CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - BIRDIE #3
Axel falters in the face of his fury, but I can feel his skin flushing hot, even though the water is running cold. His scent is so strong, it’s making my head spin. When I try to push away, he presses me back against the wall with a warning look. “We’re not finished.”
I scowl at him, but Hog makes a strangled sound of rage. “The fuck you’re not! The way you’re acting, you don’t deserve to touch her, let alone knot her up against a goddamn wall!”
“She wants it!” Axel snarls, his heart pounding so hard I can see the pulse jumping in his neck. “She wants my knot.”
“Because you’ve soaked this fucking bathroom in your pheromones!” Hog snaps. “Not to mention how your entire body is humming with dominance. I’m surprised she can still think, let alone fucking consent.”
“You’re in rut, boss,” Colt says, his face dark with worry. He’s picking at his scalp, his scent as sour as I’ve ever smelled it. “I can feel you losing it through the bond.”
Axel goes still against me. For the first time he drops the arrogant tilt to his head, and he stumbles away a step.
Not far enough to give me a clean break for the door, but his dominance isn’t pressing down on me so strongly.
Maybe questioning his control reminds him of why he needs it in the first place.
“I’m on suppressants,” he mutters, then looks down at me, his eyes clouded. His gaze drifts over my breasts, which I’ve covered with my hands, and his face pales. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Birdie.”
“It’s okay.” I try to swallow away the tightness in my throat. “I don’t think I helped matters by climbing all over you…”
“He should have more control than this,” Hog counters, his rage still thick in the air. If Axel’s dominance is a black mist, Hog’s is like a hurricane, whipping it apart. “Colt, help Birdie back to her room.”
“Wait,” Axel says. I’ve only taken a single step when his arm snakes back around my waist. “Just… I’m not ready for that yet.”
Colt blinks. “Not ready to think with your brain instead of your knot?”
“I’m sorry.” Axel doesn’t sound it, and his grip tightens on my waist. “But she’s sleeping with me tonight.”
Hog’s hand slaps the middle of his pack alpha’s chest. “Did you not hear the part where we just agreed you’re in a rut?”
Confusion flickers in Axel’s eyes, but then his nostrils flare and he smacks Hog’s hand away. “You don’t trust me to look after her?”
Hog gives a harsh grunt. “You look like you want to fuck her through the bed.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m not the one who could kill her with a knot.”
I jerk at the malice in Axel’s tone, but it’s the look on Hog’s face that makes my blood sizzle with anger.
I’m tempted to step up and put him on his ass, but the alphas look like they’re inches from a brawl.
I’m not stupid enough to get into the middle of it – or any more than I already am - but I suddenly feel a lot less like I want to fuck Axel against the tiles.
I keep my hands over my chest as I step through the door, but Axel’s head snaps in my direction. “Where are you going, Omega?”
A dozen snarky answers dance on my tongue, but my stomach suddenly flips. Nausea grips me at the same moment that I’m hit by a cramp, and I groan. “I need some air…”
Colt grabs my arm, but his pack alpha lunges at me, and I throw a hand up to drive him back.
I’m not frightened as much as I’m pissed, but my anger is a mere shadow to Hog’s as he steps into Axel’s path.
I want to leap forward and help him, but my knees give out, and Colt whips me through the doorway in a rush.
As we stumble down the hallway to my bedroom, a fleshy thud is followed by an alpha grunt, and something shatters on the floorboards behind us.
“Motherfuckers!” Colt yells, backing me towards my bed. “Get your shit together guys, will you?”
I’m pretty sure they’re not listening, but I appreciate the effort.
Colt runs a soothing hand down my back before stuffing me into a t-shirt that smells like warm chocolate. “Birdie, sweetheart, I think you need to lock yourself in here until we get Axel’s knot to go down.”
My stomach flips again, but this time there’s a similar clenching between my thighs.
What the hell?
A terrifying thought lodges in my brain right as Hog slams through the door, his naked pack alpha gripped in a headlock. Axel kicks and curses as he tries to break his hold, but Hog just grits his teeth. “She’s not your damn omega! So stop trying to knot her, asshole!”
“She will be when I claim her,” Axel huffs, surging backwards so they hit the wall.
Hog absorbs the impact with a grunt. “You touch her and you’ll be picking your teeth out of the fucking wallpaper!”
“Fuck you, Haven!” Axel’s face is contorted with fury, and their combined dominance fills the room like a black cloud. “She smells like mine. She smells like Charlie!”
The pain and confusion in his voice makes my chest ache. Is that what this is about? Does he feel guilty about his dead mate?
“Try again!” Hog growls. “They’re not related, remember? Or have your hormones scrambled your brains?”
“I’m telling you what I can smell,” Axel groans, slumping against his hold. “It’s like he’s standing right in front of me!”
I dart out of the door before anyone can stop me and run all the way to the sunroom.