12. Sabs
TWELVE
Sabs
The tension is so high in the car that the air seems to possess a new heaviness.
Orin is behind the wheel, me and Adler in the back.
Usually after spending a night with a guy, I’m a “hook-up and run” kind of girl, so this is new.
However, Adler stroking my thigh, always remaining in contact with me, quashes my uneasiness.
I practically melt at his slightest touch, leaning against him to breathe in his scent because I seem to need it as much as oxygen.
“I’m sorry for leaving earlier.” I strap on my big girl pants to address what everyone is probably thinking about head-on. “I freaked out, so I just… ran.”
“It’s okay.” Despite his words, I feel how hurt he is. “This whole bonding thing is… a lot.” A pause stretches on. “Did you climb the gate?”
“Yeah.” I cringe inwardly. “Probably not my finest moment, but I didn’t know the stupid code to get out.”
“It’s a tall fence.” Disbelief creeps into Orin’s tone.
“So?” I arch an eyebrow, catching his gaze in the rearview mirror.
“I’m the best tree climber in my family, and I’m not afraid of heights.
” I look down at my nails, sighing in disappointment when I see my glittery pink gel polish is chipped.
I have to keep them short for volleyball, but I still like them looking cute. “But I did chip a nail.”
“You don’t blink at scaling a fence, but you’re sad about breaking a nail.” Orin taps his fingers on the steering wheel, his eyebrows knitting together. “Interesting.”
“How are you feeling?” Adler shuffles even closer, sandwiching his leg against mine. It’s like he can’t bear to be more than a few inches away from me at all times. A feeling I completely understand as I cling to him tighter.
“Better,” I shrug. “A bit hungry, and…” I instantly salivate, looking down at the cheesecake taunting me from my lap. “Holding this bad boy isn’t helping.”
“We’re almost there.” Adler nuzzles into my hair. “Then you can eat all the cheesecake you’d like.”
I see the familiar gates approach and swallow hard as they open.
“You don’t have to worry about anything.
” Presumably, Adler senses my nerves. Fuck, I knew that bonding involved sharing emotions, but where’s the privacy?
Faye and Delilah never mentioned this to me, but I guess it was different for them.
They chose to bond with their alphas. For me, a stranger has basically got an all-access pass into my head, which is irritating considering I prefer to hide my feelings.
“I’m not worried,” I lie.
Obviously, I’m not fooling Adler, but he doesn’t say anything. Hopefully, at least Orin is tricked into thinking that I’m not intimidated by him or my new living situation.
When we stop, Orin swiftly jumps out. He moves around to open my door, but I get there first.
“I can open the door for myself, thanks.” I stifle a smirk, stepping out with zero help from him. “If you think chivalry is going to get you a slice of cheesecake, you’re wrong.”
He chuckles, my skin heating as his eyes skim down my body. “You are very protective of that cheesecake.”
I stand my ground. “You would be too, if you’d tried it.”
Talking about cheesecake seems ridiculous given our current predicament, but being a cheesecake bodyguard is giving me a sense of purpose right now.
“Let’s go inside and help you feel at home.” Adler cuts through my and Orin’s standoff. “Luca has been working on the nest.”
“Great.”
I should be grateful, but I’m not, and I don’t bother hiding it in my tone. Although it’s a sweet gesture, a nest is deeply personal. How can someone who doesn’t know me possibly create a space that I’ll feel comfortable in?
My idea of a perfect nest would be far too chaotic to appear in an issue of Nest Weekly—the world’s most famous nest design magazine, which people often look to for nest inspiration.
While Kady loves calming quality fabric, Faye favors twinkling lights, and Delilah likes warm colors, I prefer my nest to be bright and bold.
When Mom bought me nest supply catalogs, I’d get bored looking through them, complaining that everything was too dull.
Thankfully, Nora’s Nesting Nook has been my savior since coming to college.
It’s the first store I’ve been to that actually caters to all omega preferences in one place, saving me from having to shop around.
“My home is your home now,” Adler continues, pulling my mind away from thinking about pillows. “We’ll carry your bags for you.”
Usually, I’d tell him that I can lift as much as he can, thank you very much. But I’m still feeling a little wobbly, so I’ll sit this one out just this once.
“There is something else you should know before you go inside—” Orin begins, but I’m already pacing toward the door.
As soon as I enter, all the air escapes my lungs in one sharp inhale, like a balloon popping. My fake confidence instantly evaporates at the sight of the familiar figure leaning against the weird fox statue, looking surprisingly at home.
“Drax?” I blink twice to make sure I’m not imagining him. Nope. He’s definitely still there. He looks more disheveled than when I last saw him; his clothes are rumpled, and he’s sporting a fresh black eye.
His gaze flits to my neck in blatant disapproval. “It’s true then.” His voice is cold and glacial. “You bonded.”
“Drax...” I don’t know where to start. “It’s not what you… I…” Before I blurt out an explanation, I have questions of my own. “Hang on, what are you even doing here?” The last I heard, he lived in beta housing on the other side of campus.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you before you took off.” Orin’s smug voice comes from behind me. “Drax is going to be staying with us for a while.”
“Staying?” My jaw drops. “Here?” A rush of fury scurries under my skin, but it’s not coming from me.
“It wasn’t my decision,” Adler mutters under his breath, coming to a stop at my side again with my suitcases at his feet.
Based on the way Drax is glaring back at him, the dislike is mutual.
“But why?” I tilt my head to the side. “I don’t understand—”
“We have our reasons,” Orin replies. He’s fast becoming a mysterious, yet very hot, pain in my ass. “Plus, a familiar face will be good for you to have around. It’ll make you feel more at home.”
A familiar face, yes. But Drax is more than a familiar face. After how we ended things on the beach, I’m surprised he even wants to be in the same room as me, let alone living in the same house as me and the alpha I just bonded with.
“Are you okay with this? If you want to go, I’d understand,” I ask Drax. “After yesterday…”
Confusion ebbs from Adler, but I push that aside. I’m not about to unpack my complex relationship with Drax in front of an audience.
“Orin thinks it’ll be good for you if I stick around.
” Drax’s tone lacks its usual warmth, making my heart sink, but what did I expect?
He wasn’t going to bring out a bonding cake with candles and throw a party.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with…” He looks at my bite mark again, nose wrinkling like I’ve grown a repulsive zit the size of Jupiter.
“I thought you were holding out for a scent match.”
“Who says we’re not scent matches?” Adler pipes up.
“You just met her.” Drax glares at him. “What are the chances of that?”
“No one has ever smelled as good to me as Sabs,” Adler rumbles. “Maybe that explains why we couldn’t control our natural impulses?”
“Spare me the sordid details,” Drax sneers. “If you need me, I’ll be upstairs.”
He storms away, almost knocking over the man who bundles out of the next room, presumably the final member of Adler’s pack. His scent hits me like a breath of fresh air, replacing Drax’s negative energy with woodsy, pineapple notes.
“Drax is staying in the spare room,” the alpha tells Adler.
“That’s not a spare room!” Adler throws up his hands. “That’s my trophy room.”
Shock has my eyes bulging. “You have a trophy room?”
Being surrounded by Adler’s medals is not going to help his and Drax’s relationship.
“Well, I needed somewhere to keep them,” Adler says. “There wasn’t space in my bedroom.”
“Why?” I quirk up an eyebrow. “Because your ego is so big?”
“I see what you mean, Adler.” The new arrival laughs—a hearty belly laugh that vibrates right through me.
Delilah is usually the one who talks about energy when meeting new people, but at this moment, I get it.
Already, I like him. “She’s definitely not a puck bunny.
” He has a gentle voice, but I suspect that he’s hiding a wilder side.
What do they say about it always being the quiet ones to watch out for?
He grins at me, holding out his hand. “It’s about time Adler met a woman who wasn’t afraid to put him in his place. I’m Luca.”
“Sabs.” My fingers close around his. His palm is toasty, and he holds on for a little too long, making Adler antsy. “It’s great to meet you.”
Fuck, he’s hot. He reminds me of a lumberjack with broad shoulders, tanned skin, and floppy hair that hangs in a sexy but not-trying-too-hard way.
“The pleasure is all mine.” I bite my lip to stop myself from drooling at the lines that crinkle around the corners of his eyes.
Though bonding with a stranger put me in a bad situation, it sure lessens the blow to know that his packmates aren’t total ogres. In fact, after trawling all the heat buddy apps on campus and rejecting hundreds of alphas within a 100-mile radius, I don’t think I’ve ever seen guys as gorgeous.
“Your eyes…” I can’t help staring at them. I haven’t seen any like them before. One is a walnut brown, and the other is a startling green. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude or stare. I’ve just never seen eyes like yours before.”
“It’s called heterochromia,” Luca explains. “My mom said I got one from the mountains and the other from the sea.” He winks. “But my dad claims they match his favorite hockey team’s colors.”