Cold indifference settled over my features. “I’m aware. Now that I’ve got her digital identity though, there’s no place in the world she could disappear to that I wouldn’t find her.”
Hunter pinned me with a glare. “Would you find her though?”
I shrugged, unsure of the answer. Maybe I’d be the one to hide her from our lives, before she destroyed everything.
As if to prove my point, Kellan and Finley burst into the kitchen a few seconds later, arguing over who was driving to practice today. “I need to make sure Emme gets to work,” Kellan griped, “and if you can’t be civil to her in the car, you’re going to have to get your own way to the rink.”
There was a rumble as the bear slammed the palm of his hand on the island. “She doesn’t get to come in here and screw up our routine. You’re going to cost us the season with this shit. You know that, right?”
Finley took superstitions to an entirely new level. It was more than just the games; he also incorporated it into training as well.
Kellan, usually annoyingly chipper, turned deadly serious. “I don’t give a single fuck about the season. Not in comparison to Emme. I’d quit today if it upset her even in the slightest.”
The bear took a staggered step back, his mouth opening and closing. “Are you fucking serious?” he finally choked out, looking like he was about to throw up. “You would destroy your career for the bitch who coldly rejected us?”
This triggered Kellan, who moved super fast, grabbing a fistful of Finley’s hair to slam his head against the cabinets behind him. A crack rocketed through the room, and by the time the bear returned the hit, that cabinet door was torn from its hinges.
Hunter sipped his coffee and silently watched as they exchanged blows, each of them getting angrier and angrier.“Don’t call her a bitch. I swear to fuck, I will suffocate you in your sleep.”
“Where’s your fucking loyalty, Kel. You’ve known her for less than a damn week. We’re brothers!”
Kellan’s fists moved faster and faster. “That—”Punch.“Never—”Punch. “Changes.”Punch punch.
Both were covered in cuts and blood, but we didn’t interfere. This shit needed to be worked out of their systems before it infiltrated deeper into our bond.
“We’re always brothers,” Kellan huffed. “You fucking know that. But she’s our scent match and the final piece of our quintet.Shefucking completes us.”
He slowed and let Finley get in one last hit, before they both slumped against the wall. “I will do whatever it takes to keep her in our lives.” It was a whispered promise from the youngest, and generally happiest of our pack.
Kellan had a safe and secure upbringing, with a family who adored him. There were only a few specks of darkness in his past, unlike the rest of us who’d drowned in it.
Finley looked like he’d been gutted as he curled in on himself. His eyes were hazy with the demons that plagued him, and I understood all too well. I’d tamed my demons, but they still remained with me through every aspect of my life.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” Finley admitted hoarsely. “I thought I could ignore her, but her scent is fucking everywhere except my room.”
It wasn’t in my territory either. There were never any scents but my own in my room, as even our housekeeper knew not to enter. I had my own means of keeping everything clean.
Hunter placed his dirty cup in the dishwasher. “Fin, you need to pull yourself together. I know having Emme here is new and disturbing to your routine, but you’re going to have to figure out how to deal with her. She’s not going anywhere.”
Finley looked too wiped to argue. “Yeah, okay. I know. Fuck, I’ll figure it out. Just… try to keep her out of every damn room. I’d like to be able to use the gym in peace at least.”
So far, the omega had shown no interest in our gym, more content with her ridiculous and sloppy paddling around the pool. I wasn’t surprised she couldn’t swim, judging on what I’d learned about her past. Even my patchy information was enough to know she’d missed out on a lot during her younger years, and then her older years were spent running and surviving.
I needed to take one of the jets to Silver City and track those alphas down. It shouldn’t be hard topersuadethe information I required from them to further my understanding of the omega.
Hunter was wrong to assume I’d kill them straight up. The dead don’t speak. But they absolutely didn’t require their hands, which would be an excellent incentive for them to tell me what I needed to know in a timely manner.
I was destroying them either way, but it was in their best interest for me not to take my time. Or get creative.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Listening to Finley and Kellan beat the shit out of each other over me was one of the worst moments I’d experienced. I wanted to race in there and get between them, but knowing it would only make it worse, I hightailed it back to my room and slammed the door closed.
Not that it blocked out all the shouting, but it muffled them enough to stop me from having a full-blown panic attack.
Jittery energy and pain bounced inside me. My wolf scratched against my insides, and I was stripping before I thought it through. The shift was easy, like bending down to touch my toes, and then I was on four legs. I shook off the energy of the change, and like I’d done a million times before, I fell into what used to get me through the lonely years and hard moments. I started to run around my room.Round and round.
