Page 122 of Forget

“Agreed,” Aiden says with a nod.

“Bunch of crazy fuckers,” Evan grunts, leaning into my grasp around his throat. “Fine, yes. Let’s do it. How are we going to handle her day to day life shit?”

Brushing my lips across his forehead, I start walking toward the kitchen, expecting them to follow me. I can’t stand the thought of our omega’s stomach rumbling for one more second.

“I think one of us should always be with her, only we stop hiding it,” I say as Aiden snorts.

“Even me?” he asks.

“Especially you,” I say. “How is she supposed to get to know you if you hide away? You need to convince her that you weren’t trying to hurt her.”

“I wasn’t,” he sighs. “It just got out of hand really fast. It didn’t click for me that omegas begin having their heats at age eighteen.”

“Not everyone,” Evan grunts, shrugging. “Morgan’s first heat I think she told me was at twenty-one, but Meghan’s was at nineteen. Each omega is different. It can also be triggered bya large-scale event for some. Aisling found her dad the day before.”

“None of this is an exact science, guys,” Caelin reminds us as I begin pulling out ingredients. She refused to eat what Aiden made earlier, and now it’s been eight hours since she went upstairs.

She’s a stubborn shit.

“It’s not,” I mutter. “All of us will take shifts taking her to work or errands. We can’t isolate her from her life completely, she has very powerful friends we can’t afford to piss off.”

“I think it may be too late for Pack Mohan,” Aiden says. “They’re going to dislike us either way.”

“Wren is her business partner,” Caelin reminds us. “I’m making their website and I’m running behind. I’ll eat later.”

Walking away, I can tell from here that he’s struggling.

“A sad omega is a volatile one,” I say, deciding to make a quick stir fry. Chopping, cooking, following a recipe in my head, all of those things are helping me to focus, because they’re normal.

“Aisling has had too much shit happen in a short amount of time. I don’t even like that she has your knife.”

Aiden glances down at the medical grade bandaid on his chest and nods.

“I don’t either. We need to regularly check on her. Do you think she’d…”

“No,” Evan snarls. “I’m going up to sit outside of her nest. I won’t accept Aisling hurting herself. We just found her… No.”

The explosive word resonates like a gunshot as he also leaves, breaking into a jog.

“This is my fault—” Aiden begins but I shake my head.

“We all took part in this,” I say. “You aren’t leaving the pack, you’re our alpha. You can’t stop being her scent match, and she has two half bonds started. We need to finish them, or they coulddo funky things to her. I’ve heard of omegas with half formed bonds hearing their alpha’s voices and being called crazy. We can’t do that to Aisling. She doesn’t understand how angry a half formed bond can get, and her body will still crave us.”

“Omegas need their pack,” Aiden says in agreement. “It’s not going to happen overnight…”

“I know,” I agree, putting the food on a plate and handing it to him to bring up. “Do something helpful. Take this up, knock, and leave it for her. Don’t speak.”

“Gee thanks,” he mutters, leaving.

Making myself a plate, I take a bite as I stare out at the silent, dark, snowy night.

Come on, Sugar.

Aisling let us in so easily the first time, I doubt she’ll be willing to do so again. We are going to have to claw for every smile, every conversation, every meaningful moment. I can’t let the pack fall, not when we need to fight together.

The negativity, the fear, I need to beat it back so we can get our girl.

Shivering as I think about how she leapt into that snow drift, I remember how I ran downstairs when I heard screaming with the other guys, catching the way she looked. Wild, determined, and really fucking angry.

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