When I park in front of the school, Vonn jumps out and races around the car to open Nixie’s door. I swing my own open, and I leap out too, nearly forgetting to grab the keys in my haste. Reaching down, I take one of her hands, and Vonn mirrors the action on her other side. As a unit, we go to collect and protect Asher. My eyes scan the parking lot for any sign of danger, but there’s no one around, and that makes me even more nervous.
We walk up to the heavy double doors in front of the school, and Nixie steps forward to press the intercom button. She provides some security information, then they buzz us in. The lobby is quiet; just a secretary, the principal, and Asher. His eyes are wild with uncertainty, taking in Vonn and me flanking his mother. He’s a smart boy, observant. He can clearly tell that something is wrong.
“Mom, what’s going on?” Asher studies us, checking for any signs that his mom doesn’t want us here. He doesn’t understand what’s going on, so someone’s going to have to explain all this.
“Everything is all right, honey. I just need to take you home early.” She signs some paperwork on the front desk before reaching out for Asher. Nervous, he quickly snuggles into her side. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Her voice rings hollow. Tinged with fear, and it makes me frantic. I want her to move in with us so I can better protect them, but her instincts will probably make her want to run.
And I can’t have that.
We’ve come so far in such a short amount of time, and she has no idea just how far I’ll go to make sure that these evil pieces ofshit never come within inches of either of them. There’s a special place in hell for people who abuse the vulnerable, and I fully intend to send all of them there. Legally, of course…
Or maybe not. Whatever I need to do.
Now I just need to convince her of the same thing…
Chapter Thirty-Two
Vonn
“Iwish she had come home with us.” I run my hand through my hair and tug at the strands, hoping the sting will help me calm down. Letting Nixie and Asher go back to their apartment when her rapist is in our city makes my skin feel too tight. While I understand her desire to talk to Asher on her own terms, in a place he’s familiar with, I still wish we could have stayed.
“She didn’t because she’s thinking about running,” Julius announces, wandering through our apartment with me following behind. Since we left Nixie and Asher, he’s been glued to his phone. Even now, he’s using muscle memory alone, completely distracted, as he winds his way down the hallway.
To my surprise, he stops when he reaches my room and turns deftly into the space. Without any consideration, he flops his huge body onto my bed and takes a deep inhale. Everything is just the way we left it in our haste, and the scent of Nixie’s slick, even a few hours old, has me instantly hard and determined to fix everything. Our apartment is empty without her. There has to be a way to show her she belongs with us.
“What makes you think she’s going to run?” The second he said it, I knew he was correct.But she won’t really leave her scent-matches behind, right?We’ve spent weeks building a solid foundation, and although I haven’t told her yet, I’m head-over-heels in love with this woman. There’s no way I can live without her.
“Because she’s a runner. It’s what she does. Ran away from the diner fiasco, the skates incident…” His words are muttered, but I can understand everything he’s saying. Julius sticks his nose in my pillow, huffing all the scent for himself, and irrational anger fills me. Stomping forward, I try to tug it from his grasp.
“That’s because you made her upset; you pissed her off.” I don’t know why I’m arguing; he’s absolutely right. Our girl is a runner.All the more reason she shouldn’t be alone.
Julius lets go of my pillow, but not before licking the material.Jerk.He glares at me, then looks back down at his phone. My packmate isn’t usually that fond of the device…
“What are you even doing? Are you texting her?” After tossing the pillow back on the bed, I sit down beside him and reach for my own phone, unsure why I hadn’t thought of doing that first. I could’ve been texting her ever since we caught an Uber back from her place.
Though we drove to school together, she insisted on taking her car. Nixie offered to drop us off at home after picking up Asher, but we could tell how badly shaken she was, and I didn’t want her driving in such a frazzled state. Even though we tried to talk her into coming back here, ultimately Julius and I dropped her and Asher back at her apartment before grabbing a rideshare home.
“No. I wish. She hasn’t answered me. Instead, I’m looking at houses for us because this apartment has got to go. There’s no nest for our omega. There’s no room for Asher to sleep in. This is a bachelor pad, and we are no longer bachelors.” My mouthhangs open, floored by his plan. Obviously, we knew it was time to buy a house, but he’s right. How can we ask them to live here when there isn’t even a bedroom for either of them to sleep in?
Julius is an absolute beast. When he sets his mind to something, there’s no obstacle too big. And for the first time, that feels like a giant advantage.
“Find anything good?” I toe off my shoes and allow myself to fall back into my raspberry-slick-scented sheets. He twists his phone to show me the monstrosity of a house on his screen.
“Julius, that says twelve bedrooms. Do you think she’d really like something that big? Omegas like small, enclosed spaces, not mansions.” He rolls his eyes at me, but quickly pulls up another option—though it’s still beyond all reasonable levels of enormity.
“By the time we include all the things we want—a gym, a theater room, a library, and a nest—twelve bedrooms won’t be as big as it sounds. But I hear you. Let’s choose a few in different sizes and then go house hunting together.” The concept certainly has appeal, but it’s not without issues.
“What if it stresses her out? You know how she is about money.”
Julius shrugs in that infuriating way of his, which makes it clear he believes shit will just work out. “We’re just going to need to convince her that home is where the knot is.” He chuckles at his own bad joke, then opens up our group chat. Surging forward, I slap the phone out of his hands.
“Don’t you think this is a conversation we should have in person?” The idiot is a serious text addict, but our omega may need some soft snuggles and cajoling to move in with us.
“No, she loves my texts.” Julius reaches for the phone again, but just as he snags it off the bedspread, my computer dings loudly. The sound startles me at first, and I freeze. A buzz on my phone immediately follows the irritating noise, and a notification from NightNudes pops up on my screen.
SCORCHEDOMEGA IS ONLINE.
