Chapter 11 Jagger
ELEVEN
Jagger
PRESENT DAY GOING FORWARD…
“All fixed!” Nash rubs his hands together triumphantly as soon as Tae and I arrive home, a stony silence still hovering between us since scrubbing down every inch of the Tea House kitchen without talking.
“Did you hear me? No leaky shower!” Oblivious to the tension in the room, Nash heads to the kitchen, opens the fridge, then holds out a beer. “Want one?”
As we shake our heads, I feel Tae’s glare burning into the side of my face. I deserve it.
As a beta, his natural scent is usually very faint, but right now I get a whiff of over-extracted coffee. Strong and bitter, like his mood.
“What happened?” Nash slams the fridge door closed, wrinkling his nose. “You both smell like bleach.”
“Tae went on a date,” I say through gritted teeth.
“And Jagger ruined it.” Tae crosses his arms over his chest. “For some mysterious reason that he’s not telling me.”
“Shit.” Nash opens his beer and takes a long, loud slug. “I definitely need a drink for this.” He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Why didn’t you tell us you were going on a date?”
“Yeah,” I snarl at him. “Why didn’t you?”
Tae narrows his eyes. “I didn’t know if she would even show up. I didn’t want to…” he waves his arms around, “jinx anything.”
I snort. “How did you meet her?”
“I should be asking you the same question,” Tae retorts.
“Hold up!” Nash raises one hand. “You both know this girl?”
“Her name is Delilah,” Tae answers him. “And, man, if you met her… you’d know she was special. She’s an omega who loves baking and—”
“An omega?” Nash’s voice deepens to a stormy rumble, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as my natural instincts respond like it’s a bark.
An alpha bark is a tone of voice alphas can use to make omegas comply and can be used by pack leaders on pack members to force obedience.
“We agreed that we were focusing on ourselves. No women.”
Because there are only two alphas in our pack, we took the nontraditional route and decided not to have a pack leader.
We all agreed that we’d have equal say, not wanting to operate in a hierarchy.
If we were to get technical about it, Nash would fall into the leader role as we took his family name, Ward, for official pack registration purposes.
Avoiding using my surname seemed like the best way forward to avoid any unwanted publicity, and it’s not possible to use a betas surname due to outdated laws, so using Tae’s was out of the question.
Until now, I’ve never seen Nash step into leader mode.
“But she’s different,” Tae argues, not picking up on the alpha signals Nash is putting out.
He’s obviously as taken with Delilah as I am.
“And you.” Nash points at me gruffly. “Why do you look like a pressure valve about to blow?”
“I don’t,” I growl back, gripping the back of my neck.
Nash returns to the fridge, hurling two beers in our direction like he’s serving in the World Series. “We can’t have division in our pack. That’s not how this works. We’ve got to sort this shit out, so one of you needs to start talking.”
“I was making out with her, and then he just rocked up,” Tae grumbles.
“You weren’t just making out with her.” I glare at him. “Your cock was buried inside her!”
Nash’s eyes widen. “You fucked her on the first date? You never do that.”
“I told you already, she’s special,” Tae huffs. “And we were having a great time until he showed up.”
“I was stopping by to offer you a ride home,” I hiss. “I didn’t expect to see you wrapped around my omega.”
“Your omega?” Tae’s lip curls. “She’s not yours!”
He’s not an angry person, but right now, Tae looks like he wants to knock me out. I clench my fists as my forearms shake. Bring it on, Tae. A fight would be a great way to expel some of this energy.
“That’s it.” Nash steps between us. “Enough of this territorial bullshit! I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Jagger, but you know better than to lay claim on an omega. They’re not fucking property.”
“She could be if I bite her,” I sneer.
The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.
What the hell has gotten into me? My stomach churns, sickened by myself.
Seeing Delilah and Tae has tapped into an untamed, animalistic part of me that I can’t control.
Plus, scenting her for the first time in a year has made it impossible to think straight.
Now it’s Nash’s fists that clench. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Shit, I didn’t mean to say that.” I rake my hands through my messy hair, pulling at it. “Fuck, fuck… FUCK!”
“Jagger?” Tae watches me closely. Although he was seething moments before, his expression seems to have switched to that of concern. “What is it?”
“It’s…” I pace like a wild animal is clawing underneath my skin, desperate to get out. “She was never just a hookup to me, okay?” The words explode from my mouth. “With Del, it was… different.”
“What do you mean by different?” Tae leans back against the wall, head inclined. “What exactly happened between the two of you?”
I let out a roar as I sweep everything off the kitchen counter top in one swift swipe of my arm.
There are only a few bags of chips remaining, momentarily hovering at the edge before falling to the ground with a resoundingly pathetic plop.
It does nothing to relieve the frustration bubbling within me that’s making me want to tear apart this whole damn house.
Nash pinches the bridge of his nose. “We’re lucky there weren’t any dishes on there.”
My breaths are shooting in and out of my lungs as I spin to punch the wall instead. My knuckles smash into the dry wall, creating a massive crack.
“Dude, you’re scaring me.” Tae catches my arm to stop me from doing it again. “You need to chill out.”
“I can smell her.” Struggling to obtain enough oxygen, I narrow my eyes at him. “Her scent is all over you.”
“Back up, Tae,” Nash orders. “Go grab a shower. Her smell on you is pretty…” He moistens his lips. “Intense.”
Tae pauses then nods. “Fine, but then we need to talk, okay? As a pack. I need to know your history with Delilah.”
Without replying, Tae leaves the room, taking the scent of my omega away with him. The air instantly feels thinner, making it easier to get a handle on myself.
I hang my head over the sink, splashing my face with icy water. My nose stings from the chilly sensation, but it helps clear my mind. Shame surges through me like wild fire. I can’t believe how close I came to almost hurting my packmate.
Nash doesn’t say anything, retreating to the living room where he slurps his beer and watches a basketball game even though he doesn’t follow sports. His gaze flicks to me every so often, but I don’t ask why, needing silence.
When Tae returns ten minutes later, he’s dressed in track pants and a tee, smelling decidedly of his usual self. He looks nervously in my direction, as if he’s afraid that I’m going to launch myself at him any second.
“You good, Jag?” Nash asks.
I go grab a beer before joining them in the living room, nodding shakily while sinking into the armchair opposite him.
I shift my ass from side to side. Nash was right about the furniture being uncomfortable.
I’ll buy us something extra nice tomorrow.
It’s the least I can do to make amends for my behavior.
“Yeah, I’m good.” I clear my throat before continuing. “I’m sorry for… damaging the wall.”
Nash shrugs. “Nothing some spackle can’t fix.”
“And?” Tae clicks his tongue. “Anything else you wanna apologize for?”
“I…” I look down at my grazed knuckles. “Tae… I… shouldn’t have… I’m sorry for ruining your date. With Delilah… I…”
He takes a seat next to Nash. “Are you ready to talk about what happened between the two of you?”
I take a drink. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
The two of them watch me and wait, letting the silence stretch on.
“I met Delilah last year.” I decide to start from the beginning. “Pack Fire played a show at SVU, and we ran into each other after.”
Tae frowns in confusion. “But Delilah told me she isn’t a fan of Pack Fire.”
Nash snickers, earning him a glare from me.
I flick my wrist dismissively. “She didn’t actually see us play.”
Tae leans forward, resting his chin on his hands. “Back to the story, so you met and…?”
“Right after we met, she went into heat.”
Nash sits up straighter now, setting his beer on the coffee table, shoulders tense. Tae’s expression doesn’t change, but a muscle in his neck twitches.
“I…” I can recall practically every perfect moment of the weekend we shared.
I’ve been replaying it every night since.
The memories were starting to blur a little at the edges, but seeing her again brought everything back.
Her full pillowy lips colliding with mine, the velvety touches, the sweet noises she made.
.. “I helped her through it. We spent the weekend together. It was…” I exhale through my nose.
“Amazing. At first, she didn’t know who I really was.
We got to know each other properly. Just the two of us. ”
Tae opens his mouth to speak then closes it again.
“She was… She is…” I roll my shoulders. “The most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Kind, positive, generous, gorgeous, and she smells like apple pie.”
“So what happened?” Tae demands to know. “When she saw you today, she couldn’t get out of the Tea House quick enough.”
“After her heat ended, I left.” I hang my head, gaze zoned in on my lap. “I snuck out and disappeared without saying goodbye.”
Nash crushes his beer can in his large hand. “Helping an omega through heat isn’t something you just walk out on like that. Omegas have needs.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I snap.
“But I don’t get it.” Tae scratches his chin. “If you had a great time together, why did you bail like that?”