Page 76 of Scent of Home

The terror and heat hit at the same time. My knees buckle, and Erin strides forward. She is rough when she grips my hair and yanks it back.

“Omega, you’re safe. You are here with your scent-matched alphas and beta, and no one is going to get you.”

I pant, fighting hard, trying to get control.

The fear eases while the heat lingers in my blood, turning it hot and uncomfortable.

I struggle out of Shane’s arms to go and inspect the house, but I return to the lounge, staring down at the recessed floor and those huge windows.

I don’t like enclosed rooms.

I didn’t know that until right this moment. Every room has a window that I know I can get out of or a second door, but it’s not right. Not like this space.

Erin strokes my back and turns to Bray and Shane, who are standing there, watching me. She doesn’t say a word, but somehow, she conveys a message.

They disappear, and ten minutes later, return carrying the biggest mattress I’ve ever seen in my life. They flop it down into the recessed space. Now, there is a mattress that is ringed by a modular lounge.

There are so many emotions and things I’m thinking and feeling, but I can’t move. All I can do is stare. If I say anything, I might shatter.

Finn comes in, and together, the three of them make the huge bed. I creep down to it, and after slipping my shoes off, I lay down on it, staring up at the trees, refusing to look at the alphas.

Erin lays down beside me and then rolls over, throwing a leg over my thighs and wrapping an arm around my chest, holding me tight.

“I know this is scary. I know that you have things going on in that mind that you don’t want to share, but right now, I just want you to sleep. You are safe. No one is going to let anyone come near you. I promise. You are safe, Locke. So, go to sleep while you can.”

I hear the murmurs of the alphas and Finn, and close my eyes.

Even if I wanted to back out, there is no going back now. My heat is coming. I can’t change it. And if I get to choose anywhere on Earth to experience my first heat, it would be with these people. This pack.

Erin’s soothing mocha and her heart beat lulls me into a restless sleep, but every time I surface, I hear the sounds of them and know I’m safe.

Chapter twenty-two

Finn

Locke is acting reallystrange. He’s tense and snappy and kind of edgy. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that he was having second thoughts. He’s standing at the huge windows, staring out at the forest, his arms wrapped around his middle.

I’ve never seen anyone look so silently distressed in my life. The oversized hoodie Bray gave him swallows him, and he shrinks into it, fading from view. What is he hiding from?

I walk up to him quietly, a mug of coffee in my hands. The vanilla of his scent is tinged with an almost burned sugar scent over the top. Too sweet, too sickly.

“Locke,” I mumble.

He jumps like I’ve screamed in his ear.

My concern deepens. The alphas are out running errands. I didn’t really ask. They were gentle about asking me to stay here, but it wasn’t really a choice. There is something they need that I don’t understand, and that’s fine. Being with Locke is no hardship.

Except now, when he’s hurting, and I don’t know how to fix it. Bray would know. Shane would be able to do something that would solve the problem. Erin would be able to talk to him.

“Locke?”

He glances back at me, but his expression is distracted.

I hold out the mug, and he blinks and takes it. But he doesn’t drink, he just goes to the window and stares out.

“Are you scared?”

Locke inhales deeply, choking. “Scared? Me?” he pauses. “Yeah, a little bit. I trust you guys, I really do, but I will be vulnerable.”

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