Chapter 11

**Weston**


I expected Elise to be scared to see me for the first time. My scars are usually a turn-off for most people and I have to wear a special mask when we do operations so I don't scare the Omegas we rescue.

When we were deployed I had gotten into a hand-to-hand fight with a guy who used a kife of all things. In a gun fight...but he still managed to get me pretty good. I guess when you use a knife as your main weapon you have to have other skills as well. He managed to relieve me of my weapon and I was stuck. One quick and unexpected movement and he was able to slice from my eyebrow down to the bottom of my chin.

Being overseas and not having a specialist to sew me up all nice and pretty, I was left with a very noticeable scar. The guys had me wear a special face mask that only shows my eyes and thankfully it's enough to allow me to continue to help them without causing any problems.

So when Elise looked right at me and her eyes widened in surprise I was expecting her to gasp or scream and take off running, but she didn't. She looked at all of us the same way like she was seeing us for the first time. Which I guess she was, and she didn't seem disappointed by what she saw. Not even with me.

She also didn't seem bothered by the rougher tone of my voice, yet another gift from my time overseas. The others have their own scars but they can be easily hidden with clothing. Ezra covered his gunshot wound with a tattoo as soon as we returned to the states, and Sawyer did the same with the small scars he had. Archer's leg wound was too big to cover with a tattoo and the guy wouldn't go near a tattoo gun if you paid him. The guy has seen some bad shit but needles still make him squirm.

"All finished sweetheart?" Sawyer asks when Elise puts the last bit of food on her plate into her mouth.

I've been watching her carefully to be sure she ate enough. She's skin and bones and if she is going to heal properly she needs to get more fat on her bones. Don't get me wrong, she's the most beautiful girl I have ever seen just as she is but my instincts are screaming at me to take care of her. So seeing her eat a healthy portion of waffles covered in whipped cream has me puffing my chest out with pride. Okay not literally, but inside I'm proud of her.

She nods and wipes her strawberry-stained lips with a napkin and untangles her crossed legs under the table and pushes her chair back. I smirked when I saw her crossing her legs on her chair. It was random but a cute little quirk that I found amusing. It's only because she's so tiny that's she able to pull something like that off, I never could. According to Sawyer, I'm a beast, and as much as I find his comments aggravating sometimes I guess he isn't wrong about this.

I tower over my brothers by at least four inches putting me at six feet seven inches. Apparently, my father had been a really large man as well, and my poor Ma had been a tiny woman like Elise. She would tease me saying she almost broke in half trying to give birth to me. In the end, they had to do a c-section to get me out.

Elise reminds me of her.

Ma died from cancer when I was fourteen. That's when I met these guys. We had all been taken in by an amazing foster family and eventually adopted a year later. Liddy was the only child before we arrived and within a year she had gained four brothers, and we gained our pack. We have been inseparable ever since. We even all enlisted so that we wouldn't be apart from each other. Even Archer who was always looked down on for being too skinny or weak for an Alpha. He proved everyone wrong at boot camp though and earned his stripes as an intelligence operative and a damn good marksman.

He nearly beat out Ezra's scores at long-range sharpshooting.

"Let's find you some sandals or something, and the rest of us will change so we can go," Sawyer says standing and meeting Elise as she moved around the table, taking her hand and leading her upstairs.

The rest of us watch them leave and as they head up the stairs we hear Elise's sweet laugh. Archer smiles at the sound and I feel a warmth in my chest that even after everything she can do at least that.

"There is something odd about her. She should not have been able to heal so quickly." Ezra says turning his attention to us.

"What do you mean?" We didn't know if the vision loss would be permanent, so this is a good thing.

Ezra hums in agreement but he still looks troubled.

"What are you thinking brother?" I ask him.

He shakes his head like he's not sure how to explain, which is new for him.

"I've been hearing rumors that traffickers are experimenting with special drugs for Omegas. It allows them to endure extreme conditions so they survive a long journey without becoming sick or worse. I thought it was just a fantastical idea by some scum we picked up, but now I'm wondering if maybe it's true. We need to get a look at her gunshot wound to be sure, but if that's the case then she is in even more danger. Her blood is proof that these drugs that can basically heal anything are real. The people she ran from will come looking for her, but if someone else finds out they will want her as well." Ezra explains and I cold chill runs through me.

"It's good that we didn't take her to the hospital then," Archer adds.

Ezra nods. "We need to figure out where to go from here."

"We have to keep her with us. What's there to figure out?" Archer asks sounding a little more on edge than he normally is.

"Of course. But we still have our business to run, and contracts to fulfill eventually. We need to figure out what to do with her. Do we keep her existence hidden? Do we tell people she is part of our pack? Does she want to be part of our pack? That would mean going through her heat with her and possibly bonding with her. Are we ready to take that on? Because we weren't...before." Ezra goes on.

A lot of good questions that I hadn't thought of.

"I think she will want to stay. I...hope she will stay. I don't know if I would be able to let her go if she says she wants to leave." Archer admits and I have to agree.

"She belongs with us," I say firmly and Ezra nods in agreement.

"I feel the same but let's hope she does as well. She needs us right now, but there may come a time when she doesn't need us watching over her and she may decide to leave...." Ezra tries to sound reasonable like we would be okay with her up and leaving us like that, but it will be a cold day in hell if she tries.

Maybe I won't tie her down...well not to keep her from leaving anyway...

Sudden images of Elise in another situation tied to my bed flashes in my mind for a brief second but I quickly burry that way down deep. There is no way she would be in the right frame of mind to consider anything like that with me, and I shouldn't even be thinking of that right now.

"Let's focus on today. Get her some things and have Lyla look at her and make sure she's healing okay and then sit her down. We'll ask her straight out and settle this issue right away." Ezra offers and looks at each of us for our agreement or objection.

"Okay. Let's focus on today. I'm going to change." Archer says standing and not sounding too happy.

He disappears up the stairs leaving Ezra and me behind.

"I've never seen him like this. He's more aggressive and already so attached to the girl." Ezra says blowing out a breath and running a hand down his face.

He slumps back into his seat and squeezes his eyes shut.

"Archer is always going all in when he feels strongly about something, he always has you know that. Elise is no different." I remind him.

"Yeah. I have to admit that I don't feel like myself either when it comes to her. She pulls me in and I forget all of our training on how to deal with Omegas. Her scent alone is weakening my defenses. I want her." He admits and I raise a brow at his confession.

Ezra is usually the last one to let his emotions overload his clear head. Even though I have a strong resolve I tend to let my emotions get the better of me, especially my anger.

"Is that so bad brother? What's so wrong with wanting her?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I don't know. It doesn't feel wrong which worries me. We just met this girl and know almost nothing about her other than the little bit she's shared. She obviously has a lot of bad memories of that place she came from. Are we going to be able to help her? We don't exactly have a good track record of dealing with things in a healthy way."

He gives me a pointed look and I scoff at him. "I haven't lost control in a long time brother."

He chuckles. "Yeah but the three bags I've had to replace in the gym over the last month says you've been feeling especially murderous."

He's got me there. That ridiculous Chief of Police was especially infuriating during this Op so as not to slug the guy I found relief through boxing.

Better a few busted bags than a Chief of Police in the hospital.