Chapter Four

Aziz

"Why are you here?" Jack said in a tone I hadn't heard from him before. My hyena didn't like it one bit.

"Me?" I asked, poking a finger into my own chest.

"Yeah. You. I thought I got away from you."

My eyes bulged as my heart slammed against my sternum. The rest of the omegas and staff cleared the room. "You thought you got away from me, Jack?"

"Yes. I finally worked up the courage to make a clean break, and now I'm aggravated. Why are you here?"

He was aggravated with me being here in the new safehouse, but I had been frustrated as fuck at the thought of him leaving.

Maybe this was a mistake.

The omega clearly didn't want to be near me.

"I thought we were friends, Jack. I'm here to protect all of you until we get someone else or make other arrangements."

He kicked at the cabinets, surprising me. Jack had never showed one ounce of hostility, and now, this hidden anger was directed at me. "Friends? What kind of friends are we, Aziz? Tell me. We're the kind who never speak to each other unless it's an ‘excuse me' or ‘pass the gravy'? You're always pissed off or annoyed when I'm around, and yet, I find you staring at me all the time. Anytime I pick something up, you take over. You open doors for me. And then, bam, back to the ice prince. Friends, my ass, hyena."

I took a step back. Jack was clearly burning for me, but not the way I wanted. "I didn't…"

"Oh, I'm not done," Jack said. He was damned sexy all riled up. I'd never seen this fire from him. Turned me on more than I wanted to admit. "You couldn't just let me leave and move on in peace? You're like a damned ghost, haunting me in the day and all night. Gods, I even see you in my dreams!" He pressed his fingers to his temples. I was his headache.

Wait a damned minute. "You dream about me?" I asked.

Wrong question. He let out a loud growl of frustration but came closer. A loss and a win. It took everything in me not to grab him and kiss him until I'd quelled all his anger.

"That's what you're focused on? Why? Why you? Can't anyone else be here and guard us?"

Now that he was close to me, I saw glistening tears welling in his eyes. He wasn't crying out of sadness. He was angry and frustrated. He was one of those omegas who cried when they were pissed off. And I was the source of it.

"I'm sorry. I…there are things you don't know about me." I began to tell him the entire story, to make sure he knew me not pursuing him wasn't out of meanness.

There would be no honor in a mating with Jack if I was already mated to another.

And Jack deserved everything a good alpha could offer him. Protection. Love. Care. Honor. Safety. But, most of all, he deserved a mate who wasn't mated to another.

He should be the only star in the sky for his alpha.

And I couldn't deny Bella. I'd made promises to her on my life.

"What does that mean?" Jack yelled. "I don't want to know about you. I don't care. All this time we've been under the same roof and you gave me the ice prince act. I wanted to come here to get away from you, Aziz. To start over."

Out of nowhere, something broke inside me. Cracked my chest open. Speared me with the knowledge.

That could only mean one thing.

Something was wrong with Bella. My female mate.

Fuck.

I stumbled back with the impact of it and gasped for air, and yet I was torn again between comforting this beautiful man in front of me in his time of need and going to her.

But my vows were made to Bella way before I knew Jack was alive or even existed.

My fingers balled into fists, keeping me from reaching out to pull him into my arms.

"Guys." Pop-Tart came into the room. "You're frightening the other omegas. The yelling."

Jack's gaze flipped to Pop-Tart and, in the process, his eyes shed the tears they had been harboring for most of our conversation. It broke my heart to know I was the cause.

If I had my way, he would never cry again, especially over me.

"I'm sorry." Jack broke down. His shoulders slumped, and his eyes became downcast.

"Aziz?" Pop-Tart said. "You made him cry?" My brother's words were laced with anger. If I was the reason for this omega getting upset, then he would have a beef with me for sure.

"I didn't really."

Not a full truth.

Jack released a whimper and covered his mouth with his hand.

"I-I have to go," I said, rubbing my fist in a circle over my sternum. "I…" Bella. Something was wrong with Bella.

"Aziz?" Pop-Tart said and then whisked my…whisked Jack up into his embrace and soothed him as he cried tears over me. "Where are you going?" he called after me.

I didn't have an answer for him. I had to return to my clan. I had to return to save my mate.