Page 108 of Scent of Home

Something is wrong here. I stand up and come around the bar, but he’s started to really shake.

I glance around and spot Bray speaking to Mathew.

“BRAY!”

Bray looks over and spots the issue immediately. He races through the bar and wraps himself around Finn. I step in front, and together, we sandwich the beta between us.

“It’s okay, Finn. What happened to your parents is not going to happen here,” Bray whispers. “Locke is fine. You’re not going to lose us.”

Suddenly, it all makes sense.

“I almost lost him-” the words come out in huge, heaving gasps as he struggles to breathe.

I glance at Bray, but he looks just as panicked as I do.

Tears are streaming down Finn’s face, and he’s shrinking in on himself, becoming boneless.

And then it happens.

The vibrations in my chest, a deep hum that rumbles through me. A few seconds pass, and it's joined by another deeper sound.

Bray.

I squeeze Finn’s head to my chest while Bray leans over him. We’re touching him wherever we can.

Our purrs throbbing through our bodies and into him.

It’s all right.

We’ve got you.

Everything is going to be okay now.

You’re not alone.

You’re never going to be alone again.

And Finn, our beta, the golden child of Twin Rivers, collapses in our arms and cries for the almost end of his omega and for the family he never grieved.

Chapter thirty-two

Shane

I lean against theoutside of my house and watch my pack. After revealing Jason’s death, Locke had collapsed. He might not have got along with the man, but he’s been a huge part of Locke’s life for years. We knew that, and we protected him as best we could.

Locke’s not leaving.

That’s the first thought that threatens to crush my mind.

The second is that Erin, Finn, and Bray are all here, and they are committed to this.

I mean, I know it. But it doesn’t feel real. Not yet.

Why did I build this house? I never intended to live in it. It was just a dream. A way to create something while the words were stuck. But now, it’s as if I knew.

Cynthia had said to me before she left that, one day, I would find my people. She said she knew with her whole heart I would be happy. I’d been too bitter to hear her words, but maybe some part of me heard them and accepted them. Maybe I hoped she would be right.

It’s the first time I’ve been able to think about her without feeling all the bitterness and shame.

---