37. Garret
Chapter 37
W e pull up to the house, and it’s chaos. There are police, along with an ambulance and fire truck, still there. Sam scrambles out of the truck, looking around wildly for our pack mates, or anyone who can answer questions—then he takes off running towards the shop. I see two of my father’s men sitting in the back of a police car, neither of them looking nearly as injured as I’d like.
My breath seizes in my lungs when I see the bag on the ground. It looks too big to be Kelly, but did they do something to Steve? I can’t imagine Dad would be so careless as to let Steve die when he’s still considered a valuable genetic donor to the cause. I nearly collapse out of the truck myself, stumbling towards the covered shape, needing to know what happened .
An officer steps in my way. His hair is a shocking, almost carrot orange in the bright morning light. My eyes barely skate over him when his hand lands on my chest, and a snarl rips from me. My eyes are drawn back to the shape in the gravel. The shape with a large russet stain around it.
A warm body steps behind me, too small and soft to be Sam, and I instantly know it’s Teddy before his purr starts up. He sounds calm as he addresses the officer, but I can feel the tension radiating off of him, the same as mine. “Officer…Um…Miller?” Teddy squints at the name tag. “I thought Officer Paul’s name was Miller.”
Officer Miller squints back at us. Looking down and taking in Teddy’s wrists and tattoos. “Oh, you must be Teddy…which makes you…Garret? Sorry, Spence just said one of you was pretty and the other looked emo. You look like a bit of both right now with the hair and the circles under your eyes, but if that’s what you were going for, hey, you nailed it. My name's Josh…er…Miller, Officer Josh Miller”
Teddy looks at me with his eyebrows raised before turning back to the smiling officer. “Um, yes. I’m Teddy…and Garret’s usually the pretty one. But we just drove in from Los Angeles and none of us have slept well. Speaking of Steve, where is he? Sam just took off towards the fire truck to find out, but we’re worried about Kelly and Steve…and Jake.”
Officer Josh stares at his feet, looking uncomfortable, and I swallow back the bile that rises in my throat. He looks up at me after a moment, discomfort morphing into concern. The hand that’s been on my chest drops to my arm.
“Oh, shit. No, sorry. Sorry, they…well, I think they’re fine. The EMTs were worried about Steve. Er, your brother, due to blood loss, and Miss Kelly was a bit banged up. But they’ve been at the hospital for a few hours now, and I haven’t heard any word back. I’m taking it as a good sign. Um…Jake, however. Well, none of us have heard from Leo since he took him to the clinic. The big lug was pretty vocal for being shot…er Jake, not Doctor Leo. So, he’s probably fine too…er, they’re both probably fine…um, Doc wasn’t hurt so…”
Is this man an idiot? Why do they allow him to carry a gun? A gun? Wait, shit. “Shot, wait, who shot Jake?”
Teddy has a death grip on my shoulders from behind. The officer turns and nods towards the bag on the ground. “At least, we think it was him. Forensics needs to look into all the weapons, but we know that there were at least two shots fired before we arrived, and then he hit the kid…um, Steve once more before he was subdued.” His voice goes quiet, but I don’t miss the whispered, “Shoulda’ fuckin’ shot him myself. What kind of crazy motherfucker shoots a dog?”
He shakes himself out of his low monologue, looking surprised that we’re still standing here. “So, um…let’s go find Paul, er…the other Officer Miller, and Sam and we can get all your questions answered. I probably wasn’t supposed to say any of that, so if you could not tell him, that ’d be great.” His smile is huge and trusting, and I can only nod, because it’d feel too much like kicking a puppy by telling him no.
There are still a lot of people here, and it unsettles Teddy’s omega instincts to have his home in such disarray. He whines behind me, and I grab his hand, trying to offer him the same support he’s been giving me. Officer Josh waves us away from the bag on the ground—I still want to ask who it is, but right now I just need to find my brother and my beta. For now, though, we follow Officer Josh around the front of the truck and back towards the smoldering heap that was once Sam’s livelihood.
Unfortunately, what we find is a face-off between Sam and Joseph. They’re staring at each other, and everyone around them is tense. How long has this been going on? Has our alpha gotten any answers? No one says anything, and I want to scream just to break the tension.
Thank fuck Teddy is the most well-adjusted motherfucker here, and considering what I’ve suspected since Sarah started screaming at us, that’s not fucking saying much. “Hey Joseph. Uh, How’s Brice doing?” The alpha flinches at hearing his mate's name, and slowly turns towards Teddy, his face going pale. But our omega continues on. “I…um, I talked to Mom. She’s been talking to Aunt Sandra. They told me about him being sick, and that’s why you wanted me to come visit.”
Joseph swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He looks almost as bad as we do on our week of shitty sleep. His eyes have sunken in since I saw him at that fire a couple of weeks ago. He looks pale and sickly, his commanding presence faded. But he nods to Teddy.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s why I wanted you here. Brice…well…he’s pissed at me because he wanted to have a heart to heart with you before it was too late. Something about the secrets and wonders of being a male omega. I don’t fuckin’ know. But it seemed important to him to pass on since there aren’t many around and you’re his cousin. It was important to him.”
Teddy’s gone pale, his voice verging on hysteria. “What do you mean was ? Joseph, what happened, is he…?” The words trail off as Joseph meets his eyes, confusion marring the alpha’s features.
“What, no, he’s fine. Well, not fine, he’s sick as shit, but now that you and Sam are together, it’s not like he’s gonna let you even fucking get tested, let alone donate. The doctors say we’re still early enough, but the chances of finding a suitable donor are slim. Still, we’re gonna keep looking. The whole pack is sending out feelers trying to find omegas who might be willing to at least get tested.”
Sam’s boom of laughter surprises his brother—stopping his rambling reply. Joseph spins, marching towards him, his fist raised in the air, until Officer Josh steps between them. The look he gives Sam is admonishing. “Sam, that’s just plain mean. You never seemed like an asshole to me.”
Our alpha is wiping his eyes, trying to get his chuckle under control as speaks, “Nah. Shit. I’m not laughin’ ’cause of Brice. He’s Teddy’s cousin, and I know my omega’s worried about him. I’m laughing at the thought of me tryin’ to stop that boy from doing any damned thing he wants to do. Joseph, you and Brice’ve been together for how long now? What makes you think Teddy’s any more compliant than his cousin?”
Joseph blinks, Officer Josh blinks, and Sam starts laughing again at their expressions. It’s not until a few moments later when Teddy touches his shoulder and whispers into his ear that Sam’s finally able to get himself under control, his voice still has a laughing edge to, “Now, Teddy says if we’d just fucking talked like adults, we could have avoided a lot of this bullshit, as well as making a scene at the mating ceremony. That being said, he probably wouldn’t have ended up coming home with me if you hadn’t been a fucknugget.”
He turns to Teddy. “Fucknugget, really? Isn’t that a little old school for you?” Teddy smiles at him and Sam turns back to Joseph. “Ok, I guess we’re going with fucknugget. Anyway, he says he’s glad you were a fucknugget because now the five of us are together. So, while we’re talking about my pack, can anyone tell me what the fuck happened here, and where Kelly and Steve are?”
His easygoing manner from a moment ago has evaporated like mist, and even Teddy takes a step back. Joseph and Josh have gone an ashy sort of pale, both looking startled at the sudden change in Sam. But I don’t blame him. I’m tired as fuck, sore, and I want to find my mate and my brother. Plus, have someone tell me who the fuck is in that goddamned bag in our driveway.