I lift my nose and square my shoulders. “Calm down, and I will. But your Alpha is raging, and we’re in public.”
He draws in a few deep breaths. “It took me so long to come to terms with it. Part of me wants her all to myself because Iknowshe’s mine. But deep down, Iknowshe’s ours. Our pack Omega, no matter what this town believes about her. Hearingthe rumors circulating around? Thinking back on things while in the shop? She’s always been ours, Hayes.”
I’ve never heard him speak so much in one go in all the years I’ve known him. “Is that why you’ve been working so much in the shop lately?”
He sighs heavily, a sound I don’t usually hear from him. “Helps me with my thoughts.”
“Oh, Ford. We will figure this out. We’ll find a way to make this work, you know we will.” I pause as a grin slides across my face. “You know, once all of us can settle in the same space for more than a few seconds.”
His gaze focuses as his instincts retreat, and I can see the ache. The longing. “It’s her, Hayes. I want to go after her so badly. She deserves someone who goes after her.”
“I know,” I say softly as I reach out and squeeze his shoulder. “I know it’s her. And we’re not going to screw this up. We just need to let her breathe. She’s been through a lot, and she’s processing even more. Wehaveto be courteous of that.”
Ford exhales loudly, his gaze flicking toward the door, but he doesn’t move. He knows I’m right. In a way, with my pack, I’m always right. Despite Ford’s quiet demeanor and Beck’s charismatic strength, the one thing I’ve always brought to my pack is the emotional stability of a Beta. I’ve never been governed by emotions and instincts the way the two of them can be.
If it’s crushing me not to go after Lo, I can only imagine how Beck and Ford feel.
But despite everything, I know one thing for certain: None of this can be rushed, no matter how badly we want it to be.
Still, it’s wonderful to hear that this has been on Ford’s mind.
After a few long moments, he heaves another heavy sigh, and I already know he has resigned to the fact that I’m right.
Because I’m always right when it comes to my pack.
“We wait,” he finally says, understanding me.
“Yeah,” I answer with another squeeze to his shoulder. “We wait.”
It’s not the way I imagined this night going. But I won’t let it be the last time I get to show Lo that she belongs with us.
Not if I can help it.
CHAPTER 19
Lo
Two weeks later
It’s almost over.
Thank God!
I’m done. Done witheverything.
I’ve been counting down the days, every second ticking by. Just one more step away from this place, this mess, these people.
Honeysuckle Grove?
Yeah, it was cute when I was a kid, but now? Not so much.
The whole town’s been stuck in a time loop, and I can’t keep pretending it doesn’t feel like I’m suffocating in the nostalgia of it all.
So, I made a plan. I’ve got a job lined up. A charity in the city. Sounds noble, right? That’s because it is. I’m going to tear apart their whole operation from the inside out. Find the embezzlers, expose them, get paid, get gone. That’s the plan. Theonlyplan.
Get the hell out of here and leave all of this behind.
The whispers. The accusations. My family. All of it.
