Chapter 31 Tanner
TANNER
The moment I walk through the door, my knees buckle and give out.
I crash to the floor, mouth watering, eyes rolling back.
The air is thick with a scent unlike anything I’ve ever smelled before.
Ten times stronger than what I caught at the club.
It drips with the pheromones of an omega in heat. My omega.
“Where?” I growl.
Vann slams the door shut behind us and freezes, cursing. He’s staring at the hall that leads to the bedrooms with a look of utter and complete devastation. It’s the same ravaging ruin I feel.
We could have had years of this. We missed out on so much time with our mate because we were idiot kids with something to prove and no compassion. Because I kept us from her.
Fuck, I wish I could go back in time and slap some sense into myself. No, I deserve more than a fucking slap. I deserve a serious beating for how I hurt Raven.
Hope swells through our bond at the same time as I’m hit with a wave of ecstasy from Orion. He isn’t even trying to keep his emotions from us.
Vann takes a stumbling step toward the bedroom, but Rhodes moves to block his way.
“What are you doing?” Rhodes asks.
“She needs us.” Vann’s words are clipped, hard.
I stand to join him, but Rhodes doesn’t move out of the way. He holds up his hands, warding us off. “You can’t go in there.”
“But she needs us,” Vann repeats, shaking his head and baring his teeth. Of all of us, he’s wanted this the most. He’s tasted this scent before, lived with the memory of it for years. And I kept him from her.
“She’s in heat, or a heat spike,” Rhodes says, “and she didn’t consent to you helping her through it.”
Some logical part of my brain understands he’s right, but I’m not thinking with that part.
“Out of my way,” I rumble, just shy of a bark.
Rhodes stands his ground. “No.”
I don’t think he’s ever said no to me before.
I’m ready to rip his head off for keeping us from our omega when a keening moan rends the air.
Our pack bond explodes with a new presence.
It’s as sweet as the scent flooding my nostrils.
Bright and passionate, a little shy, sliding slowly through my bond with Orion to touch me. Tentative, like falling snow.
Raven.
Orion bonded her.
I don’t know when I fell, but I’m back on the floor. My hands clutch the short carpet, looking for purchase to keep me from falling farther. My mate bonded her.
I can feel his elation just as clearly as his surprise. He hadn’t planned this. None of us did, but now that it’s done, all I feel is gratitude. My eyes find Vann, on the floor beside me with Rhodes crouched next to him, a worried look on his face.
Vann’s face tilts toward me, and there are tears in his eyes. He should have been the one to bond her first. He’s the one who believed in this for so long. But his lips tilt up in a smile. “She’s ours now.”