Chapter Five – Asher
The moment we stepped into the cabin, I knew something was off. It didn’t really hit me, however, not until I left Jess in the heat room. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but as I walked down the stairs, I decided to take a detour to the kitchen, and in that kitchen I found…
Food.
Yeah, I found food.
That means someone has been here. That strange thing in the air? It’s the faint scent of another person. That person isn’t here right now, but they could come back at any moment. The oddest thing is, no one is supposed to be here.
And there’s only one person who’d be here without telling anyone else.
Crap. This might make things difficult. Or awkward. Or both. Only time would tell.
I leave the kitchen and head to the garage, grabbing my first round of bags for the kitchen. Food of all kinds, snacks, easy-to-make meals that don’t require a ton of time. Jess wanted to stock up, and I wanted her to have everything she could possibly need; it’s why I helped pay for some of it.
Plus, I’ll be staying here too, to make sure she’s all right.
I leave the bags on the island in the kitchen and go for another round—and what would you know, it’s when I’m loading myself up a second time that another vehicle pulls into the garage, a vehicle I am keenly familiar with.
My older brother, Mason, gets out of his sleek and shiny black car and stares at me over the roof of it.
Like me, he keeps his yellow hair short.
Unlike me, he has a bit more color to his eyes; they’re more of a hazel color than a straight-up green.
A few years older than, along with two or three inches taller, he’s the basic definition of an über alpha.
Big. Muscular without effort. Comes off as mean more often than not.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” my brother, Mason, huffs.
“I could ask you the same question,” I throw back.
With a groan, my brother walks around his car and meets me where I stand, near the trunk of mine. “You never come up here in the summer,” he says, eyeing up the bagged food.
“Neither do you.” I pause and then add, “You can’t be here right now.”
He scoffs. “The fuck you mean I can’t be here? This is our family’s cabin. Of course I can be here if I want to fucking be here.” My brother has a bit of a mouth on him; swearing has been one of his favorite pastimes since he hit puberty.
“I’m not alone here,” I whisper, as if Jess herself is seconds from popping up in the garage.
Mason gives me a strange look. “Don’t tell me you’re seeing someone. Our parents are going to flip—”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It’s not that. It’s… complicated. You remember Jess Dryers?”
“Course I do. You two were inseparable when you were little, then her parents died and things fizzled out. What’s she got to do with this?” It takes my brother a few more seconds to put it together. “Shit. Don’t tell me she’s the one you brought here?”
“It was her idea, actually.”
He folds his arms over his chest. “And you two aren’t together?”
“No.” My answer is firm. “No, I didn’t bring her here to…
to court her or anything like that. She reached out to me and said she needed some help.
” I then run through it as fast as I can, sparing my brother most of the details but giving him the gist of it.
It’s not the easiest thing, summarizing someone else’s issues, but I do my best.
Mason takes it all with a grain of salt. “So this is about money.”
“Yeah, I guess. I think it’s more that she doesn’t want her aunt to get anything else from her.” My voice lowers when I say, “I don’t think her aunt is the nicest woman around.”
“And so you brought her here, to go through her first heat alone. Don’t you think that, maybe, her aunt will tear the world apart to find her? What if the police come knocking at our door, huh? What then? Kidnapping an omega is—”
“I didn’t kidnap her. She wanted to come.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re not her alpha. Her guardian is her aunt, so if her aunt wants to charge you, she can—and she probably fucking will.”
I will be the first to admit I didn’t think about that.
Regardless, I’m not scared of her aunt. If Jess goes through her heat alone, then she’ll inherit all of her family’s fortunes—which means she could hire the best lawyers in the country.
I don’t think she’d sit back and let her aunt get me thrown in jail. Neither would our parents.
When I don’t say anything, Mason turns away from me and opens the backseat of his car. Since his windows are tinted, I wasn’t able to see before, but I instantly notice the heapings of bags full of food in his car.
“How long have you been here?” I ask him.
“A while” is all he says.
“And how long were you planning on staying?”
“As long as I fucking want” is his answer. “Don’t piss yourself over it. I’ll stay away from you two if that’s what you’re worried about.” He goes to grab the bags in his backseat. Just based on the curt tone in his voice, I can tell there will be no arguing with him.
I sigh. “That’s not what I mean. It’s just… Jess doesn’t know you. She might not feel comfortable with you around, especially with her heat coming up.”
My brother sends a glare my way. “That’s too damn bad, isn’t it?” He says not another word as he carries everything in one trip, leaving me to shut his car’s door.
As I load up the food we brought, I can’t help but think Jess isn’t going to like this. She probably remembers I have a brother, but it isn’t like she ever met him. Being a few years older than us, Mason was in a different grade.
I’m moments behind my brother, and the kitchen turns hectic after that. We each put our own food away, filling up the cabinets and the refrigerator in the process, with neither of us saying a word.
I really don’t know how I’m going to break it to Jess that we won’t be alone here.
Heck, I still don’t understand what my brother is doing here.
It’s funny—typically it’s the older sibling that’s serious and the younger one that constantly screws off, but it’s the opposite with us.
Mason was never interested in learning the ropes of our parents’ company.
Taking over once our fathers retire was always the last thing he wanted, and that much hasn’t changed.
So what’s he doing here, exactly? Besides being broody and sullen while alone, I mean.
I hear Jess’s voice from the stairwell: “Man, I could use something to eat after that drive—” She makes it to the kitchen and freezes the moment she realizes I’m not alone. Her amber eyes are on Mason, her posture turning rigid.
Hello, awkward and uncomfortable, just like I said.
Forcing out a smile, I say, “Jess. This is my brother, Mason. He… he’s apparently been staying here, but he’s promised to stay out of our hair while we’re here.”
Mason glances at Jess, an off-handed glimpse, and in the process he gives off the impression he really doesn’t give a crap about anything she has going on. Typical Mason behavior. If you aren’t used to him, he definitely comes off rude.
Jess doesn’t say a word more. She spins on her heels and marches away.
I look at my brother. “Couldn’t you have at least said hello? Come on, man. Don’t be a dick to her.” I don’t stay to listen to his reply; instead, I go after her and catch up to her in the hallway upstairs, just outside the heat room.
She slips inside the room and starts to pace the length of it, and I watch her for a few seconds, feeling some type of way. Knowing she’s so distraught over my brother’s presence makes me feel… odd.
Protective, maybe. Like I want to fix it, only I don’t know that I can. My instinct is to go to her and stop her from pacing by pulling her into me and holding her. Like, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s my omega.
Which is just crazy, right?