“Back to your respective corners,” Fallon sighed out. “Maiming one another won’t help a damn thing.”
They’d been talking—or, rather, arguing and coming very close to blows—for a while now, the conversation going in circles.
Xander leaned against the tarp-covered project car. His tall, muscled body remained perfectly still, arms crossed over his chest. He studied his pack brothers, taking in the tight line of Fallon's jaw, the restless energy vibrating through Nitro's frame, the growing pile of discarded cigarettes at Asher’s feet, and Kane’s manic need to fix something
His brothers looked exhausted also. They’d been running themselves ragged, trying to keep up with the rigor of tour rehearsals and support Lucy’s healing. Each of them found it hard as hell to leave her at home, existing in perpetual jealousy of whoever’s turn it was to stay behind.
The first Cirque show was quickly approaching though—less than two weeks away and that time felt like seconds—and after that it would be impossible for one of them to always be home with Lucy. Which means, she either stayed alone or she went with them. Both options grated.
Hell, they didn’t even know if she’d want to stay or if she’d want to go. And the worry at the core of all worries? Would Lucy want to officially become DemonX’s Omega.
“She’s excited to go back to the Cirque,” Kane murmured, picking up a car part from his oily workbench and going to sit onhis rolling stool. “It scares me to take her back there.” He voiced what the others were thinking.
“We can’t keep her safe while we’re doing the show,” Fallon said matter-of-factly.
“Our performances aren’t at the same time,” Asher reasoned. “I can watch her first, then?—”
Kane cut him off. “You know that’s not practical.”
“We can get her a bodyguard,” Fallon cocked his head, eyes going to the ceiling as he thought. “It’s not like funds are a problem.”
“Do you really think Lucy, who’s been monitored all her life, would want some stranger following her around?” Xander countered.
“Is it any different than what we’ve been doing? At least the bodyguard will treat her well from the start.” Fallon’s voice was sullen, and the others knew he was once again perseverating around those first weeks with Lucy.
Quiet fell. No one knew what to say.
The silence stretched, almost to the point when noise felt like a memory.
“I still think the best thing to do is—” Xander finally spoke, but he wasn’t able to finish his sentence, not that he needed to. He’d made his stance very clear at the start of this pack pow-wow.
“I know we have to ask her, goddammit.” Kane spun the spark plug between his fingers, the small piece of metal grounding him. His rolling stool creaked beneath his weight as he shifted, dark eyes flicking to each of his brothers in turn. “I just think it can wait.”
“Waiting’s got my vote,” Nitro agreed. His knife sliced through the rubber of a discarded tire, carving swift, precise lines. His hazel eyes gleamed manically as he lifted the blade andslammed it down deeper. Only moments before, he’d been ready to cut Kane from tip to tail, now he was agreeing with him.
“Waiting will only make it hurt more,” Fallon said quietly.
“Hurts like a bitch already,” Asher grumbled, sucking hard on a cigarette, finishing it in one long pull, then dropping it to the concrete floor to join the other crumpled, discarded smokes.
"I know we all feel it," Xander measured his words carefully, “Having her around makes us feel sane again, but we can’t force her to stay if she doesn’t want to.”
“We don’t know if she doesn’t want to,” Kane argued. “I’m telling you, the light in her eyes when she talks about the Cirque tells me that?—”
“That she liked the Cirque,” Fallon interrupted, tossing logic into the mix. “Not necessarily us.”
“She likes us,” Kane said fiercely. “I’ve felt that too. So, we don’t know if she wants to stay.”
“Because we haven’t asked her,” Xander volleyed back. “Because we’re all too chicken shit to risk getting an answer we don’t want.”
Xander’s fists clenched, nails digging hard into his palm, blood welling. He was trying to stay strong, be the damn voice of reason. Yet, his Alpha instincts were screaming at him to race into the house, go to Lucy’s room, and mark her so thoroughly that leaving them wouldn’t be an option.
“It’s Schrödinger’s Omega,” Fallon said dryly, trying not to let the others know how knotted his insides were, or how his heart felt abnormally small, its beating barely a flutter. “As long as we don’t ask, she’s both ours and not ours.”
“I’m not asking.” Asher flicked his lighter to life, pressing the flame to the tip of yet another cigarette.
"She won't leave," Nitro growled, the knife pausing momentarily. "She belongs with us." He brutally jabbed the knife into the rubber again.
Asher puffed out a series of smoke circles, then lowered his cigarette. His blue eyes glazed over as he remembered the way Lucy had looked at the Cirque before her accident. Holding the flame, staring at it with wonder.Fuck, he couldn’t lose her.
