Chapter 36
36
Hazel
I spent the next few hours with Calla, and while we talked, it wasn’t about her pack or my time at APA. We headed out onto the back deck with glasses of iced tea, retreating behind mental barriers and licking our wounds in private, as we soaked up the warm sunshine until Jude and Rhett came to collect me.
“You seem quiet, dove,” Rhett remarked as we approached our house.
“Just thinking,” I answered, missing Kellan and Crew. “How was your meeting with Elizabeth and Kevin?”
“Informative,” Rhett replied, turning off the alarm system as we entered the house. Why we’d needed to arm it, I had no idea. But Rhett had given me a massive dose of alpha annoyance when I’d suggested we not arm since we were only going next door and already lived with a guard at the front gate.
“It’s pretty remarkable what they’re doing,” Jude chimed in, kicking off his shoes in the hall closet.
I toed out of my flip flops, and we both waited for Rhett to bend to take off his laced shoes. Even though he’d met with people who were basically family in a totally informal setting, he still felt the need to rock slacks, a button up, and fancy shoes.
I wasn’t complaining. The view was mouth-watering, especially when the material of his pants pulled tight across his ass when he bent over.
Glancing at Jude, I caught him checking out our alpha’s ass, too, and we shared a smirk.
Straightening, Rhett looked between us with a deep frown. “Do I even want to know what you two are up to?”
“Admiring the view,” I chirped with a grin.
Jude flashed an innocent smile. “I’m practically an angel.”
Rhett scoffed. “More like the devil.”
“Any idea when Kellan and Crew will be home?” I asked, feeling hungry as I headed into the kitchen. We’d existed on delivery and snacks during my heat, and I was craving something indulgent and cheesy.
Oooh. Italian sounded perfect.
I’d never been a culinary wizard, but I knew how to make a banging spaghetti bolognese thanks to my mom.
As I stepped into the kitchen, the awareness that my mom wouldn’t make me any more meals settled heavily in my heart. Grief slammed into me like a rogue wave, knocking me down and dragging me under.
I rolled my lips between my teeth as Rhett and Jude talked behind me, ignorant to the pit of despair that had opened up and swallowed me whole.
“What’s wrong, love?” Rhett was the first to realize something was amiss. He pulled my back to his chest, nuzzling my neck as his arms wound around me like steel bands. Jude appeared in front of me, concern etched into his features.
I cleared my throat, trying to dislodge the ball of emotion wedged against my windpipe. “I was thinking I wanted Italian for dinner, and I remembered all the times my mom and I would cook in here. When she taught me how to make spaghetti.”
Jude’s expression fell, and I felt pangs of sympathy through each of my bonds. “I’m sorry, baby. I wish we could have met your parents.”
I managed to swallow and a watery smile. “They would’ve loved you guys.” I tipped my head back and blinked rapidly, trying to clear away the haze of tears. “Sorry. I don’t know why I got so emotional.”
“Because you loved your parents,” Rhett replied, “and grief is the price we pay for loving someone who had to leave before we were ready.”
“Isn’t this the part where someone tells me that eventually I’ll move on?” I cracked, aiming (and failing) for humor.
“You don’t move on from that kind of loss. But eventually, you learn to carry it,” Jude told me.
Rhett cuddled me for another minute. “We can order out.”
“No.” I gently extricated myself from his arms. “I want to cook… if that’s okay?”
Rhett nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Dibs on sous chef,” Jude announced. He waggled his eyebrows. “I can totally do it naked, if that would help.”
A laugh burst from me. “I mean, I’ll never say no to you naked, but there’s going to be hot things involved?—”
“—yeah, I am,” he cut in with an infectious grin.
I rolled my eyes. “I’d rather you not burn your dick in boiling water.”
Jude flinched and covered his crotch with his hands.
“No,” Rhett snapped, pointing at each of us. “Both of you are clothed in the kitchen.”
Jude and I exchanged a look before we cracked up at Rhett’s completely serious expression. We were still laughing when the front door opened. Crew and Kellan walked in, pausing as they looked at us.
With a squeal of pure joy, I launched myself at both of them. Somehow they caught me between them and I wound up in the middle of a Kellan and Crew sandwich.
“We missed you, too, baby girl,” Crew murmured into my hair.
Sucking in a breath, I pulled back. “What happened? Did Carter?—”
“Why don’t we discuss this while making dinner, love?” Rhett suggested.
“Good plan. I’m making dinner,” I announced.
“We can order out,” Kellan argued, but it sounded half-hearted. We were all over takeout.
“Nope,” I replied, shooting Crew a look. “I’m making my mom’s spaghetti.”
His expression softened, and he reached out to tuck some hair behind my ear. “Sounds perfect. How can we help?”
“You can tell us everything while I cook,” I replied, spinning around and walking to the kitchen. Once there, I started pulling out the necessary ingredients and pans.
Rhett, Crew, and Kellan sat on the barstools on the other side of the island while Jude came around to help me. I handed him some veggies to start cutting for the sauce and got to work while Crew told us what had happened with Carter.
I turned away from where the sauce was starting to simmer and come together as he finished. “So, I was supposed to be snapped up by some other pack?”
Jude stood beside me and slung an arm around my waist, waiting for the answer, too.
“Yeah,” Crew admitted, sounding pissed.
“But no idea who?” Rhett pressed.
Crew shook his head. “No, and it doesn’t matter now. Hazel’s our omega.”
But my stomach flipped as I realized how badly things could’ve gone if anyone except this pack had rescued me from the APA.
Jude kissed the side of my head, almost like he was reassuring himself I was still here.
“It sounds like all of the beta born omegas were essentially sold off to different packs,” Rhett mused, looking contemplative.
“And aren’t most of them on the East Coast?” Kellan questioned.
Rhett nodded. “From what I know, yes. Thane mentioned a few in the flash drive data he gave me.”
The flash drive that Thane had provided did indeed have information about other beta born omegas, plus communications between President Anders and others in his cabinet and inner circle that seemed to encourage people to invest in Infinity Solutions.
It also had documents alluding to even more omega guidance laws he’d planned to announce soon. Things like having omegas tagged or chipped when they presented to allow their every move to be monitored. Or offering families a significant stipend if they enrolled their omegas in state run facilities for training and education.
It was more ways to control omegas all under the guise of protecting us.
I sighed and looked at Rhett. “Logan’s near D.C., too.”
All eyes shifted to me.
“The Gala is in a week,” I pointed out as I went back to the stove. “We could go to D.C. and see what’s going on for ourselves. Plus, Martin’s probably somewhere in D.C., too. All roads seem to lead there, and we’re on the opposite side of the country. I think we should go.”
There was silence behind me, and I dumped a box of noodles into a pot of boiling water. My mom would’ve cringed at me not making fresh pasta, but I was starving.
“You’re essentially asking us to take you right into the worst place we possibly could,” Crew uttered, his voice solemn. Unease rippled through the pack bonds.
Sighing, I faced him. “I know. But I’d be with you guys, and I want answers. I want to see Logan for myself.”
“If this is just about Logan, we’ll make it happen,” Kellan vowed. “But you don’t need to come to D.C.”
I laid my hands on the counter. “It’s not just Logan. Someone twisted my body for their own purposes. No, not for their purposes. They wanted to make me an omega for a pack that paid for me. I need to know why. I deserve to know why.”
Crew frowned. “No one’s saying you aren’t owed a shitload of answers, baby.”
“We just hate the idea of putting you in any situation that could be dangerous,” Rhett finished with a sad smile. “There’s a lot of variables that we may not be able to control, and we have to keep you safe.”
I threw my arms out. “Guys, I could trip down the steps and break my neck tonight.”
Kellan scowled. “Well, you just lost the right to walk up and down the stairs by yourself.”
I fixed him with a look. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“ Life is a risk,” I pushed, rolling my eyes.
Jude squared his shoulders beside me. “Hazel’s right. We can’t live with this guillotine over our heads. Hazel isn’t the only person Infinity messed with. Who’s to say the other omegas aren’t living in some kind of hell right now? Are we really going to bury our heads in the sand?”
Rhett ran a hand through his hair. “You mentioned Pack Stone is putting in their notice. Perhaps we could hire them as additional security for when we travel.”
“They actually already agreed to come, but that was when we thought it might just be a couple of us and their pack. We didn’t figure on bringing Hazel,” Crew mused, drumming his fingers on the countertop. “Look, if this is what Hazel wants, then the whole pack has to agree. It’s a risk, and we don’t know all the potential threats.”
“I vote yes,” I said, lifting my hand.
Jude grinned. “I’m in.”
Rhett sighed. “Well, I can’t vote against them, can I?”
“Not if you’re planning on any orgasms in your immediate future,” I teased.
“Minx,” Rhett muttered.
Crew shook his head. “I’m in, too.”
We all looked at Kellan. The muscle in his jaw ticked, his dark eyes unreadable as he stared at me. “Fine. We’ll all go to D.C.”
I clapped my hands as Kellan ticked up a finger. “But I’m serious about the steps, Hazel.”
I winked at him and turned back to the stove with a grin. If my guys wanted to carry me around the house like a princess, who was I to deny them?