26. Shane

Chapter twenty-six

Shane

I stop beside Eustice, and she smiles up at me, though she struggles to maintain eye contact. My mirth is difficult to contain. I guess Finn’s explosion has actually worked. I was wondering how long it was going to go on.

The town had put him in a box and was subconsciously trying to keep him there. The same way they pushed Brayson away. Two sides of the same problem. Oh, I’ve seen the way they’ve watched each other, warily but full of lust and a misunderstanding that neither understood.

I’d seen it, noting it, wrote about it, but it wasn’t my place to say. The one time I had, Finn had gotten so angry he’d almost hit me.

The town is on edge, but it’s quickly apparent that they want to make reparations. Every time we go to leave, we get stopped by someone else who wants to talk. It seems everyone is trying to make sure we’re okay with them.

What is more alarming is the conversation I just had with sheriff Sanderson. People have stayed in town, a couple dozen people, filling up the hotels, leaving few rental homes available.

“Argh, enough of these bad tidings. News spread, and I heard about Finn and Bray.” Sanderson’s gaze grows distant, his wrinkles deeper, and he hoists his jeans up higher on his stocky frame. He’s a good solid beta who loves this town deeply and has been sheriff for what seems ever.

“Yes? What of it?”

The sheriff grunts. “Oh, nothing, good to see. I’m happy for you, too. Knew you were one of us. I always told my dear Jinny before she passed that you three were made for each other. Always. It’s good to see.”

I shook my head and asked him instead about the accidents. Anything to get off the strange musings of our relationships.

There have been multiple accidents around town. Some strange happenings that are twanging my nerves. I don’t like it. The strangest issue was Jess, the girl who has been harassing Locke. She’d tripped down some stairs and was found with a broken leg, unconscious on the last day of the festival.

Holly smiles at me as I approach her and fairly vibrates with nerves. Her crush is adorable but ill-fated. I’m not for her, but she is nice, and I don’t want to embarrass her, so I pretend I can’t see it.

“We don’t want Finn to leave. Everyone’s okay with it, and we’ll be nice to Bray. You’ll tell them, won’t you?”

I nod mutely.

“And,” she takes a breath and lets it out quickly. “I am happy for you.”

I don’t even know what to say to that. It’s so strange. “Uh, thank you?”

She gives me a tight-lipped smile and flutters off.

I turn in a half circle, wondering what the fuck to think of this day. Locke smirks at me, and I head in his direction but pause on the sidewalk when I see Alma dragging Brayson down to the bookstore.

Finn follows behind, saying something and looking concerned. But Erin isn’t worried, she’s laughing. Locke’s laughing. Bray looks panicked. I’m torn between rushing off and rescuing him and waiting here. In the end, I decide to trust.

I scratch my beard and make my way to Locke.

“Are you done causing all this mischief yet?” I ask quietly. He spreads joy everywhere, the town adores him. I don’t even know how he’s been embraced by them so fast. It took years for people to see me as one of them. It’s taken him and Erin days.

Locke smirks up at me and leans against me. I love the way he feels, that warmth, the supple strength of his body. The scent surrounds us and, for a couple of seconds, no one else exists on this Earth but me and this omega.

“You know, now that people don’t know where I am, I feel like I can be me and have fun. Like the threat of something bad happening is just a threat and a distant one. It’s nice.”

His ability to bring me peace is second to none, but to see him in peace brings the kind of contentment I didn’t think existed. That scent of his is a balm to old wounds. His presence takes away every single lonely minute and fear I’ve ever had. Locke makes my world make sense. He brings clarity, certainty that this is my future, that this is my fate.

He is home.

“Locke?”

“Mmm?”

“What is your favourite thing about performing?”

He frowns and steps back, gesturing for me to join him as he walks.

“Uh, I don’t mind the intimate one on ones, but the big shows, I don’t really enjoy anything about it. What I love the most is writing songs, but my cousin, she’s better.”

“You’ve said that, but when you sing, you’re magic, Locke. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Locke grins, a pleased little smile that reaches his eyes.

“I’ve read your books.”

I stop, shocked. “You’ve read my books?”

Locke takes my hand and tugs me along. “Fuck yes. The song East, I wrote after I read one of your poems.

I close my eyes. My writing had reached someone. Not just someone, but Locke. It had inspired a song. Shit, Shane, be cool. Don’t cry in front of the omega.

“Okay, umm, okay.”

Locke chuckles and jerks to a stop in front of me. He reaches up and cups my cheeks. “I am an extraordinary omega, and I wouldn’t have just ordinary alphas. I know that because I met you, and you were exceptional, which meant I had to be something special, too. Of course, I’ve read your work, many people have. You are talented, sensitive, you see the world in a way that many people can’t, and you put it into words that paint a picture in my mind. You are amazing.”

Locke hums and steps back.

I follow him, unable to do anything else.

But inside me, everything thrums with happiness.

Bray bursts out of the bookstore, almost running, and hides right up against Erin. The sun is almost set, and after today, Finn’s explosion, the accident, I just want to get my pack home.

The threat is in the town, I can feel it. Something here that isn’t sitting right. That sensation of ill-ease returns.

I keep my eyes peeled, searching every dark shadow. I spot Jess hobbling down the street on her crutches and an impulse grabs me.

“I’ll be back.”

I hurry off, leaving the pack behind. I manage to catch her just as she enters the lobby of the hotel.

“Excuse me, Doctor James,” I say politely as I edge around him. Doctor James blinks and treads up the stairs, ignoring me, I don’t take it to heart. He’s a weird one. But when it comes to doctoring there really is no one better.

Jess sits down heavily on an armchair in the foyer and glares up at me. “I suppose you’re here to yell at me.”

I shake my head and crouch in front of her. “I heard about the accident, but I just want to hear what happened to you from your own mouth.”

She shudders and looks over my shoulders. “Why do you care, Shane? Leave me be.”

“This is important, Jess. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t.”

She searches my eyes, and all I can see is misery in hers. Maybe that’s why she agrees.

“It was the last night of the festival. I was taking some of Mrs Yowee’s sewing entries back up to her room, just helping clear the hall for the kids to play the next day.”

She sighs heavily and reaches down to rub her thigh above the cast.

“I thought I heard something. I turned, and there was nothing there, but I was scared, so I hurried. So careless, I must have missed the step or something because I remember falling, and then nothing. I just woke up in Doctor James’ office.”

I frown. “And there was no one else there?”

“No. I was alone. Why?” She wrinkles her nose and huffs. “I swear, the stairs were shiny, though. Weird, right?”

“Shiny?”

“Yeah, like, shiny. But they have a runner on them. It doesn’t make sense. Doc said my brain is a bit muddled.” Jess touches her head, her eyes darting everywhere. “Ridiculous. I must have slipped,” she murmurs to herself.

“Has anyone else been hurt lately?”

Jess pauses and then nods. “Well, no, but this weird thing happened. Holly’s stove was on, and the house was filled with gas. Her neighbour, John Wilkies, smelled it and alerted the authorities before she got home.” Jess pauses. “She doesn’t cook at home, she cooks at her stall or when she has a shift at the diner.”

“Thanks, Jess, that helps a lot.”

“It’s strange, though,” she murmurs absently.

“What is?”

“I don’t think anyone really knew that Holly smoked a single cigarette when she got home from work. She was trying to give up and was having trouble breaking that last one.”

I heave a sigh, not liking anything I’ve heard today.

Abruptly, I pull up an image of the woman who hurt Locke. “Jess, have you seen this woman in town?”

Jess squints at my phone. “No, no, I would remember her. She looks familiar, though. Who is she?”

“An old girlfriend I don’t want to see. Thank you, Jess.”

She looks up at me and then away. “I wasn’t going to hurt him or anything. I just wanted to feel…”

“Feel what?” I ask her curiously.

She looks up at me. “Feel anything. This town is smothering me. I’m drowning in the sameness day in and day out. I just wanted to experience something new. Maybe fall in love. Is that so wrong?” Her shoulders curl in. “I didn’t realise what I did was wrong. I promise I will never do it again. I’m so embarrassed.”

I pause and then crouch back in front of her. “Jess, if you want to get out of Twin Rivers, we can help you. Erin and I have contacts.”

“I think your girlfriend hates me,” Jess whispers.

“I don’t hate you. I didn’t like your behaviour, but I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse,” Erin says, surprising us both, and moves in to sit beside Jess. “You’re young, what are you, eighteen?”

Jess nods.

“So, this is a lesson. If someone says no, listen,” Erin explains.

Her eyes glitter down at me, seeing all of me. My alpha is kind, wise, strong, funny. She is all the things, and the sheer miracle that she’s here in Twin Rivers falling for me staggers me.

“We can help you, Jess,” Erin says again with a subtle wink in my direction.

“You’d do that?” Jess scrapes her hair back, looking exhausted and scared.

“We would do that. This town is Bray and Finn’s family. I can understand being bitchy. Growing up and learning how to be a female alpha in a world of men was hard. You’re here with barely anyone your own age. You’re lonely. I know how that feels. Let me help you. You have the chance to change and be a good person.”

Jess bursts into noisy tears, so I step back, giving them some space.

What if someone moved the runner? I need to check.

“I’ll be back,” I say to them and rush out. It takes me a few minutes to jog to the Mrs Yowee’s sewing shop. She tuts at me as I enter, but when I climb the stairs, I pause, looking down. I crouch and peel the runner back.

Relief floods me, but just when I let go, I catch sight of something. I reach out and rub my fingers in the corner of the wood joins. It comes away slick and oily.

I bring my fingers to my nose. Oil, most likely cooking oil.

This was deliberate. But who would want to hurt Jess?

In a way, I’m relieved because it means the person who is causing these accidents isn’t here after Locke. This person is attacking everyone.

But in another very real way, I want to get my pack out of town and back home to where it’s safe.

With that decided, I head down the stairs, waving to Mrs Yowee, who blinks at me in concern, but I just smile widely and exit the store.

Even in town, you can see the stars. It’s going to be a cold night, but home is calling. I’ll call Sanderson and let him know what I found out once we’re there.

I have a home.

It’s been a long time since…no, I have never been this happy.

I see Finn and Bray standing on the street, talking to Frank and Mellie, and with a smile and a lightness inside me that is new and slightly scary, I head towards them. It’s time to hit the road.