Page 74 of For All My Effort
That was the best he was going to get, and he knew it.
Just in time, the doorbell rang, the chime spiking my adrenaline. This was it. It felt like I was moving slowly as I scooted off the bed, waiting on Zeke. I would have sworn that my blood felt thicker, struggling to push its way through my veins to all my extremities. Even my ears felt heavy—did blood even go to ears?
All of a sudden, I was in the formal greeting space, and I realized I needed my mates.
“Hannah, what’s wrong?”
I felt my lips part, felt the words on the tip of my tongue, but they disappeared when someone knocked on the door. This was really happening. The alpha that was trying to socially break my designation was about to come into my house and I realized for the first time that I hated that idea.
“Hannah, look at me.” The alpha bark had my brain focusing, every instinct telling me to appease my alpha over everything else. Jackson was cupping my face, his nose so close to mine that I was forced to only see his dark brown irises. “Tell me you can’t handle this, and I’ll send him away.”
I shook my head. I had no idea what was wrong with me, why my emotions were freaking out, but I did know that I didn’t want to send Adam-the-asshole away. Sebastian was right, I wanted to know what Adam had to say.
“I need to get the door, rebel,” Jackson said, “But I’m not leaving you until you calm down. I felt your panic earlier, and your heart is beating too fast for my liking. If you can’t settle your heart rate, I’m taking you to the emergency care.”
“I can’t go outside. It’s too late.”
Jackson growled, the sound doing more to settle me than his words. It was a blatant reminder of how fierce my alpha was. A protector. He wouldn’t let Adam hurt me. I looked at how strong he was, and my heart finally stopped threatening to overwork itself.
I was safe.
My shoulders rolled back, and my chin lifted. No more panic, or fear, or emotional bullshit. I could handle this with my mates. I trusted them.
Jackson stood to his full height, looking down at me with a smirk over his lips. “Atta girl, rebel.”
As soon as he stepped away, my other alphas came in to surround me. Zeke behind me, his arms around my stomach and keeping me pressed against his front. Sebastian and Han on either side of me, so close that my shoulders touched their arms.
I took in a deep breath, and then Jackson opened the door.
Chapter Twenty
Representative Adam came with his pack. Two other alphas, not including his alpha assistant.
They looked completely at home as Jackson settled them onto the guest couch. I watched one of Adam’s packmate’s nose wrinkle slightly, and I wondered if he was overwhelmed with my scent in the house or if he could detect Eve’s scent when she sat there a few weeks ago.
Adam and his pack sat on the couch, the assistant standing behind them looking more like a security guard than an administrator of any kind. All the alphas smelled terrible, like black pepper, salt water, and some kind of strong alcohol.
I curled myself into my mate, attempting to subtly inhale his berry perfume or risk seriously offending Adam’s pack—something I wasn’t completely opposed to doing.
“Here you go.” Seb carried all three drinks from the bar like he was a professional waiter, handing them out directly to the alphas.
I was sitting on the couch opposite our ‘guests’ with Zeke by my side. His body was so close to mine that we were touching at every possible point of contact, the heat from him radiating even through his comfy clothes. With his hand on my thigh, squeezing semi-tightly, he was the designated alpha in charge of ensuring I didn’t act on any potential negative emotions this conversation was most definitely going to bring.
Han was half standing on my other side, leaning against the couch’s arm, his ankles crossed like he was having a leisurely conversation. Jackson was behind me, standing tall, no doubt with his arms crossed because regardless of the fact that he’d been telling me all day I’d need to behave, I knew those same words were haunting him now. Sebastian was the only one sitting slightly away from me, taking up a single seater couch off to the side.
“I guess you’re probably wondering why we’re here,” Adam said. He gave a sort of self-deprecating laugh as if the whole situation was crazy. “Firstly, we figured it was about time that we came and checked in on you all. A member of your pack was severely injured at one of the businesses that I own, and I didn’t want you all to think that we abandon our patrons. Omegas are so important to our society, and even one injured is a gross negligence.”
It was Sebastian that spoke up first, easily taking the lead. “Hannah’s already been cleared by the doctor. We are back to our regularly scheduled programming, thankfully.”
That comment got a few chuckles from Adam’s pack.
One of the alphas whose name I didn’t bother remembering leaned forward, asking, “But the attack, that must have left some emotional scars.”
“Hannah’s head trauma has unfortunately caused her memory to lapse. She doesn’t remember the incident.”
Again, the words came from Sebastian, leading the conversation rather than Jackson. My posh mate had literal training in deciphering and speaking formal ambiguity. It was easy to admit that Seb took conversing with Adam naturally, still, I wondered if Adam took it as an insult that Seb was speaking with him rather than my pack’s first alpha or if Seb’s name was truly that powerful.
“A blessing of sorts,” Adam said, earning nods from his packmates. “I couldn’t imagine how tough it’s been dealing with an omega going through such a traumatic time.”