The room falls silent again, the weight of the decision pressing down on all of us. What do we tell him? That the woman he's clearly falling for is our scent match? That biology has played yet another trickshot, binding us all to the same person? That we might have just driven away the one woman in the world designed to complete our pack? The missing piece none of us even realized existed until now?
Except Darren. Somehow, he knew. Even through the blockers, he knew what she was to us.
"We tell him everything," Aidan says firmly. "As soon as he comes home. He deserves to know."
I laugh, the sound harsh and humorless. "Great plan, rookie. 'Hey Darren, remember that woman you really like? The one who just walked out because we all acted like complete assholes and will probably never speak to us again? Turns out she's our scent match! Surprise!'"
Aidan's cheeks flush with anger. “He needs to know. Maybe if he understands why we were acting so strange…”
"You think that's going to make it better?" I shake my head in disbelief. “You think learning that his packmates are all biologically wired to want the same woman he's interested in is going to make him feel better about tonight? It'll just piss him off even more, unless we can track her down first to apologize ourselves and fix this.”
"It's the truth," Aidan insists.
"The truth isn't always helpful," I counter. "Sometimes it just makes things worse."
"So what, we lie to him? Hide it?" Aidan's voice rises with each question. "That's your solution?"
"My solution is to not make this night any more of a disaster than it already is." I stand, unable to contain the restless energy building inside me. "At least not until we have a way to fix it."
Aidan opens his mouth to argue, but Jax raises a hand, silencing him. "Zayn has a point," he says reluctantly. "Timing matters here."
"So we say nothing?" Dmitri asks, his expression unreadable.
Jax sighs. "Not nothing. Just... not yet. We need to give Darren some space right now."
"And what about her?" I ask, the question that's been nagging at me since she walked out. "She already has trust issues with packs. After tonight, she probably wants nothing to do with us. And we don't even know where to find her to begin to apologize, assuming she's willing to hear us out."
The thought sends an unexpected pang through my chest. I barely know this woman, spoke maybe ten words to her all night, yet the idea of never seeing her again feels like agony. It's unsettling, this pull toward someone I've just met. Unwelcome, even.
I don't do attachment. Never have. My relationships, if you can call them that, are carefully managed affairs. They're brief, intense, and always on my terms. No complications, no expectations, no messy feelings to interfere with hockey or pack dynamics.
But Lexie... she's different. And not just because of her scent, though God knows that pumpkin spice aroma hit me like a drug the moment I walked into that room. There's something about her, a warmth, an authenticity that cut through my usual defenses before I even realized what was happening.
And now she's gone, driven away by our collective idiocy.
"We need to make it right," Aidan says, determination hardening his features. "With both of them."
"That, we can agree on, rook," I mutter.
"How exactly do you propose we do that?" Dmitri asks.
"We apologize," Aidan says, like it's the simplest thing in the world. "We explain that we were caught off guard, that we didn't mean to make her feel unwelcome."
"Without mentioning the scent match," Jax adds quickly, seeing the protest forming on Aidan's lips. "At least not yet."
"But first, we have to track her down," I remind them. "Easier said than done, because Darren's sure as hell not giving us her number anytime soon."
A hush falls over the room. Jax is the first to break it.
"You could always take his phone again," Aidan taunts. "That worked outsowell the last time."
I clench my jaw, instinct driving me to tell him off, but he's right. I fucked up and I know it.
"One step at a time," Jax says. "When Darren comes to us, when he's ready, we go from there."
It's not a great plan. Not a plan at all, really, but fuck if I have a better one.
My strategy for dealing with things lately clearly hasn't been working. And I'm not quite egotistical enough to think it's going to work any better with Lexie than it has with our omega.
