Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Crystal
Please head to my place as soon as possible.
I’ll be there around three.
I knock on Crystal’s door, and Gage opens it quickly, but it is not quick enough to stop his dog from barking. The sound is like nails behind my eyeballs.
Pain level: Eight. Nearly unbearable.
“You got the text, too, then?” he asks.
My nod is tight, and my teeth are gritted. The overhead lights have me wincing as I push past the Beta.
I’m not doing well. I wanted to come over for breakfast this morning before Crystal went to work, but my migraine was too much to make the trip.
Fuck, it’s still too much, but she needs me, so I’m here.
“Can we turn off the overhead lights?” I say softly. Even my voice hurts my head tonight.
Gage winces as he shushes the dog and nods, flicking the light off and turning on a small lamp beside the couch. Maverick flies into the room as I curl up, resting my head on my knees.
“Manny, my man-y!”
His presence is giant for such a slight form, and I usually don’t mind it, but right now it’s too fucking much.
“Shut the fuck up,” I snap at him.
The other Alpha blanches and takes a step back. “I was just…”
It’s clear I’ve hurt him, and my stomach roils with guilt. Before I can explain myself, though, Gage steps in. “Hey, Mav, Manny has a migraine right now. Loud noises hurt him, and he would normally be in a dark room under a few blankets right now.”
My migraines started when I was a teenager, but I’m still surprised Gage recognizes and remembers how I cope.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you. That was unfair of me,” I say through gritted teeth. “Normally, I’d be home when it’s this bad, but Crystal needs us.”
That’s the funny thing about living with chronic pain. You figure out how to deal with it because the alternative is your entire life being put on hold regularly.
And I’m not willing to let my Omega down and miss out on the important moments.
Gage’s strange-looking mutt climbs onto my lap and curls up. I find myself rubbing my fingers through his wiry fur, not minding that he’s taken up residence on me. I feel a little of the tension leave me. “What’s his name?”
“Burger,” Gage replies, lowering himself next to me.
Maverick still stands in front of us, blinking and looking entirely unmoored. His fingers flex repeatedly. I’m not sure what’s going on in his mind, but I don’t like that my snapping at him was the cause of his mood change.
He didn’t know I have a migraine. It’s my responsibility to manage my pain without being an asshole to everyone around me. This is my pack, and I can’t take it out on them.
“Hey, Maverick,” I say, angling my body towards him. “I’m really sorry, buddy. Come sit with us, yeah? What do you think Crystal needs?”
The Alpha seems to shake off his fog at my words and launches onto the empty armchair. “No idea. I was gonna be here anyway, though. My house feels so empty now that I know what sleeping with her is like.”
I feel a twinge of jealousy that I didn’t get that time with her. I know we’ll all have unique relationships with her, but I can’t help but feel like I’ll be left behind because sometimes I can’t show up.
When I got Crystal’s text an hour ago, the special alert sound I set for her woke me from a fitful sleep, and I immediately rolled out of bed. Now I’m wringing my hands anxiously, waiting for her to come home.
Does she not want us?
Is she calling us here to tell us she’s changed her mind?
Did something happen at work?
Of course, something happened at work. She texted while she was there.
I hear a key in the door and clutch onto Burger to keep him from rushing towards her. When Crystal walks around the corner, a growl rips out of my throat, and Maverick rushes her, his voice equally raspy.
Crystal has a mass of purple bruises around her neck in the shape of a hand.
“What happened?” Maverick demands. “Who the fuck did this?”
“Kieran,” she says, sounding like she smoked a pack of cigarettes on the way home. Did he damage her vocal cords?
I’ll fucking kill him.
“He knows about you guys,” she continues, slumping into Maverick’s waiting arms. “He knows.”
“Puck,” Gage snarls. “That fucking piece of shit.”
“It wasn’t Puck,” she insists. “It wasn’t.”
I’m not so sure. He’s the right hand of a monster. Can he be that much better? When I met him, the first thing he did was slam me against a wall.
Sure, he thought he was protecting Crystal from me, but still.
He kept crucial information from her for a long time.
“Can we go to the nest?” she asks weakly. Maverick doesn’t answer. He scoops her up in his arms and buries his face in her neck as he walks her into the small, closet-like room.
We all settle around her, and though it takes some coaxing, I convince Maverick to let her recline against me so I can breathe in some of her sweet peppermint scent. It’s not a perfect fix, but it does give me a small amount of relief from the pain and allows me to be more present in the conversation.
Gage hangs awkwardly on the periphery, unsure if he’s supposed to be here. But our Omega is observant, and she calls him towards us, and eventually, we’re all in a puppy pile together, touching her, stroking her hair, and purring.
“I have some … news.” It takes her a moment to find the word, betraying how conflicted she is about this information. I knead her shoulders, silently encouraging her.
“Puck is an Alpha.”
My hands freeze.
I must’ve misheard her because the Puck that was here was very much a Beta. A big one, to be sure, but a Beta.
“That’s not possible,” I tell her. “We met him.”
“He’s been taking some meds to repress his Alpha nature.”
“I’ve never heard of meds like that,” Maverick muses. “Where would he get them?”
“He said they were experimental. But regardless, he’s an Alpha.” She gulps a little, burying her face in her hands. “He’s my Alpha.”
None of us says anything for a long time before Maverick breaks the silence. “You’re saying he’s your scent match? Our packmate?”
“Yeah, I am. But you don’t have to worry. He’s not joining our pack,” she rushes to add. “I found out a lot of things about him, and the lies are more extensive than I thought. He could’ve gotten me out of Kieran’s control a long time ago, but he didn’t. I don’t think I can ever forgive him for that.”
“Why did he tell you all of this?” Gage asks, adjusting himself to be closer to us. “Why come clean now?”
“Because Kieran attacked me, and Puck went feral.”
I growl loudly, which is uncharacteristic of me, and pin her tightly to my chest. She yelps in pain, and I release her. Slowly, my Omega lifts her shirt, revealing black and blue ribs. I never want to see her in those colors again.
“I think Puck went into some sort of Alpha guard when he saw me, and it overpowered the meds.” Crystal chews at her lip, looking anywhere but at the three of us. “He was in a rage, about to go find Kieran and attack him. I couldn’t let him do that. Kieran would have killed him.” She sighs, rubbing her hands on her face. Exhaustion seeps out of her pores, and I wish I could bundle her up and push her problems off until morning. “And despite everything, I don’t want him dead.”
We sit in silence, and Crystal worries her hands in her lap. Eventually, she exhales heavily and looks up at the lightly draped ceiling of the room. “I slept with him. He… he didn’t force me.”
Maverick speaks first, his view of the world uncomplicated. “He’s your Alpha. Of course, you slept with him.”
A very ugly emotion grows within me, and I have to fight not to push Crystal away from me. She and I are taking things slow, and that’s fine, but the idea of her sleeping with that liar, letting him explore her body, leaves me queasy.
He doesn’t deserve to touch her.
“Why did you do it?” I ask, immediately regretting it when her body stiffens against mine. She tries momentarily to wiggle away, but I gently band my arms around her. I purr for her, feeling her relax into my body.
It’s not that I feel betrayed by her. I don’t. I know that an Omega and their scent matched Alpha are nearly impossible to keep apart. What bothers me the most is that he was beside her for years, her Alpha, and couldn’t protect her. He was always there, and he let her get attacked, let her be bitten over and over for years.
Does he not feel guilty for sleeping with her? Does he not realize that she is a beautiful gift he has no right to open?
“It was the only way to get him to calm down. I knew nothing about how he could’ve gotten me out then. All I knew was he was my scent match and in distress. I would’ve done the same for any of you.” Gage doesn’t even have to open his mouth before she stares him down. “Even you, Gage. If you were distressed, I would stop at nothing to make you feel better.”
Gage gives her a crooked smile, showing off his crowded teeth. “I know, Crys. I’d do the same for you.”
“Why did Kieran attack you?” I’m trying to get the conversation away from Puck. I don’t want to think about the other Alpha and how I’m going to have to get over my animosity toward him. “I thought he coveted you.”
“He found out about you guys and assumed I was planning a way to escape him. He wanted to make it clear to me there was no escape.” She shudders and finally manages to slip out of my arms, moving to crawl into Gage’s lap. He looks shocked but gathers her in his heavily tattooed and freckled arms. “He’s threatened me a few times, but I always thought I was too valuable to hurt. I was wrong. It was his way of discouraging me from whatever is happening with us.”
“If Puck didn’t tell him, how does he know?” I find it hard to believe that he didn’t, but if Crystal believes and trusts him, I need to get over it. She knows him better than I do, and my vision is currently clouded by anger and pain.
“He said he knew you guys were coming into my house. I don’t know how. Maybe he is having me followed, or one of my neighbors is a rat or something. Regardless, this is likely the last time I’ll have you over. It’s still a risk, but since I was at Prism when you all got here…”
“You think he wasn’t bothering to have your house watched,” Maverick finishes for her. “Which means we’ll need to stay here until after you go to work tomorrow. Err. Today, I guess.”
She goes to speak, but a massive yawn interrupts her words. Gage chuckles and kisses her temple. “You’re exhausted. Let’s get you some pain meds and then get you some rest. We can talk through all this when we’re not so tired.”
Crystal makes an agreeable, sweet, and squeaky noise as Maverick heads out of the nest in search of medicine. Eventually, we all get comfortable and lie in a pile as a pack, forming a protective barrier around our Omega.