the hell is this song and dance about?” Cameron demanded. His words sounded harsh but there was only concern in his eyes as he twisted his chair around and sat, resting his arms on the back of it and looking at our sister expectantly. “Don’t make me call, Mama.”
This at least got a laugh from her.
“She’ll be getting this talk next. So will my pack. But I had to come to you first because you were there,” she said, her smile dropping.
The way she was chewing on her bottom lip and fidgeting, told me I wasn’t going to like this.
“Just spit it out,” Maverick groaned. “You know I hate dragging things out. You’re stressing me out.”
“Wren is in town.”
Her words fell between us, rendering us all silent.
She had to be kidding.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” Cameron growled.
“Look, I’ve been awful about keeping you guys updated on everything that happened with the trial. I let my lawyer handle it and buried my head in the sand until he sent me updates. That’s on me,” she said, looking a bit guilty.
Just where the hell was this conversation going?
“Talk,” Mav grunted, sitting back and crossing his beefy arms across his chest. His glare was lethal but she was unfazed.
“To summarize, my exes went to jail. They were using several women as guinea pigs for the medications they were planning to use on me. It went far beyond the fake pheromones,” she admitted.
Bile rose in my throat. No man wanted to hear the nefarious plans someone had for his sister.
“It wasn’t just your friend?” Cameron asked, his anger falling away as the words sunk in. “And more drugs?”
“Yeah,” she said, blinking her glossy eyes as she dove into an explanation. “They were blacking me out during heats, but they were doing so much worse to the other women. Meeting them at bars, testing the drugs out and taking advantage. It, apparently, went on for literal years behind my back. Wren was the final phase. Someone close to me before they turned me into some blissed-out omega who was their every fantasy.”
“I’ll kill them,” I said in a low, icy voice. Prison wasn’t good enough. They needed to feel pain.
“Stop. They’re out of our lives and locked away for the rest of their lives for what they did. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Wren,” Maverick said, bringing us back to her original point.
“The poor girl has been through hell and back. She thought I’d hate her forever but I couldn't do it. Finding out the way I did was terrible, but look at everything that came from it. I don’t have it in me to hate her,” she admitted. “I told her she should stay in town and she went to the clinic to figure things out. So, she’ll be in town. She’s been traumatized enough by alphas, so this is my one and only warning; you will treat that girl with kindness only. No grudges. If I forgave, so will you.”
We shared a look before turning back to our sister.
“I’ll try,” I offered. If everything she said was true, then how the hell could I be mad about it? Especially if she was moving on. I hated that this omega was the catalyst for Avery’s life spinning out of control.
This was definitely going to be interesting. I knew damn well my sister would pull her former friend into their current group and she’d be around a lot. Hopefully when I finally meet her I’ll be able to separate the two.
At the end of the day, we had no choice.
The moment Avery was gone, Cameron looked at us and sighed.
“This isn’t going to end well, is it?”
“It’s not the omegas fault she was abused,” Mav pointed out. “Treat her like you would any other friend of Avery’s.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “It’s just weird.”
“Imagine how Avery feels,” Maverick said. He’d always been the reasonable one and right now it was showing.
Me? I was petty.
“We’ll see,” I offered before standing up and going back to the bar to make sure everything was stocked for tonight.
More and more we’d stepped away from running the bar to managing. It was nice to have more time to myself but I wasn’t really sure what to do with my free time.
Every one of my siblings was packed up while I had a half a pack and no real hobbies. Getting older was bullshit.
The front door opened and Jesse walked in. He was practically running and I braced myself for whatever news was coming my way next.
“I found our omega, Nash. You have to come. I didn’t say anything yet,” he said, snatching my wrist and trying to drag me to the door.
My eyes widened and my chest tightened as I dug in my heels.
“Hold on. Breathe. What the hell is going on?” I demanded.
He growled and turned, giving me an explanation in one rambling breath.
“I stopped by the grocery store to grab a few things. There’s a new girl working there and the moment I walked in… I knew. I turned and ran here. You have to come back with me. I don’t think she scented me but you have to come meet her. God, Nash, she’s so beautiful.”
I swear he had heart eyes. Me? I was freaking the fuck out. Here I was having a serious conversation with my family and now I had an omega?
Shouldn’t I be excited? Part of me was, but the other part felt strangely uneasy.
I blamed the bomb Avery dropped on us.
By the time Jesse had dragged me back down the street towards the grocery store, my pulse was thundering in my ears.
This was it… the moment that I had waited for. My Omega.
I was about to meet her, and hopefully, my pack would be complete.
When Jesse came to a stop in front of me, I followed his gaze towards a petite omega, filling a bag for one of the older men in town. He was talking to her, and she was smiling back, her dimples deepening as she laughed at something he said.
She was pretty, with dark hair and brown eyes. I was nervous now. Alarm bells were blaring loudly in my head. What the hell was going on?!
Somebody tapped her shoulder, and she spun around, sending a wave of her sweet scent in our direction.
My eyes drifted back to Jesse to watch his reaction, terrified of what I’d find.
His eyes rolled back and his nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath, savoring her.
When her scent hit me, the lemon-citrus smelled more like a cleaning product than something appealing. My heart started to pound frantically in my chest as my panic started to rise.
This wasn’t right.
“Jesse,” I said in a horrified whisper.
When he turned towards me, his smile was so bright that I hated that I was going to be the one to dim it.
“She’s your Omega,” I said, trying to deliver the blow gently.
“Our Omega,” he corrected, laughing softly like I was being ridiculous. “Come on, let’s go meet her.”
My grip on his wrist was tight enough that he stopped, turning back to me.
“What the hell are you doing, man? This is what we’ve been waiting for!” He was getting angry now, too impatient to meet her to deal with my bullshit.
But he needed to listen.
“She’s not my omega. We’re not a scent match.”
My best friend went through ten different shades of emotions, his excitement dropping, horror washing over his face. He looked sick and deflated all at once.
Everything I was feeling was reflected right back at me.
“No, this is—” He stumbled over his words, none of it making sense as he shook his head.
I did my best to put on a smile, clapping him on the arm and giving his shoulder a squeeze. “Go get your omega. I’m not going to stand in your way. You know how packs work. We thought we were a pack, but maybe we were just really good friends and never meant to be one.”
“No, Nash—” he tried to argue, but the way his eyes darted back towards her told me that he wasn’t going to argue for long. They always described how there was this visceral, primal urge to get close to your omega when you found them. I could see the struggle in the way his body was tense yet rocking her way. He was stuck between being my friend and being her alpha.
Yet, there was never going to be a need to choose. Our paths simply weren’t in alignment.
The fact I was so calm right now should have me freaking out, but honestly I was a bit numb still with shock.
“There’s no choice, Jesse. It’s not a ‘me or her’ situation. Go get your omega. You’ll find your pack. We’ll still be friends. That won’t change.”
“Fuck,” he cursed before finally giving in and walking that way.
I was glued to the spot, unable to move a single muscle as I watched the scene unfold. Jesse approached the omega. Her back was still turned, but as she caught his scent, she whipped around, eyes widening before she let out a squeal and literally jumped into his arms.
Simple as that. They found each other and there was no denying the chemistry.
The same chemistry we would never have.
Fuck.
His grin was brighter than I think I’d ever seen it as he spun her around, burying his head in her neck as they whispered to each other in a moment far too intimate for a small-town grocery store.
Everyone around them melted on the spot as they watched the couple find their scent-matched mate.
That was when I was finally able to move, stumbling out of the door and back towards Whittaker Brews, where my truck was.
The way that I was light-headed and stumbling was probably a sign that I didn’t need to get in my truck.
But I didn’t know what else to do.
Everything I thought about my future—my best friend, my pack—it was all wrong.
Now, I didn’t know what to think.
Somehow I managed to make my way back inside the bar. My brothers looked up, alarmed. I couldn’t make out what they were saying to me thanks to my pulse thundering in my ears, but soon they were right in front of me. Maverick’s strong arms squeezed my shoulders, trying to get me to focus on them, while Cameron had his hand on the back of my head.
“Hey, breathe,” Cameron tried, but it was useless. I hadn’t realized that I was barely breathing at this point, but my head was spinning even worse, and I was wavering on my feet.
“Breathe!” Maverick barked out, putting every bit of authority he had in his tone.
Something about his loud, booming voice caused me to gulp in a greedy breath of air, then take another.
After a few normal breaths, the thundering slowed to just a pounding. The dizziness was fading, but my world was still crashing around me.
Oxygen wasn’t going to fix that.
“Jesse’s not my pack.”
It was all I managed to choke out, but it was enough.
“How?” Cameron managed, but Maverick didn’t question it.
“You’ll find your omega,” he promised. “You’ve got someone out there. Just because it won’t include Jesse, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Look at both of us—our packs didn’t meet until we found our omega. It might be the same for you.”
“They look good together,” I said, trying to force a smile. It was like I was a robot, trying to force emotions that just weren’t there. I should be happy for him. Deep down, I really was. He deserved this life with her. I just hated that it didn’t include me.
“Get him over to the bar,” Cameron said, turning around and rushing behind it.
I could hear them talking and the clink of glasses, but it wasn’t until the sharp scent of whiskey hit me that I finally focused enough to swallow down the fiery liquid. It burned its way down my throat, warming my stomach and dulling some of my senses.
I wasn’t sure if this was the right approach, but as he refilled it, I slammed back the second.
“I told Mom and Avery, so you don’t have to,” Maverick said gently. “They’re all here for you if you need anything. Forget the videos you were going to work on tonight. Why don’t you take a couple days off?”
“Maybe I will,” I said, staring down at the third shot.
I could hear tires crunching on gravel, and Maverick looked from the front door to us.
“Let’s take this back to the office at least,” he offered. “The staff are coming in.”
Maybe I’d regret it tomorrow, but drowning my emotions in a bottle of whiskey sounded like the best course of action right now.
“Get it all out, brother,” Cameron suggested as he sat down across from me. Maverick was watching me carefully, like he was expecting me to have a breakdown at any moment.
Lucky for him, I was too numb for tears.
“He was so excited,” I said with a hollow laugh. “He said she smelled incredible. We walk in, and I see her, and she’s just… not my type. I felt nothing. Even her scent wasn’t good.”
“She definitely wasn’t your omega then. I don’t think it would have mattered what hair color or style she had. The moment I saw Oriana, I knew she was mine,” Cameron said. “It’s a soul deep thing you can’t explain.”
Maverick gave him a look. “That’s probably not helpful.”
“No, it is. It makes me feel less crazy,” I said, standing up and starting to pace. The fact that I only had to steady myself once was a win at the moment.
“She smelled like cleaning products. I’m sure to him she smells like something incredible, like lemon meringue or something, but—” I gave a shudder. “I couldn’t imagine spending every day with that.”
“Omega scents are like that,” Maverick said. “To one, they smell incredible. To another, they smell awful. It’s our sign that we’re compatible. And when it’s a drop-you-to-your-knees kind of amazing, then you know that you’re true mates.”
“I tried to tell Jesse this wasn’t going to change anything between us, but it’s going to,” I said, clutching at my hair hard enough it started to sting. “Now, he’s going to be locked into pack life, finding a new place to live and new packmates. Literally everyone around me has a pack, and I’m just here. Forever fucking alone.”
“Don’t lose hope,” Cameron warned. “Fate’ll come right back and smack you in the face when you’re not expecting it.”
“If all else fails, there’s the Omega Network. They have a whole scent-matching program. You’ll find your pack, Nash.”
“I don’t even want to think about it right now,” I said, stumbling towards the door and snatching the bottle of whiskey from Maverick’s desk. “Someone get my ass home.”