Chapter 22
Jason
Dread. Incessant, unrelenting dread.
I’ve been wondering what this feeling keeping me awake has been. I’m not the type of man to be anxious. When Sebastian’s patience wears thin or Evan riles himself up, I stay collected. On the occasions Nico manages to worry himself into circles, I keep my composure.
Sleepless nights are not foreign to me. I seldom rest for more than a handful of hours. Tonight has a different feel to it. Whether it’s because of the storm outside or the cold dread that’s latched onto me keeping me restless, the hour’s turned late even by my standards.
I throw the comforter off my body, accepting continuing to toss and turn won’t achieve anything. Their doors are open, but the lights are off in Nico and Sebastian’s rooms. I soften my steps walking past, not wanting to interrupt their rest.
The living room is dark. Evan’s sprawled over the couch, sparsely illuminated by the glow of some television program he isn’t really watching. His eyes flick to me as I pass.
“Can’t sleep?” He looks at me knowingly.
“Going for a walk.”
The other alpha sits up a little at that, turning to the window. “Great weather, huh?”
Rain pelts against the glass, drumming into it loudly. I shrug.
“Want me to come with you?”
“It’s fine.”
Evan studies my face in the dark, eyes half lidded by clear exhaustion. He turns back to the television. “Let me know if you need anything.”
He’s already given me what I need. I love the pack mate like my own brother, but I’d rather be alone at the moment. Evan understands as much without me having to explicitly state so or taking offense. He meets me halfway, giving me space while reminding me I’m not alone.
I hardly look where I’m going. My feet take practiced steps, carrying me in the direction we’ve come to an unspoken agreement to take our walks in. The rain is coming down harder than I thought.
Despite the storm, cars continue to pass. The relentless downpour makes their headlights turn into blurred streaks. The city that never sleeps stops for nothing, not even storms.
There’s little company on the sidewalks with me. Only occasional passersby, clutching their umbrellas and scurrying past. I walk without conscious thought, muscle memory leading me.
In this thick drizzle and the dark of night, I barely register my mindless destination coming into sight. It’s only once I draw close to the entrance that I faintly see the form of a body on the ground. Someone who had too much to drink I assume, or maybe someone who’s slipped and fallen.
I tilt my umbrella over their head. I’m about to ask if they’re alright when the words die in my throat and my heart misses a beat.
She’s sitting on the street, in this cold with no jacket. Her head’s buried in her knees, which her arms wrap around, tucking them into herself. The rain has darkened her blonde hair, but there’s no mistaking that chamomile scent.
“Ariana?”
The omega doesn’t respond immediately. Eventually, her face slowly lifts. Reflexively, I take a sharp intake of breath.
It’s unclear where the wetness from rain ends and that from her tears start. Her eyes are red and swollen in a way that hits like a punch to the chest. Hair’s plastered to the sides of her face. Contrary to her tear stricken appearance, her expression is concerningly vacant.
“Holy shit,” I breathe out in rare discomposure. “You’re going to get sick. How long have you been out here for?”
She stares up at me blankly. It’s like my words don’t register to her. The pit of dread in my stomach twists and unravels into a raw, screaming pain at the sight.
I slam to my knees, uncaring of the bruises sure to bloom later. “What’s wrong, Ariana?” I brush the drenched hair stuck to her face back. “Where’s your pack?”
The question makes her lips tremble. Ariana’s mask cracks, her blank stare shattering into devastation. She throws herself up, arms wrapping around my neck. She’s sobbing into my shoulder, full body cries that make her shake.
My free arm wraps around her, pulling her cold body into mine. The other tilts the umbrella closer to her, dimly aware of rain cascading onto my back. It doesn’t matter. Shielding her from it is more important.
I run the hand holding her close over her back, stroking it. With the dim back lighting from the entrance of her building, I can tell she’s in the same shirt from this morning. It’s soaked through, clinging to her skin.
“Did you get locked out? Do you want me to help you in?” I offer the omega crying into my shoulder.
She shakes her head against me, still crying too hard to speak.
I knew it was incorrect as soon as I said it. Even if she had forgotten her key, she could have buzzed herself in if that were the case. And this sorrow coming off her is too strong to be from an accident.
“I’m sorry for bothering you. I wanted to call,” Ariana whimpers into the crook of my neck.
If I couldn’t feel her breath against my skin, I might not have been able to hear her over the pounding of the rain.
“Could I…could I maybe borrow some money for a bus ticket? To go back to my parent’s place? ”
I haven’t cried in years. My arms clutch tighter around the hiccuping omega, swallowing around the lump her words create in my throat. In the cold, pouring night by herself and all she wants is a bus ticket to her family.
“Ariana,” I gently pull slightly back from the omega until I can see her face. Wiping her tears away with my thumbs, I continue. “You’re an omega and a woman alone at night. I’m not going to let you travel off by yourself. Come with me. Please.”
She doesn’t reply. Her eyes drift to the side inside, head turning slightly towards her building.
There’s still windows with the lights on, high enough to be from her apartment. She’s crying like the world just ended. The puzzle shouldn’t have taken this long to piece together, but I’m seeing red now.
“They did this to you.” My voice trembles alongside hers, but not from sadness. That’s been forgotten, replaced by a rage unlike any I’ve ever felt in my life.
She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. “I think they just wanted to scare me.”
Scare her? They could have gotten her killed if someone besides me had run into her. Fury courses through me. It rises so fast I know it bleeds into my scent, pulls my dominance out of me violently. Ariana flinches in my arms.
I force it back down as rapidly as it came. I can’t lose control now. No matter how much I want to barge in and pull them apart. She comes first.
Shrugging my jacket off, I wrap it around her. The back is half soaked, but it’s better than her thin drenched t-shirt. Clenching its collar tightly in both of her small hands, she starts sobbing again.
First, I should get her dried off. Nothing good can come out of risking pneumonia or hypothermia.
Even on our knees, I tower over her. I lean down until we’re face to face, making sure she can see I wasn’t mad at her. “No pressure. Just spend the night. If you want to leave in the morning, I’ll drive you to the bus station and buy the ticket myself. For now, let’s get you warm and dry. Okay?”
Ariana thinks it over, tears still running down her face. I wish I had accepted Evan’s offer to come along. He would have been better at stopping her from crying or making her laugh. Emotions aren’t my strong suit.
Despite my shortcomings, in a move that fills me with gratitude to every deity that might exist, she nods. The motion is so small and uncertain I almost think I imagined it, but then she speaks.
“Okay.”
It’s what I’ve wanted for so long, having her come home with us. But not like this. Not through so much pain.
I stand, lifting her with me with one arm. Then I freeze at what I see, not setting her on the ground.
“Where are your shoes?”
Her lip trembles again, and that’s enough of an answer.
“It’s okay. You can put me down.”
My arm wraps tighter around her of its own volition. Composed. I need to be composed. Even if I feel downright murderous inside. There’ll be a time for that. Taking care of Ariana is my priority right now.
“Put your arms around my neck again.”
When she hesitates, I patiently move them myself with the hand holding the umbrella. Self-indulgently satisfied in more ways than one, I hike her higher with the arm carrying her.
“Comfortable?”
“Am I heavy?”
“Not in the slightest.” She’s concerningly light.
Ariana rests her head on my shoulder. If the circumstances leading to it weren’t so disgusting, I might have been able to enjoy this much more. Shifting the umbrella to the right, the side I hold her, I start making my way back.
“Are you sure you won’t drop me?”
“Not a chance. I promise.”