“No, you’re not,” Arlo agreed. “Not some sort of home. Someone’s home, and it’ll be your home, too.”
Kenna exchanged a look with Dylan and Eric. Arlo felt a whisper of their telepathic conversation against the edge of his own consciousness.
“Might have been easier if you told us all this earlier,” Harrison pointed out calmly.
Arlo nodded. If they’d known when the Sweets were still here—
His ribs tightened, so hard and so quickly pain shot through his chest. If I hadn’t blown up over Eric, if I’d known that he was just a kid like the others, if I hadn’t let my mouth run and driven Jacqueline off…
Then the kids would be safe in their new home with the Sweets, and Jacqueline would still be here.
Arlo’s wolf whined, and he frowned. Something about that picture still didn’t fit.
“Harrison’s right,” he said, making sure to keep his own confusion out of his voice. “If we’d known sooner Eric wasn’t old enough to be your guardian, we could have planned things a bit better.”
“Well maybe we had our own plans!” Kenna blurted out. She slapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide, and then let them from. Her head dropped. “Not that that matters, now…”
Arlo shook his head, confused, until he caught the edge of another silent conversation between Kenna and Eric.
*…him and Jacqueline…*
Arlo stepped away. He didn’t want to hear any more, and he didn’t want the kids to see his face.
He’d hurt the one woman he was meant to protect with his life. Hurt her so badly she couldn’t bear the sight of him. And he didn’t even know how.
He closed his eyes. Now that he wasn’t worked up over the bogeyman failed-alpha Eric he’d built up in his head out of nothing, maybe he could see beyond his own frustration. Ma Sweets had been talking about pack. That was what had set him off, and—
God. That’s what had set Jacqueline off, as well.
Snippets of images and conversations clicked together in his mind. The picture they formed made his heart ache.
Jacqueline’s failed marriage. The sliver of ice in her voice when she said there was no one waiting at home for her. The way she’d talked around the fact her ex had gotten another woman pregnant, and what that meant.
And he’d told her the one thing he’d always wanted most in the world was a pack of his own.
Christ. How could I be so blind?
“I have to go,” he announced. Everyone’s attention was instantly on him. A flicker of satisfaction passed across Harrison’s face.
“Keys?” Harrison tossed them over and Arlo caught them without looking. He had already turned to the kids.
He met each of their eyes in turn, and couldn’t tell whether the anxious anticipation shivering across his skin was his, or theirs.
“Wait here,” he told them. “I’ve got to fix something. And then I’ll be back.”
He swallowed. He could tell they wanted him to say more—but he couldn’t. He wasn’t going to make any promises he couldn’t keep.
“Harrison, Lainie, can you look after them? I don’t know how long—”
“As long as you need,” Harrison said firmly, and Lainie nodded, taking his hand.
Arlo couldn’t speak. His whole being was wound tight with the need to go, to fix what he’d broken. If he could. God, he hoped he could.
The Land Rover’s engine roared and he drove off to find the other half of his heart.
19
Jacqueline