13. Sam

Chapter 13

Sam

I t's early. Way too early to be sitting out here like some kind of stalker, staring up at Lily's flat, which I happen to know is above the flower shop. Jack is in there as well. He messaged last night to say there was an emergency, and he was staying over. I wanted to ask, but is it my place? Almost assuredly not.

When the rooster lets out its early morning cry, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I stare at it for a second and then chuckle, sliding my thumber over the screen to answer it.

"Hey, Jack."

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Lurking."

"No shit."

I look up at the window from the park bench and see him giving me the finger from inside the flat.

"Classy," I mutter into the phone, smirking. "What's the emergency?"

"Nothing you need to know about, or I would've told you last night. Go home."

"I want to help."

Jack's simmering silence is punctuated by him disappearing from the window and hanging up on me.

"Nice," I mutter, but then I see the side gate opening that leads to the back garden. I get up and cross over the street. Jack is dressed in just his jeans, which he hasn't even bothered to zip up, with sleep-tousled hair. It gives me a huge pang of envy that he has crawled out of bed with Lily. Her scent clings to his skin, and it drives all the blood straight to my cock.

He steps aside to let me in, and I have to hold my breath just to get past him. He shuts the gate and moves the giant cactus in front of it.

"What is that monstrosity doing over here?" I ask, just for something to say that isn't a demand to see Lily immediately.

"Temporary security measures. Now you are here, lurking, stalking, whatever the fuck you're doing, you can help make them more permanent."

"How and why?"

"Don't ask questions, just do what you do." He waves his hand around vaguely as Lily sticks her head out of the back door, eyes still half closed with sleep, her hair all over. Her delectable curves are visible beneath her cute summer pjs, white with strawberries on them. She yawns and it's as adorable as watching a little kitten emerging from slumber.

Fuck. I've got it bad.

"Hey, Sam," she says. "What are you doing here at the literal crack of dawn? And in summer, that's fucking early. What time is it?"

"Four o'clock," I say with a small laugh. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake you."

Lily rolls her eyes and stretches, arms reaching for the sky, giving me a perfect view of her barely there shorts sliding up her thighs. I try to keep my gaze respectful, but it's fucking hard when she's got that sleepy, sexy vibe going on.

She doesn't reply, just yawns again and then stumbles back inside the house, leaving me and Jack staring at each other in the garden.

Jack narrows his eyes at me. "Don't even think about it."

I raise my hands in mock surrender. "What? I'm just here to help."

He grunts and walks past me, towards the shed. "Yeah, well, keep your thoughts to yourself, or I'll shove this cactus so far up your arse, you'll be spitting spikes out of your mouth for a week."

I glance at the killer cactus and shudder at the thought. "Well, that's a threat. Feeling territorial over the omega, are we?"

He growls at me, but he doesn't scare me. We are equals in the pecking order. He is not superior to me, so I growl back, just to be a bit of douche, but also to show him he can't pull that card with me.

Then I freeze and slide my eyes over to the open doorway where an unfamiliar omega rushes out the door, backpack swinging with Lily hot on her heels.

"Wait!" Lily cries.

The omega, blind in her panic, slams into me, and I grab her upper arms to steady her. She is a waif, and my hands practically encircle her entire arm.

"Whoa!" I exclaim as she rears back in panic, claws out as she tries to break free.

"Emily, wait. Sam's a friend." Lily gestures madly to me to let her go.

I instantly release her and step back, sensing this is the emergency that kept Jack here last night.

I exchange a look with Jack, whose weary expression confirms my theory. Emily looks like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes darting from me to Jack to Lily, clearly overwhelmed.

"Erm—?" I start, but Lily and Jack, both shoot me a look that says, ‘not now'.

Lily steps forward, her calming scent wafting through the air like a warm breeze. She places a hand on Emily's arm. "Emily, love, it's alright. Sam's a good friend of Jack's, okay?"

Emily visibly relaxes at Lily's touch, but she still looks wary. "I saw you watching. I thought you were…"

"How about some tea?" Lily suggests when Emily trails off, guiding her back towards the house.

Jack turns to me as soon as they're inside. His eyes are hard, with barely concealed anger and fatigue. "We've got a situation."

"No shit," I reply. "Who is she?"

"An omega in need of a safe place," he mutters, rubbing his eyes. "Her pack wants to sell her to the Omega Trials."

"Fucking hell," I blow out a breath, running a hand through my hair. "That's intense."

"Yeah, the enforcer tracked her down and Lily had a confrontation with him. If I hadn't shown up when I did, I dread to think what would've happened."

"Fuck."

"So, now you know why we need to beef up security in this place."

"Yeah, listen, I'll go back to the packhouse and grab some stuff we can use. I'll ring George. He can help. He's good with shit like this."

"Okay, yeah, thanks."

We exchange a nod and I pull my phone out to text my younger brother. He is twenty and still lives at home, but he is an early riser and works in private security. He will know just what we have to do to keep this place safe. "I'll see you in about an hour?"

"Yeah, and thanks, Sam. Sorry about being a dick just now."

"Only just now?" I joke but wave it off. I get it. More than he thinks I do.

I make my way back to the packhouse, my mind buzzing with thoughts about Emily and how dire her situation is. The Omega Trials are no joke. They're brutal, and the thought of anyone going through that makes my blood boil.

"Hey," Max says, greeting me by the door with a cup of coffee as I push it open, making me jump out of my skin.

"Hey," I snap. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," he murmurs. "You?"

"Jack needs my help with something," I reply vaguely.

"Where is he?"

"Over at Lily's."

I watch with curiosity as Max freezes, the coffee mug halfway to his lips. "Oh," he croaks.

"Mm-hm."

Max commendably composes himself as if nothing jarred him, but I saw it, and I'm wildly curious. I didn't even know that Max knew Lily. "Well, I won't keep you," he says and turns on his heel to walk away quickly over the old stone floor of the entryway back to the kitchen.

"Okay, then. What are you hiding?"

But I realise time is ticking on, and I don't have the seconds to waste trying to figure out Mr Enigma. I make my way to the garage and dig around for the leftover security shit from when we moved in here a couple of years ago. We bought way too much but never returned it, seeing as none of us could be arsed packing it all back up again.

I haul out the dusty box marked SECURITY SUPPLIES and rummage through it: cameras, motion sensors, and even some reinforced locks—good.

Max is nowhere to be found as I make my way back through the farmhouse, so I leave him to it. I chuck the box into the back seat of my car and check my phone. George has texted back to say he will meet me at Forget Me Knot.

As I drive, my thoughts wander back to Emily. The poor thing must be terrified. But that doesn't explain why Jack's so invested in her well-being. Something more has to be going on here, and I aim to find out.

When I get back to the flower shop, George is already there, leaning against his car with a cigarette dangling from his lips. He straightens up when he sees me, flicking the cigarette away and stomping it out with his boot.

"Long time no see, bro," he says with a grin, though his eyes are serious.

"Yeah, well, shit's been busy." I nod towards the box in the back seat. "Got the stuff?"

George opens his boot to reveal even more gear – top-of-the-line security cameras, motion detectors, and enough cabling to wire the whole place up like Fort Knox. "Thought you might need some extra."

"Cheers." We start unloading the equipment in silence, but there's a question burning in my mind that I can't hold back any longer.

Jack is waiting for us by the front door and opens it up to let us inside.

We get all the gear in and look around, I can tell George is curious about this job, but it's not my place to tell him and I know he won't pry. The fewer people who know, the better.

Jack and I show George around the place, pointing out potential vulnerabilities.

"Okay, let's set up the cameras here, here, and here," George says, pointing to key spots around the perimeter. "Motion sensors along these entrances, too. Reinforced locks. Intercom on the front. Razor wire on the back. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two."

As he gets to work, I notice Emily watching with a curious expression, her eyes on George from her hiding place behind the wall that leads to the back room. He looks up and smiles at her before getting back to work. She flinches and withdraws further, but doesn't leave. She can't take her eyes off my younger brother.

Interesting.

I notice that Jack has seen it as well, and the wheels are turning in his head, even though there is a really grim expression on his face. What is he thinking? Whatever it is, it doesn't look good.