“Dammit, Finch, we talked about this!” I said, snatching up the plate and moving it to the counter. I came back, resting a hand on Kaos’ shoulder.
“That’s okay, you don’t have to eat it.”
“He accepted it,” Finch said, folding his arms.
“Can I talk to you a minute? Alone?” I said, nodding over to the bedrooms. Finch grunted, and followed me until we were out of earshot from Kaos.
“Can’t you feel him? He’s freaking out,” I said, trying to keep my calm.
“He needs to eat,” Finch insisted. “Proper food! Not Ramyun.”
“I’m working on it,” I replied. “So just leave it to me! When you make him food, he feels like he can’t say no, so he just panics. It’s too much pressure for him.”
“I know?—”
“So why keep doing it?”
“I’m sorry.” Finch adjusted his glasses and tucked his neat hair behind his ear, multitasking even in the small things. “I just don’t know what else to do. I feel so useless.”
“You need to stop trying to solve him, and just be there for him. Leave the food to me for now, though.”
“Alright.”
I walked back to the kitchen, and Finch followed me. I turned on the kettle and set out the Ramyun cups I’d grabbed from the store.
“Wanna join us?” I asked Finch. “We’re playingSmash.”
“You know the mission is tonight, right?” Finch said.
Kaos flinched, and I tugged him into a side hug, giving Finch a pointed look. “Which is exactly why I’m de-stressing.” I added, “For all of us.”
“Right,” he said, turning abruptly and grabbing a plate of bulgogi. “No. I have to double-check we got everything right. We can’t afford to make mistakes.”
“Right,” I echoed. “Because you clearly missed something the first fifty times.”
Finch didn’t answer, but I saw his jaw tighten. Of all of us, he really needed to de-stress, but he wasn’t going to join us, as usual. Instead, he turned, retreating to his room without another comment.
I pulled together a smoothie—with extra protein powder—and poured a large glass for me and one for Kaos. You wouldn’t guess Kaos was an alpha by looking at him. Hejumped at small noises, and he was practically skin and bone under his oversized T-shirt.
Kaos shuffled after me and sat down on the couch, the tension in him slowly ebbing away. After he’d finished his noodles, he started sipping from the smoothie while he kicked my ass atSmash. I refilled his water bottle when he went to the bathroom.
“See? We got our shit together,” I told Kaos, waving the water bottle at him when he returned. “We’re practically a model pack. All we need is an omega.”
“Sure,” Kaos replied, taking the water bottle and sitting down again.
I sighed. We definitely needed an omega. Someone who could actually succeed in making Finch relax and draw Kaos out of his shell. Sadly, Finch was not interested in looking, so it would probably take a scent match to make my dream come true.
Once, before Kaos had shattered into a million pieces, Finch had wanted an omega. I didn’t think it would be too hard to convince him again.
FIVE
15 YEARS AGO
LAUREL
“They saw us! Run, Laurel!”
I shrieked and ran as fast as I could. Jule laughed behind me as the server yelled, but we were too fast. He’d never catch us.
