42. Jake
CHAPTER 42
Jake
Todd stands in the middle of the small lounge in the hotel suite, his arms crossed and his expression harder than usual. Xayden is sprawled across one of the chairs, spinning a drumstick between his fingers, though his usual grin is nowhere to be seen. West sits stiffly on the couch, his gaze fixed on the floor like it holds all the answers. And me? I’m leaning against the wall, arms folded, trying to process everything Todd just laid out.
“So, let me get this straight,” Xayden says, breaking the tense silence. His voice is lighter than the mood warrants, but the tension underneath is unmistakable. “She’s decided to go into heat, with us around, and we’re all supposed to just… what? Knot her and not put our marks on her neck?”
“She’s trusting us,” Todd says firmly, his gaze flicking between the three of us. “She’s choosing to let us help her through this. And yeah, it’s going to be a lot, but we owe it to her not to screw this up.”
“And by ‘help,’ you mean what exactly?” West asks, his voice low, edged with tension but calm.
We all know what Todd means. The room feels thick with the unspoken reality of the situation. I can feel Xayden and West waiting for Todd to reply, their instincts probably flaring already at the thought of what’s coming.
My beta nose isn’t as good as theirs, but even I can smell the subtle changes in their musks—Xayden’s sharper with his signature spice, West’s quieter but unmistakable, grounding like whiskey smoke. And mine? Probably muted but still there, adding to the swirl of tension. Normally she’s the only one I can really smell, but when they are all high strung, they seep into my senses.
“Do whatever she needs to get through it. Buy her nice blankets…some candles, all of the things that she will need,” Todd says, his tone resolute, his hands gripping the back of the chair in front of him. “But we’re not biting her. Not yet. Not unless she wants that.”
The unspoken words hover in the air, and all eyes shift to me.
I straighten, feeling their expectations settle on my shoulders. Being the beta means I won’t lose my head when her scent spikes, but it also means I’m the one who has to make sure none of them lose control.
“You’re putting a lot of faith in me,” I say, my voice calm but firm. “You think I can keep all of you in line when she’s… like that?”
“You’re the only one who can,” Todd says simply, his gaze steady.
Xayden exhales harshly, the sound almost a growl as he taps his drumstick against the arm of the chair he’s slouched in. “Look, I can handle myself. I’m not some feral idiot who can’t control his instincts.”
Todd raises an eyebrow, his expression skeptical. “Can you?”
Xayden’s jaw tightens, his usual grin nowhere to be found. “Yeah, I can,” he says, but there’s a flicker of doubt behind his words that he tries to bury.
West finally speaks, his voice quieter than usual but carrying a gravity that pulls our attention. “She’s not just testing us. She’s trusting us. That means we have to trust each other, too.”
It’s a rare moment of vulnerability from him, and it shifts the tension in the room.
“She’s giving us a chance,” I say, pushing off the wall and meeting Todd’s gaze head-on. “We can’t screw it up. Not this time.”
“I don’t plan to,” Todd says, his voice lower now, steadier. “None of us do. But it’s going to be… intense. And Jake, you’ve got to be ready to step in if it gets to be too much.”
“I’ll handle it,” I say, leaving no room for doubt.
Xayden leans back in his chair, letting out a low whistle. “This is either going to go really well, or it’s going to blow up in our faces.”
West looks up, his gaze meeting mine for a long moment before flicking to Todd and then Xayden. “It won’t blow up,” he says quietly, but there’s an edge to his voice, a determination I haven’t heard from him in a long time. “Because we’re not the same idiots we were back then. We’re going to do this right.”
Todd nods, his shoulders relaxing just a fraction. “Exactly. She’s choosing us again. We can’t let her regret it.”
The room settles into a heavy silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The enormity of what’s ahead looms, but so does the hope that, this time, we’ll get it right.
I glance around at the three of them, knowing this is our second chance—maybe our last one—to prove to her that we’re worth it.
“Alright,” I say finally, my voice cutting through the quiet. “Let’s not screw it up.”
Todd smirks faintly, his confidence reasserting itself, and Xayden cracks a grin, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
West doesn’t say anything, but the way he nods, slow and deliberate, says enough.
“Guess we’re all in,” Xayden says, twirling the drumstick one last time before tossing it onto the table.
“All in,” Todd echoes, his gaze steady and sure.
West doesn’t say anything, but the slight incline of his head says enough.
And me? I’m already running through every possible scenario in my head, every way this could go right—or wrong. But one thing is clear: I’m not letting anything happen to her. Not while I’m around.
The Arizona sun beats down on us the second we step onto the tarmac, dry heat blasting our faces even though it’s barely ten in the morning. The jet engines whir to a stop behind us, leaving just the faint hum of the plane’s cooling system and the slow shuffle of our footsteps.
Ashlyn shades her eyes with one hand, her hair catching the sunlight in a way that makes me forget, for a second, how uncomfortable this heat is. But I don’t let myself dwell on that. My mind is on a different problem—finding a place big enough for all five of us, somewhere she’ll feel safe if her heat strikes early.
“Where’s our ride?” Xayden mutters, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Over here,” West says quietly, gesturing to a long black town car idling a few yards away. A driver in a crisp suit stands at attention, ready to collect our luggage and usher us toward air-conditioned relief.
We make our way across the tarmac, the blazing sun reflecting off the pavement so fiercely I’m pretty sure I’m getting sunburned through my shirt. But I barely notice it because I’m scrolling through hotel listings on my phone, searching for the perfect place. One suite, enough space for all of us—no separate rooms or scattered floors. If Ash is going to trust us with her heat, I’m making damn sure there’s no risk of anything going wrong.
I pause when I find a listing that mentions a nest. My heart stutters a bit. We never got that far with her before everything fell apart years ago, but I’ve done enough reading to know omegas feel more secure in a nest, especially during a heat. And if there’s one thing we all agree on, it’s that we want her to be comfortable.
“Hey, Jake,” Ashlyn calls, stepping up beside me with a curious tilt to her head. “You okay? You look like you’re planning a heist or something.”
I huff a laugh, my gaze flicking from her face back to my phone. “In a way, I am. A hotel heist.”
She arches a brow, but the corner of her mouth tugs up in a grin. “Should I be worried?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Just making sure we have a suite that’ll fit all of us. And, uh… it has a nest.”
Her expression shifts, surprise mingling with something warmer. “Really?” she asks, voice almost drowned out by the sound of Xayden dropping his drumsticks into their case behind us.
“Really,” I confirm, pressing my thumb to finalize the booking. “I mean, I know we didn’t—back then, we never?—”
She stops me, her hand coming to rest lightly on my arm. The faint brush of her touch ignites a hum of electricity. “Thank you,” she says, sounding earnest. “This is… I appreciate it.”
Before I can respond, the driver appears at our side, clearing his throat politely. We pass him our carry-ons, and he leads us to the car. Todd and West stow the rest of our luggage with him, while Xayden banters about how we should’ve just driven from the airport on motorcycles to look more rockstar.
Ashlyn rolls her eyes at him but can’t hide her laughter. I catch her smile, and it makes me grin too—makes me want to protect that ease in her expression.
Inside the town car, the A/C hits us like a blessing. I slide onto one of the leather seats, Ashlyn settling beside me. Todd ends up on her other side, West across from us, and Xayden claims the last seat with an exaggerated sigh of relief.
“Finally,” Xayden mutters, fanning himself dramatically. “I thought we’d melt out there.”
West smirks. “I figured you’d thrive in the heat—like the desert lizard you are.”
Xayden flicks a playful glare at him, but there’s no real bite behind it. They’re both too relieved to be somewhere cool. Ashlyn leans back against the plush seat, eyes closed, letting out a quiet sigh as the cool air from the car’s AC finally starts to chase away the desert heat. She looks so at ease that I almost forget what a rarity that is—her feeling comfortable enough to drop her guard around us, given everything that happened in the past.
I take the moment to study her, my gaze tracing the gentle curve of her jaw and the slight part in her lips. She’s completely relaxed, and the fact that she can be so calm around us again says a lot. It flips something in my chest, a mixture of relief and something deeper.
Her eyes flutter open, immediately catching me looking. A rush of heat crawls up my neck, but before I can stammer out an excuse, her lips quirk into a small smile.
“So,” she murmurs, her voice quiet in the hush of the car. “Did you manage to book that suite?”
I clear my throat, forcing my attention back to my phone. “Yeah,” I confirm, nodding briskly. “Sent the information to the driver.”
She shifts slightly to face me, tucking her hair behind one ear. “Thanks,” she says, and there’s genuine gratitude in her tone that warms me more than the Arizona sun ever could. “I appreciate you taking care of it.”
I offer a half smile, hoping I don’t look as flustered as I feel. “No problem. We wanted to make sure we all had space. Together.”
Her expression softens, and for a second, she looks like she might say something else—something important. But then Todd nudges her shoulder gently, distracting her with a question about the menu at tonight’s venue, and the moment passes.
I settle back into my seat, heart still thrumming. We’re all crammed into this car, heading to a hotel where we’ll share a suite, taking this second chance she’s given us. And as I glance at Ashlyn, seeing the way she closes her eyes again, that faint smile lingering at the corners of her mouth, I can’t help but think:
This time, we’re going to get it right.