Chapter 18 #2
"I knew Rhys wouldn't survive prison," Alex says flatly. "Not after everything that had already happened to him. Not with his reactions to alphas he doesn't know. He couldn’t be locked in a place like that with no way out." His brows furrow. "He would have been dead within six months."
The certainty in his voice lands.
Not a guess, a calculation.
"I punched the brick wall enough to make my knuckles bleed.
" He says it matter-of-factly. "I told Malcolm and Finn to get Rhys out of there.
By the time the police arrived there was one alpha standing over an unconscious man with blood on his hands.
They didn't look very hard for another explanation.
The omega never said it wasn't me. Neither did the alpha when he woke up in the hospital. "
I sit with that.
"You took the flag too," I say. "Not just the prison. The flag."
"Yes."
"Which means you can't have an omega." I look at him. "Which means you can't have me."
Alex is quiet.
"I hate what it cost," he says finally. "That's the honest answer.
I hate that it put us in this situation.
That Chase has has to fight this hard to try to get it lifted.
That there's still a real possibility he won't be able to.
" He pauses. "I hate what it cost you specifically.
That you've had to exist in this uncertainty because of a choice I made. "
"But you'd do it again."
"Without hesitation." The words come out steady. Certain. "Rhys wouldn't have survived it, Vee. He barely survived what happened to him before that night. If prison had been next—" He shakes his head. "There was no version of that where he came out the other side."
I look out the window. The trees, the sky, the ordinary world moving past.
Rhys in the armchair beside my bed comes back to me. His stuttering purr and his hand on the edge of the mattress, waiting. How he flushed when I kissed his cheek like no one had ever done something that simple for him before.
"How do you do that?" I ask after a moment.
"Do what?"
"Lead the way you do." I’m thinking of the living room this morning.
Rhys, who could have physically moved Alex out of the way without much effort, standing down because Alex asked him to with calm reasoning instead of a command.
"Ragon used his bark constantly. He made everyone feel the dominance of it but you never do. "
Alex considers this. "Ragon's authority needed the bark to hold it up," he says finally. "If you have to keep reminding people you're in charge, you're not really in charge."
I think about that for the rest of the drive.
The bistro is small and charming, all exposed brick and hanging plants. Jess is already at a table when we walk in, and she jumps up the second she sees me.
"VEE!" She crosses the space in three strides and wraps me in a hug so tight I can't breathe.
I hug her back just as hard.
"I missed you," she says into my shoulder.
"I missed you too."
The door chimes and Noah bursts in with Jonah right behind him. Noah makes a beeline for us and throws his arms around both me and Jess.
"Group hug!" he announces unnecessarily.
I laugh into the tangle of arms and hair.
When we finally pull apart, I notice Jonah and Alex shaking hands. Jonah's expression is cautious but polite. Alex is his usual calm self.
"We'll give you some space," Alex says, nodding toward a table across the room. "Take your time."
Jonah follows him without protest.
The three of us settle at our table. A server appears almost immediately and I order a salad and a cocktail. The cocktail feels daring. Normal. Like something a person does when they're having lunch with friends.
"Okay," Jess says the second the server leaves. "Spill. What happened?"
I give them the condensed version about heat and scent matches. Leaving Ragon's pack and staying with Alex and his pack while everything gets sorted out.
Noah's eyes go wide. "Your scent matches? Like, actual scent matches?"
"Yeah."
"That's amazing!" He grabs my hand across the table. "Vee, that's incredible!"
"It's complicated," I say.
"Yeah, but still." Jess leans back in her chair. "Scent matches are rare." She glances across the room at Alex. "Not to be superficial, but holy shit, Vee. He's a hunk."
My face heats. "Jess."
"What? I have eyes." She grins. "Are the others also hunks?"
"There's four of them right?" Noah asks dreamily. "Four hunks. Vee, you're living the dream. I mean, I am too, my guys are also hunks, but I can be happy for you too!"
"One of them is a beta," I say.
Noah waves a hand. "Betas can be hunks too. Equal opportunity hunks."
I think about Rhys, who is currently at the cabin, enormous and scarred and probably staring at the door waiting for me to come back through it, and decide this particular conversation topic has enough complexity to save for another day.
"Rhys though," I say. "He's—a lot to explain."
Noah's eyes light up.
"Later," I say firmly.
The food arrives and we fall into easy conversation.
"So I finally quit that awful call center job," Jess says, spearing a cherry tomato with her fork. "I'm at Bookmark now—you know, that indie place on Maple? The owner lets me read during slow shifts."
"She's already reorganized their entire romance section," Noah adds.
"Someone had to! They had historical and paranormal all mixed together. It was chaos."
I laugh. "You should meet Finn, he color-codes the refrigerator. Even the leftovers have to go in specific containers."
"Seriously?" Noah's eyes widen.
"And Malcolm can't cook to save his life. Last week he burned pasta. Who burns pasta?"
"Pasta?" Jess snorts. "How is that even possible?"
"He forgot he was boiling it and all the water evaporated. The pot was ruined."
"What about Alex?" Noah wiggles his eyebrows. "Any fun facts?"
I feel my cheeks warm. "He bought me tomato plants. He knows I like to garden."
"That's sweet," Noah says, his voice going soft.
"It is," I agree.
This is the most normal I've felt in weeks. Maybe months.
No one mentions Ragon or Marie or any of it. We just laugh and eat and exist together like we used to.
When lunch is over and we're standing in the parking lot saying goodbye, Jess hugs me again.
"Call us," she says. "Anytime. We're here."
"I will," I promise.
Noah squeezes me so tight my ribs protest. "Love you, Vee."
"Love you too."
Alex and I drive back in comfortable silence for the first few minutes.
"Thank you," I say finally. "For bringing me. I needed that."
"I could tell."
I study his profile as he drives. The calm steadiness of him. How he carries authority like something he doesn't have to announce.
"He's lucky," I say. "Rhys. To have you."
Alex glances at me briefly.
"He doesn't have to be grateful to you," I continue. "He probably doesn't even fully understand what it cost. But he’s lucky."
Alex is quiet.
"We're all lucky," he says finally. "That's the point of a pack."
We pull into the driveway. The cabin that's starting to feel like somewhere I belong.
Before I've finished getting out of the car, the front door opens.
Rhys is in the doorway.
He's not doing anything. Just standing there. Taking up most of the door frame, arms at his sides, eyes finding me immediately.
I cross the driveway and go up the porch steps.
He doesn't move from the doorway, just watches me come.
When I reach him I step into his chest without preamble.
His arms close around me immediately. No half-second pause this time, just immediate and complete.
"I'm back," I say.
His chin comes down to rest on the top of my head.
Behind me I hear Alex come up the steps. He passes us without comment, ducking around Rhys's arm in the doorframe and goes inside.
We stay there in the doorway.
"Told you," I say.
Rhys makes a sound in his chest, low, not quite a word.
But his arms tighten, just slightly, and I think it means something like: yes. You did.
And for the first time in a long time, I'm exactly where I told someone I would be.
It turns out that's not a small thing.