Chapter 13
thirteen
I’ve never experienced this feeling before.
Iron-clad and burning deep. Ready to leap to my feet and tackle my own best friend to the ground if it means shielding this other omega.
It’s a protective instinct, I realize.
I want to protect her.
And I’m doing a shitty job.
The blonde woman who’s turned my existence inside out still isn’t awake. Her body curls in tighter, though, nearly pressing her bony knees to her belly as she whimpers in her sleep.
I can’t tell if she’s still physically suffering from hunger or absorbing Atlas’s various pains. Either way, I have no idea how to stop it.
The doctors claimed their nutrient boosters would quell her stomachache, but maybe I should feed her more? But how do I wake her up? And how the fuck am I supposed to keep Atlas from hurting her inside her body?
I hold Violet closer, bending my bare torso around her huddled form. The purr I can’t shake vibrates louder as I palm the back of her head, sifting my fingers into her greasy, sweat-misted roots.
I’m here, honey.
I want to clean her up, make her food, snuggle her, knot her, and kiss her all at the same time. Right now, though, I’m not sure if it’s safe to move.
I’ve never seen this feral shine in Gideon’s eyes before. Atlas seems like he’s two seconds away from crumbling to his knees. And who the fuck knows where Ryker is…?
Jesus. I might actually have to defend this omega to the death.
And I would.
Guys, who am I?
I try to tell my Alpha to chill, but my instincts continue raging, climbing higher and hotter with every inhale of the omega’s gentle scent. Gideon’s wild gaze flickers to Atlas. Our pack leader forces a slow, deep breath.
“It was an accident,” he grits, baring his teeth in a suffering expression. His voice cracks. “She didn’t mean to bite me, Gideon. She hasn’t even been fully conscious since we found her. I doubt she understands what she did. I can’t hear her thoughts, but I feel her emotions, and she’s—”
My best friend makes a sound somewhere between a sob and a strangled shriek. “You can feel her emotions?”
For a breathless moment, the Earth seems to screech to a halt. I blink between the two men. “It’s a half-bond,” I mumble, answering when I see that Atlas can’t. “So yeah, he can.”
Gideon begins to shudder and doesn’t stop. He staggers back a step, shaking his head. “H-half-bond?”
Fuck. Of course Gid is devastated by that. He’s been waiting God-knows-how-long to bond with Atlas. And now he can’t.
Now, Violet gets to share her inner landscape with our pack leader, and Gideon will just be…
What?
Gone?
Or here, watching them? On the outside?
FUUUUUUUCK.
This is a disaster.
And did I mention—I really suck at this??! Because my first reaction isn’t secondhand pain for my best friend.
It’s jealousy.
I want her bite. At the moment? I’d give just about anything to sense her emotions. Especially when she whimpers and turns her face further into my shoulder.
Her cracked lips pull into a grimace. From Atlas, I realize. She can feel whatever is happening inside him. Given the ashen cast of his skin, the shine in his eyes? I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone.
All other concerns fly out the window. I flex my strength around Violet, pushing my purr loud enough for it to vibrate into the limbs wrapped around her.
“Shhh,” I breathe. “It’s okay, honey. Shhh, shhh, shhh. You’re okay. I’m here. I’ll make it better.”
It’s amazing how much I mean that. I’m usually full of shit when I whisper sweet nothings to women. But at the moment? I would quite literally chew off my own arm to end her suffering.
Would that help?
Probably not?
Maybe it’s worth a try anyway?
But seriously: who am I???
Gideon seems to have the same question. He blinks in shock, turning to stare at me as if I’m suddenly a stranger. The woman in my lap reacts to the souring citrus rising off me, mewling.
Gid hasn’t managed to look at her yet. Instead, his jaw sets. Before my very eyes, I watch my best friend revert to the person I once knew. Someone who learned to live with permafrost in his veins because he came from a place that never thawed.
His gray eyes are still bright with unshed tears, but he straightens his spine and pins Atlas in place with a slicing look—too cool to be a glare, too deadly to be anything else. He gestures at Violet.
“You brought her here, to our house,” he says, toneless. “I assume that means there’s no way to undo any of this?”
I automatically hold my omega tighter as panic flares in my chest. “Undo it?” I burst. “We can’t undo it. She half-bonded our pack alpha, and she—she’s—”
Words stumble up my throat, stammering. Gideon seems unaffected, until I hear the low growl buried inside his heaving chest. Fanatical rage gleams in his stormy eyes, buried under years of practiced civility.
“She’s what?” he demands.
I swallow hard, staring at my heartbroken best friend. Knowing I’m about to gut him with the truth I wish I could deny.
“I’m pretty sure she’s our mate.”