Chapter Eight

Aziz

Jack is my mate.

Jack.

The omega.

My mate.

Gods, no wonder my hyena was hot and bothered any time I was around him. I had Bella's mark on my thigh but, as soon as Bella passed, something clicked inside me. Almost as if her mark had been blocking my realization that Jack was my mate.

More than just a mate. That beautiful, stunning, brave omega was my fated.

Someone I'd always dreamed of but who was out of reach.

What in the fuck was I supposed to do now? Would he even accept me once he knew I'd only a day or so ago still been mated to another? To a female?

What would he think of me?

I'd been pacing the perimeter of the land where the omega safehouse was, both doing my job and driving myself batshit crazy with all the what-ifs. Losing Bella felt like someone had cut me off at the knees. A piece of me had gone. No time to say goodbye. She must've thought it would be no problem to win the challenge, or she would've called to tell me so we could say what we meant to each other before the time came.

She underestimated Regina to her demise.

Gods, what I wouldn't give to talk to her once more. Tell her I loved her. I loved her as my best friend and for who she was. We didn't have a romance, but we'd played the hand we were dealt as best we could.

Was I betraying Bella by already wishing Jack was in my arms?

Bella would've told me to move forward, just as she would've wanted the clan to push ahead with a new leader.

Above all, we wanted the best for each other.

Still, I couldn't deny how stricken I was with regret and guilt. I had gone to my room to take a quick shower when someone knocked on the door only moments afterward. Hope sprang up inside me, wishing it was Jack but, when I opened the door, the younger brother of Hammer was there.

"Pop-Tart? Is everything okay?" I asked.

"What's going on with you?" He came in without being asked. We had a bond that the others didn't and become confidantes, but not even he knew about Bella. "Where did you go?"

I shut the door behind him, and we sat down on the edge of the bed side by side. "I don't know how to tell you," I confessed.

"We tell each other everything, man. Tell me. I'm the last person in the world who would judge you."

I did know that. Pop-Tart was a great listener and an even better friend. "My mate died, and I had to go to the clan. She had already been buried. We don't do funerals in our clan. They wanted me to be the next alpha, since we were mated, but I named someone else, and now I think Jack is my fated mate."

It all came out in a slurry of words, strung together as fast as I could get them out of my mouth. I was sure half of it was unintelligible, but my chest felt lighter already.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You have or had a mate?"

I nodded. "Her name was Bella. We were betrothed since birth. We led separate lives since there was no romantic connection between us. But we had mated and marked each other."

Pop-Tart's eyes widened. "She died? That's where you went?"

"Yeah. I went back to the clan to tie up the loose ends. See her grave. Get some of the pictures of us together. She was my best friend."

I retrieved the pictures of Bella and me from my bag and handed them to him. He took care in sliding one over the other, looking at them, turning them this way and that, smiling at some. "She was beautiful."

"She was. And compassionate. Smart. Committed to our clan. She was an excellent alpha to them."

"How did she die?" he asked gently, handing the pictures back to me.

"One of her betas challenged her. They both died."

"I'm sorry, Aziz. Who is the alpha now?" he asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. I accepted the touch of concern and leaned into it.

"One of her betas. I handed the title to her. My life and my job are here."

We paused for a moment. "I've never seen Jack react to someone like he does to you. You lit him up. I mean, usually he's sweet and soft spoken but damn, that omega is feisty when he wants to be."

"He's phenomenal," I murmured, mostly to myself. I knew there was something about Jack that called to me, beckoned me, but I didn't realize who he was to me until Bella passed—once our bond was severed.

My hyena called out for him, but he was in the kitchen, rocking and cuddling his little boy who was cutting teeth. It wasn't the time to bring up the fact that we were fated mates.

Besides, for all I knew, he was still livid with me, and for good reason.

If Jack was my omega, and my hyena knew for sure he was, then all the time, he would've felt the same pull toward me that I did toward him. I'd probably crushed him by not reciprocating his desire.

I'd unknowingly broken his heart.

"And he probably hates me."

Jeremy, Pop-Tart, shook his head. "I don't think that's true, Aziz. I really don't. You two need to talk."

I huffed out a humorless laugh. "You think he would ever want to talk to me again?"

"Yes." He nodded. "A fated never gives up on his mate. But there's only one way to find out."