Page 32 of Where There’s Smoke (Fire House Omegas #2)

Melody

“ Y ou seem sad now. That wasn’t my goal. What’s wrong?” Elliot asked as I climbed back into his car. We had just finished visiting all my animals, and my heart was hurting in a way I hadn’t expected.

“I’m not,” I insisted, shaking my head, but the effect was somewhat ruined when I burst into tears.

Elliot’s eyes widened with panic before he grabbed me, dragging me across the center console and into his lap, gently running his hand through my hair as we sat in the parked car.

“Talk to me,” he said softly, his voice taking a pleading tone.

“I feel like I’m failing them!” I wailed, shaking my head.

“The animals? No, precious. You’re not at all. What makes you say that?”

“Other people are looking after them when they’re my responsibility!” I sniffled. Being so unable to help my rescue and surrendered pets carved a hole in my soul.

“Melody,” Elliot said, his voice getting serious. “Would you take in animals from a shelter that burned down if yours was still standing?”

I paused, looking up at him. Elliot seemed very fond of having me in his lap recently, and I wasn’t really complaining. Still, I could see what he was doing.

“Of course I would,” I said, my voice somewhat watery. “But that’s not?—”

“Well, these rescues did the same for you. You’re doing the best you can until your place is rebuilt. You’ve been amazing to all these animals. Beating yourself up isn’t going to help, okay? You can rely on other people’s help every now and then.”

His words made me feel a little better. But I hated that he was so right when it came to what was really upsetting me. I didn’t like getting help from others. I was so used to relying on just myself, what with my family being incredibly unhelpful.

“So says the alpha that I have a feeling is as good at accepting help as I am.”

Elliot rolled his eyes playfully, the corner of his mouth lifting. “Fair. But that just makes me great at understanding what you’re going through.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I squeezed my lips so I wouldn’t smile. I was being called out, and stranger still, I was being looked after by Elliot, of all people.

“You’re being suspiciously nice,” I grumbled.

“I’m not a complete ass, I’ll have you know.”

“Could have fooled me!”

Squeezing my butt slightly, Elliot shot me a look before chuckling. “That is so…accurate. I can’t blame you. But look, I’m trying, okay? Cut me some slack.”

Smiling smugly, I lifted my chin, looking at him from under my lashes. “I believe there was talk of shiny things before I fully forgave you.”

Laughing harder, Elliot yanked me to his mouth, crashing his lips against mine. “All right there, precious. Shiny things. But first, dinner and maybe a bit more alone time.”

My body warmed, and I grinned, still teasing Elliot because it was actually really fun now that I knew I could get away with it.

“Okay, dinner. Then…” I kissed him this time, keeping it light and flirty. “…we’ll just have to see.”

Elliot hadn’t told me where we were going for dinner, but my stomach was rumbling and I was ready to eat.

We pulled up outside the small mom-and-pop Italian restaurant, and my stomach gurgled loudly in excitement.

Outside, sitting on one of the benches, were Samson and Fitz, both dressed casually in dark jeans and T-shirts. Samson had a flannel shirt thrown over his tee and a backward baseball cap, whereas Fitz was keeping it simple, his blonde curls somewhat subdued.

“Hey, firecracker!” Fitz greeted warmly, pulling me into a hug. I clung to him for a moment, breathing in his scent. There was something about these three alphas that was just so damn cuddly, and I was apparently in an extra cuddly mood right now. “You had a good day with the grumpy one, then?”

“It wasn’t terrible,” I said playfully, scrunching my nose up as I kept my arms wrapped firmly around him. “Your new washing machine is now installed.”

“Perfect. That means I didn't have to do anything. Sometimes being in a pack is really useful.”

Next to him, Samson snorted. “Dude, even if you are around, we don't let you install heavy machinery after the debacle with the dishwasher.”

“Wha—” I started to say, but from behind me, Elliot started pushing me toward the restaurant.

“We can tell her all about your antics inside after she's ordered food. I can smell how hungry she is.”

“Ooo, yes! Feed me!” I said, grabbing Samson’s hand and dragging him toward the entrance.

It was an impulsive decision to grab his hand, and when I realized halfway to the door, I went to let go, but he tightened his grip, smiling down at me.

An emotion I could only describe as giddy glee filled me at the prospect of holding hands with the alpha. We were actually coming together in a way we hadn’t quite achieved yet. All three of us finding each other in casual fun. It was…really damn nice.

Ideally, I would have liked to hold hands with all my alphas at the same time, but there were more alphas than I had hands, so…

The server was a young alpha, probably no older than twenty. When we walked in, he stared at us, open-mouthed for a moment, probably surprised to see so many large alphas in the small restaurant. I swore they practically reached the ceiling.

“Hello, welcome. Table for four?”

The young man’s voice squeaked for a moment, his stare set on me for a hair longer than usual before he snapped it back to the pack lead, who was rumbling a low growl. Elliot’s scent was tinged with that “off” quality, and when I placed it, I realized that all the guys were that way.

Did I miss something? What was going on?

“Yes, please.” While Elliot’s words were polite enough, his tone was all dark and grumpy again. His mood seemed to have flicked like a light switch, and even Fitz was kind of scowling at the host as he grabbed four menus and gestured toward the main restaurant.

We were led back quickly, the young alpha’s eyes primarily focused on the floor.

I shuffled into the booth when Elliot gestured, and he followed in after me, Sam and Fitz sitting on the other side.

Then, as soon as the guy was gone, it was like nothing had happened, and I was surrounded by smiles again.

What the hell? Why were they all so ? —

“What do you want to eat?” Elliot asked, and I looked down to glance over the menu.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking over the options and deciding to just ignore the previous weirdness. “It all looks so good.”

“The burgers here are the best,” Fitz said as he grabbed a menu and pulled it over to his side of the booth.

I nodded. “In that case, I’ll have the barbecue burger and fries,” I said, nodding as I spoke. “And a coke!”

“Cherry Coke?” Fitz asked, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Naturally.” I giggled. Was I really that obvious? Or were all these alphas paying such close attention to me that they knew my favorite soda?

Once we had all ordered our food, from a different server for some reason, I turned to the guys. As much as I wanted to just eat and enjoy our dinner together, that had been too weird, and there was no way I was dropping it now.

“Okay, someone's got to tell me what happened with the dishwasher—and the server.”

Elliot shook his head. “To make a long story short, I came home one day to find the entire place flooded, Fitz wearing a giant bunny-themed onesie, half-drowning as he tried to fix the situation, only to make it a million times worse.”

“In my defense, no one warned me that I had to turn off the water mains before hooking up a dishwasher. I knew I had to do it if I was working on the washing machine, but I didn't think the dishwasher needed it!” he said, incredibly earnestly.

I bit back a laugh, covering my mouth with my hand and picturing Fitz in a onesie.

“We explained to him that if it has the word wash in the appliance name, then it’s probably attached to water mains. But other than that, we have banned him from doing any sort of work with appliances unless one of us is there to supervise,” Samson said with a grin.

“Okay, giggle all you want”—I definitely was now—“but I was making an effort. You forget I was raised in a house where I never had to lift a finger for myself. So it's the thought that counts. Also, I was only wearing that onesie because I wanted to take Easter photos!”

“We had to replace all of the kitchen flooring,” Elliot pointed out as I laughed.

“It was one mistake…”

Elliot raised a brow. “What about the time you put the wrong detergent in the dishwasher and flooded the place with bubbles? Dish soap and dishwasher soap are totally different.”

“You didn’t!” I gasped, turning to Fitz with a gleeful smile. He nodded, his ears going slightly pink as he rolled his lips between his teeth, reaching for his water to hide his face.

“How was I supposed to know!” Fitz laughed. “It said it was for washing dishes.”

“In the sink!” Samson laughed.

“Oh, honey.” I patted Fitz’s hand from across the booth, offering a sympathetic smile. “You live, you learn. Now, does someone want to tell me why our server switched? What did I miss?”

It was quiet for way too long before Elliot sighed and shook his head. He leaned back in the booth, putting an arm on the back, and faced me while Fitz and Samson looked uncomfortable across from us.

“Remember the scent conversation?” Elliot asked.

“Yes.” I nodded, looking between the three alphas. They all seemed a touch on edge, that slight twinge to their scents peaking for just a moment.

“Well, that young alpha was eyeing you a bit too long, and his scent flared a touch.”

Realization started to hit me, and now Fitz was patting my hand as he smiled pointedly at me.

“Sorry, firecracker, but none of us are going to let some random alpha ogle you like that. Just ain’t gonna happen.” My mouth dropped. Ogled me? What? “As far as we’re concerned, any alpha who looks at you like that needs to shove off.”

“And fast,” Samson added.

I was shocked, unable to think of what to say, and then I cast a studious glance at all of the men surrounding me.

They were feeling protective—over me . It shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was, but there was something about Pack Wilder’s attention and the way they felt so possessive over me, a former beta or unpresented omega that no one looked twice at, that had my cheeks flushing.

“I see. Well”—I nodded, keeping my voice low—“I guess, thank you for looking out for me.”

“Anytime, precious.” Elliot reached down and squeezed my shoulder. “And I do mean anytime .”

Blood rushed through my cheeks, hot and quick, and I was very eager to dive into my food now.