"It really,really, did," he muttered, a disappointed note to his voice. "But I'll have my turn soon enough."
"What'sthatsupposed to mean?"
"I believe I've found the mother of our child," the alpha said smugly, entirely ignoring the whisper of a bark in my tone.
"What? You think she'll agree? Why?"
Hope threatened to bloom, but I stomped it out like a flower first pressing through the soil. No omega like that would agree to act as a surrogate for my relative freakshow of a pack. Sure, I loved them, and I was as much a part of the problem as Cameo—if you asked Joon, I was probably worse.
"Made her an offer she'd be an idiot to refuse. Did you find anything?"
"I don't know what you want me looking for," I admitted, sensing that was the most Cameo was going to share about his big plan to make Eva the mother of our child.
I hadn't stopped thinking about her since the Packtacular, and the idea of having her within my reach again was intoxicating. Thrilling in a way that until now, I’d all but ignored. In the wake of everything that’d happened with Mindy… it was easier not to want an omega at all.
Especially not one like Eva.
Her eyes, her scent, the warm feel of her mouth wrapped around my cock—it was impossible to forget.
And then there was Joon…
"Anything," Cameo said tersely, opening the front door and feeding his arm through the seats and the wall of the car to open the back. "They didn't take her cash," he noted, nodding to the cup holder of coins in the centre console.
"Weird for a break-in," I commented as Cameo sifted through the mess the vandal had made of Eva's back seat. "I figured it would be like… petty crime stuff? But they didn’t take her headphones either."
I stepped closer, and my phone vibrated in my pocket. Worrying that my unscheduled detour had already taken longer than I intended, I pulled it free. But it wasn’t my sous asking where the hell I was; an unfamiliar notification bannered the top of my screen.
Airtag nearby
My brows furrowed, a prickling, irritated feeling settling into my bones.
Cameo wasn't the type of guy who lost things, and I wasn't someone with any use for a tracking device either. The typical phone, keys, and wallet pat-down was sufficient for me.
So… where…?
"Does Eva use AirTags for her stuff?" I asked.
Cameo stilled, the rustle of paper pausing with him. "What makes you say that?"
"I just got an alert for one," I explained, showing him my screen.
Cameo cursed. "This is what I get for listening to Charlie and getting a fucking Android. Help me find it."
"You don't want to call her and ask?"
"I don't want her to freak out," he muttered, running his tattooed hands along the floor of the car and under the seats with a wince.
I took the outside, opting for the dirtier job for Cameo's benefit more than anything, feeling along the wheel wells while suppressing a sigh.
There was almost something nice about seeing Cameo care about someone else’s feelings. A rarity, even with us.
Sure, I'd seen glimpses of it with Joon, too, but… his quickness to come to Eva’s rescue when she needed help. And more, keeping her even partially in the dark in order to spare her anxiety until we had all the facts…something was different there.
Like an alpha protecting his omega.
The prickle continued as I opened the hood of her car to continue my search, the slow realization that I was experiencing something similar making me feel anxious.
I made it a point to avoid hoping for an omega for our pack. Even after Joon had agreed to move in. He didn’t want a bond anyway; nothing was stopping him from walking right back out that door with his tablet and teeth-marked stylus, never to be heard from again.
