Page 58 of Who We Were

"No, no, no. Please, fuck no," Sam rambles as his fingers keep scrolling through the images I had left open.

My fellow alpha's horror doesn't fill me with satisfaction like it should have if I truly blamed him for what happened to her. Idoblame him for keeping us from seeing her.

"NO!" he bellows, making Oli flinch beside me.

Samuel's loud panic, and my beta's anxious energy sets me on edge and there's only one fucking thing that will settle the alpha instinct to kill someone.

"Let’s go," I growl to Oliver, who follows me to the front door, leaving his brother behind.

Just before the door slams closed behind us, I hear my laptop shatter and the most gut-wrenching roar.

My breaths are shaky as I walk away from the man I once considered my best friend. Sam has to figure his own shit out right now. What he did was wrong; my alpha feels like it was a betrayal.

And now he has to buy me a new laptop.

"Areyou going to ring the doorbell?" Oliver whispers. I can feel his wary eyes on me, but the hint of teasing in his tone helps to loosen my shoulders.

He's shaken off his brother’s behavior pretty fast, and I can't help but wonder if it was for my benefit. Guilt has been eating at me for days knowing my beta is struggling, and his mask of happiness is fading, but I can't seem to figure out what I'm supposed to do. Or how I'm supposed to feel.

There are so many emotions and thoughts racing through my veins and mindconstantlythat I haven't been able to focus on Oli. And for that, I really need to apologize and try to do better. I need tobebetter for himandAmaya.

So I ring the doorbell despite feeling like I might puke again.

My sensitive hearing picks up on some shuffling and a deep sigh combined with heavy footsteps. I have moments to prepare myself for the hulking alpha that was here the other night, but it doesn't do me any good because the door is thrown wide in the next second, slamming me with his angry pheromones.

"Ah shit," Oliver mutters, backing up.

The alpha with the backwards hat and black attire snarls and advances on us. I step in front of Oliver immediately and throw my hands up in surrender. "We didn't know! I swear!"

The scary dude’s fists clench and his shoulders square like he's ready to bust my lip open again. "Didn't know what?" he grits out.

"Any of it!" Oliver rushes out, but to me he murmurs, "What was his name again?"

"Vincent?" I whisper back without taking my eyes off of the alpha.

Oli hums thoughtfully, but the man in front of us growls out his annoyance and takes another step forward. "Yes, my fucking name is Vincent. And I know all about you, Oliver. You're the bubbly one, aren’t you? The one who should be helping me put a smile on my omega's face?"

My beta heaves in a choked gasp, Vincent’s words hitting their painful mark. My mouth opens to defend him, but the alpha cuts me off with a withering glare.

"And you, Emmett. You should be helping me soothe Amaya with the calming energy she says you're known for, shouldn't you?" he accuses, making my throat clench up tight because there really isnoexcuse to absolve Oli and me from this man’s wrath and loathing.

Vincent's head cocks, looking over our shoulders. "Seems like Samuel has changed the most, huh? What with him being her childhood protector, and now she needs protection fromhim."

"My brother would never hurt her!"

Like ice, Vincent slides his gaze to Oliver. "He already has." I think those are meant to be his parting words as he steps back into the threshold of Amaya's house.

"You don't understand," I blurt, panic that this might be my only chance to get this guy to understand and maybe help us fix our wrongs seizes me. "We had no idea she was sent to theacademy. Sam didn't know either. Believe me, we would have torn the world apart looking for her if we knew."

"And what did you think you knew?" Vincent's tone is hard-core accusatory, and by the way my tongue refuses to unfuse itself from the roof of my mouth, he should be.

Oliver takes a shuddering breath and steps up beside me. "Her mom told us she skipped town to live with her rich dad. That she left us behind."

Vincent is quiet for a few moments, but the pure rage he's been riding simmers into sadness. He nods like a disappointed father. "You know, the way Amaya has spoken of your past together, if the roles were reversed, she never would have believed the word of an emotionally abusive alcoholic. She loved you as friends before biology revealed itself. You built a childhood oftrustand when it mattered most, you didn't believe in her love and devotion to you."

Tears cloud my vision, but I catch the little form inching her way down the staircase and sitting halfway from the bottom. I want to shove past the alpha and make Amaya listen to me, but I don't because what Vincent is saying is true.

We don't deserve her.

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