Chapter 15

"No, you idiot! Why would you go for the best friend when the dark-haired asshole, who obviously loves you, is right there!"

Aubrey threw popcorn toward the TV, but it was too far, so the popcorn sort of just landed on the carpet. Cat giggled and Shae and I held in our own laughs as my mom fussed at Aubrey to pick up every piece while the credits rolled.

We'd gone to my mom and Aubrey's apartment for a movie night after Shae and my sister conspired. Aubs pulled the "they hadn't seen me enough since I moved out" card and I agreed if we could bring Cat along. Miles had driven us over, the pack still too concerned about our safety to let Shae and I go anywhere alone. But he and Nate had fled to one of the pubs on the street as soon as Aubs declared we'd be watching the love triangle fueled romance that was currently making her so mad.

"I like the best friend. He's always been there for her, and he loves her. He never hurt her."

Cat had been pretty quiet since we brought her back to stay with us a few days ago. I had hoped a fun night in, that wasn't at the pack house, would cheer her up. Aubrey made a very loud, lady-like snoring noise, causing Cat to throw a pillow at her as she made her way back to the blankets and pillows on the floor in front of the couch.

"He's just boring."

"God help us all when you find your pack, then, brat."

I pushed Aubrey's shoulder lightly with my foot to punctuate my sentence. Aubs turned around and slapped me on the thigh, just a shade harder than playful and I whined at Shae.

"She's being mean. Can we go home now? I don't want to play with her anymore."

Aubrey stuck her tongue out at me and settled back into the movie night nest they'd built. Shae kissed the tip of my nose and tugged me more fully against their chest where we sat in the corner of the sectional.

They'd dragged me from the cave that Cole and I had been working in earlier. They said I was working too hard and that the work would be there in the morning. I'd refused at first but then they sicced Aubs and her guilt train on me. I was grateful for it in the end, though. Cole and I were burning the candle at both ends, trying to find the link between the Foundation, the Jackals, and whoever was hiding in the shadows. No way a pack like the Jackals got an heiress for their Omega, even one as shitty as Poppy, without connections. I needed to find them.

Cole had said he would work late, and Trevor was staying at the rooms at Drake House that they called the barracks. He wasn't fighting with me anymore. He even brought us coffee and snacks while Cole and I worked all the time. Plus, the night at the restaurant, Shae had said he wanted me in the pack so why was he staying away so often?

Teeth nipped at my earlobe and woke my dick up. Fuck.

"Get out of your head, baby."

Shae's breath ghosted across my ear as they whispered to me and I held in a whimper as I gripped their thigh. But the heat they'd built in me so quickly fizzled just as fast when Aubrey spoke next.

"Any word on when you get to go back to your place, Cat?"

"Um, not really. The cops said there was an attempt on another of the Omegas that was with me, but her family was home, so they didn't get her. I don't think I can go back there. Still figuring that out."

Cat had pulled her knees up to her chest. Aubrey looked over at me and chewed on the corner of her lip, aware that she'd stuck her foot in her mouth but not sure how to fix it.

"You know you can stay with us as long as you need to."

Shae's tone nearly pleaded with their friend. Cat smiled fondly at them and nodded.

"I know. As fun as being roomies again has been, you know I've always liked my space and, well, it's only gotten worse since… everything."

"Why don't you move in here?"

We all looked to where my mom had been sitting quietly most of the night. She'd been embroidering something and just soaking up the time here with us all in the way she always had when we were kids. Her head tilted as we all looked at her and she lifted a brow as Cat tried to get out her question.

"Here? But I… you. I don't understand."

"We have the room. Nate bought this place because it had a room for all of us but Ethan's all packed up and Nate still has his own apartment. The room next to mine, with its own bathroom, is still empty. It's not your own apartment but you could move whatever you want in and then put the rest in storage until you find a safer place!"

Cat's eyes bounced between my sister's enthusiasm and my mom's quiet smile, and then back to where Shae and I sat.

"That's too much. I'm not working right now, but I have some savings, so I could help with bills?"

My mom huffed in a way that brought me back to my childhood when she was fully exasperated with us, and she went off muttering to herself in Spanish.

"You can use that to buy what you want for your room, nothing else. Nate made sure that I have plenty of money and I am happy to have you here. You need somewhere safe, yes?"

Cat nodded as tears started to fill her eyes. Mom stood to walk over to her. She sat on the couch next to where Cat was sitting on the floor and cupped her cheek.

"Being an Omega is harder than people realize. We can help you navigate it all and my son assures me that this is the safest building for us. So, it is decided?"

Cat nodded and I smiled, more than a little misty-eyed myself at how my mother was pulling us all under her wing. She was coming out of the shell that I hadn't realized my fathers had forced her into more and more as each year had passed.

"Fuck, yes! I always wanted a sister."

"Hey!"

My protest was overshadowed by the throw pillow that hit Aubrey in the side of the head.

"Mom!"

Aubrey's outrage sent our mother into a round of giggles that completely undermined her stern reprimand. I settled back into my Beta, soaking in the sound of Mom's unrestrained self and the happiness of what we all had.

A bit later, Miles and Nate returned only to be hustled back out by Shae, who wanted to figure out how to get Cat access to everything in the building. Not just to the apartment but also the storage that was apparently available in the basement, and how to get her things moved in. Aubrey had taken Cat to check out the room and I was helping Mom with the dishes in the kitchen. Looking out at the view through the living room windows as I dried one of the pans, my mind supplied a vision of Trevor and my mom standing together. Call me a nosey Omega but I wanted to know what they'd been talking about.

"Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"That day when we were moving you in. What were you and Trevor talking about?"

She clicked her tongue and pulled the stopper from the drain so the water could swirl down. I never understood why she wouldn't just throw the dishes in the washer, but she said she liked it.

"He was apologizing to me."

"Did he say something to you?"

Fuck the progress we'd made, if Trevor had been rude to my mother I would—my thoughts were interrupted by the towel that swatted my shoulder. I turned to my mom and her warm smile threw me as she thumbed away the furrow between my eyebrows.

"No, mi vida. He was apologizing for how he treated you."

"Wha—huh?"

Her laugh was soft as she took my hand and tugged me to sit in the chairs at the island.

"He explained some about what he went through. That he was going to therapy and working on himself, for himself but also for you. So he could be a better packmate. And he said he never wanted to hurt you again or make you feel the way your fathers made me feel."

"But why hasn't he said anything to me?"

She shrugged and began to say something else, but Shae, Miles, and Nate arrived back at the apartment then. Shae called out for Cat, squeezing my shoulder as they walked down the hall to where she and Aubrey were. Nate and Miles walked over to where we sat and Miles leaned on the counter beside me, not touching me but grounding me, and somehow still bringing me comfort, just by being there.

"Ready to go, Ethan?"

I nodded as the others came back in. I wanted to keep talking to my mom about Trevor and what she thought but knew I should grow up and talk to the Alpha himself.

"We'll move Cat in at the end of the week and Bodhi's going to handle her security while she goes back to pack up her place."

Cat's smile was less forced than I'd seen since she'd moved into the guest room at our house. I could tell that made Shae happier, too. We said our goodbyes and made our way back to our place. Shae and Miles disappeared into their room, and I hung around the living room with Cat a bit longer before making my way up to the nest to get into clothes that were more comfortable. My feet stalled outside Trevor's door though.

He wasn't home, and no one was around to catch me, so I quietly pushed his door open just enough to peek in. I swallowed down the whine that clawed its way up from my chest as his scent rushed over me. Fuck.

I wouldn't go into his space because he'd know but I didn't need to. His scent was so deeply ingrained in every inch of his room that just standing on the threshold was enough to scramble my senses. The deep mahogany and teakwood hit me like no other scent in the pack did. As much as I loved them all and needed their scents, something about his scent just tipped me over the edge so much faster.

As I remembered the first spike I'd had, and how the traces of his scent when I entered the house had nearly buckled my knees, I got hard. I took in another embarrassingly long breath to drag his scent into my lungs and told myself that I would talk to him in the morning. Closing the door to his room, I continued up to the nest and started to plan. I'd go to his office or something and make sure he knew how I was feeling. How I respected all that he'd done to help himself and that I wouldn't push him. That I was prepared to be his packmate, his friend: whatever worked for him. My stomach flipped with nerves and the thought that he could outright reject me. My mom's voice broke through those thoughts in my head as I remembered what she'd told me, "he said he never wanted to hurt you again." I clung to those words as I got ready for bed and hoped that tomorrow would be the push we both needed to find who we would be to one another. No pressure.

Shae came up to the nest later, saying that Jade and Theo were locked in Jade's room because they'd bonded again and couldn't keep their hands off each other. They'd found me curled up under all my blankets, overthinking everything. Since I was already feeling all worried and insecure over talking to Trevor the next morning, hearing that Jade and Theo were spending time together, instead of racing to claim me, set off the needy Omega feelings.

Shae told me they'd go get the two Alphas for me when they saw the tears that were threatening to fall, but reason overrode the designation hindbrain bullshit. I knew Jade and Theo loved me. I knew they would claim me. I also knew that their need to be together right after bonding again was as much a biological demand as my need for them.

They made sure to distract me by riding my dick while they filled me with a vibrating knot toy. After I'd come so hard, I swore I blacked out for a minute, we soaked in the giant tub, and I confessed everything that I was thinking about Trevor. Shae told me that they thought I was making the right call but to be gentle with him. To remember that if he wasn't ready to talk yet, it wasn't because there was anything wrong with me.

We'd fallen asleep tangled together and, sometime in the night, Miles had come up and cuddled in behind Shae. I knew he just wanted his Beta close after everything, but, since the dinner at the beach, we'd been making steps toward something. My little Omega heart was preening at the thought of having my place in the pack become more firm, more secure. Not that I wasn't sure they all wanted me as the pack's Omega. But things with Trevor had been so rocky before and Miles needed his own pace for friendships and connections; it finally felt like it was all coming together.

Miles drove Shae and I into Drake House that next morning. He opened my door for me before walking around to kiss Shae goodbye, saying he'd be back later to pick us up. Apparently, Jade had been working on a plan, behind the scenes, to hire Shae and Cat as contract EMTs for Drake House and the rest of the board had agreed to it the day before. Shae was coming in to work with Jade's assistant to go over everything they would need to purchase and all that. It was a great solution for both Shae and Cat since they both loved their job, but their trauma was still so close that they couldn't think about working on normal routes again. It also made the Alphas happy because they could help and hover at the same time. Win-win.

I swiped my card to get into the BullPen and nearly ran into a flustered looking Derek as I rounded the corner of the short hallway.

"Hey Derek, have you seen Trevor?"

His eyes shifted behind me, and he licked his lips, almost like he was nervous. Weird.

"I think he's in his office with Cole."

"Cool, tha—" he turned away and went out the door I'd just come through without another word. "Ohhkay. Bye to you too."

I walked through the space, waving to the few people at stations as I walked along the wall toward Trevor's office. His door was open and my feet stalled, the same way they had the night before when I passed his room, but this time it was from the tone of his mostly hushed voice that leaked out to me. He sounded colder and angrier than I'd heard him since the day he'd rounded on me in the conference room.

"I hear you, Cole. I'm done holding back and playing nice to get what we need from him. It's time to get rid of him."

I sucked in a breath.

"Are you sure it's time? He could still be useful?"

Even Cole sounded rough. Angry and tired. My gut clenched as I wondered who they were talking about. I'd never heard Trevor speak like that about anyone. Shit, anyone but me.

"I don't care. I'm tired of seeing his face every day, pretending like I can stand to have him near us all. Enough is enough."

My chest was constricting and my vision was darkening at the edges. I heard someone call my name but I shook my head. Turning around, I started for the room that Cole and I had been working in before I remembered what Cole had said, too. I turned into the first open door I saw, an empty conference room right down from Trevor's office. The same fucking one that he'd eviscerated me in, with that same cold tone I'd just heard. I could still hear the words from that day echoing in my mind. You're nothing to me. You're the pretty bait that leads to a life sentence. I braced my hands on the table and tried to even my breathing as the tears streamed down my face.

"Ethan?"

I squeezed my eyes shut. I should have left the BullPen. Trevor's voice sounded concerned, like he cared, like I had believed he'd started to. I shook my head at the sound of the door closing. I thought maybe he'd left until I heard his steps coming closer. His perfect fucking scent deepened as he neared.

"Ethan, what's wrong? Did something happen? Is everyone okay?"

"Why did you bother?"

I turned to look at him then. Through the tears blurring my vision I could see confusion on his face and it pissed me off.

"Why be kind to my family? Why bring me snacks and shit? Be there for me?"

"I don't understand what's happening right now, Ethan."

I shoved at his chest and he grabbed my wrists, not to hurt me though. I could tell he was being careful to make sure he wouldn't; his hold was only so I wouldn't shove him again.

"I heard you and Cole! You want to get rid of me. I thought we were getting somewhere. At least becoming friends, and I thought Cole was my friend! Fuck, I'm such an idiot."

I tried to push past him realizing my voice was rising and cracking with all the emotions running through me.

"That's not what?—"

"You don't need to lie to me anymore. You won't have to see my face here."

I reached for the door handle, just needing to get out of there, when Trevor's strong hand gripped my shoulder. He spun me around until my back hit the wall right beside the door. Shifting his hand until he gripped my throat along the underside of my jaw, he held me there. His blue eyes, exactly like Theo's, glared down at me and I had all of two seconds to be completely terrified before his lips crashed into mine.

What the actual fuck? My brain had short-circuited, and I didn't move. His hand shifted from my throat to hold my jaw in his palm with his fingers threading through my hair and his thumb against my cheek. Trevor moved back just enough to break the contact between our mouths but not enough that I didn't feel his words ghost across my lips and his beard tickle my chin.

"We weren't talking about you, Ethan. I swear. I'll explain everything, just don't… please don't leave."

Putting my palms on his chest, I used the smallest amount of pressure to move him back. I only wanted to be able to look at his face because I was giving myself emotional whiplash. I needed to see him when he explained himself.

That small amount of pressure made his shoulders sag and his scent dampened as he started to move farther away than I intended. Infuriating Alpha, he thought I was rejecting him. But, before he could move further than I could reach, I gripped his shirt in my fists and pulled him back until his face was only about a foot from mine.

"Talk."

He nodded and his scent returned to normal, appeasing that instinctual need I had to comfort him.

"We have a mole in the BullPen. That's who Cole and I were talking about."

"Fucking what? And neither of you thought to tell me?"

"Cole discovered it when Theo was still in the hospital, and everything has been so crazy. You've been working so hard on the case, and we didn't want to tell you until we knew who it was for sure."

Stupid Alphas always trying to fix everything when I could have been helping.

A grin kicked up the corner of Trevor's mouth, so similar to Theo's smirk, but it was the opposite side of his lips that lifted. My pulse stuttered and my mouth went dry.

"You're right, we should have told you sooner."

Fuck, did I say that out loud? I just nodded my head like I'd meant to say it and he continued.

"It's the reason Cole or I have been here every night. We didn't want them to have a chance to pull shit like they did when we were looking for Shae and derail all your work."

"That's why Cole's been working with me every time I was here?"

He nodded again, taking one small step closer to me but not closing the distance. I watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed thickly.

"We weren't willing to risk them tampering with anything. But, after today, we're sure who it was, and I won't risk having them around you anymore."

My brow furrowed and I chewed on the corner of my lip before I looked straight into his eyes.

"So, you weren't staying here to avoid me? Avoid how everyone had been sleeping in the nest so often?"

He shook his head and closed the distance even further. My palms were flat on his hard chest now and I was struggling not to be distracted by the way he was letting me touch him. By how close he was and how strong his scent had become. By the fact that he'd kissed me a few moments before.

"I've owed you an apology for too long now, Ethan. You know I've been talking to the in-house shrink. She's helped me so much, but I just couldn't get out of my head when it came to you."

That flare of hope inside me was starting to fizzle. I knew that what he'd gone through meant that his trauma, all those mental and emotional scars were tied up around Omegas. I would give him as much time as he needed but it hurt to not be able to help him and be there for him. I started to pull my hands away before he pressed his much larger hands over mine to keep them there. His eyes were pleading with me and when I looked up again, I was transfixed.

"I couldn't figure out how to apologize for the unforgivable things I said to you. The way I treated you. It was out of fear and anger that was never directed at you, really." He sighed heavily and squeezed his eyes shut before pressing his forehead to mine. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I was. How that first night you came to visit, I nearly broke when I saw you standing there. You were the most beautiful Omega I'd ever seen. And your scent? When I smelled your fucking perfume? Made my cock hard and my teeth ache to sink into your neck and make you mine."

A whimper slipped from my lips, my skin heated, and my perfume was flooding the space.

"It fucking terrified me. I fought it so damn hard, but I haven't been afraid of you, or what you could be to me, in a while, Ethan. I know I don't deserve it, but if you would give me a chance, I'd?—"

I didn't need to hear another word from his mouth, I just needed to taste it. Crushing my lips to his, I looped my arms around his neck and pressed myself against him as fully as I could. He was so fucking tall. He took mercy on me and gripped my hips, lifting me enough that I could pull myself up and wrap my legs around his hips. He moved forward and my back hit the wall, then his hard dick ground against mine.

I whined at the feeling, and he growled, thrusting his tongue into my mouth deepening the kiss and moving his hand into my hair to grip my curls and move my head where he wanted me.

I needed him. Fuck, I needed him so badly. Inside me. Knotting me. A pathetic whimper clawed up from my throat. Trevor pulled away from my mouth, hands framed my face as his lips tightened.

"Shit, did I hurt you?"

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts and it hit me.

"Spike."

"What did you say?"

"I'm having a heat spike. I need, shit, is Theo here?"

Trevor nodded and his eyes widened.

"It's okay, Trev. I'll leave, you don't need to do anything. I won't be upset. We need more time."

Nodding again, he closed his eyes and huffed out a breath before setting me on my feet and pressing his head to mine.

"I'll text everyone. They'll get you back to your nest and everything will be okay."

It would. Even now, everything was so much better than I could have hoped when I woke up this morning. Except for the whole traitor thing. That cleared my head enough to remember that I still needed more information about them.

"You never said." Trevor leaned back to look at me. "Who you thought the mole was?"

Trevor's eyes hardened and his hands tightened around my waist.

"Derek."

Oh, shit.

"He left as I was coming in, acting really fucking weird too. Does he know you suspect him?"

Trevor shook his head. Then, slowly, like he was giving me a chance to move away, he pulled me into his chest, surrounding me in a hug, and I melted. Yep, I was completely gone for all of them. I felt his arm shift as he pulled out his phone and typed out the text before pocketing it again and ignoring the flurry of vibrations that was no doubt our pack messaging him, trying to figure out what was happening.

"We'll bring him back in and let him sit in a holding cell until they're ready to question him."

"There are holding cells here?"

Trevor's chuckled rumbled through his chest and I rubbed my face against his shirt, wanting his scent all over me.

"Come on, let's go wait in my office for Theo to rush down here and whisk you off to your tower so he can fuck you senseless."

My knees gave out at those words coming from Trevor. Straight-up turned to Jell-O. His laugh burst out of him as he helped me get my bearings again before he cupped my face again and pressed the sweetest kiss to my lips.

"Someday, Ethan. I'm going to be ready to be the Alpha you need me to be someday. I hope it will be soon, but?—"

"I'll wait."

Trevor nodded his head and smiled before kissing me again and threading his fingers through mine to lead me to his office. We'd barely gotten inside the door to his space before Theo and Shae sprinted into the room, nearly knocking into each other in their haste, and making Trevor and I burst into laughter.

My laughter turned to a moan as their scents hit me and another wave of heat spiked, making my dick wake back up. Theo and Shae moved over to me and tried to usher me out of the room to get me home quickly, but I dug my heels in and turned back to Trevor.

His pupils dilated the closer I got to where he leaned his ass against the edge of his desk. Ink-covered forearms were exposed from where the sleeves of his button-down had been rolled up and his arms crossed over that broad, hard chest that I'd finally got to feel for myself.

Since he was leaning back, I didn't have to reach far as I tipped my head to kiss his cheek before I left, loving the way his beard felt against my chin. He dropped his hands to the desk and gripped the edge so hard that his knuckles turned white. Like he had to keep himself from grabbing me again. I smiled up at him.

"However long it takes, I don't mind. I'll be waiting."

Trevor's breath rushed out of him. I turned back to the knowing grins of the other two. Theo placed a hand on my back as we walked through the BullPen and then we made our way home.