CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Mariska
The urge to cry lessened as Lucian slowly drove us into town. He’d put chains on his truck as it warmed up, but it was still tricky on the roads less traveled. Once we were in Fond du Lac, the roads were better as they’d been plowed and salted.
Balthazar had run alongside the pickup at the farm and shouted apologies.
I refused to look his way. Both he and Jasper sent me dozens of texts, but I only looked at my phone in case it was Lyla, Emberlee, or Miss Eloise.
I didn’t read any of their messages. Maybe later when I cooled off, when I was in California.
Lucian had thankfully remained quiet through most of the drive, but as we neared my neighborhood, he glanced my way and spoke in a voice that was as raw as mine had been. “I’m so sorry things went the way they did.”
“You and me both.” Yet there was nothing to be done about it now. My heart hurt more than my heat pains ever had, but I’d cut all ties, vehemently and permanently.
“We’d thought we could make things right.
While it was Balthazar’s idea, we all agreed to it.
We wanted to be your heroes…” Lucian rubbed his eyes as we stopped at a stop sign and ran a hand through his mussed hair.
“I should have known better. Out of all of us, I should have said something and put a stop to it. But we didn’t know how your family… ”
“I’d told the truth about them. All of you knew, but none of you listened.” I shook my head. Just like at work and school, no one wanted to listen to an Omega. We were always treated as children to be guided and protected. I’d thought the pack would be different.
“You did, and we heard you, but…” Lucian swallowed thickly and turned onto my street.
“No. There’s no excuse for what we did. We should have respected your privacy and minded our own business.
That goes double for me. I’m the only one in the pack who doesn’t have contact with my family.
Bal and Jasper have awesome families, but… not me.”
I ached to slide over and hug him, to make everything good again. Maybe because of his past or the fact he’d been the one to trigger my heat, I wanted to forgive him. I hated to see him suffer, but I couldn’t let him in again. If I did, there was no going back. My heart didn’t want to let go.
Lucian pulled up in front of Primrose House. The driveway, porch, and sidewalk around it had been shoveled. Lyla was putting her energy to good use. My Jeep was in the drive next to a truck I didn’t recognize. Perhaps one of the neighbors who haven’t shoveled yet needed a place to park.
Artemis whined at me to open the door so she could go home. I gave her a scratch behind the ears and peered over her at Lucian. “Thank you for the ride.”
He dipped his head and ran his hands along the top part of the steering wheel. “I can take you and Lyla to the hospital, so you don’t have to drive.”
“It’s probably not a good idea.” While I had my Jeep, I’d been planning on calling for a ride share. I didn’t have chains on my wheels and they were necessary today.
“It’s not a problem. It would settle my nerves to know you and Lyla got to the hospital safely.” Lucian turned in his seat and gazed at me with those gorgeous gray eyes. “Allow me to do this one last thing for you. Please.”
Fuck. He was being the overprotective Alpha, and I didn’t want to send him away yet. “All right. Let me bring Artemis inside and get Lyla. It might take more than a few minutes…”
“That’s fine.” He offered me a relieved smile.
I found myself smiling back. “Okay.”
Opening the door, Artemis launched herself out and ran like a crazy pup up the drive and sniffed around the strange truck before peeing on one wheel.
I hopped out and shut the door. I hadn’t brought any of my stuff.
Not that I had a lot of it at the farmhouse.
I still had on Lucian’s thermal shirt. I’d have to change and give that back to him.
Or not. I could say I forgot.
I hugged myself as I hurried up to the door. Long and deadly icicles hung around the porch, and Santa and Mrs. Claus were popsicles in their chairs. I dug my keys out of my pocket and opened the door.
Artemis was fast inside, and I made her sit to dry her off with the towel I always kept by the front door. Once that was done, I wiped my boots and went into the kitchen to put out water and food for my dog.
It was a disaster area. Pots and pans and dirty dishes everywhere. This was absolutely not like Lyla. Was she stress cooking trapped inside by herself? There was a huge stack of fruitcakes and packages of cookies. So she had definitely been baking.
There was no way she wouldn’t clean up after herself unless… She was sick.
Dammit. I hated myself again for being away from Primrose House when I was needed.
I raced up the stairs with Artemis close behind. “Lyla!”
If she was feeling well, she would have heard me by now. She would have come down to greet me and demand I tell her everything that happened.
“Lyla!” I hit the top of the stairs and turned toward her suite just as the door swung open and a shirtless man stepped into the hallway.
Just from the way he held himself, how solidly he was built, and the faint musk in the air, I knew exactly what he was: a nearly naked Alpha.
I let out a yelp and skidded to a stop. Artemis was immediately in front of me, growling at the guy to stay away.
“Lyla!” Oh God. What was going on? Did this stranger break into the house and hurt her?
“Hey now, it’s okay.” The Alpha held up his hands, wisely not moving any closer. “I’m not going to hurt you. You’re Mariska, right?”
How did he know my name? What the fuck was an Alpha doing in Primrose House?
“I’m here, I’m here!” Lyla shouted from her room and came rushing out with a sheet wrapped around her body. Plus a second nearly naked man behind her. “Hi Mari. It’s okay. I know them. They’re safe.”
Her blonde hair was a complete mess and she wore no makeup. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips were swollen, and her forehead shiny with perspiration. I knew that look. I knew it because I’d caught glimpses of myself after I’d spent hours in bed with my Alphas.
This was why she hadn’t texted me and didn’t answer my calls.
“Lyla, no.” I took three steps back, dragging Artemis with me.
“Mari, it happened so suddenly. Then we were snowed in and…” Lyla glanced at each of the men with a coy smile before looking back to me. “Mari, this is Jason.” She put her hand on the shoulder of the blond one and gestured to the other man. “And this is Ozzi.”
“Hey. Nice to meet you.” Ozzi had a gentle smile and was just as big as Balthazar.
I didn’t care what their names were nor that she looked ridiculously happy. For some reason, my brain could only focus on one thing: “This is Primrose House. How could you bring Alphas into our house?”
“It’s not like I planned it. It just happened.” Lyla let out a nervous laugh as if it were all a joke.
The one space I had felt the safest in my life was now ruined. Alphas didn’t belong in Primrose House. My family was horrible, the pack refused to see me as who I was, and now my favorite place was tainted.
I ran for the stairs, intending to flee from the house and go to the hospital without Lyla.
Artemis bumped against me and reminded me I couldn’t take my dog with me.
I hated to leave her, but I raced to my suite and went inside to make sure there was dogfood and water.
I couldn’t let her wander the house in case she attacked Jason or Ozzi.
“Mari!” Lyla had followed me down the hall and slid to a stop in front of my door. Tears shimmered in her big blue eyes. “Please. This wasn’t planned. I went into heat. It happened so fast. You know how it is. It’s like how it is with you and your pack.”
“They’re not my pack,” I snapped and reined in my own tears. “I’m done with them.”
“What happened?” Lyla reached for me, and God, I wanted her to hold me. I wanted to confide in my best friend and have her tell me everything would be all right.
But I couldn’t. She’d brought Alphas into Primrose House. My voice of reason tried to lecture me that it wasn’t something Lyla couldn’t control and that she needed my support right now too, but everything was too fucked up.
With water and food down for Artemis, I exited my suite and shut the door, keeping as far from Lyla as I could. “I’m going to see Miss Eloise.”
“I want to go too, but…” Lyla gripped her abdomen and winced. “My heat’s bad. It hurts so much.”
Everything in me melted. I couldn’t stay angry with her. “I know, at times, it’s horrible, but it’ll get better. Just let your Alphas take care of you. You’ll be okay.” I gave her a soft smile. “I’ll tell Miss Eloise you’re not feeling well.”
“Thank you.” Lyla sniffled as a few tears slipped free. “Could you bring her some fruitcake and cookies and tell her I’m thinking of her? There’s plenty in the kitchen. There’s some for you too.”
“Ew, fruitcake.” I made a blech face and got a watery giggle from her. I closed the distance and hugged her tight. “I love you. Go take care of yourself. I might spend the night with Miss Eloise, so if you could let Artemis out a couple of times for me, I’d appreciate it.”
“Anything for my puppy love.” Lyla squeezed me back and whispered, “What happened, Mari?”
“Everything fell apart, but it doesn’t matter. I’m still on track to head to California.” I broke our embrace and headed to the stairs, glancing once more down the corridor at Jason and Ozzi who stood like watchdogs ready to leap at their mistress’ command. “I’ll text you with Miss Eloise news.”
“Okay.” Lyla slowly started back towards her Alphas, but clearly she wasn’t moving fast enough for them. They made a beeline for her, and Ozzi picked her up and cradled her against his chest as her blanket started to slip off.
I thrust that image out of my mind and hurried to the kitchen.
I packed a small tote with snacks and drinks.
If I was going to spend the night with Miss Eloise, I should have packed a bag for myself, but I wasn’t going back upstairs.
The fact Alphas were in Primrose House still poked at my gaping wound.
Lucian opened the door for me as I returned to his pickup. He looked back at the house. “Where’s Lyla?”
I set the tote on the floor and climbed in, ignoring the surge of jealousy that shot through me when he showed concern for my friend. I know he was more worried about me, but my damn Omega self still thought he was mine.
I shut the door behind me. “She’s otherwise engaged.” In ways that I didn’t want to talk about, but with Lucian’s confused expression, the melty part of me sighed and gave in. “She’s in heat and she has her Alphas helping her.”
“What?” Lucian blinked. “Is she okay?”
“She will be. Let’s just go.”
“Are you all right?” Fuck, his genuine concern was going to kill me.
“No, but I will be.” I guess it was my turn to lie.