Chapter 3
ELI
It’s been a day and a half since Thea passed out and Parker has barely left his office.
Thea brought him food a few times but hasn’t said much about how he is.
When Jake pushed him about going through our systems, the way he pushed back at him was surprising.
In all the years I’ve known him, he’s always been one to go with the flow.
I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen him truly angry and upset.
Jake is also working like crazy, constantly on the phone with Logan coordinating something.
I wish I was more help to them and Thea. I’ve never felt so useless in my life.
I’ve always been a people person. It’s part of the reason I travel, checking on our properties for the company, making sure things on site are running smoothly.
Usually, I’m able to jump in when there’s a problem and fix it.
But not here. I don’t know how to fix any of this.
I refuse to be useless. I’ll support my pack as best I can, which in this case, means checking on Parker and bringing him some food.
I don’t bother to knock on his office door. If he’s focused on a task he won’t hear it. The light—or lack of light—surprises me. His normally vibrant LED strips that line the ceiling are off and without any windows in here, the only light source is from his screens.
As I approach Parker—whose shoulder-length blond hair is pulled back—I notice the empty energy drink cans littering his normally organized desk.
Moving some items out of the way, I place the plate with the food I brought down on his desk.
He doesn’t stop working or acknowledge my presence.
I frown. He needs to take care of himself too.
Reaching out, I push on his shoulder to shake him out of it.
He shrugs me off hard, not even looking at me.
“Parker, you need to take a break.” I shake him again.
“When I find him,” is all he says almost in a monotone voice, which is scary coming from him.
Supporting your pack means sometimes you’re the bad guy. Guess today it’s my turn.
Gripping the back of his chair tight, I pull it—and him along with it—away from his desk and turn it around so he’s no longer facing his computer.
“What the fuck Eli,” he yells, trying and failing to move his chair back to his desk.
“Scary Parker is cool and all but you need a break. Get some food and sleep, then pick it back up again tomorrow. Maybe by then you’ll be back to normal too,” I say, trying to make light of the moment. It seems that was the wrong thing to say based on his answering expression.
“If you want a happy dog, go find Duke,” he replies with a coldness I’ve never seen in his green eyes.
Does he think we view him that way? Maybe this is leftover resentment from what I said to him when we were courting our ex.
Of everything that happened during that time, how I treated Parker that day is my biggest regret—laying into him after he cut off contact and blocked Amber.
She had told me she was trying to help him lose weight because he’d asked.
I thought it was weird at the time since he never talked to any of us about it.
But I’d chalked it up to him bonding with her as our potential omega.
Even though she lied, I’m responsible for my reaction and what I said to him was out of line.
When it came up in our pack group therapy sessions months later, we never got too deep.
Parker kept saying he didn’t hold any grudges about it. I kind of felt like maybe he should’ve.
“What’s this about?”
He looks at me like I’m crazy. “This is about you taking me away from working on finding this asshole stalking our omega.”
“Is that it?” I say pointedly. He looks at me and I can see the gears turning in his head but when he doesn’t say anything for a minute, I clarify, “Are you still mad at me for what happened with Amber?”
His eyes widen slightly in surprise. Sighing, he says, “Honestly, no. Does it still hurt my feelings that it even happened? Yes. But this isn’t the time to get into this. I have to help Thea. She’s the priority. Not you. Not me. Her.”
“You’re wrong. Our pack needs to be together.
Unified. We can’t have lingering issues like this between us from before.
Especially now. Also, you can’t help Thea if you’re exhausted and overworked.
That goes for all of us. We can’t be there for her like we want to if we’re struggling.
” I crouch down so we’re eye to eye. Reaching over to squeeze his shoulder, I continue, “It’s one of my biggest regrets what I said to you that day.
There is no excuse for it. I am sorry. I can only promise and show you that I’d never berate you or anyone in this pack like that again. ”
The coldness that was in his eyes before seems to be giving way to some emotion, though I can’t say which one.
He looks back to his desk behind him then back to me.
“Thank you Eli,” he says, surprising me.
“I believe you on your promise. And you’re right.
I can’t help Thea like this. I’ll take a break for a little bit. ”
I doubt the break he intends to take will last as long as it should but at least it’s something.
However, hearing him say he believes me feels like a weight has been lifted off of me after so long.
With that, he finishes what he was in the middle of and follows me out with the plate of food I brought and heads upstairs to his room. Hopefully he can get some solid sleep.
Heading for the stairs to retreat to my own room for the night, I catch Thea and Liam returning home from somewhere. “Where did you guys go?” I ask, wondering why he’d take her somewhere when we haven’t come up with a plan to mitigate the stalker threat.
“Liam’s office. He ran new blood work to see when my heat is coming and to make sure my birth control from last year is still good, which it is,” she says as she shucks off her coat. Little flurries dot her brown hair and her cheeks are a little red. She’s so beautiful. We really got lucky.
Without another word, she’s grabbing my hand and leading me up the stairs all the way to the third floor, to her nest. I’m surprised since she’s been staying mostly in the pack bed, but I won’t complain.
She quickly takes off her jeans and bra under her shirt and is left in nothing but her underwear and top.
“No bras allowed in the nest?” I ask teasingly.
Looking back at me as she starts to get comfortable in her nest, she smiles as she replies, “Absolutely not. But you are.” She reaches her hand out for me and I take it without thinking and am pulled down to join her. We lie face to face as she cocoons us in a soft blanket.
A soft smile lines her face and lights her hazel eyes from within. How she’s able to smile right now is beyond me. It just shows how strong she is. She hasn’t spent much time in the nest to relax like most omegas do, aside from setting it up.
“What was your last nest like?” I ask, curious if she was more at home there than here.
A brief look of surprise crosses her face before she answers, “It was one of my favorite places to be. Especially when Connor was there. We ended up sleeping there at least a couple times a week instead of our bed. It was a place I always felt safe.”
“Does your nest here feel like a safe space?”
She doesn’t respond right away, which makes me wonder if there’s another reason she hasn’t been in here much. Especially with her heat coming up, I would’ve thought she’d spend more time here than anywhere else in the house.
“It’s starting to. It’s not how I want it yet so it doesn’t put me at ease the way a nest should. The pack bed is my safe space in the house,” she explains with a shy smile. “It’s the only place that has all of the pack’s scents.”
Oh, now I get it. The nest doesn’t have our scents or at least, not strong enough. I thought most of us gave her clothes to help with that, but it must not have been enough. But I can help fix this. I return my gaze to her, noticing how lost in thought she looks.
I tap her forehead. “Gonna tell me what you’re thinking so hard about? I’ll go gray with worry if I don’t find out.”
That gets her to roll her eyes at me. “You made that joke before.” I don’t respond, waiting for her to answer my question. I’ll wait all night because something is bothering her. With everything going on, how could there not be?
Sighing, she says, “With all this talk of safe spaces it just made me think about how unsafe I feel outside of this house, especially away from the pack.” She rolls over to lie on her back, now staring at the ceiling as she continues, “I always have fear and panic simmering underneath everything. Underneath my autopilot ‘every day going through the motions’ mode. Underneath the emotions I was compartmentalizing—everything. Those emotions and lockboxes, when they broke open, even under that grief for Connor. It was always there simmering low until it would bubble up every now and then, like what happened at the bowling alley. But now, it’s there just under the surface like I’m one sneeze away from it breaking free and having me spiral again. ”
Of course the stalker getting in contact with her would bring those feelings to the surface. My own feelings from earlier rise in response. Useless. I may not be able to magically make her fear go away but I’ll always be here for her. She’ll never have to face this alone again.
Sitting up so she can see me, I say, “When you spiral, I’ll be right there with you going down that road with you, so I can bring you back to me. Back to us where you belong.”
Her eyes are swimming with emotion but she doesn’t say anything. I brush my hand along her cheek and her eyes close in response. “Sunshine. You know why I call you that right?” I ask as she opens her eyes to meet mine. “Because when I first saw your true smile, it lit up my world.”
Thea bursts out laughing, grabbing my hand as she does. “You’re so corny sometimes.”
“You love it,” I tease.
“Maybe I do,” she says with a glint in her eyes. Suddenly it feels like we aren’t talking about my amazing personality.
I lean over her so our faces are closer together. “Say it.”
“What?” She smirks.
“What you love.”
“I love…chocolate chip pancakes. I love Duke.” She pauses. “And I love you.”
“I love you too, Sunshine,” I whisper, closing the distance between us and softly kissing her lips. Maneuvering us so we’re both lying on our sides, I hold her to me, inhaling the sweet vanilla and woodsmoke scent. Letting it fill every nook and crack in my heart and soul. My omega, my scent match.
“Please tell me that wasn’t the order of things you love,” I say jokingly.
She tilts her head up and smiles teasingly, which I playfully growl at before hugging her tightly to me. This right here is my favorite place—Thea in my arms. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure this lasts the rest of our lives.