Chapter 17
Devin
“So you’re Maple…but you’ve also met Percy and Saint?” I asked, tone short as I crossed my arms.
Damn, she was beautiful. There was no denying that.
When she started to panic in the coffee shop, I couldn’t stop myself from pulling her into my arms. How right it felt to have her there totally freaked me the fuck out.
Her delicate features and tiny stature made me feel even more protective of her, driven by that instinctual alpha demand to do whatever it took to get her to calm down.
It wasn’t like me.
I was the leader of my pack. I needed to think logically, not be led around by the short and curlies.
On the walk to our place, I thought maybe she’d known all along who we were, banking on her gorgeous face and curves to seal the deal and land her a buttload of cash.
But seeing the way she reacted to the penthouse, with almost revulsion, quickly dissuaded me of that notion.
I was still on edge, however. I wasn’t the type to go apeshit over an omega, never looking for that kind of thing, and it pissed me off that my body was radiating with the need to have her close.
“Mable was the omega I met at the grocery store,” Percy said, returning from the kitchen and handing the omega a bottle of water, which she took with a shy smile.
“I got that, but how do you know Saint?” I looked at my pack mate, who was smiling, the urge to smack it right off his face rising.
“We met probably a few hours before she met Percy… at least, that’s what I think happened?” He directed the second half of the question at Mable, who nodded, a delicate pink blooming in her cheeks.
I had to bite back the groan, my cock rising to attention when I decidedly did not want it to. When I cocked a brow at her, silently telling her to provide details, the blush deepened.
“I’m one of the unlucky few who are allergic to heat suppressants, so I have to ride them out solo.”
“You could always ask for some help. I’m sure there are plenty of people, like myself, who would be happy to help you through a heat!” Jasper interjected, his energy high and focused on the omega who was blushing up a storm on my fucking couch.
Mable rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
“That’s not exactly my style.” There was a twinge of unease in her scent that peaked as the rest of the char backed down.
She wasn’t as nervous now, but she was…self-conscious?
“Anyway, my last heat came on so suddenly, and it was a few weeks early. I was walking home from work, and it just hit me. I needed to cool down and fast, so I went to the ice rink, thinking I could take a cold shower if no one was there. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight, given the surprise of my heat. ”
“And that’s where she and I met,” Saint explained. “I did give her my number, but there was something about losing it?”
He eyed her, no sign of actual upset. Saint was teasing, and it only served to make that color in Mable’s cheeks reach down her throat now. I was mesmerized by it for a moment, but dammit, there were far more important things to think about right now.
“You wrote your phone number on my hand. I was at the start of my heat, so when I got back to my dorm, I took a shower to wash the scent of slick off me. I needed to get supplies, like food and bottles of water, so I could get through my heat alone. I wasn’t even thinking straight, and before I realized it, I’d washed it off.
” Her voice was rambling, clearly anxious, and that tinge of discomfort in her scent swirled.
Calm her down. Get her level.
Refocusing, I considered what she’d said. Her words sounded sincere. If she hadn’t had the best intentions, she probably would have protected that number written on her palm, fiercely. I knew of a few women who would do despicable things to get hold of Saint’s phone number.
“So, how did you end up finding Percy?” Saint asked. “You went back out?”
Mable swallowed. “After we, umm, finished up and I was back home, I felt surprisingly clearheaded. Since I was having a lucid moment, I decided to make a quick trip to get groceries. I’ve forgotten to get food before and not eaten a single bite during my heat. I felt like trash afterward.”
I frowned. Why wasn’t there anyone she could call for help to get supplies?
The idea that she went out while in heat, thinking she was safe…
The pain that tickled through my jaw alerted me to the fact that I’d clenched it.
I had to force myself to relax, noticing the fists I’d made and mentally cursing.
Why was this omega getting me so worked up? I didn’t even know her, not really.
My eyes dropped to her stomach again as I let out a breath. Mable was pregnant, and odds were, it had happened because of one of my two pack mates.
“And the baby?” I asked pointedly, staring Mable down. “Whose is it? We’re not going to judge you if you had relationships with other alphas, but I think we’re entitled to know.”
“No, I… Those two were it for me… So, yeah, one of you is the biological father…” She trailed off, biting her lip so hard that I could see the skin turn white where the pressure was applied. I was surprised she didn’t break the skin.
“Why didn’t you try to find us?” Saint asked with a frown, Percy right there with him, leaning over Mable. “We would have been there for you from the start.”
“I…” Abruptly, Mable stood and started pacing the living space. We all watched her with varying degrees of concern. The char in her scent was in full swing, and a low rumble droned in the background as the alphas around me surged with the instinct to look after the omega.
I was doing my level best to ignore that same pull and focus.
“It wasn’t like I planned to keep this from you.
I lost the numbers, and I wasn’t sure how to go about searching for you.
I couldn’t just put an ad in the university newsletter.
Omega looking for two alphas who knotted her during her heat—one on campus and one in her dorm.
Baby on board. I’m sure that would have gone over wonderfully, and I was somewhat distracted dealing with the chaos of being pregnant.
The only people I’ve talked about it to are my mom and my pen pals, two of whom just happened to be the alphas I slept with. ”
“What are the chances?” Percy shook his head, his stare going to the floor as I watched Mable intently. She was spiraling, and it was getting harder to ignore the instinct to pull her into my arms again.
She ran a shaky hand through her hair, her eyes a little wild as she continued to walk back and forth across the living room. “This is insanity!”
She wasn’t wrong about that. Still, she seemed genuine enough. I didn’t know if she was being truthful about only having sex with Saint and Percy, but my doubt was likely because, if she was, it would be a big fucking deal. As in, our pack was about to have a baby.
Our lives would be changed forever.
“Would you be willing to do a DNA test to confirm?” I asked, my tone level but very likely too level considering the circumstances.
Mable reeled back, her eyes welling up as she gaped at me like I’d slapped her. “Y-you think I’m lying about this?”
“No! He doesn’t.” Saint glowered at me, the tension in his jaw making the muscles stand out.
“Still, there’s nothing wrong with being totally sure, is there?
” I raised a brow at him, taking a step forward as that need to assert my dominance surged.
“Saint, we’ve had psycho women breaking into our home because they want you.
I would be an idiot if I didn’t take this situation with a grain of salt. ”
For some reason, he attracted all the crazies. He was handsome—that was obvious—but the girls he attracted were a little unhinged. We all had fans, but his were something else.
Mable paused, looking at me, confused and hurt. “You’ve got psychopaths breaking into your home?”
“That’s not important right now,” Jasper said, standing and gently guiding Mable back to the couch next to him, holding her hand.
It was quiet as I studied her, searching for any sign of foul play.
But the lost and confused look on Mable’s face told me everything I needed to know.
She hadn’t planned this. I couldn’t believe that she had worked an angle to get our money.
She was skittish, and her scent told me volumes.
None of us had any clue how all this had happened and what to do about it moving forward.
It was genuinely a fucking weird coincidence.
“Okay.”
Mable looked up at me. “Okay, what?”
“I believe you. I’m damn good at reading people, and I believe that this was unintentional.
So”—I sucked in a deep breath, allowing myself to give in to the need to soothe her, if only slightly—“what’s important now is making sure that you’re okay.
Based on your recent messages, you’ve been working yourself to the bone. You need rest.”
Mable’s eyes welled up even more, but there was a change to that sweet, syrupy scent that gave away the gratitude she was feeling, and relief as well.
“Thank you. It’s just that… babies are expensive,” Mable said with a shrug.
I looked pointedly around our apartment, cocking my head at the wall when Mable followed my gaze. “Does it look like we’re hurting for money?”
Her eyes widened. “I met you an hour ago. I can’t let you pay for anything! You just asked me to take a DNA test—wait, is your offering to help some sort of trick?”
I sighed, taking a seat opposite Mable and leaning forward over the glass coffee table so I could look her in the eye. She wilted slightly under my stare, but I didn’t back down, meeting her head-on.
“No trick. I can tell you’re not delusional. That much is obvious. You also took one look at our apartment and practically recoiled. And we didn’t meet you an hour ago. We met you two years ago, when we started talking on that ridiculous app.”
“Hey! I happen to like that app.” Jasper smirked, throwing an arm around Mable. “I mean, come on. It gave us this darling omega!”
She frowned at him, a hint of intrigue behind the skepticism in her eyes. “Who said I’m yours? I’ve been knocked up by two members of your pack, but we said nothing about dating.”
Jasper looked shocked, his hand moving to his chest like some pearl-clutching old lady before he burst out laughing.
Across from us, Percy stepped forward and spoke up. “We’ve been talking to you for two years and been obsessed with you for just a few days shy of that. If you don’t think that we are going to be upgrading this little arrangement into being in a relationship with you, then you are wrong.”
I glowered at my pack mate. I wanted to help Mable, but dating? Fucking hell. “Maybe for now, we should all take a breather, grab some food and relax. When was the last time you ate? Real food, not sugar.”
Mable pouted, a bratty expression in her eyes, as if I couldn’t tell her not to enjoy sweets if she wanted them. Fuck. That shouldn’t have been so damn tempting, but it was.
“I had a cereal bar for breakfast,” she said quietly, not meeting my eyes.
“That’s not real food,” I admonished. “Come on—let’s go make some lunch.”
As I spoke, I stood up, and headed into the kitchen, kicking up a wave of Mable’s scent again. I nearly buckled at the thick tease coloring the syrupy fragrance now. Instead, I opened the fridge. As I perused the contents, the rest of my pack and the little omega trailed after me.
“It looks like we have the stuff for quesadillas or sandwiches. If neither of those sound appealing, we can order takeout.”
When I turned around, Mable was gaping at me again, and the things that ran through my mind when I saw her mouth make that little O were not for the faint-hearted.
“Quesadillas sound good. Thank you. Just no chicken. It’s been giving me the ick lately,” she admitted with a blush.
I was going insane. There was no other way to describe how jarring it was being around this omega. One moment, I was panicked, thinking she was the end of my pack, and the next, I wanted to pull her into my arms and protect her from everything that was bad in the world.
Maybe a bit more.
Ugh, no time for that, Devin. Just feed the girl and go from there.