CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - BIRDIE
The walk back to the house can’t end quickly enough.
Axel leads the way, his back rigid with tension and his hands balled into fists.
Hog stays close by my side, but his eyes are spitting brown fire and his scorched almond scent sticks in my throat.
Colt is the only one who tries to smooth things over, feeding me coconut shrimp and mochiko chicken straight from the takeout container.
I swallow every bite, even though my stomach is so knotted, it settles in my belly like a pound of concrete.
As soon as we arrive at the house, Colt must feel the chill in the air, too, because he hurries over to stoke up the fireplace.
Despite my chilly skin, I peel off Charlie’s jacket and lay it carefully over the back of the sofa.
Hog goes into the kitchen to get us all some water, but Axel paces in front of the fireplace, a vein throbbing in his neck. “You’re Kyle Billings’ kid?”
“Step kid, and barely that. He bonded my mom.”
“So, what’s your real name?” Axel snaps, running his hand through his hair. “I assume it’s not Birdie…”
“No, it’s Juliette. And I’m not a Billings, I’m a Kennedy.” I almost spit the name on the floor. “I never accepted any part of that asshole.”
“Juliette Kennedy?” There’s a hint of a smile under Hog’s beard. “Do you go by Julie?”
“Letty,” I tell him, biting my lip. “But no one really called me that except my mom.”
I sag against the arm of the sofa, and Colt slides onto the cushion next to me; not touching but his face creased with concern.
“Things didn’t go well with her pack and she was desperate to find us a new home.
She didn’t like the compound, but Kyle convinced her that she was his scent match.
He humiliated her, using her as an example against the other omegas who stepped out of line.
He made every single day of her life a living hell…
” My voice catches and Hog hands me a glass of water, his hand stroking over my back.
I give him a grateful look, but I can still feel Axel’s eyes on me.
He needs intel, and I can’t withhold it from him any longer.
“I used to lie in bed and pray that she’d escape, even if she had to leave me behind. But Kyle wore her down and broke her spirit. She died two days before my thirteenth birthday.”
“Fuck, sweetheart,” Colt says, taking my hand. “Your poor mom. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that.”
I smile sadly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth before. I let you believe things about me that weren’t true because I was ashamed of where I came from. And I guess it was easier than explaining what I lived through.”
I drop my gaze, because there are still things I can’t bring myself to tell them. Cooper wasn’t wrong about everything, and I can see the suspicion swirling in his eyes. “What did he mean by sold, Birdie? Who did the militia sell you to?”
I stiffen and Hog steps between us. He’s been hanging back, watching all the angles, but now he turns on his pack alpha.
“What do you think it means?” he growls.
“You know how those assholes work. If they can’t make you submit, they find a way to get rid of you.
” He turns towards me and I sit up straighter.
“You survived, Omega, through sheer guts and will.”
I preen at the fierce admiration in his eyes. “I never gave in. Drove Kyle crazy that I wouldn’t follow his rules.”
“Of course, you didn’t.” Hog walks over to cup my face, his big hands warm and calloused on my cheeks. “You’re the strongest omega I ever met.”
I grin, my heart happier for a moment and stretch up to accept his kiss. “Guess we really are a perfect match, then.”
He makes a rumbly sound in the back of his throat, but a door thuds somewhere in the distance and I break away, blinking at Colt. He’s standing between the sofa and the doorway, staring down the corridor. “Where did Axel go?”
“Uh...” He pulls a face. “I think he’s still wound up from kicking Cooper’s ass.”
I slide off the sofa, my stomach pinching again. “I need to talk to him.”
“Maybe you should let him calm down…”
“I owe him an explanation.” I look at Hog, who’s still watching me with pride in his eyes, even though he must have guessed the truth. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you sooner, but I’m going to try to fix that now.”
I leave the other guys in the living room and, kicking off my sandals, pad down the corridor.
It’s only as I swing Axel’s bedroom door open that I realize he’s in the ensuite bathroom, and there’s a perfect view from the door.
It’s a similar layout to the bathroom in the hall, which means I can see right into the large, rainfall shower.
I should back away. He’s clearly pissed at me, and possibly even rehearsing the conversation he plans to have with Hog about dumping my lying ass…
But he reaches out to brace his arms on the wall, and when his head dips between his shoulders, I can’t stop my feet from crossing the room.
Water cascades down his back, turning his skin a shimmering bronze.
I step closer, and my core tightens as I take in the hard, sculpted lines of his body.
Axel’s frame is somewhere between his packmates, but every inch is packed with muscle.
Seeing him like this, I’m surprised he didn’t take Cooper’s head off when he drove his fist into his face.
“You have something to say, Omega?” he asks, pushing upright and scrubbing a hand over his face. “Maybe fill in the gaps. Age? Occupation? Is your name really Letty, or is that just a fabrication, too?”
“Does it matter?” I step through the doorway and rest a hip against the vanity. I must have surprised him, because he blinks at me, and I fold my arms over my chest, lifting my chin. “Do you really think that that stuff will tell you what you want to know?”
“It’s how relationships usually start.”
“Maybe, but that wasn’t how it was with us.
” I hold up my arm, showing him the tattoo of Charlie’s ID number.
“It started with this, remember. I was just a loose end you had to wrap up.” He sighs and I feel my skin heat with rejection.
“You’re disappointed, obviously. You wanted me to be your pack’s second chance at Charlie. ”
“No.” He turns away, lifting his face to the spray. “You’re wrong.”
“Really? Because you can barely look at me, Axel.”
He turns towards me, soap still running down his body as he pushes the shower door open with his foot. “If you want to debate it, come in here and I’ll tell you exactly what I’m thinking.”
Does he really think I won’t call his bluff?
Talk about not knowing me at all.
Or maybe he does, because his eyes never leave mine as I strip down to my underwear and join him under the shower head.
He’s turned it up scorching hot, but he adjusts the temperature as I step towards the spray.
“I’m sorry I lied,” I tell him, because up close, I can smell the pain in his scent.
It still sizzles on my tongue like peppermint oil, but it reminds me that I’m here to make amends, not push him further away.
“I’ve been running from my past for so long, it’s just easier to hide the truth. ”
He grabs the loofah and pumps some shower gel into it. “And the truth is that you’re not Birdie.”
I pull a face. Weirdly, the name has grown on me. “I still want to be Birdie. But I’m not Beatrice. I’m not Charlie’s sister.” He hands me the loofah, and I swipe it over an arm. “I know this feels like a betrayal. And I know how badly you want just a little piece of him…”
“I miss him,” he interrupts me, taking the loofah back out of my hands.
He circles his finger, telling me to turn around, and I reluctantly give him my back.
He steps closer, a finger trailing over one of Hog’s scent marks as he says quietly, “I’ll always grieve for him.
But I don’t look at you and think of him. ”
“Well, that’s called genetics at work.”
He swats me with the loofah, making me jump. “I mean, I don’t think I’m all that surprised to find out you’re not related.” I cock a brow over my shoulder and he shrugs. “Have you ever noticed how Hog never calls you by your name? He always calls you omega.”
I pause to think. “Isn’t that just a scent mate thing?”
“Maybe when you’re blind with lust and pheromones.” My cheeks pinken, but I can’t look away. There’s too much honesty in his face, and I want to see everything he’s thinking. “I’m pretty sure he’s known since you met.”
I turn around to face him. “I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt any of you…” I take a deep breath and touch his arm, steading my resolve. “You can ask me anything. About the compound, or Kyle, or Razor… Whatever you want to know.”
Something dark flickers in his eyes and his scent sharpens. “If this is about me getting what I want, then I never want to hear their names on your lips again.”
I blink. Of all the alphas, I thought Axel would be the one who wanted to shake the answers out of me the most. “Are you saying… I get to start over?”
He makes a low, irritated sound, his fingers suddenly threading through my hair.
I watch him warily, but he gives it a firm tug, exposing the arch of my neck.
I shudder at the intensity of his gaze as it lingers on my throat, his scent thickening with musky arousal.
“The pink is washing out,” he rasps, tracing a strand of hair down my collarbone. “I should dry you off.”
“Later,” I murmur, leaning into his touch. “I’ve got other things you need to tend to right now.”
His nostrils flare, his brown eyes darkening to obsidian. “I can smell it. Are you getting slick for me, Omega?”