Page 40 of Hot Knot Summer
“Hazel eyes,” Levi corrects automatically.
“Hazel with gold flecks when the light hits them just right,” River counters. “I was paying very close attention.”
“We noticed,” I say dryly.
“Like you weren’t,” River challenges. “I saw how you looked at her when you thought no one was watching, Chief. That protective Alpha stance whenever anyone else came near her.”
I don’t bother denying it. River knows me too well.
“Let’s say, hypothetically, we offer her this arrangement,” I say instead. “What if she says no?”
“Then she says no.” River shrugs, though the tightness around his eyes says otherwise. “We don’t force it.We figure out something else. But we have to at least offer her the option.”
“He’s right,” Levi says, surprising me again. “Security-wise, it makes the most sense. And she’d be more comfortable in a real home than at the station long term.”
I consider their words as we turn onto the road that leads back to the station. Part of me, the cautious, responsible part that’s kept us all alive through countless dangerous situations, is screaming that this is a mistake. That bringing an unknown Omega into our space, especially one that triggers such intense responses in all of us, is asking for trouble.
But another part, the Alpha, the protector, can’t stand the thought of Emma vulnerable, alone, at risk from whoever burned her house down.
“Fine,” I relent finally. “We can broach it with her gently. As a temporary solution only until we find her a more permanent safe situation.”
“Yes!” River pumps his fist in triumph. “You won’t regret this, Chief.”
“I already regret it,” I mutter, but there’s no real conviction behind the words. “And you’re not going to be the one to ask her. You have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.”
“Hey!” River protests. “I can be subtle.”
“You once tried to announce a surprise birthday party for Levi by setting off the station alarm,” I remind him dryly.
“It got everyone’s attention, didn’t it?” he grinsunrepentantly. “And the look on his face was priceless. Total shock.”
“That was horror, not surprise,” Levi clarifies. “I thought the station was on fire while I was in the shower.”
“Details,” River waves dismissively. “The point is, it was memorable.”
“My point exactly,” I say. “I’ll talk to her. Calmly and rationally, with no pressure.”
“Fine, but I get to help set up her room,” River negotiates.
“We’ll all help,” Levi interjects. “If she agrees.”
“She will,” River says with that same strange certainty. “She belongs with us, even if she doesn’t know it yet.”
The intensity of his conviction makes me glance at him again. “Don’t push her, River. I mean it. She’s been through enough.”
“I wouldn’t,” he admits, suddenly serious. “I know what it’s like to be pushed into something against your will. I’d never do that to her. But I also know what it’s like to find where you belong after thinking you never would. She deserves that chance.”
The reference to his past, to the correction facilities his parents sent him to, makes me soften. For all his bravado, River knows pain intimately. It’s easy to forget that sometimes, behind his perpetual good humor.
“Okay,” I nod. “I’ll talk to her tonight, but we’representing this as a practical, temporary solution, not some pack-bonding opportunity. Clear?”
“Crystal,” River agrees, a little too quickly for my comfort. “Though I can’t promise I won’t charm her with my culinary skills and winning personality in the process.”
“I mean it,” I insist, pinning him with my gaze at a stop sign. “No pressuring, no... whatever it was you were doing in the laundry room earlier.”
River has the grace to look slightly abashed. “That was... unplanned. But noted. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“For what it’s worth,” Levi offers quietly, “I think this could be good. For all of us.”
