Chapter Six – Jess
I knew Asher had a brother, I just didn’t think he’d be here. I mean, what are the odds that Asher didn’t know his brother would be here?
What if he did know and he didn’t tell me? What if this is some ploy to get me alone with them, so they can—
No. I stop that thought right then and there. Asher might’ve been a jerk to me when we were kids, but he’s not that kind of alpha. I don’t think. His brother, Mason, I’m not too sure about. First impression was not very good, I’ll tell you that.
Asher followed me to the room that will be mine the next few weeks, and as I silently freak out, he only watches me. It takes him a while to say, “I swear I didn’t know he’d be here. If you don’t feel comfortable, if you want to call this whole thing off—”
Call it off? I want to snap at him, but I refrain.
What good would calling it off do? I’ll be right back where I started, with an aunt who’s beyond desperate to see me matched off.
The clock is literally ticking. It was all fun and games before, but the countdown has officially begun.
My aunt will be pulling out all of the stops from here on out, including the police and probably some private investigators.
Ugh, shit. Am I really prepared for all of this? Did we leave a trace on our way up here? It’s pointless to worry about any of that now.
I stop pacing and turn to look at Asher, who stands motionless in the doorway. “No,” I finally tell him. “I don’t want to call it off.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. You’re the only help I have, even with your brother here.” I hate to admit that, I really do, but Asher already knows he was my last and only resort, so I might as well be truthful. “Do you think he’ll be able to keep to himself? You know him way better than I do. He seems kinda… mean.”
AKA typical über alpha shit.
“You don’t have to worry about him. The house is big enough he can steer clear of us. Besides, I bet he came up here to be alone, so we’re probably cramping his style more than he is ours.”
I actually giggle at that. It’s a sound that’s not familiar to me, and yet it bubbles out of me easily, like I do it all the time.
I mean, who says that? Cramping his style. It’s something lame my parents would say if they were around.
The thought of them jolts me back to reality. My parents not being here is why I’m here to begin with. I can’t forget that.
“You said you were hungry,” Asher says. “What do you want? I can make you a little something.”
He’s nice to offer, but I should get used to the fact his brother’s in the house with us, so I should gather up my courage and go downstairs with him.
“No, I can make it. I’ll come down,” I say.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Believe it or not, I’m not helpless.”
My tone must come off too snippy, because Asher quietly says, “I never said you were.”
The only thing I can do is sigh. This is going to be a long couple of weeks.
Soon enough, Asher and I venture back downstairs to the kitchen.
Mason is already gone. I have no idea where he is in the house, which room he’s using—the place has probably a dozen or so rooms that serve as bedrooms. If this is how he’s going to be while we’re here, I’m fine with it.
I don’t need him constantly in my business.
Although, I do wish I could smell him, so then I’d at least know where the hell he is around here.
Being an omega with no sense of smell in a house with two unmatched alphas is like dangling a steak in front of two starving dogs.
I hope things will stay calm between us.
I hear hormones near an omega’s heat can make you do and say certain things you otherwise wouldn’t.
I think I’m strong enough to stay away from them. Guess I’ll find out.
Asher resumes putting the food we bought away while I figure out something to eat. I go for simple: cereal in a bowl. Dry. No milk. Regardless of the propaganda of the milk corporations out there, I much prefer my cereal dry. I’m a slow eater. If I added milk the entire thing would get soggy.
And that’s just gross.
I sit on the island and eat my dry cereal as I watch Asher put everything away. “So what’s your brother doing here?” With my mouth full, I am the complete opposite of lady-like. My aunt would have an aneurysm.
He shrugs. “I really don’t know. I asked him, but he just told me off.” He tosses me a glance. “Believe it or not, just because we’re brothers doesn’t mean we talk to each other about everything.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I say, and I mean it in more ways than one. I wouldn’t know what having a sibling is like, and I also wouldn’t know how close he is to Mason. In the grand scheme of things, there’s a lot I don’t know.
He grabs all the empty plastic bags, balls them up, and tosses them in the trash can, which is cleverly hidden in one of the lower cabinets of the island. “I’m sorry. I just… I really wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here.”
“He wouldn’t tell on us, would he?”
“No.” With how quickly he says it, I know he believes it. “I don’t even think our parents know he’s here, so if he told on us, he’d have to tattle on himself, too. I don’t see him doing that.”
“Let’s just hope your brother being here is as eventful as things get,” I mutter.
“I know. Mason mentioned your aunt might send someone after you. We were careful, but… we’re not experts at this. I’ve never helped an omega hide during her first heat before.” He studies me hard. “This is a first for both of us.”
It’s true. Asher really is taking a risk helping me—all the more thankful I need to remember to be. It isn’t like we’re best friends anymore. This is…
Actually, I don’t know what this is. I don’t really know why he agreed to help me in the first place, but it doesn’t feel like the right time to ask.
So I eat my cereal, put my bowl in the dishwasher, and tell him I’m going to take a nap. I wander to the room that will be mine for the foreseeable future and shut the door, then I collapse onto the overly large bed.
Seriously, it’s huge. Bigger than a king. I don’t know what the next step-up is from that, but it’s definitely made with an entire pack in mind.
The sheets are a dark gray, and they feel clean. I have no idea if this room smells like his parents or not, and it doesn’t matter. Soon enough it’ll smell like me, and then I’ll have to wash everything in it and leave it as spotless as it was when we first arrived. Don’t want to be a shitty guest.
I kick off my shoes and crawl beneath the sheets, tugging them over my head. I’m not normally one who enjoys taking naps, but after being awake for so long—way too many hours in a row, if you ask me—exhaustion is the only thing I’m capable of feeling.
That, and relief that we’re actually here. A part of me kind of thought we’d never get to the cabin.
With the sheet over my head, my breathing starts to slow. In and out, in and out. In. Out.
I think about Asher and the alpha he became, how he leaped to help me even though he didn’t owe me anything. I even think about Mason and how similar he looks to his brother, but that’s where the similarities end. He’s much more gruff and rough around the edges than Asher.
And then, strangely, the last thing I think about before sleep finally pulls me into its embrace is the alpha from the Omega Garden.
I don’t know how long it is until I wake, but when I do, the window on the far side of the room brings in no light from the outside world, which tells me it’s either evening or later than that. I roll out of bed, not the easiest thing to do, given how impossibly large the mattress is, and stretch.
My mouth is dry, so my first goal is the kitchen. Then… I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do with all the time I have here.
I creep down the stairs, and when I do, it’s absolute darkness. Meaning it isn’t simply evening; it’s well-past. Might just be an ungodly hour. I hope I didn’t mess up my sleep schedule too much by taking such a long nap.
I grab a glass and get some ice and water from the fridge door, then I wander to the living room, where, to my surprise, I find the TV on low and someone sitting on the couch.
Mason. The back of the alpha’s head is in my direction, so I can’t see his face, but it definitely doesn’t appear as if he’s watching whatever he has on the television. No, if anything, he’s staring at the large windows on the other side of the room, at the world of night outside.
He must either sense or smell me, maybe that anti-scent cream wore off, because he slowly turns his head in my direction. Though the light from the TV mounted on the far wall is the only bit of light in the room, it’s plenty enough to see the frown tugging at his lips.
An expression Asher would never wear, I don’t think.
He sees the glass in my hand and mutters, “I was here first. I’m not leaving. In fact, this is my fucking house, so—”
“Calm down,” I say as I coolly take a sip from the glass. I approach the couch. “I wasn’t going to ask you to leave, and I’m well aware this is your house. Well, your family’s house, technically.”
“Same thing,” he huffs.
I think about asking if I could sit next to him, but that would be giving him the chance to tell me no, and I won’t take no for an answer. I sit down on the couch with him, leaving a full cushion and a half between us as I take another sip from my glass.
He pretends not to watch me, but I know he does, out of the corner of his eye.
“Things don’t have to be awkward or uneasy between us,” I say.
“In fact, it would probably be better if we could learn to get along while I’m here.
” I’d heard enough about über alphas to know that, if one is in a mood, the only person that can truly calm him down is his mate, and I am clearly no one’s mate.
And that means Mason is riled up basically all the time. Has to be good for his health, huh?
“Better for who?” he asks with a sharp frown, so sharp it could cut. “For you, or for me?”
“For all of us, including Asher.”