I skitter back, only to have another pair of hands land on my shoulder. A low voice murmurs in my ear. “Been a while, Kenny.”
Max. Those are Max’s hands. And in front of me, glaring with green eyes that glimmer like emeralds in the low light, is—
“Theo,” I whisper.
He doesn’t say anything. I tear my eyes from his, swallowing down the burst of fear before I look to the men on either side of him. Oscar raises his eyebrow, as if reminding me of our discussion earlier. And next to him, Jake doesn’t smile. His lips press together as his gaze runs over me, assessing.
And then his lip curls. He leans into Oscar, murmuring something that makes him tip his head back with a sharp laugh. But it’s not amusement. It’s almost cruel, the edge of a bark to it that has me shrinking back, instinct pushing me to look for a way out as they surround me.
“I don’t think so,” Max murmurs. He blocks my way, stopping me from escaping.
“Please,” I whisper. My eyes move past Theo, and Ifeelhim stir.
I don’t know what I’m asking for. I can’t even look at him. Not properly. “I need to get back to the kitchen.”
Don’t pass out here. Not in front of everyone.
I force air into my lungs, dragging it inside by sheer force of will.
It hits me, all at once. Max’s woodsy spruce and bergamot; Oscar’s spice, Jake’s comforting laundry. And Theo’s musk – leather and amber andwarmth.
Such familiar scents, all of them. Scents I always loved. But today they feel different.
I breathe them all in, and my stomach…flips. My breathing slows, deepening. My eyes lower, even as my heart begins to beat faster, like the wings of a hummingbird.
And my own scent… it ripples out in a wave that crashes over the people around me as my hand drops to cover my stomach.
I’m so hot. So, so hot. A noise sounds in my throat as my whole body flushes, and I waver on my feet.
Max’s breath against my ear makes me shiver as he presses into me. It turns uneven. “What the fuck is this?”
“Look at me.” Theo’s demand has me tilting further. Leaning forward in sudden, desperate need—
I lift my eyes at the same time as Oscar swears, low and violent. Theo’s face has changed, from anger toshock. “No. Not possible.”
Jake steps forward, and I snap my head to him. He pauses, tilting his head as he breathes in. And his voice… it’s low, and deep, and it makes that clenching in my lower body worsen even as the word tears out of him.
“Mate.”
My thoughts feel foggy. Clouded, smothered with that need that somehow seems more important than anything else. Because nothing could be more important than this feeling.
There’s no… there’s nopain.
I’d forgotten what that felt like.
Only a floating, warm feeling. The noise ripples from my throat as I press myself back, into the scent of the forest and herbs andhome.Turning my face, I press into Max, feeling his breath hitch beneath my cheek.
A whine, high and desperate, claws from my throat.
A word filters through the haze.
Mates.
That’s what this is. That’s what home feels like.
I twist, needing to get closer, but the warmth disappears.
The world tilts as I fall forward.
