Chapter 26
Hailey
“Snuggles,” Merrick insisted, opening his arms.
I joined him on the sofa, nestling into his side. Despite how muscular he was, he was extremely comfortable. Plus, just a whiff of that deep oak scent made my muscles relax.
“I'm sorry my omega is all twitchy lately,” I admitted, my eyes closed.
He squeezed me tight. “It's understandable. This whole situation is so messed up.”
“I'm sorry I dragged you into it.”
“I jumped into this situation willingly. Do not apologize. I happen to quite like having you right here,” he said, pulling me even closer to him.
“You know”—I smiled up at him—“I like it too. Quite a bit, in fact.”
“Good.” He kissed the top of my head. “And we’ll get it all sorted out. We will. You’re not on your own. You’ve got at least three alphas who really care about you.”
“Three?” I cocked a brow at him. “I mean, I know Wilder probably does, but Nolan too?”
Merrick nodded, the corners of his mouth turning down. “Oh, yeah. I know the type. All business, sure, but he’s been doing everything he can to help you in his own, control freak ways.”
“Hmm…” I let the comment hang, thinking about all this. There certainly was a lot.
My phone buzzed with a text, and I reluctantly pulled myself away from Merrick to check it.
Sunny
Hailey Hana, if you don’t call me immediately, I’m telling Walker everything.
“Shit,” I muttered, reading the text.
I’d been putting off having a conversation with Sunny, but clearly, it couldn't wait any longer. The omega was getting impatient, and the last thing I wanted was for her to dump the truth on Walker.
Picking up my phone, I wandered to the kitchen, leaving an understanding Merrick to watch TV, and clicked on her contact.
“It's about time!” Sunny picked up on the first ring like she’d been waiting with the phone in her hand.
A twinge of guilt hit me. The last thing I wanted to do was make her worry about me. She had enough going on in her own life to worry about without thinking about my stupid, self-made disaster.
“I’m fine,” I started.
“Bonded to Merrick and pregnant?” Sunny said pointedly. “Suuure.”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah. Sunny, it’s been a lot.”
“Hailey…”
“Preston’s pack is here.”
“He has a pack?!” Sunny screeched so loudly, I had to hold the phone away from my ear.
“Yes, okay. They insist that Preston is a good guy, but they are really cagey about why he’s incarcerated.”
“Well, you need to get to the bottom of that. You've got to think about how this doesn't just affect you. If Preston is in big trouble, then it could reflect badly on Merrick, and there’s a baby to be concerned about.”
My stomach dropped.
I hadn't considered that. I was so worried about Preston's reputation getting me into mess at work that I hadn't even stopped to think if it could damage Merrick.
I had always viewed him as untouchable, but as the realization dawned on me that I had put him in such a precarious position, my stomach turned uncomfortably.
“He wouldn't get into trouble, would he?”
“I didn't think so, but he willingly bonded into a pack with a known convict. You know how strict background checks are to work in emergency services.”
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes, and Sunny heard the small sob escape my chest, saying, “Oh, Hailey, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm so sorry.”
“No, I needed to hear it. We've been in this weird bubble for several days now, and I think we need to have a long conversation about what the hell is going on. You know, his pack mates are being cagey when I ask about him.”
Sunny snorted. “What? No way. You’re pack, you have a right to know.”
“They aren’t telling me anything about why he’s at Camp Bower—I’m starting to think that Preston left his pack mates out of the loop. Maybe he’s ashamed of whatever he did.”
“Look, I know you didn't want your bonding to be public knowledge, but you need to know exactly what’s going on with your pack.”
“I know… Just need a bit of time to wrap my head around everything.”
“I love you, Hailey, and I want you safe and happy.” I heard the pause. “Just some advice.”
“I’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise. I’ll make them talk to me. I want it as much as you do. There’s a baby, Sunny. We need to know.”
“Be careful. If I don’t hear from you regularly, I’ll be calling in reinforcements.”
“Thank you.” I chuckled through a sniffle, my emotions swirling, and then hung up the phone.
Thankfully, when I went back to the living room, Wilder and Nolan were already there. Opening boxes of takeout pizza that were on the coffee table.
“We need to talk,” I said.
All three of their heads shot up.
“What's wrong?” Merrick was the first to ask, his face a mask of concern.
“I need to know what the deal is with Preston. I keep lying to my friends, my work, and I can't do it anymore.”
Nolan’s face went gray. “What do—”
“I need to know everything. Why is he incarcerated? How long is his sentence going to be? I can't keep hiding this anymore.”
“Preston isn’t a bad guy, I swear.” Nolan was exasperated. “He’s just—”
“We need answers,” I said, crossing my arms and facing Nolan. “No more of this evasive bullshit. Explain the situation with Preston. Now.”
I did my best to keep my voice firm and demanding.
Every time we’d tried to talk about why Preston was at the convict camp, Nolan and Wilder shut down. I wasn't going to accept the lack of answers anymore.
Now that Sunny was going to talk to her alpha if I didn't get answers, who would be obligated to talk to Merrick, I needed to know.
“We can’t—”
“No more of this can’t bullshit,” Merrick growled. “We are all a pack, and it's time we started fucking acting like it. If you don't tell us everything you know and stop being cagey, then I'm going to march my ass down to that convict camp myself, and I don't give a shit who finds out.”
“You can't do that,” Nolan rushed to say.
“Well, we will. If you don't explain why, I will go to the warden and let them know that one of their convicts broke out and bonded with me.”
Nolan's face dropped, and a sickly look took over. “Look, I just…”
“We need to tell them everything, Nolan,” Wilder said in a reasonable voice. “They are our pack. They've got a point. And, frankly, I’m over hiding things too.”
“We need to protect him,” Nolan countered.
“And you don't think they will? We’ve been with them. I trust these two. I trust our pack mates.” Wilder turned to us. “Preston isn't a convict. He works with several different government agencies.”
“Government agencies?” My voice sounded hollow.
“Convict and government employee aren’t mutually exclusive,” Merrick pointed out.
Nolan sighed, sinking into the couch. “It's not like that. Fuck.”
“Then explain it to us from the start,” I said.
“Preston joined the military right out of high school. He did several tours overseas, and then he got into computers and ended up working with multiple agencies.”
“I don't see how that led to him being a convict.” Merrick raised his brows.
“Honestly, neither do I. All we know is that, every now and then, he would accept a job that would take him out of state for a few months. He often helped companies at risk of going under. Helped them get back on their feet. He really was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades in the military.” Wilder nodded as he added, “Six months ago, he said he was going to take on another job.
Didn't give us the details, but he left for work as normal.
We all had our day jobs to focus on, anyway.
It was only temporary, so we weren't concerned.
Contact isn't exactly amazing while he's working, but he gets paid great, so we make do.”
“So what was this job?” I narrowed my eyes, unconvinced.
“Beats us.” Nolan shrugged. “All I know is, I got a phone call a few months into him doing this job, saying he accidentally bonded with an omega and was in deep shit. We came here to find you, only to discover our pack mate was at Camp Bower. And he's going by a different last name.”
I addressed Nolan, “It sounds like you think he's undercover or something?”
“That's what I'm hoping.” Nolan sighed.
“Then why didn't you just tell us that?” Merrick asked.
“In his limited communication with us, Preston said his identity had to remain a secret. He's my pack mate, and I want to keep him safe.”
I could appreciate that. All his grumpiness and arguing had been because he simply wanted to keep Preston out of harm’s way.
“He swears this will all be over in a matter of weeks, and we just need to remain faithful. He’s adamant that he wants to come home. He feels like shit over what happened to you, Hailey.”
“Does he know about the baby?”
Nolan nodded. “He does. A few weeks after you and Merrick bonded, I managed to go to the camp under the guise of a lawyer visiting a client and spoke to him briefly. I told him about the baby, the separation sickness, and your bonding with Merrick.”
It was a lot to take in.
“This all feels very…wishy-washy,” I said, hating to be left with more questions than answers. “We need definitive answers.”
Nolan exhaled, cocking his head with a slow blink. “I’m not sure how to get them. If Preston has a good reason for going by another name in Camp Bower, then exposing him could potentially endanger him. I don't want to get him killed 'cause we couldn't wait a few weeks.”
“Killed?” I asked in a shrill voice. “You really think he could be killed?”
“I don’t know,” Nolan said flatly, “and I don’t want to risk it.”
“This is so fucked.” I sagged back into the couch.
With another nod, Nolan dropped his head. “It really is.”