Chapter 49

Isolde sprinted toward the beach, and we didn’t follow. Our precious Omega needed some time and space. Now that she lived inside us too, we could know. She wasn’t angry with us. She was devastated by her family.

“I’ll watch her,” Vaughn said, heading out into the rain.

I doubted Isolde was going to run straight into the ocean, but it was good to have someone with her.

“Did you know?” Hawk focused on Ellie. “Really?”

She shuddered. “Yes, I knew. But it’s not like she thinks. I wasn’t hiding it from her, it just⁠—”

Cutting herself off, she looked at us with heat. “I need to tell her and not you.”

When she stood, I stood too. “Don’t go after her right now. I know you want to, but don’t. She needs the space.” Then I looked at Warren. “Any issues if we… ?” I let the words hang, my meaning clear.

“Be my guest.”

The four of us moved as one, heading toward the house and the parking lot beyond. It would probably be better if Beau had already driven off the property. But if he hadn’t, we had some words for him.

He was about to get in his car, and he saw us coming. “If you hit me again, I will press charges. I’m already leaving, so fuck off.”

Hawk didn’t fuck off. He shoved Beau back into the car, pinning him in place without hitting him, though I felt every seething breath of how much he wanted to. “Before you drive off and rid the rest of us of your presence, I just need to know one thing.”

“What’s that?” Beau tried to shove him off and got nowhere.

“Why?”

“Why what?” He snarled.

“Why do this?” It was me talking now. “Why humiliate her? Why come after us? Why alienate the man who was once your best friend? Why make your whole life implode for a relationship you already wrecked? You cheated on her the entire time you were together, so you clearly didn’t care about her⁠—”

This time when he shoved Hawk away, he got free. “I loved her,” he roared.

“You don’t cheat on people you love,” Cade spit the words. “Either that, or you have a really shitty definition of love.”

Beau rolled his eyes. “Like a pack of whores doesn’t understand what it means to have needs. I’m sure you’ve fucked plenty of women with impotent partners who still love them and just need a little more. It’s biology, nothing else.”

Absolutely fucking untrue.

“I’m going to hit him if I don’t go inside,” Hawk said, stalking away.

“You know what I think happened?” I said. “After fucking everyone you could find behind Isolde’s back, you found someone who got your dick wet just the way you like it. And you kept her around. But she got needy, and you weren’t willing to lose her. So when she gave you an ultimatum, you gave Isolde one. And she left. And then you realized how much you’d actually lost and what a mistake it was.

“But you still had some good sex and a woman who came from a passable family. Someone to pass the time until you could get Isolde back. And then you realized you’d never get her back, so like the rabid dog you are, you attacked instead of learning your lesson and letting go. You tried to destroy our Omega because if you couldn’t have her, you didn’t want anyone else to either.”

“She was mine LONG before she was yours.” Lightning shattered the sky overhead, followed by the thunder, and I smiled. I hit a nerve. The asshole was like a dog with a toy it didn’t want to share. He was willing to do anything to make his wounded ego feel better, even if every single problem stemmed from him.

The others knew and felt the same.

“Do you have any idea how lucky you were?” Joel asked. “You had people willing to go to bat for you even after you were a dick. Warren was waiting to talk to you out of respect for your friendship, even after he knew most of what you did. And you threw that away because your pride was hurt. Karma really is a glorious bitch, isn’t she?”

Beau moved first. He swung for Joel, but I was already moving. My fist knocked directly into his jaw, hurling him backward into the car like a limp sack of potatoes. Fuck, that felt good. Pummeling him to the ground would feel even better, but I needed to resist that.

“I dare you to press charges when you swung first,” I told him. The rain dissolved the blood on his lip where I’d split it. If looks could kill, we’d all be dead a hundred times over.

“This is the only time I’ll say this.” Cade stepped forward, back straight, every bit of Dom power he had on full display. “If you contact Isolde again. If you let her see you. If you do anything to even make her think about you, we’ll be there to put your ass in the ground. You claim we’re so much lower than you? Maybe we are. But remember that those of us who play in the dirt know how to dig. And six feet isn’t that far. Understood?”

The coward said nothing, instead getting into his car and nearly burning the tires on his way out of the gravel drive. I clapped Cade on the shoulder. “Good job.”

“I would have rather had the hit. A little jealous of that.”

“Definitely worth the bruise.”

Through the bonds in our chests, we all shuddered. The pain Isolde felt, the agony and betrayal… it nearly sent me to my knees. But we couldn’t go to her yet. This was something she needed to bear alone. Not yet, but soon. The second we felt the tide turn, we would be there.

Just inside the entry, Henry stood waiting. From the look on his face, he’d seen everything that just happened between us and Beau. Right now, I didn’t want to look at him either. He’d hurt Isolde, and that meant he needed to stand far the fuck away from me.

Isolde’s father sighed and slid his hands into the pockets of his suit. “I guess we need to talk.”

“Actually we don’t,” Cade said.

“Five minutes. No more than that. Let me explain. Then you can think of me what you will.”

I grit my teeth. Listening to anyone justify their behavior when Isolde felt like this was the last thing on my to-do list right now. But Joel stepped forward, eyes hard.

“You have five minutes. Start talking.”