Chapter 11
Ethan
I’m pacing the apartment, re-reading Teddy’s text over and over, as if the words might change. How could he drop a bomb of life-changing information so casually?
Teddy
By the way, Wren is all of our true scent matches. We are heading to a cabin. Bring me a bag? Here’s the address:
Teddy
Sent a location
All of theirs? What are the fucking odds? My mind races as if the internal question kickstarted something in my brain that makes me actually try to calculate the likelihood.
Shaking my head, I shove my phone back in my pocket. Nope. That’s not going to help anything.
The way I felt when I scented that sticky note she had left on her mirror…fuck, what are the odds of that?
I check the text again—the address to the cabin is about forty-five minutes away, in the mountains.
Regardless of how annoyed at Teddy I am for just assuming I’ll drop everything and bring him a fucking bag, I start to do it anyway.
There’s only one reason he’d message me like this.
He saw how I reacted to the remnants of her scent a few days ago. I sigh, going into his closet and grabbing whatever shit I can. There’s no getting anything past him, something I forget too often.
He knew I wouldn’t argue about coming, because he suspects I’m her true scent match as well.
If I didn’t have the intense need to see that she’s alright for myself, I’d deny him out of spite.
Not that he said one way or the other if she was well, but I’m assuming that if she wasn’t at least safe, we’d currently be burning down the entire town and not huddling away in a remote cabin.
As I shove some shirts into a duffel for Teddy, my gut turns at the memory of watching the whole ordeal go down from the darkness of my bedroom.
I had been so enraged at the sight of Jasper shoving that needle into her arm, it took me a second for my vision to clear and I thought to call Maverick to give him a heads up.
My heart had raced, watching her flee from them like her life depended on it. I had debated cutting the lights to slow them down, but that would have put her at a disadvantage as well.
The best I could do was unlock the door. And Wren, clever thing that she is, knew exactly what had happened.
She had been so close to the front door.
So close to escaping, almost unscathed.
I have half a mind to drive myself down there and end Victor Caruso myself once and for all.
The way her face turned red, her legs kicking…I was screaming at my desktop, calling for Maverick and Brennan to hurry the fuck up.
I’m going to have to save the video of Maverick beating their damn faces in on my local drive. Maybe she’d like to see it one day.
I shake my head, even as I go to my bedroom and start to pack my own duffel.
Am I planning on staying there? I’m not sure, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I can’t imagine having to borrow clothes from one of the other guys because I didn’t have anything.
I’m the tallest out of all of us, and not overly muscular. I mean, I work out, but I’m not strong enough to do what Brennan and Mav do. Their clothes would be too short and too wide.
As I lock up the apartment and head to my car, my skin starts to itch in anticipation. I waste no time inputting the address Teddy gave me into the GPS.
The trip is both the shortest and longest drive I’ve ever experienced. Normally I’d put some classical music on to calm my nerves, but sometimes there’s too much going on in my mind for me to think clearly.
So I drive, my mind racing, nothing but the silence of the car to calm my racing thoughts.
What if…what if she’s my true scent match too?
Could I do it? Could I be in a pack with Teddy, Maverick, and Brennan?
I’ve never said a single word to the omega, but I know without a doubt that for her, I would do anything.
When I pull up to the cabin, I spot Maverick’s Range Rover in the driveway, and the lights are on inside. I frown, assessing the property with a discerning eye. Who exactly does this cabin belong to?
“Oi!” Teddy calls from the front door before bounding down the steps to meet me at the car. “We go’ta talk, mate.”
“No, we don’t,” I shake my head, holding out his duffel bag to him. He grabs it, his eyes catching on the second duffel on my shoulder.
His face flashes in understanding. “That easy, innit?” he asks, tilting his head.
I shrug. “Look. Even if I’m not a…a true scent match like all of you, I’d like to meet her. Get to know her. See if…” I sigh, running a hand through my hair, jostling my glasses slightly. Time to come clean. “I don’t know, Ted. I didn’t say anything before, but…I saw it.”
He frowns. “Saw wot?”
“The night of her party…your mic and camera were still on when you took your smoke break.”
He freezes. Then he laughs. Full on belly laughs like I just told him the world’s funniest joke, while I stand there, dumbstruck.
I thought he’d be pissed. At the very least, annoyed that I kept it a secret for so long.
When he calms down, shaking his head, he crosses his arms. “You’re a right hypocrite, you know that?
Secre’ly pinin’ for my girl while givin’ me shite. ”
My jaw tightens, but I can’t even argue.
He’s right.
So I shove past him, making the alpha chuckle again as he bounds up the porch stairs behind me.
“Ethan,” Brennan greets as I open the front door. He and Mav are sitting in the kitchen of the deceptively large cabin, in the middle of what looks to be a tense conversation. His eyes catch on my duffel, his brows shooting up. “You’re…staying?”
I need to answer him, but…there’s a whiff of something in the air.
Sweet, a little spicy, warm and…mine.
Following my nose, I walk straight past the alphas who immediately scramble after me, calling out in confusion.
Teddy didn’t tell them.
But…he might not have to, considering they should be ripping the head off any male approaching their injured omega so soon after finding her. Based on the fact I’m nearly sprinting down the hall, head intact, they can sense it too.
The scent is strongest outside the door at the end of the hallway. Throwing the door open, my heart stalls when I see the small figure laid up in the huge bed. She has an IV in her hand hooked up to a hanging bag of saline, and she’s surrounded by a mountain of pillows and blankets.
Mine, mine, mine.
It hurts to look at her. To see the dark circles under her eyes. The bruises forming at her throat.
My alpha wants to rage. Wants to drive back to Pack Caruso and destroy them once and for all.
But more than that…my alpha wants to be here. With our mate.
My mate.
I’ve heard stories of the way the true scent match takes hold. How it makes you forget reason, fills you with lust, and urges you to take your mate in any way possible.
But right now…my instincts are screaming at me to protect. To destroy anyone who might harm her.
“The IV will flush whatever remains of the drug from her system, since we can’t guarantee the FMS shot got it all,” Maverick says from behind me, startling me out of my trance.
“And in an hour or two we’ll hook her up with a line to replace the vitamins and nutrients she’s lost out on over the last couple of days. ”
Words fail me. My feet move of their own accord, the omega’s scent swirling around me like a damn siren song.
Before I realize what’s happening, I’m on my knees at her bedside staring at the little bird who captured my attention so thoroughly.
“And then there were four,” Brennan sighs behind me.
“One of us should stay with her at all times,” I murmur, taking the hand that’s not hooked up to an IV. “Omegas—”
“Heal bet’er when ‘round their true scent matches.” I can hear the eye roll in Teddy’s voice. “We know, Einstein. Just...if she wakes up, call me. She dunno any o’ you.”
“I’ll take first shift.” The words are out of me without any thought, and it occurs to me in the back of my mind that it’s strange, how quickly we’re all coming together for her sake.
“Yeah, yeah.” Teddy waves me off. “I’ll bring you some dinner in a wee bit.”
Despite myself, a small smile starts to form on my lips.