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Chapter Sixteen

Emma

I was weirdly nervous as Ryder guided me along the corridor to the elusive apartment where Sloane was waiting for me.

I had a terrible feeling that when I saw my sister again, she would be different somehow and that I might not know her.

The memory of her lying in bed, writhing in agony as her heat ripped through her, would haunt me for the rest of my life.

That hadn’t been my sister. My sister was the strong one, who looked after me.

The one time she’d needed me, I’d failed.

I tried telling myself I hadn’t known better.

Why would I assume those rumors circulating on the internet about the Dawn Agency were true?

Yet I still felt guilt over the fact that my call became the catalyst for life-changing events.

The circus that had followed was the stuff of nightmares—Sloane screaming and begging, them injecting her, then the horrible silence as they carried her away.

Ryder had assured me that now her heat had passed, she would be fine again, would be herself, the Sloane that I knew.

I worried, though, that the version of her I knew was gone forever, both the nurturing, mother version and the big sister who I’d fought with and yet loved as deeply as siblings could.

I guessed it was part of life that we changed as circumstances moved us forward and events and experiences remade us into something else.

But in my life, change had rarely been good.

“It will be okay,” Ryder said as he stopped outside a door.

I stared at it, wondering what I would find on the other side, nerves exploding as he hit the buzzer.

The door swung wide, and an alpha, all seven feet of him, loomed in the doorway—Jace.

Ryder held up a hand in the universal sign of peace. I had the oddest feeling Jace was about to punch him. “Not in front of Emma,” he said.

Jace heaved out a breath, nostrils flared like a bull about to charge.

“Emma? Em!” That familiar voice brought a quickening to my heart rate. “Jace, get out the fucking way.”

I grinned. Yep, that was my Sloane. Then Jace stepped back…

My lips trembled from the first glance. I had a vague notion of being ushered forward, but everything was a blur through the tears.

A soft click told me the apartment door had been closed, then I heard the two men move away, but I only had eyes for my sister.

“I was so worried about you,” Sloane said.

“Me?! I swear I aged ten years when they came and took you away. It was the most horrifying moment of my life.” The words came out garbled through my sobbing.

“It’s over now,” she said, her hand stroking through my hair, before hugging and rocking me.

The empty place inside me belonging to Sloane began to fill up with love, seeping into me from her and topping me up, filling me to the point where I knew whatever had changed within her, she was still my Sloane.

She leaned back and pressed her forehead to mine.

“It’s been a rough few days,” she said.

I snickered.

“Don’t,” she said. “Seriously, don’t.”

“I can’t believe you’re an omega,” I said. “Do you feel different?”

She leaned up and tucked the hair behind my ear like she used to when I was smaller.

“Yeah,” she said. “I do.” Her eyes cut to the right, and I looked over my shoulder to where Jace was staring back at her.

“Are you mated now?” I asked.

She shrugged and smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, we are.”

My eyes were drawn to the mark at her throat, and her hand immediately went there, trying to cover it. “Don’t.” I shook my head. “You don’t need to hide it. I think it’s beautiful.”

Then it was her turn to narrow her eyes on the mark Ryder had left on my throat. Not the same kind of mark, but still, it made a similar statement. “Emma, something you want to tell me?”

“What?” I tried to fake innocence, but I wasn’t very good at it. She’d seen through it my whole damn life. How I thought I might get away with it was a mystery, even to me.

“What the fuck, Em?”

“I demanded to see you,” I said, like that was all the explanation she needed.

“Huh?”

“Ryder sent me a message to say you were here and safe. I wanted to see you. I acted a bit reckless, to be honest, stormed up to the gates and shook them. I was jabbing the hell out of the intercom there, demanding to speak to… I’ve forgotten exactly who I demanded to speak to.”

“The manager,” Ryder offered from the other side of the room, grinning. “She was crazy. Lucky we didn’t rouse half the fucking alphas in the zone.”

“Rattling the gates? Are you crazy?” Sloan asked.

I shrugged. “A little. I’ve never been one for holding back, have I?

She shook her head. Ryder came toward me, and I felt a blush creeping over my cheeks.

“I’ve…I’ve been with him, while you were busy.”

“Jesus!” she said.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. Ryder is one of the good ones,” I said, repeating his phrase, feeling the eyes of both men on us.

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s been a rocky road, but so is Jace.”

There was a knock on the door, and a portly lady with steel gray hair breezed in, carrying a tray loaded up with food.

“Don’t mind me,” she said. “How are you feeling, lovey?”

“I’m good. Thanks, Ma,” Sloane said.

I gave the woman a double take.

“Emma, meet Dane’s mother,” Jace said. “You met Dane?”

I nodded.

“Everybody calls me Ma,” she said. “You can call me that too.”

“Thank you,” I said, not at all sure what to make of her. Still, my nose was twitching at the delicious food on her tray, and my stomach rumbled.

Ma scowled over her shoulder at the two men. “Don’t you feed your women?”

“Don’t fucking go there,” Jace said. “Of course we do. Well, I fucking do.” He threw a pointed look at Ryder.

“What?” Ryder said.

“Your woman is hungry,” Jace said. “I can hear her belly rumbling all the way over here.”

Sloane snickered. “Don’t mind it. She might be small, but she eats like a fucking horse and is surprisingly strong.”

“Have a sandwich, dear,” Ma said, taking a seat with us. “How are you feeling, Sloane? How’s the baby?”

“Baby?” My head swung around.

“I don’t think it’s more than a bunch of cells just yet,” Sloane said.

“You’re pregnant?” I hadn’t thought through that part, but I understood omegas could only conceive while in heat and when they did go into heat, there was a high probability they would get pregnant.

“Yeah,” she said. “I am.”

“Oh my god. I’m going to be an auntie!”

Sloane laughed. “You think you’ve got problems? I’m going to be a mother.”

The men came and joined us. The minute Jace sat down next to Sloane, they both turned to one another, their hands reaching out and touching each other.

His rested on the back of her neck, rubbing soothingly, while hers went to his thigh.

The intimacy between them was startling.

Sloane wasn’t much of a hugger. She put up with me because…

well, I never gave her any choice. She wasn’t cold, just reserved.

Ryder sat to my other side. “How are you doing, baby?”

“I’m good,” I said. There was no moment of intimacy between us. On the tray was a selection of sandwiches and some muffins cut in half. I picked up a sandwich without looking at what it was and stuffed it into my mouth. I was so hungry, I could have eaten anything.

Polite conversation followed. I was in a state of shock that Sloane was expecting a baby, but the more I watched her with Jace, the more wonder and revelation unfurled inside me.

I’d never been jealous of Sloane a single day of my life.

I would never have wished being an omega on anybody.

Yet, as I witnessed the two of them together, I found that their relationship had bloomed both wholly and swiftly.

I didn’t know this man. I’d only seen him from a distance before Sloane was whisked away.

They looked…like they belonged. I wished I had that.

Ryder was talking to Ma, teasing her about her muffins being substandard today. Ma smacked his hand when he went to take another ‘to be sure.’

“Don’t sass me, young man.”

He laughed good-naturedly.

I could feel myself disconnecting, so I plastered on a bright smile, which lasted right up until Sloane told me what had happened to her. We’d moved away from the alphas and gone over to the window, where we stared out at the strip.

“You were unconscious when they took you out,” I said. “It was the worst moment of my life. I’m so sorry that I called the Dawn Agency. I didn’t know what to do.”

Her hand closed over mine. “It’s not your fault, Em.

How could you have known? I woke up on a gurney, some sick alpha fuck asking to inspect me.

” She shuddered. “I was out of it still. I hit the bloody fire alarm and ran, with no idea where I was running to. I just kept going. That’s when I bumped into Art. ”

“Art, as in the barman who makes amazing cocktails?”

“I don’t know about that,” she said. “I didn’t get to drink any cocktails after I woke up. I was pretty distracted. But yeah, Art. After he helped me escape the alpha zone, he had no job here. I have a weird feeling about that guy, like he’s a plant or something.”

“For the government?”

She shrugged. “No, I don’t think so. Maybe he’s working independently for someone else. Anyway, he helped me escape, then Jace picked me up and beat the shit out of the other alpha that wanted me. That’s when I went into heat.”

“Sloane, that is so freaking scary. The worst I got was being kicked out of the apartment.”

“Fuck,” she said. “Those bastards.”

“Yeah, I got a message yesterday saying the case had been reviewed. They signed it over to me as the surviving family member. Although, between you and me, I suspect Jude’s boyfriend, Derek, called in some favors.

You know he works for that independent news agency—the one that keeps exposing government corruption.

I think he has friends in positions of influence, not that I’m complaining. ”

“Thank fuck for that,” she said. “What are you going to do now? It’s only two days until your graduation.”

“You can’t go,” Jace said, coming over to join us. “You know that, right?”

Her face softens. “I know. I want Jude to video it. I want to see everything, and you can come back and visit me, right? She can come back and visit, can’t she?”

“Of course,” Jace said. “Any fucking time she likes.”

I could sense Ryder’s eyes on me. It seemed like my cue to leave.

“I’m going to call Jude,” I said. “To see if he’s free. Would you—” I turned toward Ryder, noting the tension around his eyes and the way a tic began thumping in his jaw. “Would you walk me to the gate?”

“Sure,” he said easily. “Anything you want.”

It was time for me to go back home. I felt it. This entire experience has been surreal, but I needed some normality. I was still a beta, and he was still an alpha, so it was never going to work. The more time I spent around Sloane and Jace, the more this dawned on me.

“I’ll sort everything out at home.” Only it wasn’t Sloane’s home anymore. “Send me a list of stuff you want me to bring back, and I’ll come back after graduation.”

“Did you get any job offers?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I got the grades I needed, and Cartwrights offered me a job.”

“Oh, my god, that’s fantastic,” she said. “That was the one you wanted, wasn’t it? Your first choice?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “They want me to start next week.” A week ago, I’d been hoping for this offer, but now I felt flat.

I shot a message to Jude, who texted straight back, saying he was picking up Jewels and would be straight over.

“I’ll see you in a few days,” I said as I rose and gave Sloane a hug.

Then I was leaving, Ryder walking beside me like a looming presence.

“You don’t need to go,” he said. “You can come back whenever you like. You could stay, if you wanted to.”

I stopped before the gate, and my eyes searched his, noting how his face hardened.

“But I understand,” he said, a note of bitterness in his voice. “Who would want to live here?”

I didn’t understand what he was saying. Was he asking me to stay? Would I stay? Could I? I didn’t think I could.

“Send a message when you come back.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss to my temple before taking a half step back.

I wanted him to kiss me properly on the lips.

I wanted the alpha who’d pinned me against the shower wall and fucked me silly.

That alpha was gone, and I needed to find myself again.

“Enjoy graduation,” he said. Pulling a bunch of keys from his pocket, he unlocked the padlock and drew the heavy chain slowly out. The gate rattled as he rolled it open.

The sound of a car snagged my attention, and Jude pulled up beside us.

“Emma!” Jewels hung out the window. “Yay! Get in the car, come on. Tell us all about it. Tell us about Sloane.”

I stepped forward, over the line separating the two parts of the city.

As I glanced back, Ryder pulled the gate closed and looped the thick chain around it twice before snapping the padlock into place.

He didn’t move, and neither did I, but I had to.

So I did, turning my back on him, taking the steps to the car, feeling a genuine smile bloom on my face for my two dearest friends.

The smile was bittersweet, though, because I was leaving something equally precious and yet unattainable behind.