Chapter 27 #2
He steps into our path like he owns the air between us, eyes locked on me with a hunger that pricks my skin. His nostrils flare, and his gaze drops to my throat like he’s trying to read what I am through my pulse.
“Move,” he says to Dylan, voice rough. Not a request. “I want him.”
Dylan stops dead, shoulders squaring, and he shifts just enough to almost block me completely. “Keep walking,” he says.
The Alpha’s mouth twitches like he finds that funny, as if Dylan is a speed bump. “That’s not yours.”
My stomach drops.
His eyes cut back to me, greedy, certain. “I smelled him earlier. Omega. So rare to find a male Omega.”
Dylan’s hand finds mine and clamps down hard, grounding me. “You don’t know what you smelled.”
“I know what I want.” The Alpha takes a step closer, and the pressure of him rolls over me like heat off asphalt. His gaze meets mine. “Tell your friend to back off. You’re mine.”
My throat tightens. Dylan’s body goes rigid in front of me, the kind of stillness that means violence is one breath away.
“He’s not talking to you,” Dylan says, and his voice has lost every trace of friendliness. “We’re leaving.”
The stranger reaches for me as if he’s going to grab my wrist.
Dylan moves first with a hard, controlled strike of his forearm to the Alpha’s chest that drives him back a step, and he’s in the man’s space immediately, eyes bright and dangerous.
“Touch the Omega,” Dylan growls, “and I will break your face.”
The Alpha’s stare flicks down at Dylan’s arm, then up again, and for a second, it looks like he might test him just to prove a point.
Then his gaze slides back to me, possessive and furious, like he hates that my body is not reacting the way he wants.
“Come on,” Dylan mutters, gripping my hand tighter. “Let’s go before I turn this into a scene and we get security on us.”
He drags me toward the four-wheel drive, fast and sure, putting his body between me and that stare the whole way. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I have you to protect me.”
“You bet.”
I glance back at the stranger, who is still standing there, shaking his head as if he has no idea what got into him. And that scares the hell out of me because I know what it is—my heat is coming. And it can send any Alpha into a frenzy to claim me.
I climb into the front passenger seat while Dylan gets in the back, my breathing shallow. Mason starts the engine and we’re off.
Then my Alphas start talking at once.
“What happened?”
“How did it go?”
“Did he say anything suspicious?”
“Are you okay?”
“Give me a second!” I laugh, immediately ripping off the itchy wig and peeling away the fake facial hair, thankful to be in the car and safe. “God, that feels so much better.”
“So?” Slater prompts.
I tell them everything while continuing to strip away my Ash disguise, including the scent patches. By the time I’m done explaining, we’re pulling into a drive-through.
“What are we doing?” I ask.
“Getting snacks,” Mason says like it’s obvious. “Stakeouts and meetings require snacks. It’s a rule, and I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them aggressively.”
“I’ll take a number three with a Coke,” Slater calls from the back like we’re at a drive-through he personally owns.
“Chicken sandwich and fries,” Jasper adds, already leaning forward.
“Double cheeseburger, large fries, chocolate shake,” Dylan says, not even pretending to hesitate. “For protein.”
Mason orders something so specific and full of substitutions that the poor girl on the speaker goes silent for a second like she needs to rethink her career choices. Then they all turn to me at once.
I blink. “I have no idea what this place even has. I feel ambushed.”
“They have those ice cream blizzard things,” Dylan says immediately. “Life-altering. You want one? It will help after that meetup.”
“Sure,” I say, caught up in their enthusiasm. “Oreo, if they have it.”
That apparently opens the floodgates.
“Add a pie!”
“Get the nuggets!”
“Two cookies!”
“No, three cookies!”
“We need onion rings. For balance.”
“For balance,” I repeat, and I lose it, giggling helplessly while Mason tries to restore order like a man herding wolves.
We get our bags of food and park in a quiet spot, and I dig into my ice cream with a recyclable wooden spoon. It’s incredible. And they’re all staring at me.
“What?” I ask, halfway through another bite.
“Nothing,” Mason says too quickly, while, around me, they’re all diving into their food like starved raccoons.
“You’re just very focused,” Dylan adds, watching me like this is a nature documentary and I’m a rare species consuming frozen prey.
“It’s good ice cream,” I defend, pointing the spoon at him.
“Mm-hmm,” Jasper murmurs behind me, unconvinced.
I try to ignore them, but the easy familiarity of all four of them packed into this truck feels normal, as if I belong here.
And my body reacts.
It’s been doing so for days now, that low, constant awareness simmering under my skin, but today, it feels sharper and closer to the surface.
I curl in slightly, finishing the last of the ice cream faster than I should, like maybe outrunning it will help.
Jasper gathers the trash efficiently, and I drop my empty cup into the bag just as a sharp pain spears low in my abdomen.
I gasp before I can stop it, folding forward, grabbing my stomach. Everything freezes.
“What?” Mason demands immediately. “What is it?”
“Are you pregnant?” Slater blurts.
Everyone stares at him.
“What?” Dylan says. “Where did that come from?”
Slater throws his hands up. “Pain in her stomach! That’s a symptom!”
“Of, like, fifty things,” Dylan shoots back.
“I’m not pregnant,” I choke out, horrified.
“You’d be so beautiful pregnant,” Mason says thoughtfully from beside me, like he’s discussing weather patterns. “Sexy as hell carrying our—”
“Stop,” I gasp, another wave hitting me harder.
“Jesus, Mason,” Jasper mutters.
“Too soon?” Mason asks, genuinely curious.
“Yes,” three voices say at once.
Because the pain isn’t just pain—it’s pressure, heat, and then the unmistakable sensation of slick warm between my thighs.
Oh God.
No.
No, no, no.
Not here.
Not now.
Not in Mason’s truck with all four of them boxed in around me like predators who absolutely know what I smell like. We’re driving again and soon pull into our driveway, gravel crunching under the tires, but I can’t stay in this space for another second.
“Are you okay?” Jasper asks, reaching for me.
I don’t answer.
The moment the four-wheel-drive stops, I bolt.
I use my spare keys to unlock the front door, race up the stairs two at a time, slam into my room, and lock myself in the bathroom.
I should have known, should have recognized the signs. Of course that’s why I’ve been losing my mind around them for days. Why every touch felt like fire, why I couldn’t control myself.
The heat is coming full force now, and I’m already burning up. I turn on the shower, cranking it to cold, strip, and step under the spray.
The water rushes across my overheated skin, but it’s not helping. More slick is gushing out, running down my legs like it always does when my heat starts.
And I’m worried.
My last pack never bonded with me during my heat. Maybe one of them if I was lucky, or they made me suffer through it alone, saying I needed to learn control. Ethan was a sadist who enjoyed watching me suffer.
But what if these four want to all be there? What if it’s too much? What if I can’t handle it?
There’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Anita, are you okay in there?” It’s Slater’s voice, and it makes everything inside me clench with need.
“No,” I admit.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s here and it’s coming so fast.” My voice cracks. “And I’m so stupidly horny that it actually hurts, but I also don’t want to force this on any of you, and I don’t know if I can handle all four of you at once and—”
The bathroom door opens.
Four of them are suddenly there, these huge Alphas filling the small space, fully clothed and staring at me as I’m naked and crouched in the shower, trying to make myself small.
Slater moves first.
He kicks off his shoes, pulls his shirt over his head, and drops his pants until he’s naked. Then he steps into the shower with me.
He crouches down and takes my hands in his.
“We are not going anywhere,” he says firmly, his steel-gray eyes locked on mine. “We are not abandoning you. We are so fucking excited to share your heat with you, all of us together. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
I cry out as another wave of need crashes over me, painful and overwhelming.
He pulls me into his arms, cradling me against his chest. “Let us take care of you, little Omega. Let us show you what it means to be cherished during your heat, please.”
“I’ve never…” I whimper. “My old pack never… I don’t know if I can…”
“You can,” he says with absolute certainty. “Because we’re going to make sure you’re worshipped every second. No pain. Just pleasure. Just us taking care of our Omega exactly how she deserves.”
The other three are stripping now. They step into the shower, which is easily made for ten people, and close in around me, their hands gentle and sure. I let myself fall into the heat with all four of them.
Because maybe this is what I’ve been searching for all along.