Chapter 19
Grey
I’d woken up to a quiet house, but for once the stillness did little to settle me.
Because this is not where we’re supposed to be, the wolf growled. Our mate is in her nest. Tex is there and we should be too.
That was never going to happen.
I’d nearly fucking lost it right there and then when I walked into the pub to find all those males clustered around Nadia.
Every instinct told me to throw them clear of her, then declare she was mine.
But that’s not what Nadia wanted. The fact she chose to sit and drink with them was the only thing that stopped me.
So what held me back from going around to her place now?
A calendar reminder chimed on my phone, but I didn’t need to check it.
We had organised to go and help out at a working bee the Taylor pack had set up.
Very few foster parents were prepared to take on alpha boys.
We were seen to be too wild, too uncontrollable, but Jess always stepped up to the plate.
Her house was full of kids and I had been one of them, and that was the same now.
The Taylors had heard her saying she’d love to put in a proper garden for the kids to play in, and today we were supposed to surprise her with just that.
So why wasn’t I getting dressed?
With a shake of my head, I forced myself to move, knocking on Ethan’s door as I passed it.
“You ready?” I called out.
“Born ready.” He emerged in some old, faded work clothes, then looked me up and down.
“And is that how you’re going?” I was still standing there in a pair of thin athletic shorts and nothing else.
“Because while I think the old ducks might appreciate the view, it’s not great for work health and safety. ”
“Lock up the house,” I replied. “I’ll be ready in a sec.”
“So are we swinging by Nadia’s to pick them up, or…?”
Ladies seemed to love Ethan’s grin, but right now it just pissed me off.
“No. We can do the work ourselves. Will probably get it done quicker without Tex stuffing around and slowing us down.”
“Righto.” His arms crossed his chest. “So afterwards…?”
I didn’t bother to reply, walking away from him now like I had last night to head into my room and get changed.
“They roped you into this, too?” Jess’ face creased as she came rushing over.
The feel of her arms around me and the scent of old roses helped me take a full breath.
I went to hug her back, but was too slow as she held me at arm’s length.
“You’re too busy to spend your weekend working on an old woman’s garden. Hello, Ethan.”
“Hey, Jess.” He turned and scanned the front garden, the place full of adults and children alike. “Looks like you’ve got a decent turnout.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d want to be,” I told my foster mother, and my tone had her looking up and smiling. “You should’ve told me you wanted the garden redone. I’d have started work on it ages ago.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you.” Her arm linked with mine as she drew me down the driveway. “Don’t need people making a fuss over me.”
But you deserve it, I thought. If there was anyone in the world that did, it was Jess.
When I came to her, I was an angry, violent little shit that had been kicked from place to place for being out of control and she’d seen straight through my posturing.
Her calm in the face of my stormy nature had me settling for once.
I scanned the building, noting that the gutters needed cleaning and the roof could do with a spray of fungicide, right before I kicked my own arse for not seeing to that earlier.
This was the closest thing I’d ever had to a home, and I would do anything for the woman who made it that way.
“Grey.” Fen Taylor stepped up, hand outstretched, and I gave it a firm shake. He’d taught me the importance of that. “Ethan.” He peered over my house mate’s shoulder. “Where’s your other partner-in-crime?”
I sucked in a breath to answer, but Ethan got in first.
“Found his fated mate,” he replied with an easy smile. “Not sure if you could pull him away from Nadia for anything. Not even you, Jess.”
He leaned in and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“Mate?” Not for the first time did my head fill with curses for Ethan. Jess looked up at me with eyes wide with anticipation. “You’ve found her? Well, what’re you doing here, you big lunk! Go and impress your girl.”
“Nadia’s not my mate.”
It felt like those words were forced past my teeth.
“Bullshit…” Ethan said with a fake sneeze.
“We’re not a pack,” I continued.
“Look like one from where I’m standing.” Haze Taylor came to stand with his brother, and he had me wondering what he saw that I didn’t.
He and his brothers were born in a pack, ready to take over the role of ruling alphas in their small town.
A glance over at Ethan meant I saw the moment when his smile faded.
“So did you guys do a job in a small town and met your omega there or something?”
For a beat, both Ethan and I were silent as we shot each other sidelong looks. The actual story wasn’t one we could share with the woman who was my mother in every way but blood and the men who’d stepped up to become father figures for all of us.
“Ah, no,” I said.
“Seems like there’s a story there,” Haze said with a grin.
“Nadia’s a city girl,” I replied. “We met her at one of the offices we’re working on and Tex and her just clicked.”
“That’s one way of putting it…” Ethan muttered.
“A city omega?” Riley, Fen and Haze’s mate, had obviously overheard the conversation. Her look of concern lit an answering fire in my heart. “That doesn’t happen that often. Was she born in one of the alpha towns?”
“I don’t—”
“Because if she’s a latent, then we need to get involved.” Her eyes bled to silver as she stared at me. “That can be incredibly dangerous, even possibly kill your mate.”
“Riley…” Fen said.
“No, I’m serious. I know we’ve gotten a lot better at dealing with latents.” A glance Ethan’s way had him flushing. “But it’s still a serious medical event that needs managing.”
“Excuse my mate,” Haze said, slinging an arm around Riley’s shoulders. “She’s kinda passionate about this area of genetic research, even when out of the office. So we can book Tex’s mate in for a consult and…”
That’s how I ended up hammering on Nadia’s door.
Riley was the smartest person I knew and if she thought there was a problem, then as far as I could see, there was one.
Nadia’s door swung open and for just a heartbeat, I took in her flushed face, her dishevelled appearance, then started peppering her with questions.
“You think I’m an omega?” she asked, taking a step backwards and away from us, then another. “Like an actual, factual omega.”
“Of course,” Tex said, holding his hands up. “What did you think happened that day? A beta can’t take an alpha’s knot. Nadia, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this.”
“Now might not be the right time,” Ethan hissed, but when did Tex ever listen to anyone?
“When you walked into that office,” Tex continued, seeming oblivious to Nadia’s wide-eyed stare. “When I first laid eyes on you, I knew.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, no, no, no.”
“No woman has ever touched me,” he explained. “None will, other than my mate.”
“You think…” Her finger shook as she pointed it at Tex. “And I’m…” Her thumb jerked towards her chest. “And you…?” Her eyes met mine, turning from brown to silver in a way that filled me with fear.
Yes, the wolf said. Yes.
“No.” I hadn’t lost control once since I turned eighteen. My wolf wasn’t in charge, I was. “Tex is your fated mate.” A glance over at Ethan had him shifting uncomfortably.
“And I don’t think I’ve got one,” he replied with a pained smile. “I’m kind of a latent alpha.”
“Which brings us to what brought us here. The people we know at Crowe Corp, they’re involved in pretty intense genetic research and they’re… concerned about you,” I told her. “If you haven’t ever shifted. If you’re a latent omega.”
“Nadia’s my mate,” Tex growled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
“Then proceeding with the bond before the team has had a chance to look you over could be dangerous.” The words were like acid, burning my mouth as I forced them out.
“Possibly fatal. You could start a shift and get stuck between the two states, forced to endure the agony for minutes, hours, even forever.”
“Shut up, Grey!” Tex snarled. “Shut the fuck up.”
“Fatal…?” Nadia sounded like a little girl right then, her voice filled with a kind of pain that had me stepping forward, but she shook her head sharply.
Spine straightening, I caught the moment when she recovered.
“What do I need to do? Who do I need to see and when? When can I talk to these people?”
“Now, if that’s what you want.”
I held out my phone, Riley’s contact details on the screen. She tapped on the green call icon and at the faint buzzing sound from the speaker, my head started to spin. Ethan was right. Nadia was my mate and somehow the most dangerous person for her to be around.
Was me.