Chapter 46
Chapter
Forty-Six
HENDRIX
“ S imona.” I cup my hands around her face, my thumbs pressing under her trembling pout. Exaggerating it. “Sweetheart, I think I started falling in love with you the second you walked into class and you parked your ass in your seat at Unity.”
She nods her head as she listens, brimming tears making her eyes glassy.
“Just because you can’t cook at all doesn’t mean I will love you any less. You can burn my kitchen down, but nothing is going to change the way I feel about you. Although, that mouth? Fuck me, sweetheart, those lips of yours are begging to be wrapped around my cock.”
The scent of her sadness vanishes, replaced by her arousal. Her pout dissolves into a smile that sends more blood to my already thickening dick. I lift her up, setting her on the edge of the island bench before I jump up behind her, switching the shrill smoke alarm off.
Resetting it for her next attempt at cooking.
I hop off the kitchen bench, ready to show Simona the kitchen isn’t just a place for cooking, but the sound of her phone interrupts my plans.
“Sit there and keep pouting,” I bark, pointing unnecessarily to where she’s already sitting.
I back out of the kitchen, watching her cheeks start to glow a soft pink. Jesus, I need to see a cardiologist the way my chest pounds watching her.
Scooping her phone off the sofa where she left it, it starts ringing again as soon as it stops.
“Who is it, Hen?”
I hold the screen up so she can see for herself, and the smile that graces her face when she answers Heidi’s call gets even brighter.
“Hey, Ho,” Simona talks softly, her smile firmly in place. Her scent is full of sweet happiness, making me think I need to send Heidi a bunch of flowers for being such an important person in my Omega’s life.
I turn to the coffee machine, and I feel her focus. It does nothing to help my dick go down at all. Honestly, people talk about scent matching with your Omega and the power your compatible match wields but, in my opinion, they need to use a fuck tonne more descriptors. It’s staggering what she does to me. One look, and without pause or question I’d do whatever she asks.
I hear her voice, and the noise in my head quietens. And her scent is like giving catnip to the king of the jungle… I’m constantly on the prowl, and ready to devour my mate.
I pour her tea, and get everything ready for my coffee then return to my place between her legs, settling so close that I can feel her breath fan over my skin as she talks.
It sounds like we’re taking a trip. Very soon too. Reaching past her, I grab my phone and shoot out a group message, asking Ryder to alert the private charter company that we will soon have a booking for them. Dominic was only working in the ugly room, so he appears before she’s even finished her call.
“How? How do you know?” she asks, catching me by the shirt.
Her uniquely coloured eyes are peaceful today. I adore them in all their contrasting shades. I also adore when she glares at me. But not as much when her eyes dilate.
I catch her by the throat, squeezing her until I feel her pulse exploding under my thumb. I fight myself not to lean in and kiss those fucking lips of hers.
I get close to them though, barking Mine with as much inflection as I can muster, without my Alpha losing his shit.
My Omega responds exactly like planned, falling instantly into complete submission with such a speed her eyes roll back in her head. When she stops floating and comes back to me, I find another piece of my soul in her eyes.
“Thank you, Alpha.” Her voice is barely a whisper, and much like my bark of ownership—my protective control over her—it’s unnecessary in the sense that we already share an unwavering bond.
Our brave Omega asking us to each control her nearly broke us, but at the same time it strengthened her, solidifying our bond. Overriding his hold on her wasn’t needed because of our packing, but Simona herself needed the comfort. Now our claim was on full display, while her Alphas also owned her body, mind and soul.
The joy burning bright in her eyes as she leans into my hold around her throat confirms to me that we did the right thing.
“Where are we going, sweetheart?” I ask, bringing her lips to mine.
“Heidi has to talk in front of all her staff along with the shareholders and board members at Verdune. It’s time for her to take control. I’m so proud of her, Hen, and I want to help her get ready. She doesn’t want us there when she speaks because she’s worried about security. I trust her to keep me safe, but I want to be there, even if it’s for only a few minutes.”
“Easy,” I answer without a beat of hesitation.
She growls, baring her teeth at me. And fuck me just like that I am back to having a cock so hard it could punch through my pants.
Dominic finds us in the kitchen, his scent rolling through the space, so thick with desire, I didn’t need to turn around to know he was watching. He sees her blossoming into our brat as clearly as I do. He closes the distance between us—her pull is too magnetic to ignore. He looks at her, his eyes devouring her really. And then he takes a step back and focuses his attention on making coffee. “Ryder should see if the Gulf Stream is available.”
I understand why he puts distance between himself and her, but I can’t do that. She is like a drug, and my addiction is getting worse every day.
She looks at me for answers, questions darkening the blue of her eyes, but I’m not going to be the one to ruin Dominic’s plans. Simona’s throat bobs, the movement echoing through my palm as she finds her voice.
“Why, Dom?”
He sips on her coffee, eyes locked on her mouth and where my hand rests, before he comes closer. He settles his hand over mine, his own fingers dappling her skin as we collar her throat. “The Gulf Stream has a bed, Amore Mio. Seeing you with Hen’s hand wrapped around your throat… there’s no way we are not fucking.”
Simona’s pulse explodes, and the scent of her slick descends over us like a storm.
And it’s a storm that derails our plans.
As soon as we arrive at the airport, the pilots go into detail about the bad weather we’re going to be flying through. Then they leave us to decide if we still want to go. It’s an easy decision, and despite the sudden return of Simona’s pout, we settle into our seats in the main cabin of the Cessna Citation Latitude. Our aircraft selection changes like the tides, but this one is the industry leader for safety features.
The flight isn’t a long one, and it’s made shorter by the prevailing tail wind. Landing is bumpy and as soon as the pilot gives us the all clear, we switch on our devices. Simona is especially anxious.
She reads a few messages, and it’s easy to see she’s talking with the girls, but then she pales and her scent sours.
“What’s happened, sweetheart?” I reach over for her hand, but she pushes her phone into mine.
Her mother has left four messages. Each sent within minutes of the last.
Simona’s screen lights up, as her mother continues her harassment. My poor Omega starts spiralling. The colour in her eyes gets lost under the worry rising from within. Her anxiety strikes like a whip, hard and fast. Completely unaware, she draws her Alphas closer in their need to solve the source of her distress.
“It’s okay, Sin, we’re with you.” Ryder’s hand is on her thigh, mine is splayed across her stomach, hoping to stem her rising panic attack.
She nods but it’s also abundantly clear that she’s not wholly present with us. Simona refuses to look up, and she starts rocking back and forth, fighting not to fall further away. But because she has the most resilience I’ve seen in anyone, she accepts the call and flicks it to hands free.
“Wren?”
There’s an echo as Simona’s mother starts talking. The hollow sound confirming Wren has her device on handsfree too which doesn’t bode well with me. If I’m honest, it makes me nearly disconnect the call because of the likelihood she’s recording this, not exactly what you would do in an emergency.
“You need to come home straight away. Lawson is in hospital.”
“What? What’s happened to Lawson?” Simona asks. The suspicion in her voice is as loud and as obvious as her worry for her father.
Her mother scoffs. She fucking tuts dismissively at my Omega, like Simona is inept at understanding basic fucking English.
“Don’t you question…” Wren shrieks, hissing like a wasp. She catches herself, pausing mid-way through. You can literally hear Wren becoming a different version of herself. “Simona, Lawson is at the hospital. He asked for you. Please come home and see your father.”
Her tone might have changed, but now she’s over polished her manners. My Alpha is going off his head. I want to reach through the phone and drag her here so she has to look her daughter in the eye when she lies. Instead, I focus on what I can fix. I pump our bond, letting Simona know she is not alone. I get a small smile, but she doesn’t look at me yet.
“Please, tell me what happened, Wren.”
Simona’s request falls on deaf ears. Wren cuts the call. My Omega can’t even take a shocked inhale, and a text arrives on her phone with the name of a hospital and a room number.
The message is a barbed jab and nothing more. It hits Simona right in the chest. She slumps forward, a long drawn out and pained moan spilling from our sweet girl.
Her shock and confusion take her away from us, and the only way we can reach her is through our bond, although that too feels like it is just out of reach.
She isolates in her grief. It’s not something she set out to do, she’s simply slid back into a self-protective mode. Which is hard to witness as an Alpha but easy to understand as one of her soul mates. Simona has shared lots of stories about her father, and even now after what she has gone through, she idolises him. Losing Lawson is going to leave a deep scar.
“Simona.” Dominic’s voice is abrupt, like a bark. And it’s done as a way to cut through the panic stealing her away.
The rocking slows, and the pain in her scent softens. She doesn’t look at him, but her hand reaches out. Relief floods through our bond. And her knuckles turn white as she holds on to him for dear life.
Dominic sits on his heels so he can be on her level, since she can’t sit up just yet. His face is lined with concern, his eyes full of his love and compassion. There’s no bark or bite when he speaks, just his need to help, as well as his obvious love for her. “We will get you to Lawson and keep you safe from Wren. I need to know if you still want to go see Heidi though, Amore Mio.”
Tremors wrack her body. This perfect woman might be on the cusp of a panic attack, but her fortitude and resilience start to overtake the crushing fallout of her shock and worry for Lawson. With each minute, she reclaims more of her balance.
When she sits up, her eyes are glazed. She’s compartmentalised. Understandable given the circumstance, but she needs reminding she now has a safety net ready to catch her. I rub her shoulder until I get her attention. “Anything you need to happen, will happen. But I cannot allow you to bottle up all those emotions. They need to come out, sweetheart.”
Her eyes flare wide, I see her emotions colliding in her eyes. It’s hard to watch but I can’t let her suffer alone. The storm in her eyes continues to gather until her hold on it snaps, and loud sobs rip through her as she scrambles onto my lap. She curls into a ball, and I cover her with my body, trying to make her feel safer. Her hand reaches out and grabs whatever part of Ryder and Dominic she can. She holds on as they shield around her protectively, until she is engulfed on all sides by her pack.
We stay like that for what feels like a long time, but I refuse to push her away. There is no rush except for her to feel us with her and to remember she is ours.
Simona’s voice is barely above a whisper, but we’re so close it doesn’t matter. “I hate her so much. How could she call and not tell me anything about him? She knows how much he means to me. Wren was always jealous of our relationship.”
Her breathing hitches when she takes a shaky inhale. “But I don’t know him anymore. He changed after his first heart attack. And then, even when he was well enough to speak, he didn’t object to their atrocious behaviour. He jumped on board with them. I hated him for it. I hated my own father. How bad is that? But where was he when I needed him the most? He never questioned their motivations. Only mine. And then he started pushing the pack arrangement with renewed determination.”
Simona quietens, but it’s clear she still has a lot to say. We wait, infusing her with as much of our love and support as we can by any means possible—our scent, our touches, our presence and our bond spilling over.
After a slower inhale, Simona shares more of her thoughts with us. “I wish I didn’t love him; it would be easier. But I also can’t forgive him, or any of them for what they have done to me. I will go to the hospital, but I was coming for Heidi. Today is such an important day for her, and I will be there to congratulate her and to tell her face to face how much I love her. I can’t let my family take anything else from me. Please tell me if I’m wrong or if I’m making a huge mistake.”
“I’m so proud of you.”Ryder’s voice is full of as much anguish as hers.
Understandable because her pain and distress feels magnified to me. I am sure it does to him and Dominic too.
“Sin, what about we call the hospital to triple check he’s being admitted. It might be another ploy, baby. But to answer your other question, I think you’re doing exactly the right thing. You’re putting yourself first. Wren thinks you’re coming from Unity which means you have hours to make a decision. My vote will always go to you, but I agree, seeing Heidi is a priority.”
“I know,” she agrees. “Dominic?”
“He should have been there for you. You’re not punishing him because he wasn’t there, you’re putting yourself first after they’ve shown you consistently your welfare is not their concern. I think you should see Heidi too.”
“Thank you.” She turns, giving me a watery smile, and a chance to see she’s regaining her footing after being thrown. “Hen?”
“Let’s get you to Verdune, sweetheart, and then you decide if you even want to go see your father.”
“Dom, would you go and see yours?”
Her question relates directly to the awful history they share. Dominic’s father is the scum of the earth who brutalised his son for wanting a different future than the one he had planned out for him. And when he found out Dominic and I were in a relationship, he threw him out of the house after beating Dominic within an inch of his life.
If it were up to me, I would have killed his father years ago, but it’s not my decision. Just like Simona’s quandary isn’t either. It guts me that I can’t save her from this heartache, but I will do everything in my power to ensure she has a safe place to make her decision.
Dominic moves deliberately slowly, using his fingers under her chin so he can see her beautiful eyes. And while he uses the pile of tissues Ryder presses into his hands to clean our Omega up, he answers her question. “No. I would not go see my father. There is no circumstance that would get me to walk into the house where I grew up. I feel no regret for my decision to cut him from my life and never will. He doesn’t deserve me, sweetheart.”
She tries to swallow her distress at hearing Dominic’s pain but her tears take over and her cries get louder. But it’s different now. In her pain and anguish, she knows we’re with her.
Leaning against my chest, she keeps her eyes closed as Dom and Ryder wipe her face and help her feel better. Once done, they sit back to give her a bit of space but don’t stop their gentle spoiling, and she doesn’t let them either. When she’s ready, she makes sure to look at each of us as she speaks. “Heidi first. And then Lawson. I don’t want to see Brody, Wren, or anyone from Brody’s family. And if you are with me, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Of course,” we say. Our words overlap as one.