“Of Sierra?”
“Of everyone. This situation isn’t fair to her. Or to us. We’re all on edge, and it’s only going to get worse.”
“The suppressants are working,” Cole says, but his leg is still bouncing. “We’re fine.”
“Are we though?”
Dax stops mid-pace. “What are you suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting that we’re four alphas in close proximity to an omega approaching heat, and maybe our biology is having opinions about that despite the suppressants.”
“I don’t have opinions,” Cole says.
“Your leg has been bouncing for forty-five minutes.”
He stops the movement now that I’ve mentioned it.
“And you’ve walked past the hallway sixteen times,” I say to Dax.
“You’re counting?”
“Of course I’m counting. And Jalen, you’ve been playing the same four chords on repeat for an hour.”
Jalen looks down at his guitar like he’s just now realizing what he’s been doing. “Huh.”
“See? We’re all responding to this. It’s instinct.”
“Instinct we can control,” Cole says firmly. “We’re not animals. We made a promise to stay out of her way, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“I’m not saying we should break our promise. I’m saying maybe we should acknowledge that this is... affecting us.”
“Of course it’s affecting us,” Dax says. “We’re not robots. But we can handle it.”
Before I can respond, there’s a sound from the hallway.
A door opening.
All four of us freeze.
Sierra emerges, and even from across the room, I can tell she’s worse. Her hair is loose and messy, her face is flushed, and she’s wearing different clothes. Soft-looking pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt that keeps sliding off one shoulder.
She’s clearly feverish.
We all stand up. At exactly the same time. Like we’re synchronized. Like we rehearsed it.
Jalen scrambles to set his guitar on the window seat, nearly knocking it over.
It’s not just the sound. It’s the wave of scent that rolls out ahead of her. Honeycomb and cherry syrup, but richer, deeper than before, with an edge that makes the back of my throat tighten. It’s her scent, amplified.
Sierra stops, her hand still on her door frame, and stares at us.
We stare back.
“I’m just getting water,” she says, her voice a little hoarse.
“Okay,” Cole says.
“Cool,” says Jalen.
