15. CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 15

"Why don't you just go after him?" Ford asked as he rubbed his growing belly. It wasn't that large yet, but there was a definite swell to it.

He'd only been back for a day, but already his best friends had cornered him and confronted him about his crankiness. Wilder had told them all about the fact that for the past week and a half, he'd been biting the heads off those on the trip with them since Renzo left. When asked, he'd refused to talk about it, but his friends weren't about to let him get away with that for long.

Apparently, not more than one day. Hell, it was less than twenty-four hours ago they'd returned with their haul. Admittedly, it wasn't a great haul, but that was most likely due to the others insisting they return early because they couldn't stand to be on the road with Coleson any longer. Not that he could blame them.

He rolled his eyes at the suggestion of heading out to search for Renzo. "In case you missed it, I'm the one who didn't want him around."

Okay, so that hadn't been exactly true, but none of them needed to know that. Right? It wasn't any of their business that he'd been heartbroken to watch Renzo walk away from him like he didn't matter.

Then again, after the way he'd acted… Did he? As much as it killed him to admit–if only to himself–he probably didn't matter. What was worse was that his friends, who'd he'd known since he was a toddler, knew better. Worse, he could already tell his friends knew the truth.

"Like any of us believe that shit." Halston said.

"You act like we don't already know you," Ehen added

"Are you fucking kidding?" Ford exclaimed just as the others stopped talking. "It's like you think we don't know you at all."

Joah rolled his eyes. "As much as you've tried to say, I think we all know…" He gestured around the room. "But do you actually believe we don't know you?"

Honestly? Yep. Sure, they knew each other's…fuck not really true. Before, he would have assumed they knew each other inside and out, but in that moment, he knew better. Not because of the others, but himself. Sort of. Right?

That was the biggest question he kept asking himself. If only it were that easy.

Ever since Renzo had turned away from him… No. It went even before that. It was that moment when he'd stiffened up after the greatest orgasm he'd ever had.

Refusing to dwell on that, he decided, the best way to deal with his friends' invasiveness was to redirect. The only issue… he had no idea how to do that. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Fuck you," Ira spat out. "Do you really think any of us actually believe the shit you've been spouting since you returned?"

"You mean yesterday?" he challenged, to deflect. Yeah, he knew it most likely wouldn't work, but he really didn't want to talk about Renzo.

"Exactly," Ford exclaimed, holding up a finger and pointing at it with the other hand. "In one day you've yelled at Tessin until he ran crying his eyes out and still won't come out of his room."

Oops. Coleson hadn't meant to do that.

Then Ford put up another finger. "Threw a stapler because you claimed it wasn't ‘working,' which was only because it didn't have staples in it, and ended up putting a hole in the wall of our supply room at the hospital."

Okay, that might have been dramatic of him, but it wasn't as bad as Ford was making out. "It was only a dent," he defended.

Every single one of his friends gave him that ‘are you kidding me?' look. "The stapler was embedded in the wall," Halston pointed out.

Maybe not his finest moment, but he'd had a long, tiring trip. Was it really that unrealistic that he was frustrated?

That was when Ford put up another finger. " And you told Rinus, who had just been thrown from a horse and had broken his leg in the process to ‘walk it off' when he dared to mention we no longer had a doctor when he needed to have it casted."

"It's not like we couldn't just go find another doctor," Coleson yelled at his friends, knowing the moment the words were out of his mouth, he'd fucked up.

Ira walked right up to him and hugged him, hard. "I'm sorry he broke your heart."

Then all of them surrounded him and put their arms around him. "We love you," each of them said in their own way and Coleson couldn't keep it in any longer.

Tears streamed down his face as he held onto whoever was closest in order not to fall, but his legs wouldn't hold him up any longer. They ended up in a pile on the floor, but he didn't feel their arms around him any longer. Couldn't hear their words of reassurance or love. No matter how many people were there with him, there was just… nothing. Nothing but an hole where his heart had been.

Grief consumed him at the loss of the one person he'd loved. That it was all his fault only made the pain that much sharper. He never should have pulled away from Renzo. He should have admitted to the Alpha he loved him, too. Why hadn't he stopped him when Renzo walked away?

"He left me," he wailed even though he hadn't meant to say anything. "How could he do that?"

"We'll find him and then you can apologize for not admitting you love him," Ford said, even though Coleson hadn't actually told him what had happened.

That was the thing with all of them. They knew the truth even when the person hiding it says nothing. In a way, it was seriously annoying as fuck. But he had to admit he was glad he didn't have to admit out loud what he'd done.

If only he could believe Ford's words, but he damn well knew there was no way of finding his Alpha.

"We need to find another doctor."

Just hearing Lowen's words had his shattered heart breaking even more. He'd been the one to drive Renzo away, leaving them with little medical help. Maxon was an exceptional nurse, but he wasn't capable of performing surgery or even resetting a leg and putting on a cast like Rinus needed.

"It's not like we can just advertise for one," Ford told his Alpha with a dramatic eye roll.

Lowen placed his hand on Ford's abdomen and looked at his Omega with so much damn love it made Coleson's chest ache. "You are going to need a doctor, love. Our baby will need one to keep him healthy."

Ford placed a hand over Lowen's and damn if Coleson didn't want to run as far from the two as possible, so he wouldn't have to witness their love for each other. He could have had that, but he'd thrown it all away. He would do anything to find Renzo in order to make it right, but how was he supposed to do that?

It wasn't like he could call him. Nor had he any clue where Renzo would have gone, so he couldn't follow him. Although, if he had to guess, he would try to go back to his old life and there was no way Coleson could make it back across the Mississippi. Well, he could, but would need a lot of help, which would put him and anyone helping him at risk of getting caught. After finding out the horrors of what could happen to an Omega out there, he had to admit the idea wasn't one he was certain he could entertain.

Maybe if it was only him, but anyone who took him would probably be hurt if not killed, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. But that meant he would never see his Alpha again. He was no longer sure he would be okay with that.

"I admit we need a doctor," Ford told Lowen. "But the question is, how to find one?"

"Dr. Grealy was brought into the encampment in order to keep the Omegas healthy enough to sell." Fennec, who was practically sitting on Oxley's lap, shrugged. "What if we try to find another camp and see if one of them has a doctor?"

"I'm not certain that's the best idea, pet," Oxley said. "I've met a few of those doctors and none of them were nice men. They'd likely inform those Alphas they help where we're located."

"What if Oxley, Raman, and I take a ship to the east and see if we can find someone willing to come here, who isn't a complete ass," Westland suggested and for the first time since Renzo walked away from him, Coleson felt hope.

If they were going to go east anyway, he would go with them. He would find Renzo and beg him to take him back. Not that they had actually been together in the first place, but that was beside the point.

He was ready to jump up in the middle of their community meeting and exclaim he would be joining them when the door was shoved open and Renzo pushed inside as if someone were chasing him. "We have to stop them. They found Sanctuary and are planning to bring back reinforcements to take all the Omegas."

As bone chilling as his words were, Coleson only knew one thing; he had to get to his Alpha and make things right. Racing across the room, he went right to Renzo and threw his arms around his waist, and held on tightly. "I'm so sorry I chased you away."

He looked into those shocked golden brown eyes and admitted what was in his heart. "I love you, Renzo. If you can forgive me for the way I treated you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Strong arms went around him and pulled him in for a heated kiss. Melting against his Alpha, Coleson returned it with all the feeling he felt for the amazing man.

A throat cleared, interrupting their moment and Westland said, "As great as it is that you two have figured your shit out, mind telling us who found us and where they are so we can stop them from attacking us."

Oh, right. They had more pressing problems.