CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - Jasper
“Fucking hell, Bal. You fucked everything!” I was just as culpable, but I needed to rage at someone. We’d lost our Omega, and I found I couldn’t think of a future without Mariska in it.
“We need to go get her. Tell Lucian to bring her home.” Balthazar was already pulling out his cell to text him.
“She’s gone. Fucking gone.” I slapped it out of his hand, and he snarled, taking a swing at me. Dodging, I punched him in the gut. He hissed out with it and sent me stumbling back with a hit to the shoulder.
We stood in the living room, staring each other down. Our chest heaved. Everything in me was ready for an all-in battle. I wanted to deal pain and receive it. Anything other than having to feel the breaking of my heart.
“You drove her away with bringing her shitty family here and your insane baby talk.” I’d agreed to it, and I hadn’t bashed her father into the floor when he started getting stupid.
Yet Mariska had held her own and then some.
She’d called us all out, and she was right.
Our immensely brave and furious Omega. Fuck. “I love her.”
“I love her too.” Balthazar grunted and then sighed. “Did you tell her?” When I shook my head, his shoulders sagged. “Neither did I. I don’t think Lucian did either. We should have told her. She needed to hear it.”
Would it have made a difference? I wanted to believe it would have, but seeing her face when she realized her family was here and then hearing the little lie Balthazar told them…
“Do you want a beer?” I didn’t know what else to do. Stalking into the kitchen, I glanced back at Balthazar as he followed. Maybe I could get drunk enough to numb my mind and heart, and keep that drunk going through Christmas.
“We need to go get her.” Balthazar repeated and ignored me as I held out a beer to him.
“And what? She won’t come with us. We’d be lucky if she even let us talk to her.”
“She has to listen. She belongs with us.” Balthazar paced the length of the kitchen. Back and forth. “She’s ours.”
“And if you come at her with that, she’ll call the cops on us.” I twisted off the cap and took a swig. The beer roiled in my stomach, and I pushed the bottle away from me.
“I should have gone with her and Lucian.” Balthazar wouldn’t stop fucking moving. My cheek twitched as he stalked back and forth.
“She wouldn’t have let you.” I gripped the edge of the counter. Mariska had made herself clear. I was betting she would have walked rather than ride with Balthazar or myself. I was a little jealous that she allowed Lucian to drive her, but at least I knew she was safe with him.
After she and Lucian left, I had to stop Balthazar from raging at the Belmonts. Not that they didn’t deserve it, but they looked like the type of jerks who would sue someone because of one foul word. I escorted them out of our house and told them never to come back or to contact Mariska again.
Her mom got a little uppity and dared to say, “You can’t tell us what to do when it comes to Mariska. She’s our daughter.”
“You lost the privilege of calling her that years ago.” I should have listened to Mariska. If I had nixed this plan to bring her family to us, none of this would be happening. “She’s cut you out of her life for good now.”
“You too. She’ll never see you again.” If Evelyn thought she was rubbing salt in my wounds, she didn’t understand how deep the pain already reached.
“And we deserve it.” I wasn’t one to shy away from responsibility.
Not like the fucking Belmonts here. “We invited you here under good faith. We thought if you had an ounce of the goodness that’s in Mariska’s heart, everything would work out.
Turns out that you’re every bit as petty as she said you were. ”
“Don’t speak to my wife that way.” Theo said it from the other side of their SUV with one foot already in the car. There was no strength in his words.
I gave him a sharp try-me smile. “Now get the fuck off our land before I call the cops to arrest you for trespassing.” I didn’t wave as I walked off. I didn’t even look back. Screw them. “Happy fucking Christmas.”
Mariska’s family wouldn’t contact her. I was sure of it. That was one more reason why we had to do something. I looked at Balthazar. “We need a plan.”
He finally stopped pacing and came to stand opposite of me around the kitchen island. “What about what you and Lucian were working on with the job?”
I gnashed my teeth. The whole mess was turning out to be more difficult than I anticipated. So much bureaucratic bullshit, and it was extra slow because it was almost Christmas. “Nothing is settled yet. I texted Dale three times this morning for news, but I haven’t heard a thing.”
“What about Blue Skies? It’s not ideal but—”
“Mariska won’t go back there. She’s not going to take just any job.” That was one thing I could be certain about. She’d called the board sexist assholes who only cared about profit not the environment. “She’s smart and talented, and fuck, she’s full of fire.”
“Damn right she is.” Balthazar smiled tightly and reached for the beer I opened. He took a gulp and groaned. “Did you see the way she called me out on my lie? I need that Omega.”
I couldn’t help but grin that he liked the fact she didn’t take any of his bullshit.
He tapped the bottle on the counter. “You know I only did it to make things go smoother with her family, right? I didn’t want them to think she was shacking up with a pack just to get knotted.
The rest of the world doesn’t understand how it is between Alphas and Omegas.
I wanted to make her look good. I want her to have a loving family.
All I want to do is take care of her and make her happy. ”
“I get it, man. I do.” It’s all I wanted as well. If I’d been the one to arrange the Belmonts coming to the house, I might have done the same thing.
The front door opened, and I dashed out of the kitchen. Mariska was back.
My heart was pounding as I rounded the corner to see Lucian holding a bunch of grocery bags and kicking off his boots. No Mariska.
It felt like I had slammed into a wall of ice.
“We’ve got to make a plan to get Mariska back.” Lucian walked past me to the kitchen. At least we were on the same page. A single-minded pack was a force to be reckoned with.
“What happened? Where is she now?” Balthazar demanded as he loomed over him.
“I drove her to Primrose House, and then to the hospital. Without Lyla. Something went on in that house.” Lucian frowned and shook his head.
He set the bag on the counter and leaned forward.
“I waited for a while at the hospital. I peeked in at her and she was with Eloise. Minnie, you know, Derek’s cousin, works as a nurse, told me Mariska asked for a cot because she’s spending the night there. ”
“So we go bring her dinner and get her to come back to us.” Balthazar burst out, grinning as if it would be that simple.
Lucian and I shook our heads.
“She wouldn’t see us. Not tonight anyway.” I focused on the goal. This was a huge thing. A major change her entire life type of choice for Mariska. We couldn’t do it over a bucket of fried chicken or butter burgers.
“It has to be a big gesture.” Lucian tapped his fingers on the counter.” We have to show that we’re willing to change our lives for her as much as she will have to if she chooses to stay with us.”
“Like what? Say we’d go to California with her?” Balthazar folded his arms. “We can’t leave the farm.”
I didn’t want to leave the farm either. This was our whole lives, but that was the thing, wasn’t it?
We were asking Mariska to give up her whole life to be with us.
“I could do a lot of my work remotely. We could buy a second house in California and take turns spending time there with her. We can make it work. We have to show her that she comes first.”
“That’s fucking shit.” Balthazar huffed.
“I’d do it.” Lucian didn’t hesitate, but his gaze went to Balthazar. “Don’t you think she’s worth it?”
Balthazar growled and hit the counter. Pulling at his hair, he started pacing. Again. “I can’t lose her. I can’t. So I guess, yeah. Fuck. I hate it, but if we can make it work. Shit, maybe I would give up the farm for her.”
“Then it’s settled.” I slung an arm around Lucian and gave him a hug before reaching over to pat Balthazar on the back.
We were together until the end. Everything had to be perfect for Mariska.
She deserved nothing less than all of us hearts, bodies, and souls.
“All right. Let’s get some food together and sit down to make a plan.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we need to make a miracle happen. ”