“I needyouto check.”
“I checked the nest.” Havoc’s voice is deep as our gaze moves to the cracked-open door.
“Noa,” I say. Going into an omega’s nest is sacred—their most protected space. An omega’s safe space should only be entered with permission.
It’s not a place anyone can walk in, and she’s asking me.
“Havoc, was it—” the words disappear from me as I turn to see Havoc, who stands by a window. The dark look in his eyes tells me everything I need to know. Fuck.
They were in there, too.
“Please check again,” she whimpers, and with that, Silas is yanking me up, away from her, by the back of my shirt and pushing me toward the closed white door.
The white door is chilling—the nerve of checking her nest, being the one to deliver the bad news.
Noa can’t see this. This is her nest.
I close the door behind me.
Her nest has a small window with a cream-colored curtain that’s ripped off the wall.
Her nest isn’t what I imagined it’d be. Light pinks,yellows, and oranges fill her home, but her nest is a calm serenity of creams and browns.
Or it was.
Now it’s covered in dirt from under a shoe and scuff marks on nearly every surface. Holes in the walls, tears in the blankets — her nest is gone.
I turn and place my head on the door. The room’s scent is completely gone; what should be peaches is a blank slate, and whoever was here didn’t want to be caught. That we know for sure, but who?
Who the fuck would do this? To Noa, of all people?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SILAS
Anight on the ice in a packed stadium with fans screaming from every direction as the winning shot of the night is all up to you doesn’t compare to the storm brewing inside me right now.
A lot of information came out, and none of it I want to address, especially not with the distressed omega kneeling on the floor of her trashed house.
So I don’t.
Instead, I scoop Noa into my arms. It seems her body instinctively molds to mine as she sobs into my shoulder, and I instantly calm down with her in my arms. Otis is still on his leash, hanging off my wrist. He’s about as clueless as I am as he sits next to my foot. I’m so grateful his heel command is coming in strong around all these broken items. I really shouldn’t have him here, but I don’t have the heart to leave Noa either.
The moment Thorne shut the door to her nest behind him, I knew they’d been in there. She did too. I watched as the last flicker of hope died in my omega’s eyes.
Carrying her in my arms, I just hold her close. Unsure where to take her, uncertain of literally everything else besides needing to hold her close.
Logically, I know there was a reason she hadn’t shared this information with us, but I can’t say it doesn’t sting to find out from her parents that another Pack is involved. I get we’ve only been on two dates. We didn’t know each other all that well, despite feeling like I’ve known her forever.
Still, another Pack… are they courting? There aren’t bond marks on her, but… fuck, I don’t know. Were they the ones who did this to her house? Are they dangerous?
I growl, low in my chest, at the thought of this Pack hurting Noa.
“I don’t think it’s safe to be here,” I murmur against her hair. She shakes her head no, and I kiss the top of her head. She knows I’m right. Whoever did this, maybe her last Pack, is gunning to hurt her. This isn’t safe at all. “We should go back to our house.”
“This is my home. I can’t leave.” Her lips wobble uncontrollably as she stares into my eyes, and mine move to Havoc’s. Could we do this? Stay here, keep her safe?
Havoc rolled up his sleeves and pulled back his hair as he paces the room, his gaze tracking the windows—his boots crunching under debris.
