Page 32 of More Than One Way: Part Two

Ethan’s smile brightened as he nodded and his perfume spiked. His cheeks darkened and he grumbled apologies and something about overeager Omega bullshit.

Cute.

The thought startled me a little, but I didn’t have time to look at it too closely. Theo and Ethan hustled out of the house to get him to campus, shortly followed by Jade and Trevor going off to work. Shae just settled back into where they’d been laying in my lap and winked before turning on the TV. I was thankful that they weren’t pushing me too much but then the memories of our kitchen fuck during Ethan’s heat reared up again and I snatched the remote from them. We had an empty house to take advantage of and I had ideas.

Theo had given me instructions to meet him at a bench outside a building on campus where Ethan’s classes were held. I found him sitting there with his jaw clenched as a group of Beta girls walked by, sending him obvious looks of interest. They sauntered closer, he let loose a small growl that had their interest waning and their feet abruptly changed direction. I laughed under my breath as I sat next to him and he leaned back, relaxing somewhat with me there.

Theo and I had a relationship that was close to mine with Jade, just without the decades of friendship under our belts. We’d never be romantically linked but we understood one another, were comfortable with each other and had the mutual trust that could only come with being packmates. Even without a bite, we had a different kind of bond.

“Laughing at people is rude.”

“Wasn’t laughing at you. Just thinking that if Ethan saw those girls trying to move in on his Alpha, a little growl would be the least of their worries.”

He huffed, a brief amused sound, and his face softened, momentarily. Not that he’d ever hidden it, but it was obvious how completely obsessed Theo was with our Omega. He turned to me, his expression severe.

“He should be out in ten minutes or so. I’m going to head into the office and get updates before I go home. Take care of him, Miles.”

I met his gaze with one that was equally serious. I knew what it was costing him to leave Ethan with me, as an Alpha, especially one so new to the instincts, and as someone who was in love with a person whose safety was at risk. Hell, I was only able to be here because I knew that Shae was safely at home with Jade. They were checking in with me consistently through the bond to keep me from worrying unnecessarily, but Theo didn’t have that with Ethan. My chest clenched as I remembered he couldn’t even feel Jade anymore. I hoped for both of their sakes, and Jade’s, that everything the drug had done to Theo’s system hadn’t taken the ability to bond from him.

“Nothing will touch him while he’s with me.”

Theo nodded once and clapped a hand on my shoulder before standing and walking toward one of the nearby parking structures. I leaned back against the bench, crossing an ankle over my knee and spreading my arms along the back, taking a deep breath of crisp air. Even though the holidays were coming soon, it never really got cold until right around Christmas or, sometimes, after. But the fall, no matter how warm it stayed, still had a certain feel in the air. The trees had already turned and their leaves mostly fallen, but it was a beautiful day.

My gaze turned back to the building where our Omega was finishing up his day and I couldn’t help the turn of my thoughts to just over a week before. How hopeless everything had seemed.

After the rest of the pack had left, Ethan and I had stayed where I was rooted in place, staring at the front door of our home. Focusing everything I had on my bond with Shae and any information I could glean about their safety from it. I didn’t know how long we’d stayed like that, his comforting purr, and the arms around me the only anchor in the hurricane of my grief and rage.

Eventually, the lock turned at the front door and my mother bustled in with my two fathers. Ethan stiffened at their appearance because to him they were strangers but I patted his hands, the only reassurance I could offer, and my mom spoke to us both until he relaxed. She explained that Jade had called them, and she held out a hand to Ethan. He took it and I felt his gaze on me as she led him into the kitchen, but I couldn't move. I was too close to breaking. My dad stepped up to me, forcing my gaze from the door and to his face—harder and more weathered but so like my own. His eyes were a lighter brown than mine but there was so much of him in my face that looking at him always felt like looking into my future. Pop put a heavy hand on my shoulder and broke the silent face-off.

“How can we help, son?”

My jaw clenched and I tried to speak but I just couldn’t. I shook my head and dropped my chin, squeezing my eyes shut and feeling for Shae again. Still nothing, like they were asleep but without the emotions that always filtered through from their dreams. They’d been knocked unconscious and the beast I’d kept locked up within me for so long was beating against the bars of the cage my mind had placed around it. I took a deep breath and met my dad’s eyes again, letting a little of the beast show. He’d always wanted me to be as bloodthirsty as he was, but I didn’t revel in violence the way he and Jade or even Theo did. But at that moment, I would have torn every person limb from limb who stood between me and my mate and relished it.

“No blood yet, boy. We don’t know whose to take, but you’ll get it. Patience.”

Dad moved around me then and Pop squeezed my shoulder.

“C’mon, your mom is going to stress cook enough food for an army. Help me with the groceries.”

I helped bring in groceries and let my parents herd me into the family room while Mom cooked. They all made strained but polite conversation with Ethan. I wasn’t sure how much Jade had told them about him, but I couldn’t explain anything. A few hours after they arrived, Shae must have woken up because I could feel them again. I shot up off the couch, wrestled my phone out and called Jade as I poured all my love into our bond. I could tell they were in pain and a growl roared out of me. My fathers surrounded me, and Dad took the phone from my hand since I wasn’t calm enough to speak. Eventually, Shae was sending back love and reassurance, but they couldn’t hide their pain and fear. It was torture. I needed to help them and I was helpless to do anything.

“Miles?”

My gaze snapped to Ethan’s worried hazel eyes and the tracks of tears drying on his cheeks.

“Jade wants me to go in and help Cole and the others in the BullPen.”

I stiffened, another growl rumbling up. I was supposed to keep him here and keep him safe while the others hunted, but I was failing, again. They didn’t trust me. My dad’s voice broke through the spiral, but I couldn’t look away from Ethan.

“I’m taking him in, son. Standing in for Jade to run shit while she handles this. Pop will stay with you and Mom.”

Ethan reached out like he was going to touch me but pulled his hand away and started walking toward the front door. My dad followed him, and Pop stayed at my side. I could see my mom worrying her hands in a towel in the corner of my vision as a timer went off somewhere in the kitchen.

I sat back on the couch and waited, once again focusing everything on Shae through our bond. Hours passed and my parents moved around me, trying to get me to eat or talk to them but I couldn’t. Shae had fallen asleep, and I tried my best to let them rest and not tug on the bond to reassure myself that they were only sleeping and become unconscious again. I must have drifted off on the couch, until their panic slammed into me and woke me.

Pop was asleep in the armchair across the room but he jerked awake at my sounds of distress. Shae was flooding the bond with love and apology, and I couldn’t breathe. They were saying goodbye and blocking me out. I was distantly aware that I’d fallen to my knees, keening and sobbing. My mother’s arms wrapped around me, and she wept as she tried to reassure me, not knowing what I was feeling, only that I was trapped in my own personal hell. The bond faded to stillness again, that same state of limbo where Shae wasn’t just sleeping, but not gone.

Pop was talking on the phone, my mother spoke softly to me, and I just sat there. Useless. I’d failed my mate. Nothing mattered if I couldn’t keep the person who I loved the most safe.

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