Chapter 11 #3
The smile disappears from my face.
“You should put your hand away,” I finally say.
He hesitates just for a second, then his hand lowers.
“Nobody manipulated Lucy.” I push off the wall, close enough now that he has to tip his head back to keep eye contact.
“You’ve met her. If anything, she’s the one running circles around the three of us.
” I hold his gaze. “But if you’re looking for someone to blame because she made a choice you don’t like… ” A slow grin returns. “Keep digging.”
I clap him once on the shoulder as I walk past to go stand by the window in the hallway.
“Good luck with that.”
When I turn, he’s glaring, then he checks his watch, breathing out noisily through his nose. I lean against the wall and let him sweat, and I enjoy every second of him needing to be gone but not being able to leave.
Ten minutes. Three more watch checks. Then the door opens.
Lucy steps out, her eyes are wet, and she doesn’t look back into the room. “My decision stands,” she announces. “Mr. Colby, you can go. There’s nothing here for you.” She turns to me, and her voice catches. “Let’s go home.”
Something bad went down in there. I glance past her through the door and catch Eve against her pillows, shaking her head slowly, mouth pressed tight, and she’s nowhere near happy. Lucy’s already marching off down the hall with her arms wrapped around herself.
Mr. Colby huffs out a stiff goodbye to Eve and stalks toward the elevators. I put my head in the door before I follow Lucy.
“Eve.” I keep my voice low. “You okay? What can I do?”
She lets out a breath that seems to empty her whole small frame.
“It’s done now. Too late to do anything about it.
” Then those hazel eyes pin me where I stand, steel holding back tears.
“You three had better not hurt her. You hear me? Or I’ll come for every one of you, and I don’t care how big you are.
” Her voice roughens. “You’ve no idea what that girl went through when she lost her Alpha, so you’d better be damn certain this is what you want, because I won’t survive watching it happen to her twice.
” Her hand presses against her chest. “You three as her scent matches…” She shakes her head.
“That frightens me more than I can say.”
I step fully into the room. “Eve.” I wait until I’ve got her looking at me.
“You have my word.” I don’t blink. “Nobody’s taking Lucy from us.
Not another man, or bad luck, and not death, if I’ve got anything to say about it.
She’ll never spend another day wondering if she’s wanted, because she’ll know.
” I hold her gaze. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep. ”
She studies me for a long moment. Some of the fight eases out of her shoulders, but the worry never leaves her tight expression.
“Words are cheap, son.”
A corner of my mouth lifts. “Good thing I was never much of a talker.”
She gives the smallest nod and glances toward the door. “Go after her. She shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I find Lucy standing beside the truck in the parking area, arms wrapped tightly around herself, staring at nothing.
The anger I’d been carrying since the hallway dies the instant I spot her. Quickly, I close the distance between us.
“Hey,” I say. “You okay?”
She shakes her head, eyes shining. “She worries so much. And I love that about her, I do, but I just wish she’d have some faith in me and in my decision.” Her breath hitches. “What does she think, that I’ll spend the rest of my life alone? No Alpha, ever? Just safe and empty forever?”
“Listen to me. Your grandmother’s scared because she loves you, and that’s the good kind of scared that stands between you and the world.
” My thumb brushes slowly along her jaw.
“But you’re not spending your life alone.
Not if I’ve got anything to say about it.
” I hold her gaze. “You’ve got three men who’d walk into hell for you, and one of them is standing here promising you this so that you will never again wonder whether you’re wanted.
” I catch her tear with my thumb before it reaches her jaw.
“You made a brave call in there, little bird. We’ve got you. ”
She lets out a shaky breath and leans into my hand, and I hold her until she pulls back.
“Come on.” I unlock the truck and open her door. “Let’s get you home.”
She climbs in, and I close the door behind her before walking around the front of the truck. Halfway there, I stop for a second, the afternoon sun warm across my shoulders, because it finally catches up to me what just happened in that hospital room.
She chose us, and that should feel like nothing but a win, and mostly it does.
Mostly.
But beneath all of it sits a truth I can’t outrun.
Do I have a single thing in me worth giving her? Whether a man built the way I am could ever be enough for an Omega as incredible as her, seeing as my last one left me?
I pull my door open, climb in, and offer her a grin as though I’ve never doubted a thing in my life.
“Home it is.”