Chapter 13
Leroy
B etween Athena being up most of the night and my mind unable to stop thinking of the unhinged Omega who just so happens to be scent matched to my pack, I got zero sleep last night.
Walker and I spent hours with Athena in her nursery talking, trying to get her back to sleep. She wasn’t crying, just a happy little baby with no desire to sleep.
She has us wrapped around her little finger, so we didn’t mind, just enjoying the time with her.
We’ve decided that as long as Savannah doesn’t pose a threat to our daughter, we’re going to give this a chance.
I’ve been asking myself if I need my damn head checked or something because I can’t believe we’re really doing this. We’re allowing a killer into our home, into our lives.
But that's how it works in our world, scent matches are not something you fuck with. I’ve spent years watching the Omegas I was in charge of find their packs, their scent matches. I watched how their whole world changed and how they only lived for each other.
It’s a powerful thing, one I know not to mess with or fight against.
For a minute, I thought Walker was going to fight his bond to Savannah, but I saw how fast he started to grow agitated being away from her, a woman he had just met earlier last night and hardly had a conversation with, yet his mind and body were going crazy without her.
I knew Caleb and Jake were goners. Not only is she their scent match, but she’s the girl they’ve spent years trying to find.
That’s another factor that played a big part in our decision to make this work.
What Savannah has been through had to be horrifying. We might not know all the details, but we’re not stupid. We know the horror stories of Corbin.
It makes me sick to my stomach to think about what she’s had to endure.
If we can give her a better life, then I want that.
Only if bringing her here, into our lives, doesn’t harm our daughter.
We know we really don’t have anything to worry about. Caleb’s sister wouldn’t allow just anyone into her home. If Savannah were a danger, Daphne would have killed her a long time ago.
If she trusts her, then I know Caleb does.
It’s not the first time we looked past a morally grey lifestyle. Caleb’s been doing it for years.
Is it something I like? No, not really. But I’ve seen more than my fair share of morally corrupt men in my lifetime to understand the need for what Caleb does. Even for what Daphne does.
I don’t agree with murder, but if it’s someone who’s so sick and evil that ending their life makes the world a better and safer place, I’m willing to look past it.
I’m still not sure how this is all going to work, but I know I want nothing to do with that side of Savannah. Caleb gets a hard-on for it. Me? I’ll be supportive from the sidelines.
“When are they getting here?” Walker asks.
Lowering the newspaper, I grab my coffee and look over at my packmate pacing back and forth.
He’s conflicted. There’s a part of him screaming to go to Savannah, to wrap her up in his arms and make her his, but the fact is, we just met her. And she’s not just any old stranger, we literally found her trying to get rid of a dead body.
Grabbing my phone off the table, I open the text message thread between Caleb and me.
“He said he was leaving about ten minutes ago. So, any minute now.”
Walker stops and turns to face me. “Am I crazy? I have to be.”
A smile twitches on my lip. “You're an Alpha who just found his scent match. Your emotions and urges are going to be out of whack for a bit. We left right after, you didn’t get any time together. Jake and Caleb spent the night with her, so what you're feeling is the stress of being apart. The unknown. Your mind is telling you that you just found your reason to breathe, and then the air is being taken out of your lungs.”
“I don’t like it,” he grumbles, fisting his hand and rubbing it against his chest. “I don’t like any of this. I liked my life before. I liked going to work, hanging out with you guys, and being a dad to Little Bug.”
“I know how you feel about Omegas, but this is different.”
He raises a brow. “Yeah? How so?”
“Well, she has no idea about your family. So, if she wants you, it won’t be because of the money you come from.”
He huffs out a breath and goes back to pacing.
“I can’t believe you’ve been around this crap for ten years. How did you deal with it?” he asks, not looking at me.
“Just like any other job, it has its ups and downs. Dealing with Alphas and Omegas wasn’t the hard part. It’s dealing with scent matches and the obstacles that could come between them. It’s why I’m not fighting this more. I know what it would mean if you guys were away from her. What it would mean for her to be away from you. She smelled you, she had your scent, and her body reacted to you. If she has a heat, and you guys aren't there, she could die. I know that would kill Jake, and I don’t think Caleb would be all too happy about it either.”
Walker lets out a low growl, cloudy eyes darting my way. I smirk. “And you’d be lying if you said the idea of her coming into harm's way doesn’t bother you.”
I don’t know her well enough to have an attachment to her like the guys already do. I’m not an Alpha, she’s not my scent match, but I am intrigued.
Something about her calls to me. She’s strong, smart, playful, and in the small amount of time I was around her, I found myself wanting more.
When we left to come home last night, I was waiting for Walker to insist we turn around and head back there. But he didn’t. He held strong.
By the looks of him right now, I don’t think he's got much fight left in him anymore.
“Of course, I don’t want anything to happen to her. As far as I know, she didn’t do anything to deserve to be in harm's way.”
He says it as if he doesn't know she’s a serial killer. Still, killing those men isn't killing innocent people.
The type of men she kills are the same type of people who took her, held her against her will for years, and did only god knows what to her. It makes my stomach sick just thinking about it.
I’ve been around Omegas who have been without their Alphas when their heats kicked in. And I’ve been able to get them the help they needed, either by getting them to their Alphas in time, or to the hospital to be under medical observation. There's only been one Omega I didn’t get to in time. The last one I was assigned to. Someone who made a big impact on my life, one I was closer to than most. A friend. Someone I’m still close with to this day. I see him every few months, hang out, and have a drink with his Alphas. Still, sometimes when I close my eyes, I see him, Spencer, lying on the bathroom floor literally dying.
It fucked with my mind, I had to go to counseling that the school provided me because of it. After he was safely part of his pack, I knew I was done. I couldn’t risk being in charge of anyone else, holding their lives in my hands and failing them again. So I retired two years ago.
It didn’t take long for me to get bored, so I ended up getting a part time security gig just guarding businesses during the night.
Once Athena was born, I decided being a full-time dad was for me.
I fucking love it. That little girl is my whole world.
The only thing I’m really worried about is how Savannah is going to feel. Will she want Athena? Will she love her like she’s her own? Or would this be a deal breaker for her?
Because I can tell you right now, all of us would choose Athena over our Omega. No matter how much it would kill us.
I just pray it doesn't come down to that.
The sound of the front door opening has Walker halting. His eyes go wide, flicking over to mine. “I think our Omega is here.” I chuckle.
I say our, but I’m not sure if that’s true. Savannah is scent matched to my best friends, my pack mates, but there's nothing binding us together—nothing pushing her to want me.
What if she’s not attracted to me? I’m older by at least twenty years. I’m not as young as I used to be. I’ve been told I’m a silver fox more than once by Spencer's mate, Everly. She insisted I was good-looking for my age. I’ll have to take her word for it.
I’m fit. I work out regularly. We have a home gym I spend some of my free time in, mostly when the baby is napping or when the guys are home.
But what if I’m not what she wants?
A lot of Omegas don’t want Betas; they can’t always give them what Alphas can.
This isn’t like me. I’m not one to overthink and worry. Yet, I find myself wanting the little spitfire of an Omega to like me, want me, just as much as she would want my packmates.
With the life that I’ve lived, settling down was never really something that was in the cards for me. Finding an Omega wasn't on the top of my list. Sure, I’ve always wanted to find love and settle down... it just never happened.
We’re about to get up and go to greet them when Caleb and Jake come into the kitchen.
“Where is she?” Walker asks, looking behind them, but no one else walks into the room.
“She’s using the bathroom,” Caleb says. “Giving us a second to talk.”
“Everything okay?” I ask, raising a brow.
Caleb lays his hands flat against the table and leans over. “She’s our mate. I’m not giving her up, no matter what. You would have to put a bullet in my chest and bury me six feet under, and I’d still claw my way to the top and find her. And I’m going to speak for Jake and tell you he feels the same way.” I look over to Jake, who stands there, arms crossed. He says nothing, so I’m going to assume Caleb is right in how he feels. “I know she’s not what we would have expected our Omega to be. If anything, I think she’s even better. She’s smart, funny, strong, and—”
“A killer,” Walker grunts.
“So?” Caleb raises a brow. “I’ve killed people before. So has Leroy.”
“It comes with the job,” Walker huffs. “Killing is her job. There’s a difference.”
“So... it’s a deal breaker for you?” Caleb leans back to his full height, crossing his arms.
“No,” Walker sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair. “We talked last night, and ultimately, we’ve decided that as long as Athena is safe and Savannah doesn’t pose a risk to her, we want to see where this goes. I still haven’t wrapped my head around all of this, but Leroy pointed out a lot of important things. We’re Alphas, she’s our scent match. Things work differently for us. I think we’re just so used to living our lives as bachelor Alphas that we forgot what it could be like when we found our mate.”
“Ah, you guys were bachelors. I have never touched another person sexually in my life and never planned on it, unless that person was Savannah,” Jake chimes in.
Caleb holds his hands up. “My whoring around days are over. I’m only a slut for my Omega.” He turns his gaze to Walker. “What about you? We know how you feel about Omegas, can you look past that for her?”
“Yes,” he says.
“And you?” Caleb looks down at me. “You're not in our shoes. You're not driven by hormones and pheromones.”
“Partly true.” I lean back in my seat. “Her scent does get to me, though.” As in it makes my cock so damn hard. It might not drive me as wild as it does these guys, but it’s pretty damn close. I’m not blind, Savannah is gorgeous. I’d be a fool not to feel something when I look at her.
But attraction is only a small part of what makes a relationship work. Who knows what will happen when we spend time together.
“One day at a time. That's how we take this. We get to know her. Let her go at her own pace. We’re not dealing with just anyone, okay? Savannah has been through trauma beyond belief. We won’t know how to navigate that until we know more about her.”
Hurt flashes on Jake’s face before he scrubs his hands down it.
My heart hurts for my friend. He’s spent five long years looking for his Omega. He’s never once given up. I’ve seen the toll it’s taken on him, and there's never been a day I didn’t hate seeing him hurting.
A scream has us all jumping to our feet. We look around at one another with wild eyes. “Athena,” Walker growls, and we’re all taking off out of the room, storming up the steps.
We stumble to a halt as we take in the scene. “Fuck,” I hiss, heart pounding.
Savannah has a knife pressed against Ashley’s throat. Her wide, fear-filled eyes meet us. “Help. Please. This crazy woman is trying to kill me.”
Savannah snorts out a laugh. “Trying? Baby girl, if I really wanted you dead, you’d be bleeding out on the floor right now.”
“Savannah,” I say with caution. I’m not sure what’s going on and why she felt the need to hold Ashley at knife point, but I know if I don’t handle this right, things could end very badly.
“Who is she?” Savannah growls. “Why is there a woman here? With my mates.”
“They’re not your mates,” Ashley cries out, and I groan inwardly. She’s going to make this worse.
“Yes, they fucking are.”
“Savvy, baby,” Caleb tries to soothe, and Savannah's wild eyes dart over to him. “Can you do me a favor and let the Beta go?”
“Not until you tell me why the fuck she’s here. Who is she? Is she your mate?”
“Fuck no.” Caleb snorts out a laugh. “Ashley is the nanny. That's all. You're our mate. You’re our Omega. She doesn’t mean anything to us, not in that way. She helps out with Athena, that’s it.”
Not a complete lie. What he’s not telling her is that Ashley is also the surrogate who carried and gave birth to our daughter. We didn’t use Ashley’s egg, but used an anonymous donor.
The agreement was for Ashley to live with us until Athena was a little bit older. This is all new to me, and while yes, I’m a stay at home dad, I still need help, and the guys have full time jobs.
“Athena,” Savannah says, eyes flicking over to the crib. “Is she yours?” Savannah asks, looking back at us.
“Yes,” I answer.
“Who’s her mother?” Savannah growls.
“No idea,” I answer. “She was made with a donor egg.”
“So no Omega?” She narrows her eyes.
“The only Omega in my life that I’ve ever wanted was you,” Jake answers. “You’ve always been it for me, Savvy. That will never change.”
Savannah’s face softens.
“Has anyone slept with Ashley?” Savannah asks.
“No,” we all reply at once.
I’m trying not to freak out right now. I’ve been in a lot more stressful and deadly situations in my past, but none of them involved my daughter being only a few feet away.
It might be fucked up, but I don’t care in this moment what happens to Ashley, I care about Athena.
“I guess I’ll let you live,” Savannah mutters, pushing Ashley away. Ashley stumbles. No one rushes to help her because I know if one of us touched the other woman right now, Savannah would lose her shit. More than she has already.
She’s jealous and unpredictable. One has me turned on, and the other has me on edge.
“You're crazy!” Ashley shouts, rubbing at her neck as she glares at Savannah. “You should be locked up in a padded cell.”
“Been there, done that.” Savannah looks down at her nails, examining them.
I shouldn’t want to smile, but damn it, there’s just something about this Omega.
“I’m calling the cops!” she shrieks.
“Let me save you the time,” Savannah says. “Hey, Caleb. She wants you.”
I lose it, letting out a snort that I quickly cover up by biting the inside of my cheek.
“You guys can’t be serious right now?” Ashley swings her wild eyes between us.
“I think it’s best if you leave for a little while,” Jake suggests.
“What?” Ashley shouts.
“You heard him. Get gone.” Savannah looks up from her nails. “Before I make you.”
“We’ll talk later, okay? Just... don’t call the cops,” Walker says, going over to the crib to grab the baby. She’s cooing, not bothered at all by any of this. She’s such a good baby.
She narrows her eyes. “I want overtime for this.”
“I’ll give you overtime, in the form of my knife working overtime as I stab you to death,” I hear Savannah mumble.
“Of course. An extra week's pay,” I tell Ashley. I know she needs the money for schooling, she’s not going to turn down that much.
I feel bad. She’s a good woman—kind, great with Athena, and hard working. The agency spoke very highly of her.
We’ve never had an issue with her, but I’m not sure this is all going to work now with Savannah here. We may have to terminate her contract sooner than we planned.
Ashley glares at the four of us before turning fear-filled eyes on Savannah. Savannah grins, then fucking barks like a dog, making Ashley scream before she runs out of the room.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath. Our lives are about to get a hell of a lot more interesting.
Opening my eyes, I walk towards Savannah. She licks her lips, eyes on me. Stopping before her, my six-three frame towers over her five-foot-four.
Her breathing picks up, eyes flicking between mine. I can see the attraction in them, and I try to will my cock to relax. But being this close, smelling her intoxicating scent, isn’t doing anything to help.
“Was that necessary, Little Monster?” I ask her, my fingers reaching up to brush against her jaw, making her shiver and a small whimper slip free, my fingers continuing forward to tuck some hair behind her ear.
“Yes,” she stammers out. Her perfume fills the air, and the guys groan behind me.
My lips kick up at the side, loving how this bad ass little spitfire can become putty in my hands, and I’m not even her Alpha. It makes me want to puff out my chest in pride that I’m affecting her like this.
“Why’s that?” I ask, cocking my head to the side.
“What else do you expect me to do? I found another woman in my pack’s house,” she growls. “I don’t want anyone touching any of you.”
Fuck. I like that. “Does that include me?”
Her brows furrow. “Of course,” she replies instantly. “Why wouldn’t it? You’re mine.” Her growl of possessiveness has my cock twitching.
“You know...” My voice is low and husky as I take a risk with my next move, bringing my fingers up to wrap around her throat. “You’ve been a naughty Omega, Savvy.”
Her eyes flash with anger. “I don’t regret laying a claim on what's mine.”
“Not that.” I shake my head. “No one blames you for that. What I’m upset about is that you did it in front of our daughter.”
Her eyes flash with what looks like guilt as they flick over to Athena and back to me. “I would never hurt her.” I can hear the sincerity in her voice, see it in her eyes.
Somehow, that's all I needed for me to know she’s not a risk to my daughter.
I can feel her racing pulse against my thumb. I don’t have a firm grip, I'm not choking her, not hurting her. I want to, though. I want to tighten my hold and listen to her moan. But now is not that time.
Leaning in, I brush my lips against her forehead and she sucks in a sharp breath. Bringing my lips to her ear, I whisper. “Do it again, and I’m going to have to punish you.”
She whines, and I can't hold back the relief I feel as my fear of going too far disappears. Savannah is going to be a tricky woman to work around. She’s not to be handled like glass. She’d rather stab us with a shard than have us see her as weak. But she’s still an Omega. I can tell from a simple touch she’s touch-starved. I’ve seen it before. I know the signs.
I don’t think anyone will have an issue with giving her what she needs. I know all of us would love any chance to get to touch her, hold her, feel her.
I let go of her, and she almost stumbles forward before righting herself. With a satisfied grin, I turn on my heel and walk out the door before I do something I might regret, like push her against the wall and fuck the sass right out of her.