Page 37 of Where There's Smoke
That shouldn’t have made me as happy as it did.
The fact that an alpha was getting all growly and possessive over me made my stomach do somersaults. Was this really happening? Not long ago, I’d dreamed of a future that involved a pack just like Sunny’s, and now I was getting what I wanted? That seemed too good to be true. Still, I’d never been great at accepting compliments, good news, or praise. Life was never that kind to me. It wasn’t like I was some orphaned wretch or something—no tragic past for me. But I was normal. I was just some girl, a beta, up until about thirty minutes ago. And now…
“You’re going to be fine, Melody. We’ll be right here to help you figure all this out. Promise.”
Every cynical part of me didn’t want to believe Fitz. But when I looked at him, I saw that damn gorgeous, genuine smile of his, and I couldn’t help but think that he really would be there to help me, that they all would.
Being cared for was new to me, and I wasn’t sure how to process it, but with him along for the ride…
“All right.” I nodded. “Let’s take this one step at a time. Step number one: you need to make thatthinggo down quicker because I’m uncomfortable and I need to pee.”
Fitz feigned shock, and then we were both laughing like fools.
Chapter 18
Elliot
Iwas sitting at my desk when the e-mail came in. I knew my pack mates were absolutely enamored with Melody, and I was as well, but I had been restrained because I knew something wasn’t right with the fire that had happened at the shelter.
More than anything, I wanted to think the best of the small omega. She seemed kindhearted and eager to help. But in my career studying arson, I had seen things that I couldn’t write off, and I didn’t want to believe that she could have done something to cause the fire.
I had been putting off looking into her insurance claim, but if she had good insurance on the shelter, the fire was probably going to benefit her greatly. Even thinking about her like that made me feel dirty. Only, arson wasn’t always done by bad people or criminals. They were done bydesperatepeople who needed money.
And unfortunately, I knew that Melody probably fit that description, based on her own words.
The subject line of the e-mail made my breath catch in my throat as I read it.Fingerprint results for the canisters atthe Grove Rd fire.That was the road that the shelter was on. When we had given the property a thorough sweep after the fire, we had found several gas canisters toward the back of the building thrown in a dumpster. From there, it was a pretty easy assumption to make that the accelerant that we noticed in the kitchen came from those canisters.
So we gave them to our contact at the lab and decided to get them fingerprinted to see about identifying the owner of said canisters. I was hoping and praying that it wasn’t the omega.
Even as I went to open the e-mail, in the back of my mind, I was thinking about what I could do if shehaddone it. Surely, there was some way I could protect her? That was ridiculous, though. Why should I protect her if she’d committed arson? It was a serious crime and often came with jail time.
Jeez, Elliot. Pull yourself together.
Except, if I was brutally honest with myself, I was falling for the omega just as hard as my pack mates. I wasn’t sure if I could turn her in. The turmoil that realization had created had been keeping me up at night. So, while Fitz and Samson had gotten closer to her, I had been drawing away.
Taking a few shallow breaths, I opened the e-mail and quickly scanned the contents for the words I was looking for. Turned out, the labhadfound fingerprints, but they were still hunting for a match.
What were the chances that an outsider had gone into the omega’s shelter, poured gasoline near an old microwave, and set the place on fire?
The lab was also working on getting the CCTV footage from the shelter, but with most of the tech burned to a crisp, that was a work in progress.
The whole thing was going so slowly, and there was nothing I could do about that, which sucked. I wanted answers. I wanted to breathe a sigh of fucking relief because I knew that Melodyhad nothing to do with it. And all I could do was be patient and wait.
I hated waiting.
I was on my way to the kitchen when Fitz came bursting out of his room and pulled me into a big hug. He stank overwhelmingly of Melody and sex.Oh, shit.
“What the hell did you do?” I asked, pulling back and looking at him with wide eyes. It was a redundant question, considering his scent made it blatantly obvious what he’d been doing. I was just so damn shocked. I didn’t think Melody was anywhere near having sex with one of my pack mates yet. They were dancing around each other, clearly both interested, but I thought they were a long way off from fucking.
He grinned at me, that boyish smirk that I was so used to, and for the first time in a long while, I wanted it gone.
“Well, it turned out our sweet girl decided on a method to figure out if she was an omega,” he said.
“And that is?” I asked, already dreading the answer.
“She said if she could take a knot, that would prove she was an omega. It sounded logical to me, and we managed to prove her right. She had a little bit of a meltdown when she realized she was, in fact, an omega, and I’m pretty sure her head nearly exploded, but she seems to be calming down a bit. Once I finally went down, and boy, did it take a while for me to go down, she detangled herself, and I left to get a snack, which is where I’m going now.” He patted me on the shoulder like that was that, easy as pie.
What could I say to him? If I turned around and told him that I suspected Melody of arson, his entire world would comecrashing down around him. Fitz may act like a charming, rich player, but he had a mushy center, and it was clear as day that he’d becomeveryattached to Melody.
