Talons

Chapter 108: The Uncomfortable

Carter's POV

Awkward cannot even begin to describe the mood in the car. B is literally pressed against the door so tightly that I'm glad I engaged the child safety locks on her side.

She looks like she is about to jump out of the vehicle, and I'm sure it has something to do with her giant mate silently staring at her.

I don't know what Colt was thinking, but at six foot eight, he hasn't been able to comfortably sit in the backseat of any car for a long time.

Right now, he looks like a scowling demon as he tries his best to fit in the space, but he's failing, and I'm struggling not to laugh at him.

He keeps moving his body in different angles, but all the while his eyes have never left his mate's form. I'm not sure what the girl did but after a while, his jaw relaxed, and I could swear he was salivating.

"Colt, bro; you're drooling." My alpha's eyes snap to the rearview mirror where I wink at him. "You need to give her a little space. Look at how scared she is."

"That's impossible back here," Colt links in response. "I feel like a canned biscuit."

I chuckle, and now, Mandy knows Colt and I are mind-linking. She is glaring at me, but I reassure her by intertwining my free hand with hers.

She didn’t want to leave B in the back with Colt, but they are fated mates, and he is our alpha, so we didn’t have a choice.

I watch Colt shift in his seat, trying to scoot a little closer to his mate and I truly feel for him. Mandy and I didn’t have to go through what he is going through because we woke up fully marked and mated.

To date, we still don’t know how it happened, but I do remember how much it hurt knowing that she didn’t want me. The pain is unforgettable just like the look on her face when she caught me in a closet with another girl.

Mandy told me that getting over that memory was by far the hardest thing about accepting me as her mate, but for Colt, he has years’ worth of incidents that span from verbal to physical abuse, not to mention whatever happened today.

I always knew he had something to do with the time B went missing at her sisters’ party, but I had no proof, and I was too afraid to ask him.

It was Mandy who told me what he did, and while I know what he said to the girl was one of the lines he used with women all the time, for B, that was a threat.

He has his work cut out for him, and what he's doing right now is not helping the situation at all.

“What should I do?” Colt mind-links. “She’s starting to shake.”

“Move away,” I advise. “She isn’t ready, just give her time.”

Colton’s POV

Carter is right, I need to give my mate space and time, but I don’t know how much I can give. 

The way Rhea is pressed against the door has caused the bottom of her dress to rise in the most tantalizing way, and I’m struggling not to reach out and touch her thigh.

I feel like I’m about to go insane, so taking Carter’s advice, I pull away and lean on the opposite door. Being so close to Rhea and not being able to touch her is physical torture, but I brought this upon myself.

As soon as we get back to pack territory, I jump out of the car and rush to my office. My head is pounding, but more importantly, I need to find out from Trey what he smelled coming off my mate. 

He is the only unmated male that I won’t kill for answering me honestly, and that's solely because I know that he respects the bond.

“What’s going on? Is something wrong with the luna?” I chuckle at Trey’s reaction, but I kind of feel bad for linking him with a command that sounded urgent. I mean, it’s important to me, but no one is hurt.

“Rhea is fine.” Trey makes a confused face, and realizing that I never told him who ‘Rhea’ is, I start to explain.

“Then where the hell did B come from?” He asks, but the answer dawns on him without my input. “You know, this whole time I thought her name was actually B, but spelled B-E-A?” I don’t respond to my gamma, because at least he had a theory of what her name was, I hadn’t a clue.

“That is not why I called you here, I want to know what my mate smells like to you.” Trey stiffens, and I can tell he thinks I’m asking him a trick question.

“Alpha, I can admit that I looked, but you have to know that I would never-”

“Relax man. We ran into Jamal at the mall. He said something about my mate's scent, and I wanted to ask someone who wouldn’t lie to me.”

“And you won't attack me?” I can’t make that promise and Trey knows it, so I ask him to phrase his words respectfully.

Instead, the i***t pulls out his phone and my own device begins to buzz with a notification.

[She smells inviting.] He sent. I look up at my gamma, who just shrugs.

“Can you be a little more specific?” I ask. “Inviting can just mean you want to give her a hug.” My gamma raises both his eyebrows and I know his mind just went somewhere it shouldn't have. I pick something up and throw it at him.

“Ouch, sorry, sorry. You put the image in my mind.”

“Trey…” I growl. “Answer the question and get out before I kill you.”

“Fine,” he says, walking toward the door as his fingers furiously move against the screen on his phone.

I read the text that came in and make a dash toward the exit. Trey had already bolted out of the door and shut it behind him, so when I swung it open, he was gone. However, my brother is staring down the hall, likely confused by what he just witnessed. 

Dolton's presence without Miracle successfully distracts me enough not to go after Trey and I force myself to relax.

“What the hell was that about?” my brother questions, and after fully reeling in my anger, I explain it to him. “You asked for that,” he replies. “You should have just let him off with ‘inviting.’”

Rhea’s POV

The Packhouse becomes busy as my cousins, Carter, and I are bringing my purchases up to my room. Colton left without helping and I’m guessing it's because he is an alpha.

I don’t mind it though; it gives me time to wind down and relax after he made me feel so uncomfortable in the car.

With the last of my things being brought up by Carter, I end up following Mandy to pick up Carly. 

There are a lot of men on our way to the childcare facility where Holly brought the baby to play and some of them are giving me the creeps.

"Why is everyone staring at me?"

"You are an unmarked attractive female; why wouldn't they stare?" I understand what Mandy means, but at the same time I don’t.

When I was in Puerto Rico I experienced similar behavior from men, but not as extreme as what’s happening now. I find myself clinging to Mandy because I’m genuinely afraid, and my mind is telling me that Colton has already made the arrangements to ‘give me away.’

Mandy’s POV

I wasn’t paying attention to the men around us because truthfully, I only have eyes for Carter, but once B pointed them out, I became nervous. They aren’t doing anything, but they are staring at her as if they want to commit her image to memory.

Some of the mated men in the area were also noticing the behavior, and before I know it, I’m linking Colt and Carter for help. Nothing has happened, in fact no one has done anything, but B is worried, and now, so am I.

We get to Carly, and my daughter pulls my mind from what’s outside, but only for a short while. I link Holly and she spouts out a lie about wanting to introduce B to some of the children in our pack. 

My cousin loves babies and kids, so she is immediately immersed in her task, and since the nannies are all older omegas, I’m not worried about someone saying something that will make her cry again.

After a while, Carly starts demanding ‘wice’ and B starts complaining of hunger too. Seeing no other choice, we leave the daycare, and I’m absolutely taken aback by what I see.

There are a ton of men, flexing, doing pushups, and other random exercises. Holly and I can’t help it; we burst into laughter at the poor idiots who are doing their best to impress a woman who only sees them as a threat.

Rhea’s POV

I step out of the daycare promising myself I would visit again, and when I look up, there are males everywhere. It must be time for them to spar or train, so I shrug it off and continue walking. 

Holly and Mandy are dying of laughter, leaving Carly and I out of their mind-link conversation. I start to ask, but I’m interrupted by a shirtless male who stands so close to me that even Carly had to withdraw her head.

“Hey,” he says, and I raise a brow at him, holding my little cousin a little toward my back, just in case. “Are you new?”

“I’m visiting,” I reply, and I try to step around the man, but another man intercepts me. 

“Ignore him. He thinks all women are swayed by his chest.” The second man extends his hand to me, and I feel like it's some sort of a trap. “Not much of a hand shaker?” I nod my head and glance over at Holly and Mandy who are still giggling. 

I don’t understand why they aren’t taking this more seriously. They are ranked pack members, but I’m just a visiting rogue.

“Look, this is going to come off very forward, but I’ll be twenty-two soon, and you aren’t marked, so I was wondering…” My eyes go wide with the male’s boldness, and I now realize what's going on. 

This also happened when my cousins came for the first time. Men who were close to twenty-three and single quite literally proposed to them. I’m guessing it's their instinct.

“Back off bro, you don’t even know her name.”

“And you do?”