Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
BARON
I’m so goddamn tired of making phone calls.
Granted, I’ve only called two people in the last few weeks, but I’ve had to blow both of them up, and that’s annoying as shit.
“Pick up you son of a—”
“What?”
I scowl at Ves’ voice, riddled with sleep and irritation.
We need to bring balance back to our pack and quickly.
I know I’m a little softer on the inside than I let on, this shit with Lennox is a prime example of that, but I’m a dickhead and even the gooiest insides won’t change that.
I’ll cut Ves some slack since he’s older than the rest of us, working for a complete bastard for a couple of decades while navigating a genuinely fucked up scenario with his ex.
Forty isn’t old, but that shit can age you fast, and the guy has every right to be crotchety.
Just not with us. As for Lennox, dude gets a freebie for being volatile since it’s definitely mental health related, but I don’t like seeing him like this.
I doubt he’d agree to medication. I’m going to try to have that conversation anyway, though.
I’ve had to medicate for years to deal with my shit, so I know the right stuff in the right dose works for some people, and I think it’s worth a shot.
It was for me, anyway.
I resisted for a long fucking time but once I was able to bring balance to the chemicals in my brain, murder became the back up plan more often than the first and only option, and I’ll take that as a huge victory.
But it’s all about balance.
Just like this fucking pack.
Ves needs to retire so he’s less of a prick, and Lennox needs a dose of something, even if it’s a cute little girl and his scent matches, to get him back on track to being so sunshiny I want to puke.
“Hello?”
I blink a few times as I get out of my van, slamming the door before I round the back. “It’s Baron.”
There’s a brief silence followed by some shifting of fabric before Ves asks softly, “Why are you calling so late?”
I bet he went into the bathroom.
Which means he still hasn’t told Arlo about me.
This is going to be even more awkward than I originally thought.
Awesome.
“I have a problem. I need you to come outside.”
Another pause. “What kind of problem?”
“I’m down in the parking lot. Your side of the building by the streetlight.” Then I hang up.
His curiosity is already piqued, he’ll come down and check it out, even if it’s just to tell me to fuck off afterward.
I start questioning that after twenty minutes goes by with no sign of him, however.
“Thank fuck,” I grumble as I watch my omega push through the exit, his hair mussed, dressed in nothing but a pair of pajama pants.
That is the absolute last way he should be walking out to see me, he’s liable to get fucked up against the lightpost like that.
Especially when the door opens again and I see Arlo’s pretty face, my other omega looking just as sleepy and confused as Ves, but all thoughts of fucking go flying out the window when I realize Cali is with them.
Not only is she with them, Arlo is wearing her strapped to his chest in some kind of device similar to what Lennox was talking about for Rufus.
The kid is adorable, and I’m all in for being a dad, but nothing kills the mood like a kid walking in on it. Or in this case, being carried in on it.
We don’t have time for that right now anyway.
“What’s going on?” Ves grunts as they walk up to me. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Instead of saying anything, I grab the handle on the door of my trunk and yank both open, revealing Lennox laying on my sleeping bag, sawing logs while he’s still duct taped up.
“Oh my god…” Arlo gasps. “Is he dead?”
I roll my eyes and nudge Lennox’s foot, smirking when he mumbles something about cotton candy and red balloons. “This is my problem.”
“So, you decided to share?” Ves crosses his arms against his bare chest, and I swear to god I’m going to lose my shit.
“Yeah, because he’s your problem, too. Both of you.”
“Wait, I don’t understand.” Arlo shakes his head and starts rubbing Cali’s back. “We met Lennox a while ago, we know him, but that doesn’t make him our problem, does it?”
I reach into the van and grab Lennox’s hoodie then toss it at Arlo. “Take a whiff and tell me you don’t want the viking to be your problem.”
If we weren’t under the light, I would have missed the way his pupils dilate the second he inhales.
Yeah, breathe deep, baby.
“He’s…”
“Our scent match,” Ves says as he takes the sweatshirt and does the same. “You both are.”
“Exactly,” I grin as Arlo’s jaw drops. “I’m Baron, by the way. Scent match number two. Or one, since I found you first, but that’s a technicality I’m willing to overlook for now.”
Instead of giving it back, Ves pulls on Lennox’s hoodie as he continues. “So, what exactly do you need from us right now?”
“I need you to help me get the viking up to your room so he can comfortably sleep off the chloroform headache he correctly has.”
“Chloroform? Christ,” Ves growls. “Did you kidnap him?”
I nod as I grab Lennox’s ankles and tug him toward the edge of the trunk. “He was spiraling. He needs us.”
“So, kidnapping was clearly the logical choice.”
I scowl over my shoulder then go back to pulling until the edge is under his knees. “He wouldn’t come willingly. He knows he’s been kidnapped. It’s fine.”
“What about Rufus?” Arlo asks as I turn to face them. “Is he okay?”
“He’s sleeping in his bed up front. You can grab him while Ves and I take Lennox.”
“This is insane,” Ves grumbles as he moves to the other side of the trunk across from me, reaching in the same way I am so we can pull our alpha upright. “Absolutely fucking insane.”
Arlo giggles awkwardly as he comes back from the front with Rufus. “It is pretty nuts, but it’s kind of nice.”
We both pause and look at Arlo as Ves loops Lennox’s bound arms around my neck.
He blushes and shrugs as he clips the harness onto the dog. “I mean, it might be kind of weird, and not normal at all, but… Scent matches, right? I had nothing before, no one at all, and now I have a pack.”
My lips curl at the edges as I nod. “Right. A big, broody, fucked up pack of crabby assholes, a sweet little girl, and a dog that might have the same disorder his dad does.”
I love how quickly Arlo is able to accept his new reality, but I understand why.
He isn’t wrong in saying he had nothing before now.
No family, friends, no home, and he barely had a job.
Now, he has a permanent roof over his head, steady income.
He doesn’t have to worry about where his next meal is coming from, or if he’s going to get booted from a shelter for staying too long.
Arlo never has to worry about his safety again.
He has the three of us and no one is going to be able to fuck with him anymore.
Our omega has the world at his fingertips, and he is either so relieved he’s not about to question it and look a gift horse in the mouth, or he’s going to choose blissful ignorance until the bottom drops out on him again.
Either way, his acceptance has made it easier for Ves to roll with what he knows to be true, and I’ll take it.
“There’s an empty room across from Cali’s,” Ves grunts as we start hauling Lennox’s dead weight toward the back of the hotel. “You and the viking can take that tonight.”
“Then we’ll figure out the rest tomorrow,” Arlo chimes in as he closes up my van then joins us. “The primary should be big enough, the bed is huge and…” He blushes again as Ves and I look at him.
“We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
For the first time in years, tomorrow is actually something I’m looking forward to, and it’s all thanks to the asshole drooling on my shoulder and mumbling about circus clowns in my ear.
Without Lennox, I wouldn’t be in this situation, and when he wakes up and starts acting more like himself, I might just thank him for it.