Kole sighs, standing. “I’ll get the food started.” He claps a hand on my shoulder as he passes, and I look at him with surprise.
“Do we have stuff to make French Toast?” She asks into my shirt, and Kole turns around to look at her, his expression soft.
“I believe so, Little Fox. Your brother made sure we’d be properly supplied with all the food we could ever need.”
“I make some bomb-ass French Toast, if I do say so myself.” Hayden heads to the kitchen. “I fucking love breakfast for dinner.”
“It’s not dinner time yet.” Kole tsks.
“Breakfast for linner, then,” Hayden shoots back. I’ve been surprised by his restraint since we got Jo back. I thought for sure he’d take the first opportunity he could to mark her again, but it looks like Hayden is more mature than I thought, wanting to wait until Jo is at full strength. Or, at least more than twenty-four hours.
Their bickering gets quieter as they disappear into the kitchen, and then it’s just me, Sam, and Jo. Sighing, I run my hand down her back. “I should probably let you go now, Siren.”
“Mmmm. You don’thaveto.” She rubs her face against my chest in a way that would scent-mark me if she didn’t have the instinct dampener running through her veins. “But…I guess this would be a good opportunity to talk to the two of you.”
“About what?” Sam asks, coming up next to us.
“Just some questions I have to…fill in the gaps. With what happened between when I was taken to the Cathedral, and you guys comin’ to get me. How the hell you ended up with Declan.”
So the three of us sit down, and Sam and I tell her about how we went and confronted Leslie, then how Fuzzy came and got us to put us on the phone with Declan. How her brother did everything he could to put his plan into action as quickly as possible so she could get out of there. By the time we’re finished telling her about how Whitmore tried to take us down in the parking lot, Hayden and Kole are coming into the room, carrying plates of bacon and French toast.
Declan really did think of everything.
Hayden and Kole settle on the other couch, and we eat as we talk, pulling food from the plates on the coffee table while Turnip nibbles on a piece of bacon in the make-shift shelter I put together for her yesterday. Who knew a cardboard box and some scraps of fabric would make the little rat feel so at home? Turnip and I…well, we’ve bonded a bit over the last few days.
Then Jo starts talking and simmering rage makes its home in my veins as she details to us what her days in the Cathedral looked like.
Fuck. If Declan didn’t have Brooks already for questioning, I’d drive back to Thornfield right now and kill him myself.
As it stands, I notice all the guys also making a mental note on the names of the orderlies. Steve and Jones. And the alpha who tried to bite and bond her. Asher. I remember hearing his case on the news six years ago.
“I do not knowwhen,Lisichka,” Kole vows, his eyes dark, “but their lives will end by one of our hands.”
“I know, Sugar Bear.” She reaches over and pats his arm. “They’ll get what’s comin’ to them, one way or another. I just…”
“What’s wrong, Fireball?” Hayden frowns.
“Mabel. She says she really did kill her pack, and this whole time…” She swallows roughly, looking down. “I would never judge her. I, of all people, have no place to do that. But…I’m worried about her. Outta the two of us, she was the one who actuallywanteda pack, and now Dec says she won’t let any males near her. What if I get what she always wanted, and she…” She shakes her head, unable to finish her sentence.
“Siren.” She looks up at me when I grasp her hand. “Mabelisgoing to have some trauma. I promise, as soon as we get this whole mess sorted, I will be completely at your disposal for her. But for now…she’s safe. It won’t do anyone any good to sit and worry about it. The best thing you can do for her right now is to stay safe so you can come home to her.”
Jo releases a deep breath, nodding once. “I just feel guilty, ya know? Bein’ locked in with the four hottest men in the universe while she’s…alone and afraid.”
I try not to preen like a peacock.
“The other omegas will make her feel more at home,” Sam reminds her gently. “And, Declan said you’d talk to her tomorrow, remember?”
“You’re right.” She sighs, leaning back against the couch. “But I can’t stop thinkin’ about it. Somebody distract me.”
Nobody says anything for a second, and then Hayden speaks up. “I want to bring back the bond.”
twenty-two
Jo
My eyes soften as I look over at my Fire Demon. He runs his hand through his hair nervously. Does he think that Iwon’twant to bring back our bond?
“I want that too, Darlin’. More than anythin’.” And not just because it’ll burn off the instinct inhibitor. I miss being able to feel him inside me. This time, there’s no way I’m keeping the bond blocked ninety percent of the time.
