Page 4 of What We Don't Say: Part One

Her breath catches as she stares down at the mug like it might tell her how to answer. I take it from her carefully, setting it in the drying rack before I take the sponge too. Then I brace myhands on the counter on either side of her, holding her there with my body without making it a trap. I want her to feel the weight of me, the solid, unmoving truth of me. I want my scent to cover the polished edge Garrett’s words always leave in the room.

She doesn’t turn around at first.

“That isn’t fair,” she whispers, slowly leaning back against my chest. Her entire body seems to relax as I wrap one arm around her waist, my lips dipping to the bite on her shoulder. She lets out a small gasp, completely giving in. “I want this, Alpha. So much. I really do.” Her shoulders loosen just enough for me to feel it. “I’m not trying to be awful about him. Theo seems sweet. His profile is…” She stops, and when she breathes again, the sound is shaky. “I really do like him.”

I hum against her skin. “I know you do.”

“That’s what makes it worse.” Her fingers curl against the counter. “I can see him here. I can see myself wanting him to be comfortable. I can see all of it, and then Garrett says something like dependable and suddenly I’m not part of the wanting anymore. I’m just the person who gets things ready.”

I look toward the hallway and feel my temper pull hard against my ribs. Callie stiffens against me before I have moved, so I keep my arms around her and let the anger stay where it is.

“You can want him and still be scared, baby,” I say against her skin. “I saw your face when he was talking. We both know he’s harsh with his words but I hate how they make you feel. I’ll talk to him okay? You’re not here to just make room for Theo. You’re going to be his and he’s going to be yours. We’re apack,remember.”

Her shoulders shake once, barely. “I don’t think he’ll take my place,” she says. “That’s the thing. I don’t even know him, and I already don’t think he’d do that.”

I turn her gently, waiting for her body to agree before I move her fully. When she faces me, her eyes are glazed over with unshed tears, her mouth pressed into a line she probably thinks looks composed.

“What scares me is that no one has to take it,” she says, and the words come slowly now. “Sometimes people just give it away because that’s what makes sense. Because he’s the Omega. Because I’m good at helping. Because I don’t make a fuss. Because I say I’m fine, and everyone believes me because believing me is easier.”

The words hit harder than I’m ready for. I cup her face, thumbs brushing the warm skin beneath her eyes. “Then I stop believing you when you say it like that.”

Her breath catches again.

“I don’t mean I ignore you,” I say, because I can see the flicker in her eyes. “I mean I pay attention. I ask again. I don’t let a careful smile do the work your mouth’s too scared to do. That’s on me, Callie. Not just you.”

“Sloane.”

“No.” My voice comes out rougher than I mean it to, so I make myself soften before I go on. “Listen to me. I remember all those nights you woke up in a panic because you thought I’d leave. I remember helping you put what they did into court documents. Baby, I’m not letting that happen again.” I lean in until my forehead rests against hers. “You’re not earning your place by making one for him.”

Her hands come up slowly, fingers curling into my shirt. For a second, she just breathes against me, and I let her.

“I know Garrett probably didn’t mean it like that,” she whispers, but there’s no strength in it.

I don’t answer right away, because that’s the part I don’t know how to hold. Garrett would say he didn’t mean it like that. He’d say he was complimenting her. He’d say he trusts her. He’d saysomeone has to think practically about integrating a vulnerable Omega into an established pack, and Calliope is steady enough to help. He’d make it sound reasonable because he’s good at making everything sound reasonable.

But I felt her flinch.

The worst part is that I’ve seen them together in the quiet moments, when Callie climbs into his lap and lets him hold her. Even if he isn’t her Alpha in everything, she’s still his Beta.

“I’m not asking you to trust Garrett’s wording,” I say. “I’m asking you to trust me. And if my words ever stop matching what I do, you call me on it. If this house starts making you feel small, you tell me. If you can’t tell me, you tell Idris. If you can’t get the words out, you grab my hand and put it right here.”

I take her hand and press it flat over the center of my chest.

Her fingers flex against me.

“I’ll listen,” I tell her. “I swear to God, Callie, I’ll listen. Whatever that means—if we have to say no to the Omega. If it means I pick up and follow you somewhere…”

A tear slips before she can stop it. I catch it with my thumb, anger and love knotting so tight in my ribs I can barely breathe around them.

“You’d really leave?” she asks. “If I couldn’t do this?”

“In a heartbeat.” I tug her a little closer. “But I don’t want you thinking your only choices are stay and disappear or run and lose everything.” I slide my hands down to her waist, pulling her even closer until her body fits against mine. “We’re not there. We’re in our kitchen after lunch, talking about an Omega with a nice profile and probably very specific blanket opinions.”

That gets the smallest laugh out of her. “I do want this,” she says again, like she needs me to believe that part most of all.

“I know.” I brush my thumb along her waist, slow and steady. “You’ve been imagining him here since Garrett set the card down yesterday. In the sunroom. In the reading nook. Sitting with youwhile you grade because he doesn’t want to be alone but doesn’t want the whole house looking at him either. Your scent goes all sweet when your eyes lose focus and then my mind fills with fantasies I can only hope play out at some point.”

Her face heats a little, a smile spreading across her face that tells me she’s thought about it too.