Page 35 of Power Shift

To my surprise, he doesn’t try to lose me the entire way home. I keep my distance to not crowd him when he pulls into the driveway behind Landon’s missing SUV. The garage door doesn’t open for us. I realize why the moment I come to a stop behind his bike.

Ronan doesn’t plan on wasting time pulling in around the other vehicles in the garage. Barely waiting for his engine to stop running, he kicks his stand down and hops off the bike, leaving it on the driveway. The black helmet is off in a flash before he’s slamming it onto his seat and storming up to the front door.

I park my car and scramble out the door, running after him.

“Hey, calm down, Ro. Maybe tonight isn’t the right time to talk to him about this,” I suggest.

He ignores me.

“Landon isn’t ever going to change his mind on an omega if you come in this hot. Think on it first. Maybe she’s not?—”

My packmate stops so suddenly I nearly plow face-first into his back. When he whips around to look at me, his snarl makes me glad I didn’t make contact.

“Time won’t change who she is. Not to me and not to you.”

“She’s not my scent match, Ronan.”

“You’re not stupid. Don’t act like it.”

I clear my throat to hide a wince. “She’s not. I’d have been able to tell.”

“Maybe you couldn’t tell because the only person you could think about was Landon,” he spits before leaving me there.

I don’t make it three steps after him when the front door opens and Jasper steps outside. There’s a smudge of what I hope is dirt from his temple to the edge of his jaw as he comes face to face with a pissed-off Ronan.

Dread pools in my gut. They’re so close, and Ronan might as well be wearing the omega’s slick on his skin with how strong her scent is on him. It’s left a trail down from the driveway to the house. One whiff will be all it takes for Jasper to lose his mind if she’s?—

Ronan tears past him, shoving his way into the house and out of view. I jog after him and pass through the doorway without Jasper blocking the way.

“Where’s Landon?” Ronan grits out.

Jasper is at his side now, unmoving. I hold my breath, mentally preparing for the shit storm that’s brewing as he grips Ronan’s shoulder and fists his shirt to haul him closer.

“What is that?” he groans, a stuttered, rough purr kicking up in his chest.

Ronan lets him paw at his clothes, their height similar enough that they’re nearly nose to nose. I inch toward them, trying to keep my steps as silent as possible. While we do getclasses on omegas in school, we’re not exactly taught how to handle shit like this. I assume interrupting them right now isn’t the best course of action.

There’s a wildness to Jasper now as Ronan tilts his head and bares his neck, welcoming our packmate to get more of the omega’s scent into his lungs.

“It’s what you think it is,” he grunts.

His pissed-off stare finds me over Jasper’s shoulder, attempting to pin me into place. I don’t stop moving.

“Where is she, Ro?” Jasper asks, curling his fingers into his shoulder while he attempts to pull himself away. It doesn’t work. “Whois she, and why isn’t she here?”

His voice is weak, the words spoken with a plea that cuts clean through me. He’s never hidden his desperation to find an omega, but now, hearing him like this, it’s painful to not be able to hand him what he wants. It makes me feel like I made a mistake not allowing Ronan to bundle her up and haul her back with us.

“Ask Dash,” Ro grunts, standing stiff as a board.

Jasper whips around, and fuck me, the emotion written all over him nearly undoes me. His scent spikes, filling the living room with the comfort of warm, fresh laundry. The most sensitive alpha I’ve ever met stares at me with a hope so intense he must be able to taste it and waits for me to speak. Suddenly, it’s the last thing I want to do.

“Tell me she’s outside waiting,” he murmurs.

Fighting back a wince, I say, “She’s not.”

Ronan growls. “She’s alone instead. All by herself in the same building my family lives in.”

“Why? She belongs here with us,” Jasper croaks, a hand shaking as he lifts it to push his dirty-blond hair back. His laundry scent shifts, the sharp bite of leather drowning it out.“Let’s go get her. Bring her to the pack house so we can all meet. Why didn’t you do that in the first place?”

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