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“Go to sleep, then. I’ll be here when you wake.” Brushing my hand along her back, I let the soft, sweeping strokes lull her closer to dreams as my eyes catch the window I climbed through. “I never asked, are you mad I broke in?”

“No.” Daph sniffles a little, then sighs. “My exes left me alone a lot.”

My heart races, and she pets my chest like she can feel it. “Like, during the day or…”

Daphne shrugs, even though I can feel the remembered pain lancing through my chest. “All the time. Random Mondays, weeks where they’d go out of town with no warning. After arguments. Heats.”

What the fuck?“Are you talking once or all the time?”

“All the time.” She pets my chest again, frowning at the growl I’m trying so hard to hide until her own sweet purr lifts it away. “They said they were too busy to help me for a week.”

That’s beyond abusive, it’s inhumane. Daphne would’ve been out of her mind, vulnerable and in need and they justleft her there?Alphas like that shouldn’t be allowed near any omegas, let alonemine.

But it makes sense, now. The way she reacted to Connor in the car, us moving in. I’m sorry I’m an inconvenience. When people tell you over and over that that’s what you are, you start to believe it yourself.

My poor kitten.Instead, I pull the blanket until it nearly covers Daphne’s head, tighten my hold so much I worry I’m squeezing too hard. Omegas like being surrounded by their alphas, protected almost to the point of suffocation. I wish my brothers were here so they could help me. Yet, she surrenders to my touch happily.

“The worst part is, I thought that’s what it meant to be in a pack,” she admits. “That we all had to sacrifice for the greater good. You’re teaching me that my needs don’t have to come last. So, no. I’m not mad you broke in, I’m glad you did it.”

Words will never express how heartbroken I am that this amazing woman was treated like shit by people who were supposed to care about her. I hope my actions show her I’m nothing like them. That this pack is here to put her first, however we can.

I purr and she smiles against my peck. It’s so sweet, I can’t help but tip her face up to taste it. “I will never leave you alone.”

“Oh, I’m well aware.” Daph laughs when I tickle her, then snuggles in, eyes drooping. “I really like you, Nate.”

“I adore you, kitten.”

Only when she’s passed out, mouth open as she sucks in lungfuls of my scent, do I finally relax my grip.

“You can’t leave us,” I whisper. “I’m not sure we’d survive it.”

She doesn’t wake at my confession, and I don’t want her to. It was more for me, anyway.

I need Daphne more than anyone I’ve ever met. She’s my omega and whatever happens, I don’t intend to let her go anywhere without me.

Get ready, baby. I’m about to be your favorite stage-five clinger.

SQUATS AND SECRETS

DEZ

As much asI want to see Daph, I can’t blow off my sister again without risking the entirety of my family coming down on our heads. Or worse, our house.

Never should’ve given them a key.

On the outskirts of Seaport, Soleil is a beacon of color. The forest is a beautiful backdrop to the mural I painted of my sister years ago. The gym is my brother-in-law’s baby, and even though Marisol helps when she’s off duty, Sam wanted her with him all the time.

It was grossly cute before, but I understand on a deeper level now. It’s why I keep a sketch of Daphne in my pocket and her photo on my lock screen. Being able to see her even when she’s not around soothes the sharpest edges of my instincts. My fixation.

After parking next to Sol’s hot pink jeep, I swing my gym bag over one shoulder, waving to familiar faces as I head in. As expected, I find my sister at the squat rack. Long, black curls pulled back, skin a deep umber like our dad and a Seaport Fire Department shirt straining against her muscles.

Sol’s been on the crew for years, and though no one’s more capable, her job scares the shit out of me. Sometimes I wake upabsolutely panicked that she’s trapped somewhere on a call, and I can’t get back to sleep until I know she’s okay.

Brown eyes meet mine at the top of her squat and she backs up to re-rack. “There he is. The elusive brother, back again.”

Fucking dramatics. “I miss one week, and you act like I’ve moved without telling you.”

“Uh, you kinda did,” Sam says from where he’s watching Sol’s form nearby.