Chapter 15
Finn
The whiskey burns going down but I take another pull anyway, passing the bottle to Malcolm in the dark.
We're sitting in the garden behind the house, the night air cool enough that I can see my breath when I exhale. Malcolm's sprawled in the other chair, legs stretched out, his face half-shadowed by the single solar light stuck in the flowerbed.
Vee went to bed an hour ago. I watched her climb the stairs, looking steadier than she did a week ago but still carrying that careful quality, like she's not sure the floor will hold.
Rhys watched her go too. He was in the armchair in the living room and he tracked her the whole way up the stairs. Didn't move until her door clicked shut. Then he went back to staring at whatever middle distance he stares at.
I think about that now, in the dark. My chest goes tight with something I'm not ready to name.
Malcolm takes a long drink and sets the bottle on the arm of his chair with a dull thunk.
"Chase called today," he says.
I wait.
"He's still building the case. Nest destruction, heat abandonment, failure to provide adequate care. Jasper's proof has gone a long way. He thinks it's solid but the registry can be unpredictable."
"What happens if they don't rule in our favor?"
Malcolm's mouth tightens. "Then we figure something else out."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, Finn. But she's not going back there."
I reach for the bottle and take another sip. The whiskey is cheaper than what we usually buy but it does the job.
"Do you think she wants out?" The question comes out quieter than I mean it to.
Malcolm looks at me like I've grown a second head. "Of course she does."
"We don't know that."
"What are you talking about?"
I stare at the dark shapes of the tomato plants Vee put out.
Alex picked them up from a local nursery.
Her face lit up when he gave them to her and I had the sudden urge to kiss her.
Which I had to squash quickly, of course.
She's not ours. She can't be. "She loved that pack for years, Malcolm. Five years. That's not nothing."
"Fuck that." Malcolm sits forward, his voice sharp. "She's never going back. They'll destroy her. They don't deserve her."
"Maybe we don't either."
The words hang in the air between us.
Malcolm glares at me. "How can you say that?"
"Because we're a joke, Malcolm." I take another drink. The burn feels appropriate. "We aren't much better than them. We lied to her and manipulated her for months. We lived next door and watched her get smaller and sadder and we didn't do anything."
"We were waiting for—"
"We left her in that house with that alpha for months before we took her. We should have taken her before it got that bad."
Malcolm's expression darkens. "Chase hadn't given us the go-ahead. We had nowhere to hide her before Chase got us here. We couldn't just kidnap her, Finn."
"We should have done something."
"Like what? Storm the house? Get arrested? Get Alex sent back to prison? Get her sent back to the registry immediately?" Malcolm shakes his head. "No one thought it would get as bad as it did. We thought we had more time."
"We should have known." I lean forward, elbows on my knees. "After Ragon destroyed her nest like that, we should have known."
Silence.
Malcolm takes a long pull from the bottle. When he finally speaks, his voice sounds rough. "You're right about that."
I look at him.
"We fucked up too," he says. "We saw the signs and we didn't act fast enough. We should have pushed harder, found another way." He sets the bottle down harder than necessary. "But now we're going to make it right. She never has to go back to that."
"We can't have her either, Malcolm." The words taste bitter. "Or did you forget that?"
"Chase might get the flag lifted. It's not impossible." Malcolm's voice carries something desperate. "Alex has done so well. There's been zero history since that night at the bar. He's done everything they wanted him to do. He's more in control than either of us now."
"But that doesn't change how fucked the system is," I reply. "We may have to accept that Vee ends up somewhere else. Maybe even in Chase's pack. Or some other pack the registry chooses. But anything has to be better than Ragon's."
Malcolm's eyes flash in the dim light. "It will be a cold day in hell before I let that place give our scent match to another shitty pack. She's already been through two. And if they try to force her back to Ragon’s, I’ll obliterate hell itself. You know I will, Finn."
That sits between us.
We drink in silence for a while.
"She's good with Rhys," I say eventually.
Malcolm exhales, something releasing in him. "Yeah."
"I've never seen him like that with anyone."
"Neither have I." Malcolm turns the bottle in his hands.
"You know what got me? This morning. She came downstairs and he was already in the kitchen and he just—he had her breakfast ready, sitting on the counter.
Right where she'd reach for it, just like he’s been doing with all the other stuff.
But what got me… the absolute softness in his eyes.
" He pauses. "He's gone for her, Finn. Utterly gone. "
"He notices things."
"He noticed her before he even met her." Malcolm's voice drops. "Arden told me. When he first brought the blanket. He said Rhys sat with it for an hour and didn’t move. Just—breathing it in. Then he snarled at him when he tried to take it back."
I think about Rhys in that house with Chase and Arden alone most of the time. Doing the slow, grinding work of putting himself back together, not expecting anything on the other side of it. Certainly not an omega. Especially not a scent match.
We thought we'd never have one either.
"The stars kind of aligned for this," I say. "Except for the part where they didn't."
Malcolm huffs, not quite a laugh. "The flag."
"The flag," I agree. "We found our match and Alex can't legally be near her. We thought that was it. That we'd just—watch out for her and walk away eventually."
"And then Rhys."
"And then Rhys," I say. "Who we also thought would never have an omega because every omega who gets within ten feet of him looks at him like he's going to eat them."
"Except Vee."
"Except Vee." I shake my head slowly. "She walked in there and just—didn't. Arden said she barely flinched. That by the time they got near each other she was already leaning in."
Malcolm is quiet. "I used to worry about him.
About whether he'd ever get to have this.
A real life. An omega who wasn't scared of him.
" He sounds rough around the edges in like he gets when he's feeling something he doesn't want to name.
"He's pack, Finn. He's been pack since before you even joined us.
And watching him be alone in that house with Chase and Arden because he couldn't be next door to us—because being around Ragon's alphas would have gotten Vee killed—"
"I know."
"He never once complained about it."
We sit with that.
The whiskey bottle gets lighter. The night gets colder.
"I need to tell you something," I say finally. The words feel like they're being dragged out of me.
Malcolm looks over at me, waiting.
"When Alex got the registry ban," I start, then stop. Take another drink and try again. "I know this is horrible of me. But I was relieved, Malcolm."
Silence.
"I was relieved because I'm in a pack of three alphas and I'm the only beta and I thought—" My throat closes up. I force the words out anyway. "What would I do with an omega?"
Malcolm doesn't say anything.
"I don't have a knot." The confession spills out now, can't be stopped. "I can't purr. I don't even have the right pheromones. I can't give her what she needs biologically. I can't—"
I stop. Swallow hard.
"What kind of pack brother am I that I was happy when I found out we'd never have an omega?" The question comes out raw.
The silence stretches.
Then Malcolm leans back in his chair and looks up at the stars. "You're human, Finn."
I wait for the rest. The condemnation. The disgust.
"And I can guarantee that girl in there doesn't give a crap that you can't purr for her," Malcolm says. "She has me for that. You know I love that shit anyway."
"Malcolm—"
"You notice things we miss. You keep this household running." He takes another drink. "And Vee's not shallow enough to care about biological bullshit. If she was, she wouldn't have stayed with Ragon's pack as long as she did."
I want to believe him. God, I want to believe him.
"But when it comes to bonding—" I start.
"If it comes to bonding, we'll figure it out,” he says. "Pack bonds aren't just about who has a knot and who doesn't. You think every beta in every pack spends their life feeling inadequate? That's bullshit."
"It's different when—"
"When what? When you actually want the omega?" Malcolm looks at me. "Yeah, Finn. It's different. Because now you give a shit. But that doesn't mean you're less than. It means you care."
I stare at the whiskey bottle. "I was happy Alex got that ban. What kind of person does that make me?"
"A person who was scared." Malcolm's voice softens slightly. "A person who didn't know what he wanted yet. Cut yourself some slack."
"I should have been there for him. I should have been angry for him, not relieved for myself."
"You were there for him. You've been there for him every day since." Malcolm reaches for the bottle. "One moment of relief doesn't erase years of brotherhood, Finn. Alex knows that."
"Does he?"
"Yeah. He does."
We sit in silence for a while. The whiskey makes everything softer around the edges.
"And Rhys," I say. "He's going to be the one who can give her everything we can't."
Malcolm glances at me.