Page 16 of Accidentally Forever

My jaw locks. “I’m handling it.” I have one plan and it’s the only one I don’t hate. There’s a small business at the very edge of the city, a rent-an-Alpha service that will give us a room and an Alpha vetted. They’ll even let me stay in the room as Sofie’s emergency contact. It’s the best solution out of a multitude of solutions.

Silence stretches between us as his gaze drops back down to Sofie in his arms. It feels like he’s considering my words until Sofie lets out a soft sound against his chest, barely more than a breath, and Lance’s fingers tighten against her hip. His throat moves as he swallows, his lips parting slightly like he wants to say something, like he’s about to push harder.

Hope lingers in his eyes. The kind that makes my stomach twist. The kind that looks like he wants me to say something else, to let him stay, to let this be something more. Maybe it would be easier. Maybe giving in would make things simpler, letting someone else shoulder this for a little while, letting someone else be the one to carry Sofie through this instead of trying to do it all myself. And if this wasn’t her heat, I would have that conversation with Lance, with the whole pack. But not with this.

I shake my head, keeping my voice even, forcing the tightness in my throat down. “Involving you, even just for tonight, is dangerous.”

Lance’s jaw tics, his grip flexing, his body stiffening in a way that tells me he doesn’t like my answer.

Before he can argue, I press on, letting the words settle between us. “You have a reputation to uphold, a certain image and I know for a fact that it’s pretty taboo for a member of a pack to help an unmated Omega with her heat.”

His lips press together, his fingers stilling against Sofie’s waist, but he doesn’t say anything because he knows I’m right. Even if I let him in, even if I let him help tonight, it wouldn’t end here. With Lance as her mate, he’s going to want to claim her, maybe Hawk too. But what about Puma and Gray? Do they even want an Omega? The little bit I read from that magazine told me that they’ve been without an Omega for years. They haven’t been searching either.

And yet, the idea of Lance being part of this—the rest of them being people I can turn to, doesn’t sit wrong in my chest. I think that’s what truly makes my stomach knot. The thought that I don’t hate the idea of a pack.

A broken sigh falls from my lips as I move to sit beside Lance, hoping that his brief claim on her won’t keep me from touching her. I’ve read up enough about Alphas and what they deem their territory to know never to reach in between an Alpha and their Omega during a heat. This is only a spike but it doesn’t change that they’re mates and that Lance’s instincts might view me as a threat.

Hesitantly, I reach forward, Lance watching the movement as I caress Sofie’s cheek. Her lids fly open, a whimper tearing from her throat as she moves from his lap to mine. The obscene amount of slick and cum that coats Lance’s pants as his knot comes free is an overwhelming, enticing scent. Sofie curls into my arms as if she hadn’t just needed the Alpha beside us.

“I didn’t like it when you left,” she mumbles, falling asleep almost instantly.

Lance slowly puts himself back into his pants, although it won’t do much for the fact that he looks like the front of his pants went for a swim. “Why did you leave, Violet? You didn’t have to.”

“Knowing that I’m not enough for my Omega kills me. Watching her curl into you and find the relief that I can’t give her is impossible to watch. I’m not enough, Lance. I’m not sure why I thought I would be.”

I tighten my arms around her, pressing a kiss to her head as I try to figure out how I’m going to make it to the car without everyone staring at us. Lance stands, gesturing to the door. “What’s the plan?”

“Dropping her off in the car while I finish up here. I can be done within the hour as she sleeps. God, your pants. What areyougoing to do?”

He laughs, a deep, dark sound that settles in the pit of my belly. “Follow you out that back door we’re not supposed to know about and grab a change of clothes from the car. What? I know a few things.” He heads toward the door and opens it, peeking out before gesturing to me to follow him. Then he leads me to Xavier’s office, a room I’ve only been in a few times. I avoid it like the plague but Lance pushes inside like he owns the goddamn place, pointing to a door at the far end. “The parking lot will be off to the side. If you need something else, let me know, okay?”

I nod, my words caught in my throat as he steps outside. I follow, heading straight for my pitiful little car, hoping that Sofie can hold on just a little longer.

Chapter eleven

VIOLET

I help Sofie strip out of her dress and her panties, throwing her the extra shirt and shorts I keep stocked in the car. I have to help her into those, Sofie trembling against me as she then climbs under the blankets on the backseat. I brush damp strands of hair from her face, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead as she curls up in the backseat. “I’ll be out in an hour, tops. Just rest, okay?”

She nods weakly, but her eyes don’t open all the way, like even that small movement is too much. The way she shudders, the way her fingers twitch against the blanket, makes something deep in my chest twist.

The car door clicks shut louder than I mean it to, my fingers lingering on the handle for half a second longer than necessary before I lock it. One last glance at her, tucked into herself like a wounded animal, before I force my legs to move, turning back toward the gallery.

Of course, the moment I step back into the event, my luck ends.

“I don’t pay you to disappear whenever the fuck you feel like it.” Xavier’s voice cuts through what little calm I had left. “This is a showing, Violet. A busy one. Get your ass back into the crowd and make sure the tables stay clean and stocked.”

It takes everything in me not to turn and rip into him, to let the violence simmering just beneath my skin break free. My fingers twitch at my sides, nails biting into my palms, but I force my face into something neutral, something he can’t sink his teeth into, something I won’t regret later. “I’ll be in and out,” I say, voice smooth despite the fury burning in my gut. “I just needed a minute.”

Xavier scoffs, stepping closer, crowding into my space like he thinks he’s intimidating. “You’re already on thin ice,” he sneers. “Don’t fucking test me.”

My teeth sink into the inside of my cheek so hard I taste blood. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. I just turn, shoving my way toward the main event before the temptation to swing at him takes over completely. God, my luck just keeps getting worse—Lance waiting a few feet away.

His body tenses the second he sees me, brows furrowed, concern bleeding into his voice. “Is Sofie okay?”

My jaw clenches, the words sticking in my throat. I don’t have the energy for this. Not when my hands are still shaking, not when my head is a mess, not when every second that passes is another second Sofie is suffering in the car alone. “She’s fine,” I grit out. I’m thankful to Lance but I also don’t want to cause a scene. Without this job, I’ll have to start over and as much as I despise Xavier, he pays more than the grocery store across from our apartment.

Hawk is with him this time, standing slightly behind him, his gaze scanning me like he’s looking for cracks, like he can see something I don’t want him to. I don’t like the way he’s watching me, the way his attention lingers a little too long. “What’s going on?” he asks. “This have anything to do with the fact that my brother came in with a new set of clothes?” His nostrils are flared, no doubt reacting to Sofie’s scent.

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