Chapter 13 #3
“You couldn’t before?” Luca asked me, genuine curiosity replacing the last of his amusement.
“I could smell each of you before.” I glanced toward Malek. “I just didn’t smell Alpha and think secondary designation while you were leopards.”
“That makes sense.” Luca shifted his weight against the damp stone. “Our scent doesn’t disappear when we shift, but humans usually have a harder time recognizing designation when we’re in animal form.”
“Apparently my brain filed cedar and wet earth under unusually good-smelling leopard.” I gave Malek a quick once-over before realizing what I’d said.
Tavian made a sound suspiciously close to a laugh.
“Don’t.” I turned toward Tavian before he could get started.
“I didn’t say anything.” Tavian pressed his lips together, his shoulders betraying him anyway.
“You don’t need to.” I returned my attention to Malek, who had the good sense not to look nearly as pleased as Tavian.
Now that I knew what I was smelling, the difference was impossible to ignore.
I’d worked beside Alphas, traveled with them, and spent months on assignments without giving anyone’s secondary designation much thought.
These scents still registered as Alpha, but there was something deeper underneath them that reminded me Tavian, Luca, and Malek weren’t entirely human even while they looked it.
The glands along the sides of my neck tightened. It wasn’t pain, and it wasn’t the beginning of heat. I’d taken my blockers exactly when I was supposed to that morning, and my body wasn’t giving me any of the familiar warnings of a cycle trying to break through.
I was simply much more aware of them now.
Malek’s nostrils flared once.
I caught the movement.
“Then you knew I was an Omega.” The realization clicked into place as I narrowed my eyes at him. Tavian suddenly became very interested in one of the ruined stones beside him. Luca looked considerably more sympathetic.
“We did.” Malek held my gaze, not bothering to pretend otherwise.
“Even through the blockers?” I touched the strap of my field bag, thinking about the medication packed safely inside.
“They’re working.” Luca straightened slightly, his expression turning serious. “Your scent is muted. Our noses are just good enough to pick up your designation underneath it.”
I looked from Luca to Tavian and finally back to Malek.
“How long?” I asked them, even though part of me already knew the answer.
“From the first day.” Malek answered without hesitation, his voice steady. “I could smell it when you came close enough to treat my side.”
“And Luca and I knew when we met you.” Tavian hooked his thumbs loosely near his waistband, some of his usual confidence disappearing beneath the admission.
“Wonderful.” I rubbed two fingers between my eyebrows. “Meanwhile, I was calling you Cat, Menace, and Gentleman.”
“I still like Menace.” Tavian rocked slightly back on his heels, entirely too pleased about that part.
“That wasn’t the point.” I lowered my hand and looked at him. Malek stepped closer but stopped well outside arm’s reach. The smaller distance strengthened the cedar in the air without making me feel crowded.
“You were safe with us.” Malek’s expression lost every trace of humor as he watched me. “Knowing you were an Omega never changed that.”
“I know.” I answered Malek before I had time to question why I was so certain. I didn’t love that they’d known something about me while I’d known so little about them, but I wasn’t afraid of them. I’d trusted all three before I knew what they were, and discovering the truth hadn’t erased that.
A low vibration started in front of me. At first, I thought some large insect had begun buzzing nearby, but the sound was too deep and steady. Then I realized it was coming from Malek.
His chest was vibrating.
“Are you purring?” I stared at Malek, disbelief cutting through the last of my attempt to process everything logically.
“I wasn’t doing it on purpose.” Malek glanced down at himself, his brow furrowing as though his own body had betrayed him.
The ridiculous part was what it did to me.
The tension across my shoulders eased. The sensitivity beneath my jaw softened, and the tightness I hadn’t noticed gathering beneath my ribs loosened with the steady vibration.
My Omega instincts didn’t seem to care that I was still deciding how annoyed I should be with him.
“Oh, that’s irritating.” I glared at Malek while my body continued betraying me by relaxing.
“What is?” Malek’s purr faded slightly as confusion replaced the guarded look on his face.
“That works.” I gestured vaguely toward his chest, not particularly interested in explaining my own biology to three men who could probably smell the answer anyway.
Tavian’s grin appeared almost instantly. Malek caught it from the corner of his eye.
“Don’t.” Malek’s warning roughened into a low growl as he turned toward Tavian before the other man could say a word.
The purr had calmed me. The growl had an entirely different effect. Warmth tightened low in my stomach, and I shifted my attention to the moss climbing the nearest wall because looking at Malek suddenly felt like a terrible idea.
Attraction.
Great.
“This is deeply unfair.” I pushed myself to my feet and brushed damp grit from my palms before my body came up with another response I didn’t want anyone smelling.
“What part?” Tavian watched me with open amusement as I adjusted my bag.
“The part where leopard noises still work when you’re shaped like people.” I tightened the strap over my shoulder while deliberately refusing to look at Malek.
“Good to know.” Tavian’s grin widened as though I’d just handed him valuable information.
“That was not information for you to use.” I gave Tavian a sharp look that only made him more pleased. Several questions occurred to me about what other leopard behavior carried over into human form.
Every single one could wait.
“You’re all one pack.” I looked between the three men, remembering how naturally they’d always moved around one another.
“We are.” Malek relaxed slightly now that the subject had changed.
“How long?” I glanced from Malek toward Tavian and Luca.
“Years.” Malek’s gaze moved briefly toward the other two men. “Long before you came here.”
There was clearly more behind that answer. Three adult Alphas sharing one pack raised questions I wanted answered for reasons that had very little to do with simple curiosity. The radio at my hip reminded me those questions could wait too.
“The rest can wait.” I checked the time before shifting my camera bag higher onto my shoulder. “We should head back.”
“Six.” Tavian lifted both hands before I could remind him. “I remember.”
“Good.” I adjusted the camera against my chest, satisfied that at least one part of my life still operated according to a schedule.
“We’ve got enough time.” Luca studied the light filtering through the canopy before looking toward the trail. “But we should start back.”
I glanced once toward the path disappearing deeper into their sanctuary.
“So my tour of the secret leopard stronghold has to wait.” I let a little disappointment into my voice before I could decide whether I wanted them noticing it.
“Sanctuary.” Luca corrected me, warmth in his voice making it obvious he wasn’t actually bothered.
“That somehow sounds more suspicious.” I watched Luca’s smile appear as he pushed away from the wall. Malek glanced toward the recessed section where they’d hidden their clothes earlier.
“Do you want us to shift before we leave?” Malek looked back at me instead of making the decision for me.
I considered it.
Three leopards would have been simpler. I was used to Tavian bounding ahead, Luca moving quietly beside me, and Malek appearing whenever I turned around to make sure he was still there.
Three attractive Alpha men were a different problem. Which was exactly why hiding behind their leopard forms felt pointless.
“Stay like this.” I settled the camera strap more securely across my chest and headed toward the old path.
“You sure?” Tavian’s eyebrows rose, pleasure flashing across his face before he could hide it.
“Absolutely not.” I stepped around a section of broken stone as Luca naturally moved with me. “But I’m going to have to get used to this eventually.”
“That sounded almost encouraging.” Tavian moved ahead with an easy grin, slipping naturally into his usual place near the front.
“Don’t ruin it.” I watched Tavian turn toward the trail before he could answer. The forest closed around us quickly after we left the courtyard. Their usual formation returned without discussion—Tavian ahead, Luca near my side, Malek covering the trail behind us.
The pattern was familiar.
The men weren’t.
Tavian’s dark hair curled around his forehead from the humidity whenever he turned back to check on us.
Luca had tied his longer hair loosely at the nape, exposing the strong line of his throat whenever he angled his head toward the trees.
Malek remained almost silent behind me despite his size, but every so often the faint scrape of his boots reminded me there was a six-foot-something man behind me now instead of four padded paws.
My brain was handling that distinction badly.
“You know, the animals were trying to get me to mate Malek.” I raised my voice toward Tavian when I decided I desperately needed a distraction from the way Malek’s dark shirt stretched across his shoulders.
Tavian stopped so abruptly that Luca nearly walked into him. A rough sound came from Malek behind me.
“The animals were doing what?” Tavian twisted around, delight spreading across his face as though I’d just announced the best part of his day.
“I knew this was a mistake before I finished saying it.” I shook my head while Tavian started walking backward so he could keep looking at me.
“No, this was an excellent decision.” Tavian spread one hand in encouragement, completely abandoning any attempt to hide his interest. “Explain.”