Page 40 of Harley

“Dash, take her to Zayd’s room. Lock yourselves in there while we take care of Knight.”

Oh, god. I did this to him. My scent. He needs me.

I scramble to my feet and step toward him.

“No,” Ace barks out, and I stop. He used his alpha command on me and I can’t move.

“Harley, he won’t want you to see him like this. Please go to Zayd’s room and wait for us.” Not an alpha command this time, but a command none the less.

“But...” What can I say, do? “He needs me.”

Jax shakes his head as Dash grabs hold of my arm.

“Knight is gone right now. He would be upset with himself if he claimed you against your will, especially while he’s feral,” Jax tells me. Knight tries to bite him, trying to break free, and my heart breaks for him.

A lump forms in my throat, and I don’t know what to say. I want to cry. This is how he has been the past four years...this is what he’s been going through daily?

As a tear slips free, I take a step away. Dash lets out a sigh as he helps lead me out of the room.

“Mine. Stay,” Knight growls as I turn away, and my heart breaks even more. I want to stay; I want to help him. But what if what they said is right? That he will bite me?

“We’re sorry, Harley,” Jax adds. I know he is.

I wipe the tear away as Dash hugs me.

All those nights in the garden, I’d been happy while flirting with Gage and dreaming of a life with him...and my blueberry pancakes.

And all that time, Knight was suffering...they all were. And it was me.

My fault.

CHAPTER 19

ACE

If I had known about this whole test-after-ceremony thing, I would have asked Knight’s fathers more questions about what to do and expect. It’s been a good twenty-five years since they got Maggie—Knight’s omega mother—but some of the help they gave us with the nest and all wasn’t enough. I didn’t know there was a special mattress we were supposed to buy. Hell, we should have gone to that expensive omega department store. I was just trying to save some money to help with repairs around here.

I’m still waiting on the guy to come fix the heater. But then there’s the leaking tap in the bathroom. The peeling paint in so many of the rooms. Jax has offered to paint the house, but he never has the time. Neither do I.

Between the garage and home, we are buried. We work extra hours just to keep a roof over our heads, and it’s been too many years since we’ve had even a day off.

Veronica is right. This house is not up to the standards of the Omega House. Hell, it’s not even up to my standards. Heating is the first thing I should have had fixed a month ago when it went out. I was just saving every penny we had to try to get our name in the next beta-born omega lottery that I overlooked something so basic as heating for my own pack.

“Don’t,” Jax says as I pace the room.

Knight has gone and crawled into his bed and doesn’t want anyone, especially Harley, to come see him while he comes down after his episode. He’s upset she had to witness that. I could feel it down the bond as soon as he came to. He shook us off and promised he was fine.

He’s not fine.

Fine is the word you use when you’re not fine. And Knight’s second favorite word these days is “fine,” and his first most used word is “sorry.” I tug on my bond connection with Zayd to check in with him, hoping he will open up more now that Harley is here with us.

He sends a mix of feelings down the bond. He’s concerned. For Knight? Or Harley? The beta bitch from the Omega House?

I run my hands through my hair and tie it up into a knot. I need to go apologize to Harley. I never want to use my alpha bark on her. I never wanted to be that type of alpha.

“She will understand,” Jax says, and I realize I left my bond open. Not that it’s hard to tell each other’s thoughts by now. After being together for almost twenty years, he knows what I’m thinking before I even say it. That’s just who Jax is. He read emotions; he can sense how others are feeling.

“I just...I never wanted to do that, but I was scared,” I admit. Scared that Knight was lost as Harley stood there, the tears in her eyes and the omega inside her wanting to comfort her alpha...her scent match. My scent match.

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