Page 34 of Knight Life In Vegas

“It’s my own damn fault for not getting more information before getting her into bed.”

I shrugged. “Instincts are a bitch. You were more concerned with getting close to her, and I can’t blame you for that.”

Eventually, Chico demanded freedom from the group hug, and I allowed it, though I knew he was still way too tense.

“We’ll find her,” I insisted again.

Chico sighed. “I hope you’re right, because I don’t know how many more sleepless nights I can take.”

“Idon’t know what to do.”

Bryce sighed, sitting across from me. “There’s nothing youcando. Charlotte’s been through a lot, and she’s not going to respond well to you trying to force anything. She only went on her first date since the divorce last week, she?—”

“I don’t want to date her,” I added, probably a bit too sharply, and my son narrowed his eyes. “Sorry, I’m just…on edge. I haven’t slept properly since meeting her.”

“I get that, but you’re going to have to navigate this with more finesse regardless. A scent match isn’t a business deal.”

I let out a frustrated breath. “I know that. I’ve dealt with it all before and I can’t do it again.”

Bryce’s face softened. “You really don’t want something like what you had with Mom again? Like what I have with Ava?”

I swallowed hard, emotion clogging my throat. “Too dangerous. I’m not fit to be anyone’s partner. Besides, she has other matches. She doesn’t need me.”

My son watched me for a few long moments, his assessing gaze making me nervous. “I want to believe that you can be better. A better parent, grandparent,andpartner if you want to pursue that. Giving up before you’ve even begun is making me doubt that you’re capable of it.”

His words cut to the quick. “That’s not fair.”

“Feelings don’t have to be fair. I know what I felt when I met Ava for the first time. I don’t understand how you could willingly walk away from that.”

“Be glad you haven’t felt enough pain to understand why I would. Think for just a single moment how you would feel if you lost your omega, and then understand the reality is a thousand times worse.”

His cheeks paled, and his voice caught. “But don’t you think Mom would be glad you had this chance? She wouldn’t want you to be miserable forever.”

My instinct was to bolt away from the table and end the conversation to go lick my wounds, but Bryce deserved better than that. I squeezed my hands into fists, working myself through one of my therapeutic breathing exercises until I feltable to speak. “I don’t know what she would want, but Charlotte has made her feelings on the matter very clear.”

“She’s scared.” We both turned to see Ava with Lucy in her arms.

“Scared of what?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“She and I were tricked by the same person, but she had a whole lifetime with him. I don’t think she trusts herself to know if someone is a good person, or if she would be walking into another trap where she would lose herself.” Ava passed Lucy to me, and I held the baby, her warm weight an anchor against my rising anxiety. “You’re both terrified, and I get it, but I don’t think either of you deserve anyone walking away because of that.”

I hadn’t taken the time to consider the depth of what might have been driving Charlotte’s reaction. I had lost the right person and she had been trapped with the wrong one. I couldn’t begin to fathom the damage that might’ve done. My pain and fear were familiar companions, but Ava was right. “We both need patience neither is in a place to provide for the other.”

“Yet,” Ava added. “It’s not magic, but the alpha and omega bond helps. The base nature of a scent match means you can help each other more than just a regular alpha and omega pair. I only survived my ordeal because of my mates, but you and Charlotte both faced your losses alone. Who else would be better to face the future with than someone who might actually understand how much pain you’ve been carrying?”

I stared down at my granddaughter, the biological child of the same man who had fathered Charlotte’s children. Thank god he was rotting in prison right now for all the bullshit he had put these omegas through.

“I’m too reactionary to help her. I can’t even help myself.”

“I think Ava’s right that you and Charlotte are in a unique position,” said Bryce. “If you were around each other withoutscent blockers, it could help regulate the two of you, temper a lot of the anxiety driving you both and let things come up in a safer way. I’m not suggesting this gets pushed on either of you, but isn’t it worth a try?”

I closed my eyes, working through another of my breathing exercises. Would Emily want me to pursue things with Charlotte? She had always been so bright and full of love. I wished I could ask her. Maybe I would have to settle for our son’s blessing. “If you can get Charlotte to speak to me again, I would be willing to entertain the possibility, but I’ve had the great love of my life, and I’m content not to have another. I just need to feel human again.”

Ava and Bryce exchanged a look.

“If you’re suffering from the separation, then chances are she is too,” Ava pointed out.

“She doesn’t know the way that I know. She knows because I told her, not because she scented me.”

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