Page 14 of Bound By Song (Evie Quad Omegaverse #1)

DANE

I can’t focus.

The music isn’t coming. The ideas are there, but they don’t feel right.

They feel off, like a beat you can’t quite get the rhythm of.

It’s driving me mad. I can hear the faint tapping of Blaise’s fingers against his phone screen and the occasional shuffle of paper, but none of us are really working.

We’re just…existing in this quiet, uncomfortable limbo.

And it’s all because of her .

The omega.

I try to push the thought aside, but it lingers. The way she looked both yesterday and earlier today, standing there in the doorway, her arms crossed defensively, her eyes wary, but almost welcoming. No…that’s not right. Longing? Maybe.

Her strength, the way she held herself even though she was clearly terrified.

And, of course, the way she tried to shut us out.

I get it. I do. I don’t blame her for being cautious, for putting up walls.

It’s hard not to put up walls when you’ve been alone for so long, when you’ve had no choice but to protect yourself, which clearly for whatever reason, she’s had to do.

I dread to think what’s happened in her past to make her that way, to make her so untrusting of everyone, to cause her to isolate herself so severely when it goes against her very nature.

Still, I can’t shake it. There’s something there. Between us. Something I can’t quite put into words, but it’s tugging at me, pulling me back to her like some invisible thread.

It’s insanity, is what it is. The band, the pack, is not ready for an omega. I don’t know if we ever will be despite what Xar wants. I don’t think an omega can magically fix our problems and I think we owe it to any future mate to be the strongest pack possible before getting romantically involved.

Obviously, that day will come eventually when we want to settle down, but with our music career going from strength to strength – or at least it was until the last couple of months – a relationship just isn’t possible for the foreseeable.

Let alone one with an omega. We are not equipped to deal with an omega’s…

needs, even if we were in a stronger position as a pack.

With our lifestyle, it would be impossible.

But that doesn’t explain why I, why we, can’t seem to stop obsessing over one omega in particular.

“So, what now?” I ask, glancing at Xar, who’s been staring at his guitar for the past twenty minutes without so much as a strum.

Xar doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, he scrubs a hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh. I know exactly what he’s thinking.

He’s besotted with her.

I don’t think any of us are immune to the pull she has.

It’s like…something about her is calling to us, but it’s not just physical.

There’s something deeper. Her isolation, her fragility, and yet, the way she fought back when we came to her door – it doesn’t sit right with us, with our protective natures, even if I admire her for it.

“Xar,” I say again, my voice low. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

He finally looks up, his gaze intense, full of something that’s too much to hide.

“I don’t know what it is,” he admits, rubbing the back of his neck before his hand trails to his chest and rubs the spot right over his heart.

Has he noticed what he’s doing? Why do my hands itch to mirror his actions?

“I just…I can’t stop thinking about her. We’ve got to figure this out.”

I exhale, leaning back in my chair. “I get it, but you’re overthinking.”

“I can’t not think about her, Dane. You saw her. She’s alone. We can’t just let that go.” His eyes flick to Blaise, who’s still half-heartedly scrolling through his phone. “We can’t let her be out there, isolated, with no one to help.”

“You’re right. She’s isolated. But that doesn’t mean we just barge in and fix her life for her.

” I’m trying to keep my voice calm, steady.

I know where this is going, but I don’t want to push him too far.

If I’m being honest, I’m just as stuck in my own head about her.

“She’s clearly got her walls up. Maybe she just wants to be left alone. ”

But she’s an omega. Omegas shouldn’t be alone. They don’t want to be alone. It can be…damaging.

Blaise snorts from the sofa, tossing his phone aside. “That’s rich coming from the guy who’s been staring at the door since we got here. You’re just as distracted as he is.”

I crack my knuckles, my discomfort bleeding into the action. “Shut it, Blaise.”

Blaise just shrugs, his grin wide and unrepentant. “I mean, we’re all in the same boat here, aren’t we? Can’t stop thinking about her, no matter how hard we try.”

“I don’t want to just think about her,” Xar says, his jaw tightening. “I want to do something. We can’t leave it like this.”

“And what exactly are we supposed to do?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve already tried the ‘I’m sorry for disturbing you’ excuse, and that went over well, didn’t it?”

Xar shifts, not liking the reminder. “Alright, maybe it didn’t work last time. But I can’t just let it go. We’ve got to make it right.”

I watch him carefully. “What exactly are you planning to do?”

“I’m going back,” he says, voice firm now. “I’ll apologise for the noise. For disturbing her.”

Blaise stifles a laugh. “You really think that’s going to work? Mate, the place is soundproofed. She’s not going to hear us from miles away, no matter how loud we play.”

He doesn’t point out that we’re barely even playing, let alone making enough noise to disturb someone.

Xar looks at him, his frustration growing. “Then I’ll figure something else out. I’ll?—”

He cuts himself off, clearly working through the options in his mind. “Alright, what if we find something of hers? Like a scarf, or a glove, or something small we can claim we’ve found on the drive, like an earring?”

Blaise raises an eyebrow. “What the hell are you talking about? We didn’t even get inside her place. How would we know what belongs to her?”

I don’t point out that I’m ninety percent sure she doesn’t have pierced ears. I tend to notice the little details, but her hair was down.

“I don’t know, maybe we say we found it on the porch? Or lying around near the driveway?” Xar’s voice is desperate, but I can see the doubt creeping in. He knows it’s a long shot, but he doesn’t want to admit it.

I sigh and shake my head. “It’s a bad idea, Xar. It’s not going to work. She’s not stupid.”

Xar’s shoulders slump. “Fine. Then what?”

We sit there for a long moment, the silence thick. The clock ticks on, the house feeling too small, too quiet. I glance at Blaise, who’s now idly tapping his foot against the floor, and then back at Xar, who’s staring at the floor like he’s willing the solution to come to him.

And then, suddenly, it hits me.

“We could say we’re having issues with the house,” I suggest, my voice low but steady.

I’m not sure why I’m allowing myself to get caught up in this madness, but at the same time I can’t seem to help myself, so I continue, “Tell her we’ve got plumbing problems or a broken heater.

Maybe even say there are weird noises in the pipes or something.

Ask if her place has had similar issues, get her talking about what’s going wrong with her house. ”

I see Xar’s eyes light up, and I know I’ve hit on something that might work. “Yeah,” he says, sounding relieved. “It’s plausible. And it gives us an excuse to knock on her door without looking like complete idiots.”

Blaise looks at me, then back at Xar. “Fine, but if she shuts us down again, I’m out. I’m not running in circles with this.”

I nod, though I suspect he’s lying. “We don’t push her. We keep it simple. Just check in, make sure we don’t get on her nerves again.”

Xar stands up, taking a deep breath. “Alright, we’ll try it. But if this doesn’t work, I’m going to lose it.”

“Good luck with that,” Blaise mutters, pulling his coat on as he heads for the door. “Let’s go see if we can’t annoy her one more time.”

The drive back feels longer than it should.

Maybe it’s because the rain has started again – if it ever stopped – a steady drizzle that blurs the landscape into streaks of grey and green.

It’s quieter this time, the tension in the car thick and palpable.

I can feel the unease in my chest, the restlessness gnawing at me again.

This wasn’t the plan. We came here to work, to finish the album, to focus on our music.

But instead, all I can think about is her.

The record label said the band is fractured, but what they really meant was that the pack is fractured. We’re not working well together anymore, and since we came off our last tour, there’s been a tension between us that I don’t know how to dissipate.

It doesn’t matter that Blaise’s beta is out of the picture now, the damage has been done and I don’t know how we’re meant to come back from that.

What I do know is that nothing is going to get done until we get somewhere with this omega…I just have no idea where we might be heading. I only know there’s a compulsion riding me hard to get to know her better for some reason.

I glance over at Xar. He’s gripping the steering wheel tightly, his jaw set in that determined line of his.

I know he’s fighting the urge to break the silence, to talk himself into a plan that’s already starting to feel like a bad idea.

But I’m not going to stop him. At least this time, we have a plausible excuse, even if it’s barely a thread.

Blaise is quiet too, his eyes fixed out the window, looking as distracted as I feel. The radio is off. We’re all just waiting.

As the farmhouse looms ahead, I feel that familiar knot in my stomach again. The place looks even more imposing in the rain, the windows dark, the door cracked slightly open. I frown. That isn’t safe.

What if something’s happened to her?