Chapter 51
chapter
fifty-one
Orlando Orthopedic Specialists
“Are you sure you want to do this today?”
Colt grunts, shuffling into the exam room. He runs his hand though his loose, over-long hair—a new fidgeting gesture that’s replaced the way he used to adjust his Kings cap all the time.
He hasn’t worn it in weeks , I realize. Could that have anything to do with the reason we’re here? Does wearing it remind him of everything he’ll lose if he can’t play again?
Oblivious to my sympathetic anxiety, Colt grimaces as he hauls himself onto the table. Sterile paper crinkles under his palms and the seat of his sweatpants. He glares at the source of the noise, then at me.
“Yes.”
Alright then .
The door flies open without a knock. We both turn, expecting the doctor, but it’s Dante, panting. “The fuck?” he demands. “You guys seriously came here without me?!”
Colt’s bearded mouth hardens as mine drops open. We exchange another glance. Busted .
Dante narrows his dark gaze at us. “You fuckers! I thought you were going out with Bridget!”
Because we may have implied that we were going to tag along when she mentioned another Zumba class. Sighing, I explain, “Colt made an appointment to hear the results of his scans, but he didn’t want?—”
“Me?!” Dante practically shouts.
“Drama,” Colt grumbles. “You know, like busting into an exam room and yelling? That sort of thing.”
Dante simmers down, pouting. “Dickheads.”
“How did you know we were here?” I ask. “We only told?—”
Adrian steps into the room next. Moving in calm silence, of course. “I thought it was important for all of us to be here,” he clarifies, shooting Colt and me each a raised brow. “We’re a pack now.”
It’s all I ever wanted—and months ago, it felt like an impossible dream. Now, with Bridget at our center?
Dante’s posture slumps. I can tell he agrees, but has to keep arguing because of who he is as a person. He crosses his arms mulishly. “Bridget should be here.”
Colt’s teeth grind audibly. “I didn’t tell her on purpose. I don’t want her to stress about this until they’ve run the damn tests.”
I couldn’t argue, because that was my logic the night he got in the crash. I decided not to cause our omega any anxiety until we knew what was happening.
Regret bleeds into the emotions churning through my middle. If having Bridget in our lives for real has taught me anything, it’s the importance of speaking up and doing what I know is right. I clear my throat, forcing out the words I should have said a long time ago.
“I’m sorry for not calling Bridget to come see you,” I tell Colt. “That was my decision. And it was a bad one.”
Colt raises his somber gray eyes, staring back at me. I feel Dante gazing at my profile, too. He huffs a sigh.
“Hell, I could have done it,” he admits. “Jesse was up to his knees in insurance and press and calling Adrian.” My packmate nudges my arm. “You always had to do everything. I could have paid more attention.”
I open my mouth to answer—or just gape—but he goes on, throwing his hands up, “And, carajo , while we’re at it, I was the one who ruined our pack’s reputation with the press. All the clubbing and girls and spending. I’m the reason we had to make this stupid deal with Bridget in the first place.”
I wince, remembering. “I could have been honest about my feelings for her, and maybe we could have courted from the beginning.”
Colt blows out a deep breath. “Hell, I could have been honest about my feelings. That day, when we went to her house, I’d never had a reaction like that to another omega. I should have told you guys, but I was so fucking pissed about fumbling her…”
Adrian looks at each of us in turn. We all glance at one another, too. A jolt of hopeless amusement hits my throat. Or maybe that’s half a sob.
“We need her,” I realize, the words crumbling.
Colt’s answering nod is slow. “Yeah. We do.”
Dante huffs a frustrated sound. “I know we’re supposed to wait and look for our real mate , or whatever, but?—”
But none of us wants a mate.
We want Bridget.
There’s a certain purity to it, really. My attraction to her isn’t some instantaneous, uncontrollable thing. The way we fit together wasn’t inevitable. Maybe it isn’t even right , but…
I don’t care.
“I love her.”
My words cut the others off mid-discussion. They each turn to me again. Adrian’s eyes glint, and Colt’s jaw hardens while Dante swallows.
“I love her, too,” our pack leader admits.
Dante nods. “Me three.”
We stare at Colt. Knowing he’s usually the holdout. He manages to bob his head, though. “I didn’t know I could love someone the way I love her. I won’t—I can’t imagine ever wanting anyone else.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpens. “Has she said that she thinks we would?”
Colt hesitates, grinding his molars. Debating whether he should share anything Bridget said to him. “She’s worried about not being our mate,” he finally mutters. “Thinks we’ll be out the door the second we find a scent match.”
Dante scrubs his hands over his face. “Are we sure she isn’t our scent match? I mean, I know she isn’t our mate , but her perfume keeps changing. And getting better .”
I agree, lifting my chin. “I’ve noticed that, too. I thought the edge she has sometimes was just normal omega stuff—her scent getting sour or bitter when she’s upset… but every time she’s been really sad or scared, it’s like she starts to disappear instead.”
Adrian sighs, looking down at his leather loafers.
“I had a similar experience with her at the spa. She was extremely muted at first, feeling unsure. Then she bloomed into this bright sweetness—until her sister showed up and threw some shit in her face. It was upsetting, obviously, and it turned her scent. But it’s odd that the same emotions affect her differently each time. ”
A memory from high school flashes through my mind—Alicia’s face, stuck in a sneer as she rolled her eyes behind Bridget’s back. My lungs shudder on a growl. “What did her sister say?”
Adrian rarely looks agitated, but he tugs at his silver-blue tie, snarling, “She was horrified that Bridget would dare set foot in the spa she and all her friends frequent. Then she moved on to interrogating me and deigning to grant Bridget permission to go to a charity gala.”
That sounds like Alicia, actually. The more I think back, the more I wonder why I ever associated with her in the first place.
I have a sneaking suspicion it was all about her red-haired sister.
“Is it the Ospreys’ thing?” Dante asks, swiping his phone open. “I saw the invite for it pinned to the fridge, but I figured she wasn’t going since she never mentioned it.”
“She wasn’t allowed to mention it, according to Alicia,” Adrian goes on, more menacing than I’ve ever heard him. “She wasn’t supposed to attend, apparently. Despite being on the damn board of the philanthropy.”
Malice glints in Dante’s eyes. “Oh, that bitch better pray I don’t run into her at that gala. No one shames my omega.”
“ Our omega,” the rest of us growl in unison.
Silence dangles between us. We all flick glances at each other, coming to grips with what we’re really saying.
Two months ago, I might have let one of them state the obvious. Hell, one month ago, I would have looked to Adrian for a solution.
But Bridget’s made me a better alpha. A better packmate and person and friend. So I take a page from her book and stand tall, squaring my shoulders. “I don’t care that she’s not our mate. I want to bond with her.”
The room seems to exhale all at once.
“Thank God ,” Colt groans at the same moment Dante claps, whooping, “ Yes . Fuck yes.”
Adrian smirks at them before settling his gaze on mine. His steady nod drips pack leader approval and pride. “We’ll take her out,” he decides. “And tell her so.”