Chapter 4 This is the Way Forward

I should feel happier about this. Don’t get me wrong, I am pretty happy. I mean, I just set up a date for my pack with a beautiful girl. A beautiful omega. One that makes my alpha want to purr. Which hasn’t happened in years. Fucking years.

But there’s a taint to it, a sour note that I just can’t wash from my mouth.

We’re not dating this girl because we want her, because we see a future with her.

And part of me hates that. So much. Just as much as I hated lying to her.

After one conversation with Haven Bell, I’m not sure she deserves what we have planned for her.

In fact, I’m fairly certain she doesn’t.

I know she doesn’t.

Jude bounces on his toes as I approach my pack. Tic has a cigarette hanging from between his lips, smoke drifting around his face as he watches me approach. Hale stands with his arms crossed and a hard look on his face.

I wonder how long he’s going to be able to keep that up in the face of Haven’s obvious sweetness. Not long, I suspect. None of my packmates are saints. We’ve done shit that I’m not proud of, but it’s all for a good cause. I’m not sure that this is something we should do, though.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to come back from it.

Jude’s bouncing stops when he sees the look on my face, sees the frustration there. “She said no.” He spins to glare at Hale. “I told you to send me in. I’m the cinnamon roll compared to the rest of you!”

“We don’t need a cinnamon roll, Jude,” Hales blows out a puff of smoke. “We needed a closer. And you know Creed is that for us. Omegas can’t resist his alpha pheromones. They love that petrichor shit.” I roll my eyes at his statement, even though it’s true. I have the strongest alpha presence out of the four of us, and based on the research Tic did leading up to this little plot, I’m the best equipped to lure our sweet omega into our trap.

I hate it. But this is what we agreed to. This is the plan we’ve worked on for years, just biding our time until the girl in question was old enough that we didn’t feel like complete assholes for seducing her.

The nearly ten-year age difference is bad enough, but I can’t imagine trying to do this with her when she was a teenager. I’d feel even worse than I already do.

“She said yes,” I correct, and Jude whips around to look at me, along with Tic and Hale.

“She agreed?” Atticus asks like he can’t believe it. “She agreed to let us court her? Even with her father’s views on packs?”

I grit my teeth at his use of the word ‘court’, even though it’s what I used when speaking with Haven. “She told me where she’d be tonight.”

Hale curses. “Where’s that, Creed? Tucked up in bed? That’s not the same fucking thing as her agreeing to see us.”

I narrow my eyes at him in warning, and his jaw tenses. “She’s sneaking out to go to The Market with Florence Karlin.”

“She does that?” Jude asks, sounding reluctantly impressed. I don’t blame him. From everything we’ve learned about Haven Bell, she doesn’t step a single toe out of line. We’ve been watching her for far longer than just the last week and we’ve never picked up on her forays into the city. Alone. Without her bodyguards or anyone to keep her safe. Only another omega for company.

It makes my alpha itchy just thinking about it.

“So she didn’t agree,” Hale says, frustration clear. “Fuck.”

I scowl at him. “Look, man, she straight up said no. Said her father wouldn’t approve of a pack courting her and that mattered to her. Then she felt the need to inform me she’s not a path to her father.”

Tic snorts. “As if we’d want anything from that motherfucker.”

“What did you say to that?” Jude asks.

I shrug. “What we agreed. That we’re here for her, not him.”

Hale’s mouth curls into a pleased smile. “Good. Feed her lines like that and she’ll be eating out of our hands in no time.”

My stomach clenches at his callous words, the tone of his voice. Guilt hits me, and I know they feel it through our pack bonds based on the way they all look at me, like I’m too fucking soft. Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not cut out for this kind of thing, using a young woman in this way.

After a moment, Hale sighs. “I don’t know how many times I have to remind you, but you agreed to this. You helped plot all of this out, Creed. This is the way forward. The only way forward.”

I bite my tongue so hard I taste blood. I did agree. Years ago, when we hatched this plan, I agreed. Long before we nurtured it into the monster that it is now. Before we’d even set eyes on Haven Bell in person.

“I know,” I say. “Believe me, I know, but there’s something… off about her.”

“You mean besides her being the dutiful daughter of a man who wants to strip her and all other omegas of their rights?” Tic asks.

I nod. “Yeah, exactly. I just don’t know if she deserves this. Tell me you didn’t feel the same when you talked to her,” I say to Hale.

He shrugs. “I didn’t.” Our prime alpha drops his cigarette and stubs it out with the toe of his dress shoe, before moving close enough to grip my shoulder. “Remind yourself that this isn’t about Haven Bell, Creed. This is about Frederick Bell. This is about Janie .”

A fresh wave of guilt hits me, stronger than before, a mixture of mine and my pack’s together. It always happens anytime her name is said. For years, we’ve all had the same visceral reaction. So we’ve avoided saying it, thinking about her too hard. Hale knows this, and he’s an asshole who pulls out her name to drive home a point that she deserves revenge. We all do.

I hate that it always works.

“I know,” I say, hardening myself to the sweet omega I just left. “Believe me, I know who this is really about. I just think we could leave Haven out of it. This part isn’t necessary. We have the other-”

“ This part isn’t necessary ? This is the only part that truly matters,” Hale hisses at me, fingers tightening on my shoulder painfully. My alpha instincts swell, seeing him as a threat… which should never fucking happen in a pack. We can disagree and argue, but seeing each other as a threat? Hell no. But then, we’ve not felt like a real pack for years… almost ten, to be exact.

This thing with Haven, with her father, is supposed to fix it. I’m pretty sure revenge is the only reason we’re still bonded.

With a growl, I throw Hale’s hand off my body and shove him back. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

Our prime growls back and jerks like he’s going to lunge at me again, but Tic and Jude slip into the space between us. They’re used to this by now, needing to separate us. Tic place both of his hands flat on my chest and presses me back. Not violently, just gentle, even pressure. “Deep breaths, brother,” he mutters, gold eyes latched onto mine. “Hale’s an asshole, but you can’t let it get to you.” I let him urge me back a few more steps, my eyes moving to Hale and Jude, who’s talking to him in a low voice, no doubt calming him down the same way Atticus is doing to me. “Besides, you know he’s right.”

That has my gaze dropping to the alpha in front of me. Tic meets my gaze steadily. “You know he’s right.” He repeats. “Taking Haven from Bell is the blow that will hurt him the way he hurt us. You agreed. The course is set. We can’t stray from the path now, Creed. Janie deserves better than that.” His voice cracks when he says her name. It always does. Even ten years later, when time and distance should have eased the ache a bit.

My eyes shut as I blow out a weary breath. I can’t say I disagree with them. I don’t.

Janie deserves revenge. We do too.

“I just wish it wasn’t at the expense of an innocent omega.”

“Innocent?” Hale snarls at me over Jude’s shoulder. “You think she’s innocent? Really? Her father is actively trying to pass laws that ban packs in the country. Does she speak out against it? Has she ever once said she disagrees with his policies or his world views?”

I frown at him. “Well, no, but that doesn’t-”

“No!” Hale sounds smug as fuck as he repeats the only part of my statement he heard. “No, she fucking doesn’t. She stands behind him with that polite little smile on her face and claps when everyone else does. She supports his bullshit, Creed. She fucking clapped today when Bell said omegas need to be monitored, controlled. She’s a traitor to her own designation.”

My stomach clenches at his tirade. Again, I want to argue with him, but I can’t. We’ve been watching Frederick and Haven Bell for years, and nothing we’ve seen disproves what he’s saying. Except… I think of the way she reacted to me, the way she seemed to have to force herself to stay in place to even talk to me, the way she said her father wouldn’t approve of a pack courting her, the way her skin went so pale when she realized that’s what we wanted.

“If he believes all omegas should be controlled,” I say, hands clenching and unclenching at my sides. “Don’t you think that is exactly what he would do with the omega in his household? Control her? He’s an alpha, Hale. It would be so fucking easy for him to turn her into a puppet.”

Hale’s mouth snaps shut and there’s a flicker of doubt in his eyes, a moment of hesitation down the bond. Please. I think. Please, let’s find a different way. One that won’t end with me feeling like more of an asshole than I already do.

But my prime lets me down. His jaw hardens, and he gives a resolute shake of his head. “If she’s a puppet all the better. It’ll be easier to make her dance to our tune, to have her give us what we want.”

I stare at him hard. “You’re not actually this callous, Hale. I know you.”

“That’s right. You do know me, so you know I’ll do everything in my power. I’ll do fucking anything to make Frederick Bell pay for what he did to our omega. Even destroy his daughter. Innocent or not, he cares about her, and we’ll use that to our advantage.”

“Remember that you agreed to this,” Jude says, releasing Hale to turn to look at me. “Hell, you’re the one who even came up with the idea.”

I look away from them, my three pack mates, my three brothers, and try to bury the guilt I have for suggesting this course of action. At the time, I was heartbroken and furious and drunk. I’d hated everything to do with Frederick Bell, even his twelve-year-old daughter. The daughter he carted around and beamed at, the one he so clearly adored.

Just like we’d adored Janie.

But ten years has dulled my rage, has cooled my temper into something more streamlined and deadly.

Do I want Frederick Bell to suffer? Hell yes.

Am I willing to destroy an innocent woman in the process? No.

Haven isn’t the only way to get revenge on Bell. We have other plans, other means of tearing him down. We don’t need to hurt her in order to hurt him.

But my pack wants this. They want to use Haven as a tool. They’ll do it with or without my input. The most I can do is stick with them, stick with her, and try to temper the damage. To her and to us.

“We’re going to regret this,” I say, meeting Hale’s eyes. “Some time down the road, we’re going to fucking wish we hadn’t done this.”

Hale scoffs. “Says you, brother.”

“Says the way I feel when I look at her,” I shoot back.

“How do you feel when you look at her?” Tic asks, shifting restlessly on his feet. I don’t bother to answer. They’ll understand soon enough.

The problem is, by then, it’ll probably be too late.