Page 155 of The Rust in Her Hair

"You need to get home," Nico says as his eyes lock on Owen's bruised face. "Right now. Crispin attacked our beta." There’s a pause and I hear Adrian’s voice rumble on the other end. "I mean he put his fist in Owen's face, Adrian. He’s got a black eye and a bloody nose." There’s another pause, and Nico’s jaw flexes hard. "Yeah, I know. Just get home."

Time seems to stand still as we wait quietly for both alphas to get home, but thankfully, Adrian and Mack make it home in twenty minutes flat.

The front door bangs open as both alphas come through it fast, and for a second the whole house is in motion.

They both go straight to Owen.

Adrian drops to a crouch in front of the couch and takes Owen's face in his hands, turning it toward the light the way Nico did. Mack stands over them, one hand gripping Owen's shoulder, pure rage pouring off him.

"I'm all right," Owen says, for what has to be the tenth time. "I promise. It's just a nose."

"It's not just a nose," Adrian says quietly.

I watch Adrian's hands cradle Owen's jaw, gentle, tilting his face toward the lamp, and something cold and fast rips through me.

Crispin’s hand clamps down on my face, his fingers digging into my cheeks, crushing the inside of my mouth against my teeth. The copper taste. His face. His voice. His hands.

I flinch hard, a full-body jerk as my breath catches in my throat.

"Lyra?" Nico's voice cuts through the memory, and I blink hard.

Cripsin’s ugly face quickly falls away and I'm back in my own living room, surrounded by my pack.

Nico's looking right at me, only at me, and our bond floods with his worry, warm and immediate, reaching for me across the room.

"I'm here," I manage a quick smile. "I'm okay. I just went somewhere for a second."

But they're all looking at me now.

All four of them, their attention swung off Owen's bloodied face and onto me. Heat crawls up my neck, wishing they’d all look away.

Owen's the one who got hurt today. He’s the one with the bruise and bloody nose, and here I am pulling all their attention over a stupid memory.

Even Owen’s looking at me with those soft hazel eyes, like I'm the one who needs tending.

“Come here.” Owen shifts, and reaches for me without a word. His hands close gently around my arm, and pull me into his lap. I go easily, folding into him, and he wraps himself around me and tucks my head beneath his chin.

My face goes straight to the beta’s neck.

I nose along the warm line of his throat until I find the small spot low on his neck where his scent gland sits. It's nowhere near as big as an alpha's, or my own. His is more faint and shallow, but I seek it out anyway, and press my nose right against it.

Immediately, his comforting scent floods me. Lemon and sage, clean and quiet, and my whole body lets go at once. The tremor in my hands stills and the very last of that shitty memory washes back out of me.

I breathe my beta in and sink, boneless, into the safety of his arms.

Adrian’s large, warm hand settles on my back. He caresses me, moving his hand up and down my spine.

"You okay, sweetheart?" he asks softly.

"I'm okay." I don't lift my head from Owen's neck. "I promise."

Owen's arms tighten around me, drawing me in closer, and I feel him press his cheek to the top of my head. He holds me like he can't quite get me close enough, like he needed this every bit as much as I did, and I realize he probably did. He's the one who was assaulted by that piece of shit right in his own office.

So I stay right where I am, and I let him hold on.

"There you go," Owen murmurs into my hair. "I've got you. I'm fine. We're all fine." But I have a feeling he’s not really talking to me.

Nico crosses to the couch and lowers himself down beside Owen. He slides one hand up to the back of the beta’s neck, settling it there, and I feel his attention split, half on Owen, half on me tucked into Owen's other side. Checking us both at once.