Chapter 11
“W hat the hell is the matter with you?” I hissed at Kit. “She almost died and you’re already climbing on her?”
Morgan’s pale cheeks were flushed in the fire light. “I asked him to.”
I snatched up one of my pillows and wedged it between them, muffling Kit’s ability to hear. “Did you actually or are you trying to save face with him? I’ll kick his ass if he took advantage of you.”
Morgan’s scent only grew stronger.
I steadfastly ignored my body’s response, keeping eye contact with her so she wouldn’t look down.
“You’d fight your own packmate for me?”
“I’d fight anyone for you. No one will ever get away with that kind of shit here, packmate or not. Now tell me what happened.”
She blushed harder. “The asking might’ve been closer to a demand. My instincts are a little wild coming off suppressants and I needed him. I promise he didn’t do anything I didn’t want.”
Relief replaced rage. Thank god I didn’t have to commit any crimes on Kit. I pulled the pillow back and Kit stared at me with wide eyes. “Did you guys really have to use my bed? How the fuck am I supposed to sleep tonight?”
I wasn’t actually complaining about having her scent on my sheets all night, but it was guaranteed to fuck with my body.
“You can have my room if you want,” Kit offered.
Morgan shifted, her scent spiking, and she pressed her face to his chest with a quiet moan. Fucking hell. Was she knotted under that blanket?
“I’m going to go outside,” I announced. She probably didn’t want me hanging around while Kit was knot-deep in her and I was quickly going to lose my ability to be a reasonable person, knowing that was happening in my bed.
I suited up in my winter gear and tossed myself into a snowbank outside, staring up at the blank sky as flakes slowly buried me. It was still snowing. I missed seeing the stars.
How was I supposed to cope with an omega in our house, and not only that, a scent-matched one who was fated for us? I always kind of thought fate was a stupid concept, but it was hard to argue in this case. The odds of Bear finding her right before she’d have frozen to death were infinitesimally small. What other explanation was there?
Not only that, but she had fallen into Kit’s arms so quickly despite her trauma, and she had been able to comfort Maverick when he was injured. So much of the way people spoke about scent matches seemed like hyperbole, but apparently it was just a basic fact. It knocked down a lot of hurdles, and thank goodness for that, because if Morgan was going to be stuck out here for her heat, she needed that path with as few obstacles as possible.
Even out here in the dark and cold, she was still present. Maple and tea was stuck inside my nose, and my cock was wide awake because of it. Fucking blockers. I wanted her to know I was her match.
Maybe if I willed it hard enough, they would wear off early. They certainly had to be working a lot harder than usual. Reacting to a scent match over and over would burn it up faster, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, but I couldn’t rely on that. Maybe Morgan and I had something in common that would make her like me outside of the match.
I rolled over to lay face-first in the snow, creating a little pocket of air with my arms so I could rest my head on them.
Fleeing into the wilderness was supposed to have reduced my problems. It did, for a while. I wasn’t sure what to do about this one. As a pack we had never actively pursued anyone, preferring to quietly build a life that suited us. Now Morgan was a bomb dropped right in the center of it. I didn’t even want to try to protect myself from the damage she could do.
A body dropped into the snow next to me and I lifted my head to see Bear. “What are you doing out here?”
He shrugged, lying back.
“Morgan and Kit slept together.”
Bear nodded.
“It doesn’t bother you?”
He let out a sharp laugh. Bear wasn’t chatty to begin with, and being out in the winter darkness prevented a lot of communication since he’d have to take off his mittens to sign and I wouldn’t be able to see them well anyway.
“Did you come out to bring me inside or to make sure I don’t get eaten?”
He shrugged again. I was pretty sure Bear hadn’t been high-strung a day in his life. He would sit out here in complete silence with me while I ruminated, protecting me while my mind was occupied.
Eventually I balled up my self-pity and shoved it deep into my gut. “Let’s go in. Make sure Mav hasn’t gotten restless and done something stupid.”
We rose as one and slipped back into the lodge, chucking our gear in the garage and moving through the pitch-black halls until we emerged on the main floor, where the central fire cast a warm glow on everything.
I nudged Maverick with my toes. “You still alive?”
He raised his middle finger without opening his eyes.
“Carry on.” I turned back to Bear. “Okay, give me your opinions now that I can see them.”
“She likes him,” he signed, expression soft and contemplative.
“Obviously. You don’t wish it was you who had taken her to stake out a nest?”
“Sure.” Bear shrugged, raising an eyebrow as he angled his head toward the stairs. “But better him than none.”
Maverick peeled open one eye. “What did I miss?”
“Kit and Morgan in my bed,” I replied.
He tried to sit up sharply and winced, lowering himself back down. “Scent match working fast?”
“Sure seems like it.” It was a good thing. The more of us she got close to, the less likely she was to leave. In theory.
Kit was the best of us at interpersonal relationships and making people feel at ease, so it wasn’t surprising that Morgan had attached to him the quickest. We needed to move fast. Morgan had to know what kind of life we could offer her before the end of the storm took her away.
Long-distance dating wasn’t the end of the world. We could make it to Missoula and back in the same day, even if it wasn’t ideal. I would do it if she needed it.
We all would.
“Is your room going to be her nest?” Maverick asked.
“No clue. She can have it if she wants.”
Pumpkin launched herself onto the couch, making herself comfortable on top of me. I scratched her ears, squeezing my eyes shut and tucking my lips in as she licked all over my face. Curling a hand gently over her muzzle stopped the onslaught. “Are you not getting all the attention anymore? Don’t worry, sweet girl. No one’s going to forget you because we have an omega.”
Pumpkin thumped her entire body weight onto the side, nearly knocking the wind out of me as she flailed her legs around to find the perfect position.
Bear’s shoulders shook with laughter and Maverick chuckled from his spot on the floor.
When Pumpkin finally settled, I stroked her belly fur and stared up the stairs. “What do you think the odds are of sleeping in my own bed tonight?”
“Get comfortable,” Bear signed, a cheeky-as-hell grin on his face.
With a grumble I settled in, Pumpkin’s warm weight sending me to sleep.
* * *
I woke to the soft brush of fingertips on my cheek and opened my eyes to see Morgan looking down at me.
“I’m sorry I stole your bed.”
I stretched and Pumpkin let out a groan of protest, whacking the underside of my chin with her head. “It’s fine. You needed it more than I did.”
Her cheeks were beautifully pink in the soft glow of dawn, her red curls pulled into a tidy braid. “Kit told me all the photos on the walls are ones that you took?”
“Yeah.” I wriggled myself free, letting Pumpkin take over the couch so I could stand. “It took a few years to get all of them.”
“They’re amazing .”
My chest puffed up with pride. “Thanks.”
She stared awkwardly at me for a few moments before Kit piped up from the kitchen. “Morgan does wildlife photography too but lost her camera in the storm.”
“No kidding?”
“I have a whole gallery of them online, and a blog and videos from all my trips into the woods. If we had Internet I could show you.”
“Bear has a blog too,” I told her. “You wouldn’t think it to look at him, but he’s pretty damn poetic and updates that thing religiously.”
Morgan’s eyes widened. “Wait. Is his last name Mackenzie?”
As if on cue, Bear emerged from our cold room—an extension to the lodge that worked as a refrigerator in cooler temperatures or when we lost power—with an armful of things for breakfast.
“Bear!” Morgan trotted over to him. “Do you write Does a Bear Shoot in the Woods ?”
He nodded, eyes wide.
Morgan let out a squeak of excitement, bouncing on her toes. “I love that blog! I have notifications set up so I can read every new post when it comes out.”
She launched into telling Bear about her favorite posts, following him into the kitchen, where he set the meal supplies on the counter. Apparently I had inadvertently revealed another connection to our pack. Honestly, the more the better. If we could find something for each of us, that might show Morgan she belonged with us, above and beyond the scent match. What were the odds she and I had the same hobby, or that she read Bear’s blog?
Kit slid up next to me, a bowl of pancake batter in his hands. “Offer to take her out to take pictures. She lost all the footage and photos from her trip.”
Right. Fuck. I should’ve thought of that.
“Hey, Morgan.”
She turned, gray eyes snapping to mine.
“Do you want to borrow one of my cameras? I could take you out if you want.” The tiny flicker of fear in her eyes was a stark reminder of what had happened the last time she had gone out into the woods with someone, so I quickly amended, “Not far. Plenty of stuff comes by within eyesight of the lodge.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Shit. What did I do?
I took a chance and crossed the short distance between us, and when she leaned in, I wrapped my arms around her. She slammed against me, arms locking tightly around my waist, and I lost my breath.
I looked desperately to Kit for some explanation, but he only shrugged.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not doing great with all the omega hormones.” She sniffled. “I think I blocked out that all my photography gear is gone, and that reminded me.”
“We can sort out new supplies for you,” I assured her.
Morgan growled and thunked her forehead against my chest. “Fucking Brandon. I know I wouldn’t have to worry about this if I had died, but I didn’t, so now I’m extra pissed.”
I let out a surprised laugh. “I don’t blame you one bit. Fuck that guy.”
“I hate that you don’t have a scent.” Morgan rooted against my shirt and my whole body tensed, fingers twitching against her.
“Set him off a bunch,” suggested Kit, looking amused as hell. “Make the blockers wear off faster.”
I wasn’t going to complain that Kit said out loud what I’d been thinking about yesterday. Fuck if I knew how quickly we could wear them down, but it was probably worth a shot.
“How am I supposed to do that?” Morgan stared up at me, gray eyes leaving me frozen, desire pouring through me at having her so close.
Kit laughed. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”