“Be good to him,” I repeat, and the hum he gives me in return is equivalent to a ‘touché,’ and it makes me laugh.
“Love you, Thatch.”
“I love you, too, Sam.”
Stacia opens the door as I walk up the pathway, her smile wide when she sees me.
“Sam! What a surprise.” She turns around and lets me in. “I was wondering how long it would take you to get out of your car.”
“Sorry, quick phone call with Thatch.”
“No worries. No one is here, though, just me and Atlas.”
“He’s actually who I came to see,” I tell her.
“Understood. Well, he’s in here.” Stacia leads me to their kitchen, which I’ve been in many times before, but now it feels daunting. I’m their friend, yes, but I’ve always been the unmovable alpha that runs our fraternity. The one who knows all the answers and can navigate any issue. But now he’s going to see who I really am beneath all of that.
When Atlas sees me, he grins. “Sam, it’s good to see you.”
The scent of chamomile fills the space—grounding and calm—and soothes my anxiousness.
“You, too. I came to speak with you.”
He hears my serious tone and blinks, curiosity taking over his face. “Sure.” He looks over at Stacia and smiles. “I’ll meet you in your room, angel.”
She grins despite the dismissal. “No problem. I’ll see you soon, Sam.”
When we’re alone, and Stacia’s scent has dissipated from the space, Atlas gives me a worried look. “Is everything okay, Sam?”
My chuckle sounds tired. “You seem to be asking me that a lot, lately.”
“Well, yeah,” he confirms. “You’ve been off your game. Missing things you’d normally dread to miss. And you seem…”
“You can say it, it’s okay,” I assure him.
He sighs. “You seem exhausted, man. And that display with Nova the other day… I’m just wondering what’s going on.”
I take a seat at their kitchen table. “You’re right. I’ve been exhausted. My job was bleeding me dry, and I wasn’t doing anything about it. And Opal—” I rub my neck awkwardly. “She’s become such an integral part of our pack since she moved in. But I think it’s more than friendship, I think she’s… meant to be with us.”
If Atlas seems surprised by that, he doesn’t show it. He just bustles over and takes a seat beside me. “We all had our suspicions about that. You and Thatcher looked like you were going to tear Nova’s arms off.”
I grit my teeth, thinking about the good-looking guitar player and how his arm draped over Opal’s smaller frame. She looked comfortable in his arms, and that made me jealous.
Changing the subject, I tell him, “My father was in Alpha Xi.”
The other prime turns to me, likely thinking back to any other information I’ve given him about my parents and comingup empty. They’re a topic I love to avoid, just as I’m sure they feel the same way about me.
“Derek’s dad knew him. Told Derek stories about my father, about what kind of alpha male he was. He used to taunt me with it. About how I’d never live up to the alpha that he was when he led his brothers. How I was running the fraternity into the ground by doing the things I was doing.”
Atlas’s body tenses at the mention of his omega’s ex-boyfriend and everything he did last year, but I just laugh.
“It didn’t bother me, because that was the point.”
“What was?” Atlas asks.
“My dad is the reason why I came to Bensen and joined Alpha Xi. I wanted to show that things were better with compassion. That this alpha-male thing that he was a part of could be changed for the better. I wanted to take that away from him. From both him and my mother.” I let out a sad smile. “And I did.”
Atlas is surprised by my candor. “Holy shit, you became the president of Alpha Xi to kick it to your old man?” He starts to laugh with me, intrigued.
