Chapter 5 #2
Shepherd grunts his agreement, leaning closer to me as if he is as drawn by our connection as I am. It’s too much. The weight of their attention. It would be far too easy for me to fall into it. To accept the support they seem to be willingly offering.
But I can’t.
Can I?
No, at least not until all of this is over and I have taken care of my marriage to Colin.
Sitting up straighter, I gently remove Foster’s hand from my body. Donovan drags Lex and Shepherd into the next room, and the male Omega eventually follows them, muttering something about doing the dishes, so Omen doesn’t have to.
My sister is lost in thought across from me. Every second watching her wilt compounds the worry growing inside of me. Rejection is a grievous disease. An incurable one. Leaving her here to face it alone feels wrong.
When I ask as much, she brushes me off with a half-smile. “I just got my big sister back. I’m not going anywhere. We have a lot of catching up to do after the dust settles.”
She wraps me in a long hug, her body melting against me like she did when she was little. Our time together may end soon, but I have faith that I will see her again. Fate will not take my sister from me yet. She’ll fight this rejection like the little gremlin she is.
Tears line Omen’s eyes as she stands at the bottom of the stairs, watching us prepare to leave.
Saying goodbye so soon hurts me just as much, but Lex was right when he mentioned we would be a bigger target if we stayed together.
We have to trust our assigned DAU guards to keep us safe.
One day soon, we’ll be reunited again; I know it.
“Here, take this.” I press a worn shirt into her hands. She fists the fabric, looking torn between refusing it and accepting it. “I have enough clothes to last,” I promise her. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed you trying to get more of my scent. It soothes you, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but-”
“No buts. If I cannot be here with you, then you’ll take my shirt so that you have a familiar scent to help settle you.”
She caves rather quickly, pressing the fabric against her chest with a watery smile.
“I wish you didn’t have to leave.” Pulling her against my side, I wrap my arms around her and hum the song I used to sing to her when she was a baby.
Her spine steels after a long moment, and she wipes her eyes as she steps away.
“We’ll see each other soon. Stay safe until then.
And don’t have that baby without me! I want to be there to hold your hand this time. ”
I huff out a laugh as I let Shepherd lead me out the door.
Donovan is waiting by the cars, swapping vehicles with us one last time before we disappear to our permanent safe house.
Foster is buckling Kaitlin into her seat on the other side of the car, so I take a moment to pull the older Alpha aside.
“There is something I didn’t mention when we were inside. I didn’t want Omen to know.”
His brow quirks, but he nods in silent agreement. Even he can sense how fragile my sister’s emotional well-being is.
“The phone call I overheard between Colin and my father wasn’t just about locating Omen.
They’re trafficking Omegas—and potentially Alphas—into New Hampshire.
I don’t know the full logistics because this was the first I’d heard of it, but they are harvesting their glands and using them to produce something. ”
Donovan’s face is drawn by the time I finish explaining what I overheard, including the time and location of the drop Colin expects tomorrow evening. “This is… extremely troubling. I’ll alert our agents and see if we can’t find more information to stop them before they cross the state border.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t gather more information to help with this.” The poor Omegas and Alphas they’ve captured. I feel like I have failed them.
His hand comes up to rest on my shoulder, heavy and steady.
Blue eyes stare into mine with an intensity that comes only from Alphas.
“You are not responsible for either your family’s actions or your husband’s.
The information you have provided is worth more than you are crediting yourself.
Thank you, Hannah, for everything you have done to hinder them and bring an end to their terrors. ”
Swallowing back my protests, I try to let myself believe he is right. I cannot bear the weight of others’ actions as if they were my own. The eleven years I’ve spent fighting should be enough. It’s more than anyone else has accomplished.
Seeing my slow acceptance, he smiles. “Good, now get going. You still have quite a journey to the safe house you’ll be staying in.”
The six-hour trip takes us along bland highways and down into the winding hills of western Virginia.
As we bump along a dirt driveway leading up into the mountains, I pinch my nose and send up a quick prayer that I won’t be sick all over the floor.
Rocking motions are not helpful when morning sickness already has my stomach a mess.
“Sorry,” Shepherd grunts, golden-brown eyes flickering to me in the rearview mirror. “We’re almost there.”
Not trusting myself to reply, I jerk my head in a nod and focus out the window.
Ahead of us, a weathered log cabin comes into view.
A covered porch wraps around the front and left side.
The stone chimney peeking from the back of the roof piques my curiosity, but I doubt we will use the fireplace if they have one.
Not in mid-July, when the temperature rarely drops below eighty.
When the car rolls to a stop, I glance around, searching for the agents who are taking over our care.
There is no one in sight. In fact, the entire place looks as if it has been empty for some time.
Furrowing my brow, I turn to ask Shepherd about it.
My question dries on my tongue when I find both men’s attention already on me.
Fates, I swear the temperature in here rose ten degrees.
Clearing my throat, I fiddle with Kaitlin’s buckles. “Are the other agents meeting us here?”
“Other agents?” Foster asks as he climbs out of the car and opens the door opposite me to grab the bags piled on the back seat.
“The ones taking over for the two of you.”
Shepherd growls, a scowl on his handsome face. “No one else is in charge of your care. We will protect you.”
I swallow thickly, unable to meet his eyes. I was prepared to spend the journey here with him and Foster, but I do not know how I will resist the pull between us if I am stuck in this house with them for weeks on end. “Oh. I assumed… Do you not have work to return to?”
I can’t help but wince when I see Foster’s shoulders slump from the corner of my eye. “Our only priority for the time being is to take care of the three of you,” he tells me as we leave the car.
Taking care of us. Not protecting us or following orders from the DAU. If my heart races any faster, I fear it may rip from my chest. These men… they are too much. Too sweet. Too perfect. I don’t deserve the bond Fate has gifted us.
“Come on, let’s get the house aired out. It might be a little stale.” We follow Shepherd up the small set of stairs and around the corner to the front door. He unlocks it and takes the lead inside, eyes sweeping through the large living room-kitchen combo.
My nose wrinkles at the smell of dust that lingers in the air, the scent a little too reminiscent of Colin’s. With Kaitlin’s hand still wrapped in mine, we go around the room and crank open the windows. The summer breeze immediately helps to rid the space of the foulness.
While Foster and Shepherd open the rest of the windows, I take a few minutes to explore.
A stone fireplace sits at the back of the kitchen-living area.
The worn exterior fits perfectly with the dark wood walls and weathered floor.
To the right inside the front door is a kitchen.
It’s relatively small with a corner sink, but the appliances seem newer, which will be nice for cooking.
On the left is a small dining area. Two large windows frame the wall, casting beams of sunlight onto the handmade wooden table.
The only other furniture in the room is a high-back chair beside the fireplace and an overstuffed, medium-sized couch.
It is bare, lacking any signs of life. I suppose that makes sense since this is a safe house and not someone’s home.
Still, the lack of personality makes the room feel cold and oppressive.
“The bedrooms are back this way,” Foster says, reappearing from a short hallway leading to the rest of the small house.
Grabbing a bag of Kaitlin’s and my clothes, I follow him.
There are four doors here, two on each side of the hallway.
He cracks one open to reveal a bathroom.
Relief floods me when I see the bathtub inside.
Kaitlin doesn’t mind showers, but splashing in the bath is one of her favorite parts of the day.
A few more feet down the hall, he opens another door.
This one leads to a bedroom. He drops the rest of our bags at the foot of the queen-size bed.
“This will be your room. Shepherd and I are across from the bathroom, and the door across from this is a panic room. We’ll go over how to open it later when we run through safety procedures. ”
Swallowing thickly, I offer him a tired smile.
These next few weeks cannot pass quickly enough.
I’m ready for all of this to be over. My children and I deserve the chance to live free of fear.
A dream that won’t become reality until my father’s cult is dismantled.
Running my palm along the plaid comforter on the bed, I lose myself in worries about the future.
It’s only a tiny hand tugging at mine that pulls me out of my mental spiral.
I turn to see Foster watching me with concern-filled blue eyes. Part of me is surprised I don’t see his Alpha hovering behind him, but I imagine there is a lot Shepherd needs to take care of in securing the safe house before we settle in for the evening.
Needing the weight of his attention off of me, I suggest we grab the rest of our supplies from the car.
After twenty minutes of carrying only the lightest bags inside, I settle Kaitlin at the dining table with her coloring books and unpack the groceries we bought on our way here.
It’s almost five in the evening, so I take out stuff to make a simple spaghetti dinner for all of us.
The scent of garlic bread is heavy in the air by the time Shepherd returns.
His short, strawberry-blonde hair is messy, and sweat soaks the back of his t-shirt.
The material clings to his torso, revealing every delicious dip and curve of his body.
My body heats, eyes locked on the rise and fall of his chest.
“Smells good.” His words break the spell our connection has me under. I startle, eyes flying to stare up at the ceiling.
“I-it, uh, should be done soon. If you need to wash up.” I stammer, cheeks burning with embarrassment. I hear him grunt before his feet move away. My eyes dart to where he walks down the hall, and I swear my heart is going to explode.
Foster laughs, pulling my attention to where he leans against the end of the kitchen counter. “Gorgeous, isn’t he?”
Covering my cheeks, I scoff and focus my attention back on the vegetables I was slicing for a salad. A warm body hovers behind me a second later. Foster’s long arm reaches around me, brushing against the side of my stomach as he grabs the knife. “I’ll finish this. You go relax.”
Shivers run up my spine despite the careful inch of space he keeps between us.
Fates, these men are determined to torment me.