Chapter Thirteen

Mason had to admit, he liked Joshua. The other alpha had a similar sense of humor. In fact, he rather liked the entire other grouping.

With the stress of all the unanswered questions, with the risks to Tracy and Karen, with everyone on edge, it had seemed a good time to try to get their minds off it.

That had landed them at the home of Sam and Tracy’s friend, Claire, and the three alphas she’d claimed.

The four lived in a cute house that seemed a good mixture of all of them. The happiness was obvious from the moment he’d stepped into the home, from the way the alphas watched her to the way she instinctually leaned against which ever one was closest at the time.

Envy sparked in Mason as he considered the future he wanted. He’d always thought a similar situation would be good, especially after spending so many of his days as a kid with Sam and his family. Still, this was one of the few he’d seen as an adult, that he’d been able to really observe.

Claire was tough but suspicious. She’d yet to warm to Dylan, but who could blame her? A few good smiles from Mason had won him a reluctant smile back. Karen loved the omega, and the longing on Claire’s face made him wonder if they’d already started to try for children.

The funniest part was despite the presence of six alphas—each who could have sent anyone running with a good growl—they all bent over backward for the young girl. No matter the issue, they were there, ready to play along with whatever game she came up with.

And Karen ate the attention up. When Bryce offered a warning snarl in Dylan’s direction over some tiny slight, as happened when alphas spent time together, Karen had grabbed Dylan’s hand and told Bryce to be nice. And hadn’t that been an amusing look of confusion on Dylan’s face over the defense?

Seemed while he’d say fuck off to anyone else, the little girl could render him speechless.

“I don’t know,” Joshua admitted as he rolled the key over in his palm. “I’ve looked into anything I could find, had Kieran do the same, and I’ve got no clues where this might go. Most of those storage places can be paid off in cash under a fake name. Could be anywhere.”

Karen came in holding two plates with brownies stacked on them. “Mom told me to bring these.”

Mason took the plates, offering a thank you.

Karen didn’t move, though, her gaze on the key, her eyebrows furrowed. “That’s Dad’s key.”

Joshua lifted the key. “You know what this goes to?”

Karen nodded and took it from him. “To the place with all the boxes.”

Mason set the plates on the side table. “You’ve been there? How do you know?”

Karen turned to face Mason, expression unsure. It meant Mason needed to ease off a bit. “Dad took me there when we went to the doctor. He said it was a secret.”

Mason tried to plaster a smile on his lips, tried to look reassuring. “Do you know where it is? Can you take us there?”

She nodded.

Well, finally a break.

Claire and Karen sat on the back porch, chalk in hand, while Tracy and all the alphas remained inside. It seemed Claire wasn’t quite done playing aunt.

Tracy tried, and probably failed miserably, to look comfortable. It was too much, too many, too overwhelming. The scents of them all made her awareness tingle. She felt like a cat stuck in a room with six dogs, and all she wanted to do was arch her back and hiss.

But that wasn’t okay to do in polite company, so she tried her best to play nice.

They’d found the location of the storage unit Richard had taken Karen too, with her explaining the directions. It gave them a plan, options, hope. She hadn’t had hope in a long while.

“Why don’t you have Karen stay with us a few days?” Bryce asked, tension lacing his words.

Bryce always made her the most nervous, an intensity in his stare never failing to drive Tracy back a step or two. He rarely spoke, never smiled.

She trusted Claire, and she even trusted the three alphas her friend had chosen, but that didn’t mean she was comfortable around them. “Why?”

“You have a lot going on,” he said, but something rested beneath the words, a truth he was side-stepping. “She’ll be fine here, and Claire will love having her again for a few nights.”

“I don’t want to just send her somewhere.” Tracy didn’t bother to hide her offense at the offer. Why were they trying to get her daughter away from her?

“Easy,” Mason said, setting his large hand on hers. “You’re growling, kitten.”

“Kitten?” Joshua laughed at the endearment. “With the way she was flashing her teeth, I don’t think I’d go with kitten.”

“No one is trying to take your kid,” Bryce again tried. “But you need to consider everything.”

“Consider what? Just come out with whatever you’re trying to say.”

It was Kaidan who answered, his voice soft and his gaze down. “They may not smell it because they’re with you all the time, but you’re going into heat.”

Heat. The word drained the color from her face. She couldn’t be going into heat, right?

Then she thought about how she hadn’t slept much, hadn’t wanted to eat. She had chalked those things up to stress and changes. She hadn’t wanted to nest, but then again, that usually happened hours prior to the start. Even then, she hadn’t made a nest in years. The idea of making one for Richard, of that closeness had felt like a mockery of something sacred. “You’re wrong,” she whispered.

Kaidan shook his head, voice kind. “No, we’re not. It’s why we’re suggesting Karen stay here, to give you privacy.”

Tracy lifted her gaze to Sam’s, unable to hide the fear in her eyes, not even having the ability to try to hide it. Who cared if the others saw it when she felt like the world was crumbling around her?

A heat?

With these three alphas in the same house? She hadn’t even been willing to sleep with any of them, and soon she’d have no choice. She’d be driven to do so, no matter her personal feelings, her reservations.

No matter theirs, either. Biology trumped everything.

Sam didn’t respond with words, a blessing. Nothing he could say right then would reassure her, and the last thing she wanted was to have that conversation in front of others.

Not just others, but alphas she didn’t know well or trust.

A hand on her leg made her jump, but when a side-glance revealed it to be Mason, she scolded herself for overreacting. An upcoming heat didn’t change anything that they’d built thus far. The alphas didn’t change just because she would be going into heat.

Even as she told herself that, she couldn’t quite believe it. Instead, she struggled to see anything but alpha, but aggression and lust and her being defenseless.

Mason squeezed her leg, and the reassurance had her able to pull in a breath, unsteady as it was.

They said their goodbyes quickly, with Tracy meeting no one’s gaze. Karen agreed to stay, no push needed. The girl had jumped at the chance, already halfway to the guest room without more than a quick hug goodbye.

It left Tracy in the back seat of the large crew cab truck, Sam beside her, Mason in the passenger seat and Dylan behind the wheel.

Sam pressed a hand to the back of Tracy’s neck, pushing until she bent forward and her head fell between her knees. It was only then she realized just how lightheaded she felt.

“It’s okay,” Sam told her. “It’ll be fine.”

“How is this fine?” Her position muffled her voice, and the loud truck engine helped drown it out.

Even so, he answered, his strong hand kneading gently at her tense nape. “You’ve had heats before, honey. You know they aren’t that scary.”

Easy for him to say.

“What are you afraid of, kitten?” Mason twisted to look back at them. “Afraid one of us will force you?”

She shook her head. Even if she was terrified, it wasn’t of them, not exactly. They hadn’t hurt her, and they’d had plenty of chances to do so.

“So what is it?” Sam pressed.

Tracy sat up, her elbows resting on her knees. “I haven’t done this in a long time,” she admitted. “I’m not ready.”

“Biology is biology. It doesn’t wait till we’re ready. But we can get sedatives if you want. Just because you’re going to have a heat doesn’t mean we have to service you. Any of us.” Mason spoke with the same ease he always did, the sort that made her feel like whatever was wrong wasn’t that big a deal. “None of us would force you, Tracy. It’s your choice.”

She wet her lips with her tongue as she thought about taking a sedative. Could she willingly drug herself just to avoid the heat? Could she be even more vulnerable? To agree to be at the full mercy of the alphas, to accept unconsciousness instead of suffering the natural effects. It would be easier, wouldn’t it? No need to think about her future, about what she wanted. She could sleep it away.

“What do you want?” Sam asked. “I’ll call the doctor right now to get sedatives for you. You won’t have to do this if it isn’t what you want.”

Tracy worked her bottom lip between her teeth until it hurt, slowly sliding her gaze among the alphas. Sam sat there, form silhouetted by the passing streetlamps, his eyes soft as they always were, his hand a reassuring presence on her back.

Mason twisted from the front seat, his amber eyes intense. She thought about the way he’d used the vibrator on her, the way he’d taken only what she’d been willing to give. His wide shoulders, a source of fear normally, sent desire scorching through her veins.

And Dylan, who sat at the wheel of the car, his gaze on the street? His strong jaw and shrewd gaze said he was listening, even if he pretended not to be. Even he, with all his sharp edges and rough demeanor, hadn’t pushed her for anything she wasn’t ready for.

What would that be like with them? With any of them? With all of them?

Tracy knew the answer without doubt. She might be terrified, but she may never have this chance again. She wouldn’t lose it. “I don’t want the sedative. I want you.”