Now that he was close to me, I saw glistening tears welling in his eyes. He wasn’t crying out of sadness. He was angry and frustrated. He was one of those omegas who cried when they were pissed off. And I was the source of it.
“I’m sorry. I…there are things you don’t know about me.” I began to tell him the entire story, to make sure he knew me not pursuing him wasn’t out of meanness.
There would be no honor in a mating with Jack if I was already mated to another.
And Jack deserved everything a good alpha could offer him. Protection. Love. Care. Honor. Safety. But, most of all, he deserved a mate who wasn’t mated to another.
He should be the only star in the sky for his alpha.
And I couldn’t deny Bella. I’d made promises to her on my life.
“What does that mean?” Jack yelled. “I don’t want to know about you. I don’t care. All this time we’ve been under the same roof and you gave me the ice prince act. I wanted to come here to get away from you, Aziz. To start over.”
Out of nowhere, something broke inside me. Cracked my chest open. Speared me with the knowledge.
That could only mean one thing.
Something was wrong with Bella. My female mate.
Fuck.
I stumbled back with the impact of it and gasped for air, and yet I was torn again between comforting this beautiful man in front of me in his time of need and going to her.
But my vows were made to Bella way before I knew Jack was alive or even existed.
My fingers balled into fists, keeping me from reaching out to pull him into my arms.
“Guys.” Pop-Tart came into the room. “You’re frightening the other omegas. The yelling.”
Jack’s gaze flipped to Pop-Tart and, in the process, his eyes shed the tears they had been harboring for most of our conversation. It broke my heart to know I was the cause.
If I had my way, he would never cry again, especially over me.
“I’m sorry.” Jack broke down. His shoulders slumped, and his eyes became downcast.
“Aziz?” Pop-Tart said. “You made him cry?” My brother’s words were laced with anger. If I was the reason for this omega getting upset, then he would have a beef with me for sure.
“I didn’t really.”
Not a full truth.
Jack released a whimper and covered his mouth with his hand.
“I-I have to go,” I said, rubbing my fist in a circle over my sternum. “I…” Bella. Something was wrong with Bella.
“Aziz?” Pop-Tart said and then whisked my…whisked Jack up into his embrace and soothed him as he cried tears over me. “Where are you going?” he called after me.
I didn’t have an answer for him. I had to return to my clan. I had to return to save my mate.
Chapter Five
Jack
I’d been here a week, thinking everything was going great. The daily schedules were working out as far as meals went, school would be starting up in a couple of days, and we’d had a huge rainstorm with no leaks. But, best of all, I was finally getting used to not having the heartache that came with seeing Aziz all the time.
And then, this afternoon, I turn around, and there he stood, bag in hand. Suddenly, all the safeguards I had to protect my heart, keeping everything close, fell away. I let too much out about what was happening, my feelings, and why I was here. And then what did he do? He left. Of course, he left. He didn’t want me to fully know where he was going. Just that he was.
Part of me thought something might’ve happened, but that was the part living in denial. The truth was, he saw me, heard my words, and was a big old nope. It sucked.