Chapter 21
Spencer
“ G race!” My voice echoed above the others. I’d kept my calm but it was gone now as I bolted from the car and raced inside the strange packhouse.
She said the packhouse had character, and it certainly did. I just never expected it to be a firehouse.
Drew walked out to greet us, face set in a strained smile.
“She’s not home.”
My entire body deflated to the point I stumbled. Drew’s eyebrows scrunched as he dove for me, keeping me upright.
“She’s not here?” I repeated, voice breaking.
It smelled like her in here. Hell, he smelled like her.
“Grace went out with friends. I didn’t think you were coming back yet?” he asked. “Everything work out?”
“It’s all wrapped. Though, with complications,” Beck admitted as he walked in, looking equally as haggard.
This separation was hell. I felt sick half the time and knowing we likely caused the same for Grace was breaking me more.
“Yeah, he blackmailed the board,” Cade snorted.
“Not yet,” Beck admitted with a shrug. “But we released to the press we found an omega. We may need to post about her on our socials so they back off more.”
“She won’t mind. But she didn’t say when she’d be back. May as well unload your stuff and clean up,” he offered.
“Our movers will be here tomorrow,” Spencer sighed. “Tell me we have beds?”
“Grace’s bed,” he shrugged and gestured to the fairly empty living room. “It’s that or the couch.”
Beck and I dropped down but Cade was lighting up as he looked around, taking in the mix of old and new in this firehouse turned packhouse.
The tall ceilings and open spaces had a lot of potential. I didn’t expect to be excited about physical labor, but renovations would be a good way to throw ourselves into our new life.
“She’s a genius. This building is fucking great,” Cade hummed as he stared at each empty space with a narrow-eyed intensity that meant he was painting a picture in his mind of all the things he wanted to put there.
“Would it be wrong to go find her?” Beck asked, glancing at Drew. Then his eyes narrowed and the alpha was across the room and shoving Drew into the wall. Drew’s growl was equally as menacing.
Cade and I shared a look before I launched myself over the back of the couch and tried to send as many soothing vibes as I could to the alphas.
“What is that?”
Drew smirked at Beck’s accusation and pulled his collar down to reveal the bite mark on his collarbone.
“It’s my mate marking me,” he said.
“Fuck,” Cade growled, turning and walking outside. He wasn’t usually quick to upset and I wanted to go after him but leaving the angry alphas wouldn’t be a good thing.
“Look, it’s not my fault we connected and she felt ready,” Drew said, his voice calm now. “Don’t project your anger on me. I’ve been the one keeping our omega safe and healthy while you handled your shit. You should be fucking thanking me.”
Beck’s nostrils were flaring, vein in his neck bulging, but he shoved off of Drew and stalked outside, leaving me stunned and Drew huffing out a laugh and straightening his clothes.
“He’s not really angry with you, he’s mad at himself,” I said before going after them. To my shock, Drew followed us outside.
“You know what we’re not going to do? This. Fucking drawing a line in the sand and dividing the pack again. You did that once, now is the time to mend it, not get your feelings hurt,” Drew said, giving us each a look.
“He’s right. He was here like we should have been,” Cade bit out, puffing out his chest and facing off with our alpha.
“You’re right. I did the best I could,” Beck said with a sigh of defeat. “You can be mad at me, but I had to handle things or bring that bullshit back to her.”
“Didn’t we do that anyway?” Cade thundered, gripping his hair and walking away before he could throw a punch.
“No. The world was going to find out about her anyway, we controlled that,” I admitted. “It was a smart plan and he was willing to blackmail to get back. We can be frustrated, or we can listen to our other alpha and get our shit together and be here now.”
Cade dropped down to the grass, eyes on the stars and body starfished in the thick greenery.
“This yard is huge,” he grumbled. Our artist was sometimes reclusive and impulsive, but not usually the brooding type. This separation had broken us all a little.
Drew sighed. “I just messaged her best friend. She said they’re at a restaurant and just finishing dessert. If you hurry, we can drive her home.”
That had us all launching to the parking lot out front. Drew climbed into his big truck, the betas filling in the extended cab and our alphas in front.
Cade and I both were jumping out of our skin as we drove a few blocks. Just a few short minutes to showcase the adorable street lanterns and tiny shops.
It was easy to see why Grace loved this town so much and we were only seeing it in the darker hours.
“Here it is,” Drew announced as he parked along the curb. There was a speakeasy style bar off to one side, the Italian restaurant just ahead of it. Both had people milling in and out. At least it wasn’t one of those small towns that rolled up the sidewalks at night and turned into a ghost town.
We started to climb out but Beck reached out, gripping Drew’s arm. His eyes burned for a moment, but he waited to see if it was a fight or apology.
Then Beck shocked us all.
“I’m sorry for earlier. I let my frustration get the best of me, and maybe jealousy. Thanks for being here for her when we couldn’t.”
Drew just nodded, before getting out of the truck. Beck’s hand fell as the other alpha made his departure.
“We’re taking a week off,” Beck said as he shoved his door open. “I need to soak in my omega before going back to reality.”
“Hell yeah,” Cade cheered as he launched out of the truck.
Not for the first time, I trailed behind. This time I didn’t feel rushed or forgotten, I just needed a moment of calm before seeing her, knowing it was going to be a punch to the gut.
My jaw nearly dropped when I walked in to find them waiting in the lobby. Beck was crawling out of his skin and Cade was rocking forward, nearly ripping out of Beck’s hold.
“Together,” our alpha growled, forcing Cade to breathe and calm himself. Then laughter drew us all to one spot like a moth to flame.
Grace.
She was as gorgeous as I remembered, if not more now. Her smile came easy and she’d lost that tension we grew to know at the resort. Here, she was in her element. Even her skin was glowing.
As if she could feel our stares, she turned slowly. I swear I could hear her gasp across the crowded room.
Then we were all moving. Grace was sprinting around tables and soon she was jumping, our alpha easily catching her and Cade and I pressing into her sides. Drew watched over us, a soft smile on his face.
“You came back.” It was a shaky whisper, a confession of just how much she was starting to doubt it.
“We promised,” I reminded her, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “We are so sorry it took so long, but we’re all yours now, freckles. No turning back.”
“I tried to remind myself you wouldn’t do that, but it was starting to slip,” she confessed as she clung to Beck like a cute little koala.
“I’ll handle the bill,” Drew said, waving down a waitress, giving us a chance to carry our girl back out to the sidewalk.
She didn’t protest as she was carried out by her alpha. Instead, she just buried her face in his neck and simply breathed.
“How did we go without this for weeks?” Cade asked no one in particular.
“Don’t leave me again,” she begged.
“No chance, sweetheart,” Beck promised. “From now on, where we go, you go, and the other way around.”
“Good.” A small sniffle nearly broke me but so did not holding her myself.
“My turn.” To my shock, Beck handed her over. She didn’t protest, doing the same burrowing hug to me that she did our alpha. Fuck if that didn’t inflate the ego a bit. She needed me just as much as I needed her.
That was how you knew fate was involved.
Cade didn’t wait long before taking her from my arms. I couldn’t deny my packmate our omega, though.
The drive back, with her wedged between our alphas, felt like it took years and not minutes.
She had us wrecked in the best way.