Revea: Try it.
“Syl,” Luc says, voice tight, “I wanna be yousobad right now, you’ve no idea.”
Sylvan thinks for a moment, then stands with a new, determined look on his face. “I’ll go now.”
“Sylvan.” Kaiden’s voice rumbles in warning as he rises too. “It’s 10 PM at night, you’re not going now. She won’t even be at the salon—”
“I know where she lives.”
“Syl.” I slowly stand. “How do you know that?”
“All her personal data is on her PC. Including her current address.” Then he’s swiping through his phone and turning it to us. “That’s it.”
She livesthere.
During the first years of our business, we didn’t exactly live in the Ritz. Military pensions are infamously shit. We were a new business and didn’t have many clients. We’re also four big guys who like to eat. But, even in theshittiest times, we always had each other. Even when our apartment had rats and mould.
I reach for my phone, look up the address, and scroll through images of the apartment complex.
“Do her brothers know she lives here?” I grumble out, showing the shitty tower block to Luc, who growls before passing it to Kaiden.
“I don’t know.” Kaiden’s grip creaks my phone case before passing it back. “But it isn’t our place to say.” His gaze sweeps over us. “She isn’t ours.”
My alpha grumbles, but I tell him to back down.
Kaiden’s right. Doesn’t mean we have to like it, though.
Kaiden scrubs a hand over his face. “We shouldn’t even know she lives there.”
“Isn’t her brother chief of fucking police?” Luc scoffs. “And Rue’s pay ain’t half bad. Why isn’t she living with him?”
I nod. “Good point. Instead, she’s in a block of run-down flats that don’t cater to omegas.”
“What?” Kaiden’s question tips into his alpha rumble.
“No nests,” I say. “I checked. No rooms have them. Most have shared bathrooms.”
“Shared? Likecommunal?” Luc’s voice sounds so sour that all I can manage is a nod.
There’s a silence, a rumble through the bond, then we all turn to Kaiden, our leader.
He licks his teeth, pulls a sharp expression, but says nothing.
“She can’t stay there, Kai,” Luc presses.
“She’s leaving after tomorrow. For a week, she won’t be there.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t have any sway here, guys. We shouldn’t even know she lives there. We’ve got no relationship except a possible heat—that she could back out of at any minute—and I’ve met heronce—”
“And that’s all it took for you to want her,” Luc interrupts, eyes set in hard slits, voice vibrating. “It’s been over aweekfor me, almost the same for Val. Can you imagine how we’re feeling? Imagining her there? She could be sharing a bathroom with ten fucking alphas for all we know—”
“Stop,” Kaiden’s command cuts through Luc’s words. It isn’t a bark, but it’s enough. Then his voice softens. “If you go to her tomorrow like this, you’ll push her away, and you know it. She’s a smart woman, she knows what she’s doing, and she’ll have her reasons.” He looks between us all. “I suggest we all stop underestimating her.”
He’s right. This isn’t some vulnerable omega who can’t provide for herself. I’d made the mistake of suggesting that yesterday.
“Tomorrow, I want you two—” His gaze lands on me and Luc. “—to introduce Revea to the Mercers. Just make sure she’s happy before she leaves.”
I nod, but my mind is still fixed on that shitty block of flats. Is that where she is right now? In a cold, damp room with no nest? I remember her curled up on the sofa, surrounded by cushions and throws. Does she not have that at home?
I’m suddenly thinking about the nest in our house. The one that sits abandoned, even though it connects to all our rooms. The cleaners go in there every so often, but otherwise, it’s dormant. We said we’d use it as a common room, but we always use the living room.
