Page 117 of Bonding the Band

A murmur moved through the crowd, and I watched in stunned silence. I’d known they were pissed at Gary, but I hadn’t been confident that anything would come from it.

“Is it true your pack has an omega?” another reporter asked.

I held my breath. I wanted them to claim me, but I knew it would probably damage their brand.

“Hell yeah, we do,” Arlo piped up. “We love her more than anything in the world, and we’re going to be parents soon.”

Holy shit. All of my omega instincts were preening over a public claiming.

“Is it the omega from the photos?”

“Absolutely not,” Hendrix said firmly. “That woman was someone we hired to help care for our omega on the road, and she betrayed all of us. The photo is misleading. I could tell youuntil I was blue in the face that I pushed her off the second she touched me, but I think, for anyone to believe that statement, they would need to see it.”

Beckett held up his phone to the camera that was streaming and played the security footage of inside the rehab facility Hendrix had been attending. I stared at it, watching Ellie throw herself at Hendrix and him push her away in an instant. Tears slipped over my cheeks, and Clover wrapped a comforting arm over my shoulders.

The reporters shouted a dozen questions, but they were a blur in my ears.

“The woman in the photos and video is under investigation for some serious crimes committed against our omega and against Hendrix,” said Beckett. “We will not be disclosing the specifics of those crimes until a conviction has been made, but in the meantime, we will be doing a thorough sweep of our teams to remove anyone found to have any connection to the crimes committed by our manager. Until it’s safe for all of us, there will be no future tours. I hope the fans understand. Our priority is our omega and the child we’ll be meeting very soon. Their safety comes first.”

Clover was surprisingly quiet while we watched the press conference, and she kept glancing over me, like she was waiting for my reaction before she gave hers.

“I never even gave them a chance to explain.” The words escaped in a sob.

“Stress and pregnancy hormones don’t really make for rational decisions. You ran. I probably would’ve punched someone if I was in your place.”

“You don’t think I should’ve just trusted them?”

“Girl, what hasevergiven you the impression that I would say to trust alphas over your own instincts? There’s only so much you can do to bury your head in the sand when there’sphotographic evidence of something happening, even if it turned out to be skewed.”

“I should talk to them.”

“What you should do is take a nap. They’re going to be swarmed by the press for a while. I’m sure they’ll turn up here, sooner or later.”

“How long is the flight from LA?”

“They’re not in LA,” Clover replied. “They’re here. You didn’t recognize the background?”

“I was a little bit more focused on the alphas.” I pouted. “When did they get here?”

“Last night, but you were still in ‘ignoring the alphas’ mode, so I didn’t tell you. If you ask me nicely, I’ll stand guard dog outside the dorm, so they can come see you here without anyone bothering you and the pack. I have connections to the football team. We could blockade the entire hallway.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What kind of connection?”

“The pussy kind. Don’t ask too many questions.”

I laughed despite my tears. She was probably right about the nap. If I saw them anytime soon, I was just going to sob all over them.

Clover fetched me a juice and a water. “Rehydrate from those tears, and then get some rest. I’ll coordinate with your boys and wake you up when they’re here.”

I glanced down at myself, wearing only a nightgown she had purchased for me, my hair in a knotted bundle on top of my head. “I don’t want to meet them looking like this.”

“Your runaway clothes are all clean and dry. You can wear those and shower when you wake up, so you’re all squeaky clean. I think we both know they’ll wait as long as they need to.”

“Okay.” I snuggled into her nest, burying myself in a heap of blankets and dropping off in the warmth almost immediately.

I woke up to Clover shouting out the window. “Arlo, you weirdo! I wasn’t serious about the car!”

“Don’t tell me you want things if you don’t actually want them!” he yelled back, my entire body breaking out into goose bumps at the sound of his voice. I followed the compulsion to climb out of the nest and peek through the screen to see the whole pack down in the parking lot. I ducked away, heart pounding. Every instinct urged me to race down there and throw myself into their arms. Not that I could do that much racing with how pregnant I was.

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