Chapter 22
TWENTY TWO
Gryff
I lean over the bathroom sink and stare at myself in the mirror, hating what I see. Lines beginning to form around my eyes. Too old for her.
My hair is a mess, my jaw is unshaven. I’m not good enough for her and never will be.
I’m a broken shell of a wolf, and she’s a perfect angel.
She’s also the daughter of my best friend.
I scrub a hand over my face, my palm rasping on the roughness at my chin. I probably left stubble rash on her beautiful skin somewhere last night. Lord knows my mouth was all over her when I had no business even touching this girl.
But how am I supposed to watch my mate, a needy omega, suffer when I can make it better?
I glance over my shoulder at the sliver of light from the bedroom where I left the door ajar. I’m not sure making it better is what I just did. Pretty sure I’ve just fucked this up for myself and hurt her. I saw the way she looked at me with such hope in those pretty blue eyes.
Only for me to send her crashing back to earth.
With a sigh, I fetch a cloth from beneath the cabinet and run the water until it turns warm so I can soak it. I wring it out and walk back into the bedroom to face her, my shoulders hunched forward and a knot of guilt forming in my gut.
She doesn’t meet my eye when I approach, so instead of gently wiping my mess from between her thighs, I hand her the cloth and leave the room.
For the first time in a long time I open the cupboard and stare at the spot I used to keep the liquor and wish I could have a drink.
Honey’s soft voice from behind me makes me jump. “Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean to make it weird. I appreciate your help and all. I’ll just go—”
“Don’t go.” I spin around far too fast. “Don’t go yet,” I say more softly. “You’re probably still in heat after all.”
A crease forms between her brows. “That’s the thing I don’t understand. I mean I think you’re right, that would explain how I’ve been feeling, but I thought only shifters went into heat.”
She’s right. I can’t explain it either. “Yeah. I don’t know. But I know what I smell. And I smell omega.” I have to stop and take a breath to force the growl from my voice.
I sigh. Fetching a glass, I fill it with water and hand it to her, gesturing to the sofa. “Sit. Drink. You need to keep your fluids up. Let me tell you what I know.”
She obeys, watching me with a cautious look I wish I wasn’t responsible for putting there.
I sit on the overturned crate I use for a coffee table, pushing it back so she’s safely out of my reach.
Then I lean my elbows on my knees. “With werewolves it depends on your designation—alpha, beta, or omega. There are others, but those are the main ones. An omega will have their first heat sometime after puberty, but it’s different for everyone.
I’ve never heard of anyone being such a late bloomer as this, but then I’m no expert, and I left my pack a long time ago. ”
“And heat is for… breeding?” An adorable flush spreads across her cheeks, and she looks down at her water.
I almost choke on my own spit hearing her say that out loud. Her rich scent coupled with mine fills the room, and it’s lucky I only just knotted her or I’d have her on her back on that couch in moments. Why do I like that idea so much?
Just biology. That’s all. Just fucking biology playing tricks on me.
I shake my head. “Well, that’s not all. It brings a pack together.
Strengthens the bond between the omega and the alpha who takes them through it.
Encourages the mate b—yeah, you know what?
I won’t bore you with all that wolf stuff.
” I hastily steer the conversation away from that near miss.
“The point is, it’s not just about breeding.
Lots of females take precautions to avoid unwanted pregnancies during heats these days anyway. ”
Did I just make it sound awful and clinical? That’s probably for the best, but god I wish I didn’t have to.
Honey takes this all in for a moment, chewing on her lip. “And you think I’m an omega?”
“I don’t think. I know.” That comes out like gravel on sandpaper.
Her eyes widen. “Right. You can smell it.” She flushes again. “But what does that mean? Does that mean I have to, like, obey you? Sorry. Am I asking too many questions?”
“No. You have a right to know.” I lean forward, hoping I get this right.
“Look, it doesn’t mean anything really except how our bodies react to each other.
Outside of heats you might not notice much, especially if you’re not spending much time with shifters.
An alpha will have certain powers they can exert, but only a really bad alpha would do that for any reason other than to protect you or their pack.
Not without consent.” I am making a hash of this.
“P-powers?”
“Probably nothing to worry about.”
“Can you show me?”
“I shouldn’t.”
“Please? I need to know. I want to be prepared.”
I want to tell her she doesn’t. That I’ll be around to protect from anything like that being used against her, but I just told her one big fat lie. I’d rather not make it two.
I sigh. “Alright, if you’re sure.”
“Yes. Please.”
I close my eyes for a moment, drawing on the latent power I hadn’t used for years before her. I let her rich, sweet scent fuel it. Then I open my eyes again and let out a long soft purr.
Honey’s pupils immediately dilate. Her heart rate slows. Her lips part and the corners curve into a dreamy smile. “W-what was that?”
“A purr. We use it to calm an omega in distress. That wasn’t a very good one, mind. I’m out of practice.” I don’t tell her I’ve already used it on her once or twice.
“It made me feel all warm and sleepy.”
Pride swells my chest before I can stuff it back where it came from. Not something to be proud of. Especially when I’m about to upset her.
Concentrating, I let my growl creep into my voice until my next words come out like a gritty landslide. “Good. Now stand up.”
She blinks. An instant later she’s on her feet.
I take the cup of water and set it aside so she doesn’t accidentally drop it. Then, just for good measure, I release a wave of musk until it coats the air around us. Which might have been a mistake. Honey’s lips part and she is looking at me like I’m a lollipop she’d like to lick.
“Take off your top.”
I don’t know why I give her this particular instruction. Only the words kind of slip out.
Immediately she lifts the hem of her shirt over her head, revealing a pale pink bra that barely contains her huge tits. Tits I drove myself near feral worshipping half the night while she writhed in my arms.
I palm down my unruly cock and shift uncomfortably as she follows my direction blindly.
My mouth goes dry, and I very nearly tell her to get in my lap so I can press my face between those perfect breasts, but I don’t.
I don’t.
“Good girl.” I release the command, gentling my voice and bringing her back to herself.
She blinks again. Then she looks down at herself and colors. “Oh! Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m just demonstrating how a bad alpha could take advantage.” More like demonstrating exactly what a fucking terrible alpha looks like. An alpha who can’t even be honest with his omega.
I lean forward and dash a hand through my already tousled hair trying to keep a hold on my wits. “Anyway, that’s a growl. It’s used to command. But it shouldn’t be used lightly.”
She nods, slipping the shirt back over her head, and not a moment too soon.
“Thanks, Gryff. For not sugar-coating it for me. I needed to know this stuff.”
She’s thanking me? God I want to shake her, but if I put my hands on her right now we’re headed straight back to the bedroom, my attempts at restraint be damned.
It’s her heat, I tell myself. That’s all this is. The lingering traces of her heat affecting me. I just need to grit my teeth and see it through without biting her and writing my name on every goddam part of her body.
Question is, can I do that?
Just then, Honey’s phone rings. My senses are on high alert, and my ears instantly pick up the sound and track it to the bedroom. “Bedroom floor,” I say as soon as she looks around.
She hurries off to get it and returns with it in her hand still ringing. “It’s Dad.”
All the blood which was pumping around my body a moment ago like liquid fire turns to ice in my veins. “Right.”
Bill, the guy I’m supposed to be friends with even as I’ve been doing unspeakable things with his daughter.
Honey’s standing there looking down at the phone in her hand, her cheeks gradually growing darker. “What if he knows?”
My heart lurches against my sternum like the bastard’s trying to desert me. “Impossible.” I soften my tone, injecting a slight purr into the next words. “He doesn’t know. Answer it.”
He can’t know. Bill can never know how I’ve pumped so many fat loads into his daughter’s cunt in the last twenty-four hours she’s going to smell like me for the next month.
I press my eyes shut tight, blocking out the images which want to play on repeat in my mind. Images of me doing that every month—every goddam night—so that she always smells like me.
Honey lifts the phone to her ear. “Hi, Dad.” Her tone sounds a little too bright, but she gives me a grateful smile, and I push myself to my feet, stalking into the kitchen to give her what privacy I can. Of course, I still hear every word because the kitchen is about twelve feet from my sofa.
“Oh yeah, renovations are going great. Don’t worry. I’m on top of everything.”
I guess she hasn’t told them about the flooding or the fact she’s staying at my place. That’s probably a good thing.
I don’t hear what Bill says next, but I catch the way she starts out of the corner of my eye and the way her scent changes back to the slightly sharp tang of worry and guilt again. “Um, you are?”
My hackles raise even though I know there’s no physical threat.
I can’t stop myself from shifting a little, growing long, pointed wolf ears. I drop the dish I’m washing into the sudsy water and prowl closer, listening.
Bill’s voice is muted through the phone speaker, but my wolf ears pick up what he says next. “Yes, we are, wondering why the power’s off and there’s no sign of you anywhere.”
Honey swallows. “I’m at Gryff’s. And, uh, I guess there’s something I need to tell you.”
“There’re here?” I gape at Honey, who gives me a silent nod. “Don’t tell them—”
Her eyes go wide as the full moon, and she clasps her phone to her chest and hisses, “I’m not going to tell them that!”
“Not going to tell them what?” I jump and spin around to see Bill and Sonia opening my front door and letting themselves into my house before I’ve had a chance to check that Honey and I are both dressed and there’s not some obvious sign of my guilt laying around or splattered across Honey’s perfect tits or face.
Fuck. Apart from the scent of me all over her, there’s nothing visible to the human eye.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
Bill steps forward and offers me his hand, and I have no choice but to take his in mine—the hand that was inside his daughter earlier.
I give him a smile I know looks forced. “Bill. Sonia. Good to have you back. How was your trip?”
“Hot.” Bill shrugs, finally releasing my hand. “But it makes Sonia happy.”
Sonia gives her husband a little squeeze, and then she opens her arms. “Come on, Gryff. Give me a hug. Don’t leave me hanging. I know you’ve been looking after our little girl, and I am just so grateful.”
I step forward into her hug and want to shrink into the ground. I cast a frantic look at Honey over Sonia’s shoulder, but she’s busy hugging Bill. When she pulls away she doesn’t meet my eyes.
“Now tell us what’s happened. Why is the power out? You poor thing. You didn’t have to keep it from us,” says Sonia to Honey, releasing me.
Honey gives her parents a guilty smile. “I’m sorry. I wanted you to enjoy yourselves and not to worry.”
Something tells me this isn’t the first time she’s avoided telling them things to protect her parents from the full extent of her difficulties.
I should be glad she’s used to lying to them, but all I can think is how that leaves her with very few people to confide in, and for some reason that opens up a deep, cold pit low in my belly while at the same time making me want to pull her close and bury my face in her hair.
Yeah, I’m definitely still feeling the effects of her heat. I only hope I’ve taken her through the worst of it because I can’t see how to get through another night like last night with her parents none the wiser.
I’m pretty sure the neighbors heard her moaning my name three blocks down the street.