Chapter 49
Nadia
Brunch is the single best meal of the day and you can’t change my mind.
I walked into the local cafe with Grey’s arm around my shoulders. It was one of our favourites, and because all of the food was certified organic and ‘had good macros’ it made my mate happy.
Me?
Brunch was all the carbs and simple sugars I could get my hands on and the resulting high seemed to amuse Grey greatly.
“Here.” He stopped, somehow knowing exactly when someone was about to leave their table. The place was packed, so as soon as he pulled out a chair for me, I sat down. “Now, latte with half a bottle of caramel syrup in it?”
“You know me well.” Pressing a kiss to his cheek, I said, “Can you make it a double shot?”
“Anything for you.”
His reply was perfectly polite, but Grey always seemed to be able to inject that little bit of heat into his voice.
Looking up to see his eyes had bled silver, right before he turned and headed towards the front counter, confirmed it.
My man was hot, as evidenced by the way so many women and some men turned to watch him pass by, but it was me he was going home to ‘nap’ with afterwards.
Grabbing out my phone, I jumped on one of my social media accounts, scrolling aimlessly when I was rudely interrupted.
“Nadia?”
You know how the sound of some people’s voices just sets your teeth on edge? It was like it left a greasy residue behind. Glancing up, somehow I knew whoever it was, I didn’t want to talk to them.
And I was right.
Standing there, a sheepish smile on his face, was my stupid ex.
“I thought it was you,” Grant said, coming closer.
Now I had a wolf, I could hear the insincerity in his voice.
He probably saw me the moment I walked in and for some reason thought it was a good idea to approach me.
The way his eyes dropped down to trace the scoop neckline of my top made clear why.
Fighting the urge to snarl at him, instead I said, “Grant. What are you doing here?”
“Just having breakfast with some clients,” he said smoothly, grabbing a chair and then sitting down. “I looked up and then I saw you. Nadia, you look amazing.” His hand gestured vaguely at my new body. “What’ve you been doing with yourself?”
“Discovering I’m an omega,” I replied flatly.
“Working out how to transform into a wolf.” His eyes widened and he leaned back slightly.
Good. “I can become a massive white wolf at will now.” When my eyes dropped down to my hands, his followed, catching the moment my claws sprang free. “And finding my fated mates.”
“Fated mates…?” he spluttered. “You’re not still caught up in that twaddle, are you? I remember those ridiculous books you used to read.” His lips twisted into a sardonic smile as he recited some of them. “The Alpha Princess’ Mates or Knotted by My Billionaire Boss.”
“She doesn’t need them anymore.” That dark growl was a perfect expression of my own anger, but it was Grey who said the words.
My coffee and his were set down on the table, and then his hands gripped the back of my chair.
I had a big dog at my back and he would tear this idiot’s throat out if he made a wrong move.
“We always get the latest ones for her, though, because nothing is more important than making my mate happy.”
“And who’re you?”
Grant worked in finance and was making good money, but not enough to affect this kind of snotty tone. The man shifted so the gold Rolex on his wrist was shown to greater affect.
“The bloke that’s going to rip off your head and shit down your neck if you don’t get the fuck away from my mate.”
Grey said that in an almost conversational tone, but the message was heard loud and clear, if Grant’s pale complexion was anything to go by.
“Last time I looked, it’s a free country.”
Could Grant sound any more like a pouty child? I was about to find out.
“But I’m not.” My hand went around Grey’s wrist, both to claim him publicly and to keep him from doing what he said. “We broke up.”
“An overreaction on your part.” Grant’s eyes slid down to my bust, again and if he turned into one of those cartoon wolves where their tongue starts rolling out of their mouth like a carpet, I wouldn’t have been shocked. “We were good together and you know it.”
“Good?” The metal of my chair creaked a little as Grey’s grip tightened.
“You pumping away for 12.5 seconds as you get your rocks off, leaving your girlfriend dry as a bone and completely unsatisfied is what passes for good nowadays?” He looked down at me.
“Just say the word, love, and I’ll kick the audacity out of this prick. ”
The fact Grey was utterly serious and yet wouldn’t lay a finger on Grant unless I said so filled me with a kind of joy I didn’t even know existed.
It felt like something healed inside me that day.
My thumb rubbed across his pulse point, feeling his heart rate, strong and steady, before I shook my head.
“Would I enjoy seeing your wolf tearing this idiot to shreds? Hell, yeah.”
“Nadia—!” Grant spluttered.
“But he’s not worth getting arrested for.
” Shifting my focus back to my ex felt like a waste of time, but it wouldn’t be for long.
“Grant isn’t worth anything at all. He’s a small man.
Small brain, small heart…” My eyes slid down his perfectly pressed linen clothes.
“Small dick, which at the time was a relief, because it meant I hardly felt it when we had sex so unsatisfying I couldn’t even get myself off when I ‘had a shower’ afterwards. ”
“Grant?”
A pretty woman appeared beside him, eyeing me warily before turning back to the man I was willing to bet was his date.
“Sophie.” He pasted on a fake smile. “I was just catching up with some old friends.”
“Ex-girlfriend,” I corrected, “and if he’s somehow sucked you in with his bullshit, just know it never gets any better. There’s better options out there.” Both my hands encircled Grey’s wrists then. “Options that give you multiple orgasms and the love and respect you deserve.”
She frowned slightly, looked down at Grant, then turned on her heel and marched off.
“Sophie…!” he called out as he rushed after her. “Sophie!”
“So, a pancake stack the size of your head with extra maple syrup?”
Grey was trying oh-so-hard to keep it together. His tone was perfectly even, but as he sat down, I saw the tension in his popped biceps.
“No.” It was summer, so feeling sweat prickle across my brow wasn’t unexpected, but the flush of heat that washed through me was something else. Riley and the crew at Crowe Corp had warned me about this.
“Omegas formalise the mate bond when they feel ready, but often times that comes when they go into heat,” she told me.
“Its your body’s way of signalling that it thinks these guys are father material.
I’ve implanted an IUD as requested, so no babies until you decide that’s what you want, but I just want you to be aware of the signs.
A heat doesn’t have to precede a mate bond or trigger one. You’re always in control.”
For a second, I just panted, feeling the most delicious sensation in every cell.
It wasn’t Grant scurrying away like a frightened rabbit.
While there was a time before I would’ve fantasised about it, now, he just didn’t matter.
My mates did. Grey’s nostrils flared as he stared at me, seemingly cataloguing all the ways my body was making clear it was receptive.
“Take me home, Grey. What I need can’t be bought at a cafe.”
Sweeping me into his arms, he carried me outside, ignoring the fact everyone turned to stare. Out onto the footpath, then into the car, he didn’t even trust me to do my own seatbelt up.
Maybe because I was starting to squirm in my seat.
“Call the pack,” he said, voice activating his phone as he pulled the car out abruptly. Someone else beeped their horn, but he didn’t care. Down the road we hurtled.
“What’s up?” Tex said. “Cafe didn’t have your macrobiotic turkey bacon?”
“Nadia’s going into heat.”
“Oh shit!”
Oh shit, indeed. My back arched, trying to ease the ache there, but it didn’t work.
Moving, moving, the cabin of the car felt too small, too plasticky, too everything.
Luckily our house was only a few streets away.
Grey threw on the park brake as soon as we stopped, only for Tex and Ethan to appear.
“Omega…”
Ethan’s voice turned gravelly, his eyes silver, as soon as he opened my door.
“Inside, now.”
Yeah, that. I clung to Ethan’s shoulders as he carried me inside. The lights were too harsh, the smell of cleaning chemicals hitting my nose, until my bedroom door was kicked open. Grey fussed with the light switch until a far softer glow illuminated the room.
“Nesting materials.”
Tex jerked the box open, starting to scatter the gorgeous blankets across the bed, which forced me to take over.
The green one was too slippery, feeling synthetic.
The muslin was soft but also kinda scratchy.
With a thin whine, I tossed some aside until finally I found what I wanted.
The air conditioner whirred as I started to remake my bed into a nest. The idea of it seemed ridiculous to me when Riley talked about it, but now? This was exactly where I needed to be.
“Look at you.” Grey’s wolf was riding him hard as evidence by the fact he looked almost twice the size, his dark body hair suddenly coarser. “What a beautiful nest, omega. Can we come in?”
My thighs rubbed together as I considered the idea.
“This will be the most vulnerable moment of your life,” Riley had said.
“So you want to make sure that you trust the men who will see you through your heat. If you’re not ready, call me any time.
” She pushed her card my way. “I can administer suppressants that won’t prevent you from shifting, but will help you get through it. ”
But that’s not what I needed.
As my thighs spread, I felt the cool air. Slick soaked my clothes.
“Yes…” I hissed, feeling something twist inside me. “Yes.”
“That’s all we needed to hear,” they said, right before they tore their clothes off.