Track 2 Bad Ideas

I blink at the door just inches from my face, trying to understand what just happened.

Behind me, Rafe laughs. Apparently, the frustration he'd been feeling has evaporated at the sudden turn of events. "Well, that's a first," he chuckles, propping his chin on my shoulder as his arms circle my waist. "I'm not sure I've ever seen someone look so terrified of you."

I tilt my head up to glare at him, even as I melt into his body. "Terrified of me ? Jesus, you came storming up here looking ready to kill her. She was terrified of you ." The thought of that makes my stomach twist uncomfortably. I don't want her to fear us—or anything . It's a feeling I don't fully understand, seeing as I've exchanged all of four sentences of conversation with her, but it's there, all the same.

But then, I've always had a soft spot for pretty things, and the beta on the other side of this door is definitely pretty. Not the polished pretty I'm used to in my line of work, but a wild kind, untamable.

Looking at all that shiny wavy black hair, those aqua eyes, and her bare toes got me hard. Like instantly hard. That doesn't happen with anyone but my pack.

Rafe hums and kisses my bonding bite, before lifting his hand and knocking on the door three times. I lean back against him as we wait, inhaling his winter forest scent, letting it soothe my omega, anxious about the girl inside the house.

"Come on, conejita ," Rafe calls, sounding amused as hell. "We know you're there. We've seen you."

Another minute passes and then the door cracks open, one aqua eye coming into view, followed by more and more of my beta. In the time since she slammed the door in my face, she's changed into a pair of tight jeans. Her shirt is the same, but she's put on a bra—shame, honestly, she should always go around with her tits free—and I can see the lacy white strap where the fabric drapes off one tan shoulder. The bright white draws my attention to the freckles that dot her skin like brown sugar or chocolate sprinkles. My mouth waters with the need to lick them.

She's tamed her wild mane of dark hair into a bun at the top of her head, and I feel a moment of loss that she's hidden it from me, from us. I want her to always be wild for us.

I grin at her, and I can feel Rafe doing the same. Still wrapped up in Rafe's arms, I hold out a hand. "I'm Liam."

"I know who you are," she whispers, not meeting my eyes. There is no reason her knowing me should make my chest puff up with pride. Lots of people know me. But that she knows who I am makes my omega purr. She eyes my hand uncertainly, then slides her fingers into mine, warm and soft, but calloused. The feel of her skin is nearly enough to make me drip pre-cum, but I grit my teeth and keep my gaze neutral. "Sorrel… Forbes. Sorrel Forbes."

"Sorrel." Both Rafe and I murmur her name, shaping it on our tongues. It makes my omega so fucking happy that my alpha seems to be as affected by her as I am.

I stretch my lips into a beaming smile. "Well, Sorrel, I'm hoping you can help us. Our car broke down." I hitch a thumb over my shoulder down her long driveway. "We tried to call for a tow, but neither of our phones has service."

Sorrel nods. "Yeah, that's a problem out here. No service." She's still standing halfway behind the door. She glances over her shoulder, her teeth chewing on her lower lip in a way that both makes me want to bite it myself and simultaneously chastise her for abusing the poor thing. The latter instinct wins out, my thumb tugging the flesh from between her lips.

"Don't do that, lovely," I murmur, swiping my thumb along the moist, pink flesh. "Looks like it hurts."

Her breath puffs over my hand, and her eyes slip closed for a moment before she opens them. "I um, give me like five minutes and then you can come in and use my landline… or my internet? Or whatever and call for a tow."

"Five-" Rafe starts, but she's already closing the door again. I lean my shoulder against the doorjamb and smile up at my alpha.

"She's so fucking pretty," I comment, as a few thuds sound from inside the house, like she just ran by the door. "I want to keep her forever."

Rafe narrows his eyes at me before edging to the side to peek in through the window. His mouth curls into a smile at whatever he sees. "Don't get your hopes up, Liam. You can't just claim someone because your omega wants them."

I move next to him and see what made him smile. Sorrel is barreling around her living room, scooping up discarded clothing and a battered notebook with one hand and wiping down the coffee table with the other. She's flushed and flustered. I wince when she bangs her knee against the corner of the table, making her hop to the kitchen where she starts frantically loading dishes into the dishwasher. I take the time to run my eyes over the rest of her house. It's a single open room, half of it vaulted to the roof while the back half has what looks like a loft. There's a staircase on the left side of the room, a fireplace on the right. The kitchen is tucked under the loft. And I spy a door that must lead out the back of the house to the lake.

It's decorated in an explosion of colors that seemingly shouldn't go together, but they somehow do. The shelves around the fireplace are a bright magenta. The couch is a deep teal with yellow and orange throw pillows. In the kitchen, the cabinets are a bright navy blue. It's eclectic and sort of weird, but I love it.

Sorrel spins, still looking frantic, and both Rafe and I duck away from the window, cursing. "Let's pretend we can't get a tow until tomorrow," I say as we move back to the front door.

"What? No."

I'm nodding already though. "Yes. She'll let us stay. We can get to know her. Convince her to come home with us."

Rafe shakes his head. "Liam…"

Logically, I know I can't just adopt a person like you can adopt a pet. I can't just see someone and decide they're mine and make them change their whole lives for me. Logically, I know that and that Rafe is right to warn me against it, but… my omega heart is very rarely logical. It wants what it wants, and it usually wants it right now.

My heart has very little patience.

I hit him with the puppy dog eyes, the ones that no one in my pack can resist. "Please, Rafe… Please? I just want to see if this connection I'm feeling," I tap my chest, "will go anywhere. It's just one night. Please? I know you want her too."

He sighs and shakes his head ruefully. "You know I can't deny you anything." Then he gives me a stern look. The one that never fails to turn me on a little bit because of the daddy vibes it gives off. "But if she doesn't offer to let us stay, you will not try to hint that's what you want. She'll feel obligated, even if she's uncomfortable."

"Deal," I agree quickly, before he can change his mind. If he straight up told me no, I'm pretty sure I'd go full on bratty omega and earn a punishment. So I'll take what I can get.

The door cracks open and my lips curve into a smile. A real smile, not the one I put on for interviewers or the press, not the one I put on with the fans. But the one that usually only comes out around my pack.

Sorrel pokes her head out, looking so damn adorable it makes my chest ache. She gives me a shy smile. "You can come in now."

Stepping over the threshold into her little house that smells like lavender and clean linen, I can't help but feel this single step is going to change my life, and the lives of my packmates.

Sorrel backs away from the door, clenching her hands in front of her like she's nervous. I suppose anyone who knows who I am would be nervous. If she was completely calm, I'd probably be a bit more concerned about her going crazy stalker on me or something.

Though the idea of Sorrel stalking me doesn't seem all that bad. I don't think I would mind if she kidnapped me, tied me up and had her way with me. If the way my perfume hits the air is any sign, I don't mind the idea of that at all.

I take a deep breath, bringing the clean laundry and lavender scent of her into my lungs, and immediately it soothes my inner omega, just like the scent of my alphas. Very promising. If I didn't like her scent, I'd have to reconsider, but this is better than just liking it. It's positively divine.

Rafe follows me in, eyes checking over every inch of the space, looking for threats that I know he will not find.

The space is small, made even smaller by Rafe's enormous size and my slighter, but still considerable, bulk. I take in the living room, eat-in kitchen, and stairs leading up to a loft space again, this time up close and personal. Through the glass door at the back of the house I can see a stunning view of the lake with a dock and a little shed that likely houses floaties and life jackets.

There's a guitar leaning against the magenta bookshelves, like she'd been playing it and then set it there when we knocked.

Despite the bright colors, everything about this little home soothes me, makes my omega feel secure. I want nothing more than to curl up on her couch and tuck Sorrel under my arm, while Rafe watches over us and keeps both of us safe.

"The phone's over here," she says, pointing at a cordless phone, before she picks it up and holds it out. "I can look for a tow company. The closest one is going to be Budd's, but he's only got the one truck and his sciatica was acting up. But he might be able to find someone to drive it up here and get you taken care of."

Rafe takes the phone from her, then tugs out his cell. "If you give me the password for your Wi-Fi, I can reach out to our normal car company."

Her face blanches. And I do mean blanches . All color draining from her cheeks, and her breath hitches in her chest. "Right. Yeah, I can… share my password with you." Her gaze flicks to me uncertainly, but then she snaps her fingers. "Oh, I can share it with you. One second." She grabs her cell phone and taps on the screen. "The network is ‘TheBungalow'."

Rafe taps on his screen and then she gnaws on her lower lip as she shares the password without telling us what it is verbally.

I wonder what it is and why she didn't want to vocalize it. But I don't think it really matters all that much. She's probably just a private person and doesn't want us to know. As Rafe steps outside to make a phone call in which he'll be ‘told' we won't get a tow until tomorrow, my gaze latches on the guitar again. "Do you play?"

Sorrel's aqua eyes move to me. She had been staring at the door following Rafe, but now she's looking at me and I fucking love the feel of it. I always want her eyes on me. "What?" her cheeks go pink and she shakes her head. "Oh, yeah, a little. Not… I'm not good or anything. Not like you. I just play around a little."

"Something tells me that's a lie, but I'll let you keep your secrets," I tease gently, and she blushes even harder.

I pull my eyes off her and wander to the fireplace, taking in the framed pictures. There's an older couple standing proudly in front of a painted sign that reads "The Snack Shack." They are indisputably Sorrel's parents. The woman has the same tumble of dark brown hair and the same chin and eyes, while the man has her tan skin, freckles and nose. Sorrel perfectly combines both of them into one gorgeous package.

There's another picture of them obviously in their wedding clothes, just the two of them, which tells me they're likely both betas and Sorrel was raised outside of a pack.

I pick up the third picture. Sorrel with two other women around the same age as her, all dressed in tiny bathing suits hanging out on a dock with the sparkling water behind them. "Friends?" I ask.

Sorrel's back to nibbling on her lower lip and staring hard at the door. She appears startled again, like she doesn't know why I'm talking to her, but eventually she says, "Oh, yes. Sadie and Sylvie. They live in the cabins over to the west. They're my best friends."

I nod, strolling over to her couch and settling on a cushion with a groan. "We stopped by them first but found no one was home. It was frustrating, but now I find I'm glad. This is the most comfortable couch ever." I say, running a hand over a pillow. I'm not even lying. It's better than the one that cost close to ten thousand dollars at our pack house.

She drops her gaze to the tips of her cute toes and her blush grows even more, but she doesn't say anything. And fuck do I want her to. I want her to talk to me, tell me everything that goes on in that intriguing mind of hers. I almost feel like I need it.

My heart clenches when she lifts her eyes to meet mine and her lips part, but then Rafe comes stomping through the door, tucking his phone into his pocket and her mouth snaps closed. I have to bite back the growl that wants to erupt to chastise my alpha.

"The earliest they can get here is tomorrow," he says right off the bat, and Sorrel's brow furrows adorably.

"I'm sorry about that. It's not a very big town."

"Yes, I gathered that when you informed me, we might not get a tow because of a sciatica flare up," he says wryly.

I flash him a pointed look and then turn my attention back to my beta. "That means we'll need a place to stay."

"I can call to have someone come get you, take you into town? Or I can take you, I suppose. There's a little B and B that has the best scones for breakfast."

I know she's just trying to help, but goddammit, can't she tell we want to stay here with her?

Rafe must be thinking the same thing as I am. "Trying to get rid of us, conejita ?"

She looks startled by the question, like it never occurred to her we might feel that way.

"No!" she bursts out. "No, no. Of course not, it's just…" She waves her hand at me. "You're Liam Cordova . You have to be used to staying in places a lot nicer than my tiny cabin."

I glance around the cozy space. "You know I'm an omega, right?" The couch under me groans as I settle more fully against it. "I love tiny cozy spaces. Makes me feel safe." I give her a little smile. "Having you here makes me feel safe, too."

Her cheeks flare red as she looks away from me, shaking her head slightly. I don't know if it's at me or her own thoughts. "If we didn't want to be here, Sorrel," I drawl. "We wouldn't be. You know that, right?"

Her pretty aqua eyes widen as she considers my words, like it hadn't occurred to her that although a mishap brought us here, we are happy to stay. More than happy. She's just so lovely. Why would we want to go anywhere else?

Sorrel glances up at the loft, her teeth in her lip again. This time Rafe reaches out to tug it free. "What's wrong, conejita ?"

She sighs and shakes her head. "I only have one bed."

I can't help the grin that spreads over my face. "Perfect. That's my favorite fucking trope."