“A pregnant omega, and I probably made him feel—will you stop with the dishes?We have a frigging dishwasher.Come on, we’re going after them.”
I put the cup back in the water to wash it again.“Ell is handling the situation.”
Dom balled his hands.“I know that, but we are going there, and we are going to be calm and supportive, and we’re going to tell him that we’re going to be calm and supportive no matter what.Shit.We should’ve gone with them right away.No, you’re right.It’s better we didn’t.I was making it worse.Step away from the sink, Linc.”
I braced against the counter, my wet hands dripping all over the floor.“Just be calm, okay?”
“I am calm.”He didn’t look calm.“I can be calm.”
“I should probably drive.”
He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it.“After giving it some thought, you should probably drive.”
Dom kept pacing while I dried my hands and got my keys.He came into the hallway to put his shoes on when I did mine, and it took him two attempts each to tie his laces.I was standing by the door, doing my best not to stress him out more.
“I…” He swallowed.“I know how to do this.I…would be good at teaching someone how to do this.”
I let out a breath in a long hiss.“I’m leaving you here if you can’t cut that out.”
“I know.It’s just—I know.Must be because he’s our mate and… I feel like I need to make sure he can feel safe.”A smile flashed on his lips.“He was nesting, wasn’t he?You knew, right?That’s why you got him to put on my shirt.”
“He probably has no idea what the fuck is going on with him.Ihave no idea what’s going on with him.But yes, I thought maybe that was what he was doing.”
Dom blushed, and the tension seeped out of his features.“He’s an omega.”He huffed.“He’s rarer than a werewolf.Isn’t that funny?He must’ve thought he’d stumbled into something right out of a fairy tale, but in reality, he’s the fairy tale.”
“I’m not sure you should say that to him either.”
With his laces finally tied, Dom stood and scratched the back of his head.“Yeah, I can see how that would be not great.”He looked at me.“You do talking points and shit.I’ve seen you practice your Zoom talks.”
“This isn’t a Zoom talk.”
He nodded.“I could tell from you washing the dishes in the sink when we have a dishwasher.So, things I’ll say: I was being inconsiderate, I didn’t mean it, all the choices are his, and—but if—no.Not doing that.No assuming anything.What else?”
“We’re going to support him, all of us.We’re going to…support…if he… I mean, technically, this is our fault.Do you realize that most packs still have standing rules against having sex with an omega during their heat if the omega hasn’t agreed beforehand?”
Dom’s eyes went wide, and he paled.“You’re saying Vi is going to come here and bite our dicks off.”
“Hopefully not.I’m saying we messed up, in a bad way.”I rubbed my eyes.“This is like… I don’t even know what this is like.It’s not right.”
“We’re going to phrase that differently, right?”
“I don’t think there’s a way to do that.With any luck, he’ll end up not hating us after this.”
Dom bobbed his head once.“I think we should go now.You’re okay to drive, right?”
“We’ll go slowly.”
We headed outside to my car, got in, and drove in complete silence, well under the normal speed I usually went at.I was in a daze.Dom too.He’d been right about Marcus being something—someone—straight out of a fairy tale.Not the prince or the princess, nothing so simple.Marcus was like the courage and joy the heroes had to discover in themselves in those tales.I thought of the tale of Vasilisa the Brave.Maybe he was like Vasilisa, who got gifted fire.Vasilisa, who knew how to use it.
My blood chilled when I saw Ell’s car stopped in the road with the passenger door hanging open.Dom gasped.He was out the door before I’d even stopped.I put my car in park and got out.
They were gone.
32
Icould smell them.Marcus, I smelled Marcus.There was blood on the road, mixed with dirt and fear, and I knew it was Ell’s before I even went to look at it.The boot prints in the dirt were faint.I felt sick to my stomach.
“Hunters.”I started pulling my clothes off and turned on my heel.Linc was standing there, but he had his phone out.His eyes were wide and glassy.“I’ll shift.I can smell them.I know the area better than a hunter.”I tossed him my shirt.“Can you tie that into something that will hold my phone?I’ll call when I find them.You can follow us in the car.”
