Chapter Ten

A calm energy filled the house, a warmth it had lacked before.

There hadn’t ever been much tension beyond that expected of three alphas who lived and worked so closely together. Small snarls about messes, about things being moved, about schedule issues. Nothing big.

Even so, what little existed had drifted away with Claire’s presence. She slept in the guest room since none of them would have dared to place her in one of their own beds. Sharing an omega was tricky, at best. It happened more than people admitted, especially with how rare and prized omegas were, but it didn’t lack for obstacles. While they didn’t carry much jealousy over her, they also stayed mindful to keep things even. No one needed the alphas in a fight over perceived slights or favoritism.

They had enough of that issue with Bryce.

That entire situation sat uneasily on Joshua’s heart. Bryce was a brother to him, and even if he didn’t show it, the rejection hurt. Worse? The lines in Bryce’s face said he wasn’t sure how he would fit in, but he was prepared to step back if needed.

Which would never happen. It couldn’t happen. The three of them had had each other’s backs for so many years that they couldn’t end over something like this. They centered one another, pushed one another. Joshua couldn’t imagine a life without either of the other men who had saved his life more times than he cared to admit.

So, no, that wasn’t an option. Claire would adjust. She’d already made progress, hadn’t she? She hadn’t been accepting of Kaidan or Joshua at first, but already they had worn away the edges.

Time, he told himself. It would take time, but she’d come around. She had to.

Kaidan walked into the large kitchen, bag over his shoulder.

“Did you get it?”

Kaidan set the bag on the floor. “I’ve got enough clothing for a few days, anything that looked important, anything that carried her scent stronger.”

“Do you really think she’ll stay here?”

“No, probably not. But, at least she won’t leave just because she doesn’t have her things. Any word on her files?”

Joshua set open the file he’d studied. “Some. First of all, he’s met her. Seems they’re new business associates, planning on setting up a system for her.”

“You don’t find that odd? That he knows her?”

Joshua shrugged. “He’s one of the best in the city, so he knows about everyone. Anyone looking for networking will see him first. He’s worked his way through her history under this name.”

Bryce entered the room, sitting on a barstool by the large kitchen island. “What did he find?”

“Claire Jacobs fell into existence eight years ago. Since then, she’s paid her taxes, never caused trouble and had no reason to come under scrutiny. The name belonged to a beta who was officially added to the beta registry at sixteen and died at twenty, but the death was never properly noted in the county where it happened. Pretty common way of selling names.”

Joshua had sat for a long while with the file alone after it had been sent over. Eight years under that name? It meant after that long, she still had demons plaguing her. What had happened to send her running? That would cause her to leave everything she’d known and start over?

“Is that it?” Bryce asked.

“That’s all we have that’s concrete. Less substantial, she was listed as the beneficiary of another woman, another fake name, who left her the money she started the store with. There are a lot of ties to people, most of them with the same fake names, and a few to some of our own less reputable friends. Mostly forgers and a few drug dealers.”

Bryce sat forward, elbow on the table. “Forgers for the documents and identities, dealers for the suppressants. She’s running an omega ring, isn’t she?”

Joshua snorted. “I doubt that girl runs much of anything. I’d guess a local ring got her set up eight years ago, and she does errands for them now and then.”

Kaidan pulled one of the pages toward him. “Do we have any local contacts? Any way to find local rings? Maybe we can figure out what she’s trying to do through them.”

“Not a chance. Omega rings are tight-lipped, especially around alphas. If any of us show up asking, they’ll clam up.”

“What about someone we’ve helped? Hailey? Samantha? Maybe an omega could get information,” Bryce said.

“We can’t ask them for that, not after what they’ve been through, not even for Claire. Besides, without lying, there’s no way they’d find anything out anyway, and those girls can’t lie worth shit.”

Kaidan pushed the page he’d been reading back toward the open folder. “So, we’ve still got nothing? No idea what Claire is after, no idea what might be after her and no closer to her telling us?”

Joshua lifted the final page. “Not quite. Kieran pulled the files she searched for on the computer. Still don’t know exactly what she was after, but whatever it was, it was on the schedule for this day.” He tapped against the list of twenty names. “She wanted to know about someone we met with this day, about every client we saw, every install we handled. It’s not much, but it’s more than we had before.”

Bryce took the paper and scanned the page. His frown said the same thing. It wasn’t enough, not really. Twenty different people who might have something to do with something Claire needed. “It’s got to have something to do with the omegas. Maybe she’s looking for someone who disappeared? Maybe she’s after someone who attacked one?”

Again, Joshua shook his head. Bryce really thought Claire would go up against some unnamed alpha? That she’d track down one for, what? Revenge? “I doubt she’s some avenging angel, but she could be trying to find a lead on someone who went missing. We’re just guessing, though. It’s all a guess until she just admits it.”

The three went silent, but it wasn’t an easy silence.

Leave it to Kaidan to have the bravery to break it. “So, what are we going to do about her?”

Joshua kept his gaze down. Talking to Claire was one thing. He could convince women of anything he wanted to. It was different to tell the truth, especially with the two who knew him better than anyone else.

Bryce picked up the conversation when Joshua failed. “What we’re doing, I guess.”

“She could be pregnant already.”

That gnawed at Joshua, had his lips pressing together. The idea of losing another mate…

No, she wasn’t his mate. They hadn’t made anything official, and he refused to admit the bond might have formed. Besides, there was still a good chance she wasn’t pregnant. It often took omegas a few times before it happened-

A snap had Joshua lifting his gaze, drawn back to the moment by Kaidan. “I was wondering if that would throw you.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No. It doesn’t change that it’s possible, though, and that if we keep her, if she keeps us, if we make this official, that’s probably where it’s headed. If she didn’t conceive this heat, she might the next.” Kaidan rubbed his fingers against the corners of his eyes. “Look, I get that this started fast, that instinct had us doing a lot of things we weren’t expecting, that we didn’t think about, but we need to make some choices here. We keep asking her to trust us, keep telling her we want her, but do we? It’s not fair to ask for something we can’t offer.”

Bryce spoke from his place at the island. “I want her. I can’t say she feels the same, but it’s an easy answer for me. I don’t want her to walk out that door and not see her again. So, for me? I’m in wherever this goes.”

The answer didn’t surprise Joshua. Bryce had been wanting to settle down for a long while, despite the fact he never seemed to mesh with anyone long enough for it to be possible.

Kaidan answered, as if he’d asked himself the initial question. “I want this. She’s special. She works in a way I’ve never seen before, like she matches each of us in a different way. We’ve mentioned finding someone, but I have never seen someone who sparks this in each of us, who could honestly be a mate to each of us. I don’t think we’d find this again.”

Still, Joshua didn’t answer. He knew, though, that if he didn’t, if he wasn’t sure, it would go nowhere. They wouldn’t force him into anything he wasn’t sure about, wasn’t ready for.

Just as Joshua was ready to tell them no, to tell them he couldn’t seriously consider going through that again, risking it again, he thought about Claire’s smile. He thought about how she gave in to him, how she struggled against him but wanted to give in.

The words that came from his lips surprised him more than anyone. “I want her,” he whispered. “This might bite me in the ass, might be the worst choice I’ve ever made, but fuck it. I want her.”

The three sat there, having decided something that could alter each of their lives forever.

They wanted that omega for their mate. The question was, could they convince her of the same?

* * * *

Claire stared at the message on her phone. She hadn’t been out of touch long, yet it seemed that people needed her.

She’d received the plan from Kieran, and if she had any interest in the work, the quote would have thrilled her. Tiffany had sent another two text messages, the first checking in on her, the second longer, explaining how she knew Claire wouldn’t agree with her choice, but she thought she loved the alpha.

Claire set the phone down instead of responding. She wanted to shake Tiffany, but then again, did she have any room to offer advice? Claire was staying in the home of three alphas, three she’d been with, three she’d started developing feelings for.

Who was she to tell Tiffany anything? Hadn’t Claire made every mistake in the book? Hell, she still was making them, and Claire was old enough to know better.

The scent of food passed the closed door and made her stomach grumble. She’d avoided the men as long as possible, having taken an hour-long shower in the connecting bathroom and played on her phone until the low battery sign popped up.

What was she supposed to say to them?

What did they want from her? What did she want?

She missed their scent. They’d put her in a guest room, nothing carrying any of their smell, and as much as she scolded herself for it, she missed it. She wanted to leave the room and bury her face in the neck of one, then the others. She wanted to chase away the chill in her skin by curling around them.

Instead, she responded to the email from Kieran.

The quote looks good. When can we meet to sign papers?

A ding a moment later signaled a response. So, it seemed the man was punctual.

My week is mostly free. You are welcome to come to the office, or I can come to your shop after hours.

She hesitated. She didn’t want him in her shop, didn’t want him around her or her space. Still, it would ensure she could have the place to herself. She would draw the windows to prevent anyone looking in, and she already knew the business would be gone when she had to run. What did it matter if his presence sullied what had been a sanctuary for her? If she met him at his office, she couldn’t ensure they’d be alone, no way to have the advantage of planning.

Come to the office Wednesday night so you can see it in person. The next day, the cleaners will come, so scent won’t be an issue.

One more response to approve the plan, and it was done.

Claire would kill the man who had attacked Jackie. Not right away, of course. She needed to be sure she had the right man, that he’d done it. That wouldn’t be difficult, though. She could slip something into a drink to make him more talkative, to lower his inhibitions. It would also ensure she had every advantage, since taking on an alpha directly wasn’t something she was excited to do. Still, she had her old gun tucked away beneath the floorboards of her shop.

And when it was all done? Assuming she lived through it?

Claire Jacobs would be a ghost, because that life ended Wednesday night no matter what.

* * * *

Sitting at a table with the three men unnerved Claire.

She couldn’t shake the odd familiarity of it. She hadn’t eaten a home-made dinner with a man since running from James, and the action made her uneasy.

Kaidan handed a bowl of warm rolls to her, their fingers brushing. “Relax, love. It’s just dinner.”

She took one of the rolls before placing the bowl at the center of the table. “I haven’t done this in a long time.”

“Eaten with people?”

She picked off some of the bread with her fingers, then popped it into her mouth. “I haven’t sat at a table like this with men.”

Kaidan nodded, then passed her the next bowl with salad in it. “The plates at your home showed a lot of use.”

“I have friends over, house guests.”

“Are those the omegas you help?” Bryce asked the question, his tone hard.

Claire’s breath halted. It was one thing for them to know she was an omega, to not turn her in, but no alpha wanted to think omegas got help, that they banded together. “What?” Even to her own ears, her voice was thin and full of panic.

Bryce didn’t look at her, his gaze on his plate. “We’re not as dumb as you think. I know you’ve been helping omegas stay under the radar. The pills? That young omega we’ve seen you with twice? If I didn’t turn you in for breaking into our office, I’m not going to do it just because you were helping some people.”

She dropped her gaze to her own food in an attempt to collect herself. They knew. They knew what she did, but they didn’t seem like they wanted to ruin it.

Or maybe it was a ploy, another trick.

Joshua picked up the conversation. “You’re not going to tell us, and that’s fine. Look, sweetheart, you’re not the only one who worries about abused omegas. We’ve done some work in that area, helped those we could. You still don’t trust us, and I get it, but we’re not the enemy here.”

Clare risked meeting Joshua’s gaze. “Why do you care what happens to omegas? No alpha I’ve met gives a damn.”

“Omegas are people, and most have been dealt a shitty hand. There’s not a lot more to it than that. If we can help, we do. You don’t need a bad past to think that beating on someone is a bad thing, that it’s something that should stop.”

The words, like all of Joshua’s, sounded great. They sounded so easy. He helped people who needed helping, right?

But Claire hadn’t had that experience. “You always know what to say, and you look at me like I’m foolish, but I’m not. I’ve lived this my entire life.”

“What have you lived, Claire?” Bryce asked.

A day or two before, Claire would have shut up, would have kept it to herself. Instead, she blurted out the truth. She hadn’t told anyone what had happened with James, not since Penny, not since that first night when she’d sobbed out her story to the older omega. Some bond had formed between them, and the story poured from her lips.

“I was eighteen when he found me, when he realized what I was. It was my first heat. I didn’t know to expect, didn’t even realize it was coming. He made me his mate against my will, and my parents were only too happy to let it happen when he paid them enough.”

“How long?” Kaidan’s coaxing voice compelled her to continue.

“I was with him for two years. Two years of being locked inside a house when he left, two years of bruises and screaming and insults. Two years of being his toy, his trophy. Two years when no one cared what he did because he was an alpha and I was just an omega and that was my place in life.”

Her knuckles ached from her grip on the fork, but she couldn’t release it, couldn’t stop her words. “And don’t you dare tell me that was just one. I have helped omegas. I’ve seen them beaten and raped and murdered. I’ve seen shells of people left over and I’ve seen cops do nothing and I’ve seen omegas handed over like property. You tell me you’re different, but can you blame me for not believing it?”

Something touched her hand and she jumped. Kaidan handed her a napkin and it was only then she realized the wetness that tracked down her cheeks. She used the cloth to wipe away the tears she rarely cried, her face down to hide them.

It shamed her worse than anything else. She’d picked herself up from nothing, built a life, helped others and yet there she was, broken.

And they saw it. That hurt the worst, that these men who had all the power in the world got to see her break down, got to see the scars she carried that never healed.

She pushed the seat back and stood, gaze down, unable to face any of them. “Sorry,” she mumbled, moving away from the table. “I’m sorry. I’m going to go to the bathroom.”

No one spoke as she left, or maybe they did but she couldn’t hear it over the screaming in her own head. Why had she said a word? Why had she told them anything?

The reason was obvious. Whatever she had with them terrified her, and Jackie’s death was opening all those old wounds.

She shut the door to the bathroom behind her and turned the water on to splash her face. A face, blotchy from tears and eyes rimmed in red met her in the mirror, and no matter how much she told herself she didn’t care how to looked to any of those men, it wasn’t true.

Claire’s flushed skin cooled beneath the cold water, but even after she was done, she couldn’t face them, not yet. She parked her ass on the edge of the tub, the water running to hide behind. She dropped her head into her hands and closed her eyes.

Memories of James swamped her. She remembered how he’d grinned when she’d gone into heat, how damned scared she’d been. It had been overwhelming, so much more than she’d ever expected. He’d hardly had to coax her at all, her body doing all the work.

The door opened, but Claire didn’t lift her head. She didn’t care who it was.

A hand stroked through her hair, gentle and sweet.

Kaidan, then? She knew his touch, as distinctive as a voice.

“I’m sorry I ruined dinner,” she whispered.

“You didn’t ruin anything.” The water turned off, then his voice came closer. He’d probably crouched beside her. “We needed to know, to understand. You’re right that alphas can fail to understand what many omegas suffer through.”

Claire lifted her head, wanting to see the truth in his eyes, needing to see that he really did understand. “It’s why I can’t be whatever you want me to be. Even if you’re different, even if all of you are different, I’m not.”

“You spend a lot of time deciding you aren’t what we want without ever asking us. Do you think Bryce wants you because you’re easy? Because you’re convenient? Because, love, you’ve been neither of those things. And do you think Joshua wants you because he’s desperate for a relationship?”

“He seems pretty good with women, so it wouldn’t shock me.”

Kaidan shook his head, but kept eye contact. “Joshua beds a lot of women, but he hasn’t had anything similar to a real relationship in fifteen years. It’s his story to tell, but trust me, you are not what he planned for.”

“And you?”

He rubbed his fingers against her scalp, a gentle stroking that seemed mindless. “I want you very much. I find when I don’t have someone to care for, a piece of me is missing. You don’t make caring for you easy—you don’t always need it, you don’t want it often—but I like that. I’ve been with women, beta and omega, who have taken advantage of that side of me, those who haven’t always treated me well, who have taken and taken and never given. You? You give, and you only take when forced, and I like that.” He leaned in, his forehead to hers. “This isn’t what any of us expected, and it’s scary to each of us in its own way, but I have to believe it’s worth it.”

The closeness helped her smell him, helped her senses ease. She couldn’t deny the bond between them, the way she craved him, the way just his nearness settled her. That alone frightened her. “I can’t stay.”

“You still want to run? Even knowing what we want, even with all our promises, you still want to run from us?”

Not just from them. And would they want her anymore after she’d killed Kieran? Would they want her if they knew what she’d done to escape her first alpha? People wanted omegas who were sweet, not ones who killed alphas.

Still, the gentle tone from Kaidan had her answering. “I have to. When everything’s done, when I finish what I’m doing, I have to go.”

“What are you doing? Tell me, and we’ll work it out.”

Instead of telling him, she stole an almost-there kiss from his lips. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to have to leave, but not yet.”

“I’ll talk you out of it.”

“You won’t be able to.”

“Then we’ll find you. Wherever you run to, we’ll find you.”

If she survived.