Page 135 of Choosing Their Omega

Knox stands up at once while Cruz takes my hands. “What is it?” Knox looks ready to storm out the door and become a one-man army.

Their protectiveness over me is so deeply appreciated. I’m not happy that a bad thing like this happened to me. But something bad did happen, and for the first time since my grandmother took me in, there are other people taking care of me and there for me. I’m not forced to take care of myself the entire time, all alone.

It’s not a surprise, exactly, because I know that my Alphas love me. I don’t doubt that at all. I know they’ll always take care of me. But it is nice to be reminded all over again and to feel it once more.

And I know that, while I certainly hope that I’m not hit by a car again like that, I’ll spend the rest of my life now having opportunities to be reminded of their care for me. I never have to be alone again. I never have to handle anything on my own again.

It’s so reassuring. It’s more than I ever thought I’d get outside of hopeful daydreams.

But my feeling of comfort is short-lived as Lawson and Miles explain what they learned. Miles is able to explain it more than Lawson is. Lawson paces and snaps things, the words bitten out of him.

My stomach drops. I feel sick, and even a little dizzy, even though I’m sitting down.

“I guess when Lawson snapped at their teammate like that, the rest of the team realized that they could get to us by getting to Lily.” Miles’s eyes blaze. He’s not one who’s quick to anger, but it’s clear that he’s barely in control of his own fury right now. Once you’ve made him angry, he’s not going to calm down easily. “We’re the first line on our team, the best ones they’ve got.”

“Crippling a team by removing four of their players is bad enough,” Cruz agrees. “But four players that includes their starting goalie and their captain? And you know that you and Lawson and I consistently get the most shots on goal.”

“We’re the best the Titans have and they tried to take us off the board because we’d be busy with Lily.”

“The guy fuckin’ insists he didn’t want to severely hurt her.” Lawson’s tone makes it clear just how much he believes that. “But the Grizzlies seemed to want him to really put her in the hospital, to make us miss out on more than one game.”

“The timing was intentional too,” Miles adds. “So we’d skip the game and possibly be fired for walking out. The guy had no idea that Knox would be on the phone with Lily but we’re her emergency contacts so the hospital would’ve contacted us the moment she was admitted.”

A chill crawls up my spine at the idea of being even more severely hurt. Thinking about it, I was genuinely lucky that I wasn’t more badly hurt by the accident. I could’ve broken my bones or had organ damage.

And the baby…

And the Grizzlies didn’t care. They didn’t ask for the guy to be careful, or to put me in a fender bender. They asked for him to take me out. I honestly wonder if they would’ve even really cared if I’d died.

“They’re that fucking intimidated by us?” Knox growls. “Really? They’re that certain they can’t fucking beat us fair and square on the ice so they’re going to play dirty. What if Lily had been killed? Whether they meant it or not, she could’ve died. You can’t predict something like that with car accidents.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

Everyone looks at me. “What are you sorry for?” Cruz is still sitting down, and he puts an arm around my shoulders.

“That they tried to use me against you. I never want to be a source of pain.”

“We love you,” Miles points out. “That means that of course the idea of losing you is going to cause us pain. That’s kinda how love works. But don’t feel sorry.”

“They’re the ones who should feel sorry,” Lawson adds, practically spitting like a furious cat. “They chose to try to use you against us. And we’re going to take them down.”

“Legally and professionally,” Cruz adds.

Knox and Lawson look more like they want to take the Grizzlies down physically, but they don’t argue with Cruz. I’m glad. I don’t want any of my Alphas to end up in jail over some assholes like the guys on the Grizzlies team. “I want to be there when you confront them.”

My Alphas all look at me again.

“Are… are you sure?” Cruz frowns. “Lily, you were just…”

“No, I’m sure. I’m the one that they ordered hit with the car. I’m the one that they went after. I know it was because of you and it was to get to you, but I was the one who had to go through that. I want them to see me and know who they went after and I want to see them go down.”

The men all look at each other, unsure.

“I won’t be in danger, will I?”

They all shake their heads at me.

“Then I don’t see why I can’t be. I know that they did this to go after you guys. I know that it was about you and not me. But I was the one that they attacked and I was the one that they hurt. I want to look them in the eyes. I want them to see me and know that I made it out and that I’m not afraid of them.”

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