Chapter Thirty
Shade
"Shade? Where's Knox and Viper?" Halley asks, her voice small and hesitant. “Why did they leave?”
"They had something to do, but that’s okay because they’ll be back soon,” I reassure the Omega, hoping Knox won’t make a liar out of me. “And in the meantime, Blaze and I are going to take care of you. Would you like that?"
She licks her lips and nods.
I’m carrying her down the snowy path to the cabin we’ve claimed as our den. Our girl deserves so much more than a dilapidated shack, but it’s better than the standard-issue tent we had her bunked in at the training camp.
I’d told Blaze to run ahead and start a fire, expecting some resistance or at least a sarcastic grunt, but he’d actually done it.
No knife, no dark undertone, just… focus.
Lucid and strangely tender, like helping Halley had become his new life purpose.
Part of me is itching to dissect whatever alignment of chemistry and circumstance made that happen, to crawl inside his head and trace the spark.
But now’s not the time. Halley comes first.
“And then we build a nest?”
Her whole face lights up with wonder. Her eyes are glazed and unfocused, pupils blown wide, and every part of me recognizes it. Her Omega instincts are firmly in control.
I grin, probably too big. Strong-willed Halley is a force of nature, no question, but this version? The soft, trusting one who wants a nest and safety and care? She’s my favorite.
"Yeah, sweetheart. We will build you a nest. I know we fumbled it before, missed how deep this need runs in you, but not this time. This time, we get it right."
Her purr kicks off again.
The effect is immediate, hitting subdermal-level deep.
My knees actually buckle. One minute I’m walking, the next I’m catching myself like a rookie, boots skating across black ice on the path.
“Ah fuck, you gotta warn me first, baby girl. Nearly sent us tumbling off this mountain.”
She giggles.
I feel relaxed. It’s like the relief of a shoulder massage after days of hauling a heavy ruck, or the first sunshine after a week of rain that’s turned the trenches into ankle-deep sludge. There’s a lazy warmth sliding down my spine, coaxing every tightly coiled nerve into a slow exhale.
“Cheeky Omega.” I tap the tip of her nose.
She bats her eyelashes at me with a languid, smug smile.
There’s a stiffening in my trousers. I’ve been hard all day, but it’s insistent now.
I’m brimming with excitement because I get to indulge in a side of myself that doesn’t have a place on the battlefield.
The part of me that aches to hold, to soothe, to protect in ways that have nothing to do with force.
Every cell in my body is lighting up with purpose.
It’s familiar. I felt it every time she’d fall into O-space during her training and let me be the one to carry her through it. A quiet, special moment where I got to be her anchor.
For a long time, I shoved that instinct down deep. The urge to care, to comfort? That was dangerous in the military. Vulnerability didn’t make you a better soldier, it made you a liability.
But after Halley came into our squad and turned everything upside down, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. That aching need flared like a signal fire every time she looked at me with those wide eyes. And even when she left, that instinct was still there and helped me keep our Pack alive.
Her presence messing with the Alphas' instincts made sense. It’s biology. But me? A Beta? That didn’t compute. She shouldn’t have had such a profound effect. It rattled something loose in my logic circuits, and I needed to know why.
So, naturally, I started digging.
Technology is limited outside the Capital and military zones, but between deployments and bloodshed, I would hack into the command center’s databases. They never caught on, not once. I’m just that good.
So I pulled thread after thread, hunting for scraps of knowledge about the old world Packs, the ones they erased.
Most of it was gone, thoroughly scrubbed from the official records.
But that only sharpened my drive. I dug deeper and found fragments in old diary entries, dusty medical texts, and folklore, often dismissed as superstition.
I started seeing patterns. Truth, buried beneath layers of dust and denial, waiting for someone stubborn enough to keep looking.
Someone like me who wouldn’t stop until he found answers.
I shoulder the front door open, my boots scraping over the threshold as a gust of cold wind claws at our backs. I slam it shut with a sharp kick, sealing out the winter bite just in time. Inside, it’s like a tornado hit.
He's everywhere at once, a blur of limbs, and growled muttering, vaulting over furniture. Blankets, towels, pillows, and even a jacket or two go flying through the air as he scours the den for anything remotely soft.
There’s already a fire crackling in the hearth, flames licking greedily at the wood, a bed of orange coals glowing like they’ve been burning all night. Anyone else, I’d wonder how they got it going so fast, but this is Blaze. Of course the pyromaniac lit a perfect fire in under five minutes.
He stops mid-motion, a blanket dangling from one hand. His pale eyes lock on the trembling Omega cradled in my arms. Instantly, all that frenzied energy sharpens, still wild but honed, zeroed in on Halley.
“Hey there, Sparkles,” he says, his teeth flashing as he smiles at her widely. “How are you feeling? Ready to make a nest with Daddy and me?”
A shudder rolls through me.
Blaze’s grin broadens, lopsided as he looks at me with mischievousness.
Fucker.
He knows what that term does to me.
I’m glad Halley is basically floating in her own insulated space of instincts right now, because Blaze’s attitude is giving me whiplash.
She giggles and squirms happily. "Okay! Let's make a nest."
As I expected, she doesn’t question the sudden shift in Blaze from murder-mode to eager playmate. She doesn’t flinch at the memory of his stalking or the disturbing things he’s said. Doesn’t remember the flash of a knife or a cruel Command. None of that matters right now. Not to O-space Halley.
To her, Blaze is her Alpha. Their bond, though strained, is intact. Threaded between them like an uncut line, humming quietly beneath the surface.
That’s the thing about Packs, the relationships aren’t linear. They’re layered and overlapping, constantly shifting depending on instinct, need, and connection. When those bonds are strong, when each thread is tended to, the Pack thrives.
And according to my research, Pack Betas aren’t just background players. We’re far more important.
Betas are the ones who feed, fix, soothe, and stitch everything back together when the Alphas break things and the Omegas spiral.
It’s more than logistics and babysitting wayward Alphas. Halley makes me feel like I matter in a way that’s primal. Like I’m designed for her to lean on. And damn, it feels good to fulfill that purpose.
Let Viper be her silent sentinel, Knox her protector, Blaze her friend. I’ll be the one who holds her steady.
I’m her Pack Beta, and I’m not pretending to be anything else anymore.
"Where do you want it, baby girl?" I smile down at her, bouncing her in my arms.
She giggles and points to the empty space in front of the crackling fireplace. "There, Daddy!"
My cock jumps as she mimics Blaze’s word.
Fuck.
I'm so rut-damn screwed.
Blaze shoots me a knowing smirk, the kind that curls with mischief and a hint of arousal. Then he springs back into action. He grabs the nearest cot and yanks the mattress off with a grunt. It hits the floor with a satisfying thump before he’s already moving to the next.
He works quickly, dragging the two mattresses into the center of the room, piecing them together to make one large bed. He then flings the pile of gathered blankets and pillows on top with a flourish.
He spins to look at Halley with a proud, puffed-up chest and a grin so wide it could split his face.
“Ta-da!” he crows, throwing his arms out dramatically. “A nest fit for a princess.”
Halley laughs and wriggles until I put her down. I take the time to remove her snow-damp boots, sitting them beside the door next to Blaze’s. They’re tiny compared to his, almost half the size.
She picks her way over to Blaze’s attempt at a nest and smiles brightly up at him.
“Thank you, Alpha,” she says, voice lilting, sweet, and filled with pure adoration. “I love it!”
I stifle a laugh behind my fist. The ‘nest’ is a mess. Blankets twisted into tangled knots, pillows scattered in defiance of any pattern or logic. Chaos. Blaze-style.
But Halley doesn’t care. Not one bit.
Her Alpha made it for her, and that’s all she sees.
Blaze’s eyes go soft in a way I haven't seen in months. He crouches beside her, brushing a curl from her cheek, and murmurs, “Only the best for you, Sparkles.”
"Blaze, can you get some food? We'll need water and snacks."
"Aye, Aye, Cap'n!" he shouts, snapping off a salute so flamboyantly he nearly topples over. In a flash, he bounces to his feet and launches himself toward the kitchen.
He breaks into song, something wild and tuneless about sandwiches and heroic snack missions, belting it out like he's performing on stage in front of thousands.
The words are pure nonsense, the melody nonexistent, but his voice is loud and gleeful and so completely Blaze that I feel my chest ache with relief.
He’s back.
I’ve missed him. I missed the chaotic spark in his eyes, the ridiculous jokes that land more often than they should, that cheeky grin that always promises trouble, and even the bursts of wild energy that make me flinch and laugh at the same time.
The version of him we’ve been living with lately was angry, lost, and hard to be around.
But this Blaze is so easy to love. He has a permanent place in my heart.
“Do you want to get cleaned up?” I ask Halley.