“Hold up!” Laz’s now stomping down the stairs, fully awake. “You told her about Roxanna?”
“And he left out all the key facts.” Cole glowers at me. “How many times do we need to tell you? It wasn’t your fault! Roxanna was an alpha chaser!”
“She’s blind in one eye.” I ignore him. It doesn’t matter how many times they try to convince me otherwise. I’ll always blame myself. “That’s on me.”
“It’s bad enough that you seem intent on torturing yourself about this, but why do you have to make everyone else suffer too?” Ren explodes, anger rolling off him. “This isn’t just your pain you’re carrying!”
He suddenly lunges at me, punching me in the chest. Even though Ren’s strong for his lean build, I have double the muscle. I let him pummel into me. His glasses almost fall off his nose as he takes out his frustration on me while I stand and take it. This is what I deserve.
Cole grabs Ren and hauls him off. “Enough, Ren.”
“But he ruined everything!” Ren’s chest heaves from exertion, his knuckles already red. “He sent her away!”
“Why did she leave without saying goodbye?” Laz frowns. “That’s not like Faye. I get why she’s pissed and upset at Damon, especially because of her family history, but what about the rest of us?”
Cole crosses his arms, a dejected expression on his face. His fury seems to morph into bitter disappointment, which is even worse. I may as well rip off the Band-Aid and tell them.
“She knows you all knew about it,” I confess, unable to look at their faces. “She thinks you hid it from her so you could trap her into bonding.”
“But we’d never do that!” Ren’s shoulders slump in overt anguish. “She has to know that. And now she’s alone in heat. What if another alpha finds her?”
“She’s back at Stella House now,” I tell him. I tracked Frank’s car on my phone and called him to confirm that she arrived back safely. “She’s better off there than around me.”
“We can tell her the truth. She’ll understand,” Laz mutters, more to himself than anyone else. “She’ll forgive us.”
“We should go to Stella House,” Ren decides, already heading for the door. “To explain and tell her the full story.”
“No,” Cole calls out to his back. “Even if we wanted to speak to Faye, we’ll get kicked out of SVU if we step one foot inside OV without permission.”
“I don’t care about SVU!” Ren cries. “I care about Faye. She’s our omega, and she’s hurting. We need to be with her!”
I feel it too. The magnetic draw pulling us together. Knowing that she’s hurting—both physically and emotionally—and there’s nothing I can do is torture, but it’s a necessity. The others will see that eventually.
“I agree with Ren.” Laz grabs his coat, getting ready to march out into the night. “We need to go. Now.”
“No one is going anywhere,” Cole barks, blocking the exit.
Laz halts, and Ren winces, fighting an internal battle.
“We are going to make this right.” Cole sounds confident. “Faye is our omega. Our scent match. We will fix this.”
“Throw me out of the pack,” I say. “Let me leave. She may forgive you, then.”
“And let you off that easily?” Cole laughs drily, shaking his head. “As tempting as that offer is right now, you’re one of us, Damon. Faye is your omega as much as she’s ours. A pack is a lifetime deal, so you’re going to help us get her back.”
“Don’t you see this is best for everyone?” I link my hands behind my neck, looking to the ceiling for guidance. “She could never want me now.”
“She’s our scent match!” Ren exclaims. “What’s best for us is to be together. Everything was going so well—too well—yet you didn’t even give her a chance!”
I didn’t need to. What’d be the point? As soon as she learned the truth about me, she’d be gone. Tonight only proved me right. It doesn’t matter that she’s my scent match. She saw the real me and ran.
“I did this for her.” I look into each of their eyes, imploring them to understand. “Why can’t you see that?”
“Damon.” Laz shakes his head. He’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember. The sun to my storm. I’ve confided in him more than anyone. “If we lose her for good, I’ll never forgive you.”
I turn my back on them. I can deal with their lack of forgiveness if it means never having to live with the crushing worry of hurting her.
TWENTY-EIGHT
