I search the crowd until I spot a bright flash of white-blonde hair by my Jeep. Seren. She leans against the passenger door, watching everyone like she’s ready to bolt or bite depending on who gets too close.
Suspicion slides into place so neatly I could laugh because if anyone was going to take advantage of my unconscious state and decide it was due time to spill the secrets I’ve been too stubborn and terrified to share myself, it would be my best friend turned sister.
I sigh, resigned, because sometimes betrayal has a way of tasting strangely like love when it’s delivered by the right person.
Reaching for Siggy without looking, I find her hand again. “Come on,” I murmur, tugging her toward my waiting friend and car. “We need to get back.”
Home. His room. His scent.
And a conversation that is long overdue.
Chapter 27
Noa
By the time we reach Rennick’s driveway, my skin feels too tight for my body. The sensation isn’t painful, just wrong, as if its ill-fitting and pinching in strange places, pressing me toward something I still don’t have a name for. That low coil offeeling, that need I still can’t name, began during Rennick’s fight with Cathal and has wound tighter with every mile I’ve put between us.
My head feels floaty, too—not dizzy or lightheaded, just unanchored—while that hum behind my eyes keeps droning on. It’s like my system is trying to tune itself into a frequency I’ve been deaf to for years.
Parking and cutting the engine, I send a silent thanks to whatever deity decided to cut me some slack today because getting us home without landing the Jeep in a ditch feels like a miracle in itself.
My legs lead me out of the car and to the covered front stoop. I’m vaguely aware of Seren and Siggy following me.
Seren might be the one who opens the door, or maybe I do—it’s hard to track. All I know is when I cross the threshold, all thought abandons me as I’m swallowed whole by his scent. His home has always smelled like him, that perfect blend of vetiver, leather, and mint, but right now it seems stronger. Or maybe it’s just me and the state I’ve fallen into, the one that’s left me feeling overly sensitive. To everything.
His scent wraps around me in a warm embrace that toes the line of being suffocating, but I don’t mind.Feeling greedy, myribs expand, and I draw in a deep inhale like it’s something I’ve been starving for. Then I do it again. Relief spreads through me with every inhale, soothing nerves that feel stripped bare.
Yes, this is what I needed,I sigh internally.
But just as quickly, another thought rises just as fast.
It’s not enough.
I need more. More of him. Closer. Pressed against me. Surrounding me completely.
I don’t know if it’s my wolf or my omega instincts or maybe both braiding together to whisper in my head, but the message is clear.
Go to his room.
It’s exactly what he ordered of me before he left my side to run after the McNamaras.
The reminder of his absence is enough to have a thin, instinctive whimper climbing up my throat. I snap my teeth shut around it to keep it trapped. I don’t know what’s happening to me or why reflexes I thought were long buried are suddenly scrambling forward with a frantic kind of energy, like they sense blood in the water, and they know it’s their turn to feed.
I could fight it, put up another wall, and pretend I’m fine and nothing is shifting under my skin, but I’m so fucking tired of fighting. Tired of fighting to ignore the pull of what I want. Tired of fighting to ignore the pain that demands to be felt with every heartbeat. Tired of fighting the way my body has been subtly changing since I walked back onto this land after nearly eight years away.
So, I just let go.
I mumble a dazed goodbye to Siggy—she looks pale but steady enough now that she’s away from the chaos—and Seren gets a sharper look from me, or as sharp as I can manage at the moment. It’s a look that tells her we’ll absolutely be discussing whatever the hell she told Rennick behind my back. Just…notnow. I can’t. Not when I feel like I might snap in an unrepairable way if I don’t get upstairs.
I drift through the foyer on autopilot, leaving the two omegas near the front door. I think one or maybe both of them asks if I’m okay. I slur something along the lines of“Not sure”over my shoulder and start climbing the staircase.
The hum in my head pulses with each step.
When I finally reach the double doors of his bedroom—doors I haven’t dared to step through since I arrived—I freeze. My fingers curl against the smooth wood.
My wolf shoves me forward.Inside. You need to be inside.
Without really understanding why, I hold my breath and brace as I twist the handle and step inside.
