Page 83 of Scent of Home

Chapter twenty-four

Erin

“Don’t touch me!” Lockescreams so loud it hurts my ears.

I jerk upright and awake, a deep snarl breaking from my lips as I search the room, ready to destroy whatever has upset my omega. My growl is echoed by two others, equally as vicious, as Shane and Bray sit up with deadly grace. Locke shoves Finn off him and stumbles backwards, knocking over a lamp and hitting the wall hard.

He doesn’t appear to see it or feel it. Locke is lost in a world we aren’t part of, and that’s the only thing that breaks through the aggression and brings reality back. Nightmare. He’s having a nightmare.

I slide off the mattress and move around the bed. We’re no longer in the nest but the bedroom that Locke gave the green light to before his heat started. It’s got three stairs down and into a deep room with no windows. It’s a dark cave, and everything alpha in me had purred when I saw it.

But Locke is freaking out. Why?

“Locke?”

He bares his teeth in my direction and lets out such a ferocious and pained growl it breaks my heart. He throws himself at the wall, trying to put as much space between us as possible. I swallow hard, rapidly trying to come up with a way to wake him without causing more damage.

We’ve seen the signs of it. I’ve been cautious this whole time. I’d thought we were safe. This is what I was sensing, this wrongness in my omega. This throbbing pain that has turned the air back to burnt sugar.

“Omega!”

He snaps his teeth, and when Bray comes too close; he lashes out, punching the alpha in his gut. It must hurt his hand, but he doesn’t let on at all. His eyes are still unfocused and wide. Like a trapped animal.

Bray steps back and glances at me. It’s desperate and unhinged. Locke’s fear is turning the room feral. I have a short amount of time to get control before I have two alphas on a warpath.

Shane rises from the bed, his eyes almost black with the need to protect his omega from danger. His growl is a deep bass that makes the air vibrate as he moves towards the door, looking to cut off any danger.

I inhale through my nose, trying to work out what I’m going to do. I can only see one way out, and I hope that it doesn’t bite me in the ass later.

“Shane. Bray. Out. Now.” I let the alpha bark out, and I don’t allow any way for them to argue with me.

They go, casting me furious looks.

Finn is standing to the side of the huge bedroom, his eyes wide. It’s been a week, a perfect, amazing, dream-like week. He’s looking to me for instruction, holding perfectly still, making himself smaller, less of a threat. I appreciate the fuck out of him right now.

That bliss from the last few days is gone. Burnt sugar has chased it away. This is reality. Locke’s nightmares, and I’m ready to do battle with them.

This is my unseen enemy.

“What is this?” Finn mouths at me.

I shake my head. Deep in my heart, I have an idea, but I want to be wrong. I’ve seen this before. Once, when I was working pro bono at a firm that specializes in helping victims get justice for crimes against-

Don’t think about it, Erin.Just thinking about my omega suffering like that-

Stop. Thinking. About. It.

I stand up and move around the bed. Locke stares at me like he hates me. Like I’m the enemy, like I’ve hurt him. My chest is so tight as the bond floods me with pure, unadulterated panic.

“Stay the fuck away from me.”

So much venom in his voice.

I step closer and reach out.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!”

The wail of pain brings tears to my eyes. Not telling. Not commanding. He’s begging me not to touch him.

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