“After all the trouble you girls give us, it damn well should,” Jace mutters.
“Oh, whoa! That temple is super cool.”
“It looked like we’re not the only ones who thought so. Someone had definitely been there lately. So, I guess it’s not ‘something no one else knows about.’”
“Still fucking cool,” Bitsy declares. “How on earth did you find out about it?”
“Luca,” I mumble.
“Man, fuck that guy,” Bitsy mutters.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because he broke your heart, and us omega girls stick together. So, fuck him and not in the fun way. Want me to shrink his dick for you? I’ve made adjustments to the spell, and let’s just say… it lasts longer and not in the way guys like to claim they can last.”
“Oh, I need you to teach me how to do that so I can vanquish another of Juniper’s foes,” Simon says, reaching over me to grab another slice of pizza, the back of his hand brushing over my legs just above the knees.
It takes reciting every fifth-order sigil I know backwards and forwards to distract me enough that I don’t perfume. Saints, perfuming for Ellie’s brother right in front of her? The mortification alone throws cold water on the butterflies in my belly.
“You teach me how to skateboard and we’ve got a deal,” Bitsy says.
Possessiveness flashes through me, not wanting the beta at my side to touch another omega the way he touched me as I wobbled on the skateboard. Alyssa gives me a nudge and a knowing look. I give her a little shrug, but she gets it.
“This was great, Simon,” Ellie says with a yawn. “Thank you for putting it together.”
Simon reaches for my hand in the mess of blankets and strokes his thumb across the back of it. “It was completely worth it.”
CHAPTER11
Ifeel as light as a feather, like one of the snowflakes dancing on the wind, as Marcus and I make our way back to the omega residences, but it doesn’t last into the next day.
The moment I step out of my cottage, I catch the faintest hint of spice in the crisp wintry air. I tell myself it’s just Darika’s scent: spiced tea and candied orange peels, but my gut roils at the unmistakable undercurrent of anise.
My mind has to be playing tricks on me. There’s no way Rad’s been within the wards of the omega residences—it’s an impossibility. After he attacked me, Mai ran through the list of all the guests other omegas have requested to have access to the residences—and he’s not on the list. Nor will he ever be.
The headmaster couldn’t expel him, but Mai wouldn’t tolerate letting my would-be rapist anywhere near us omegas, saints bless her.
Alyssa bounds up to us and passes me a spice cookie, still warm from the oven. “I was trying a new recipe this morning. You have to tell me if you like it. I need to go into Christmas cookie baking mode as soon as possible and I want to nail this one first.”
Anise, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. The scent I caught on the chill winter wind wasn’t an alpha scent at all, but Alyssa’s early-morning baking.
I won’t turn down cookies for breakfast, but Alyssa’s spice cookies could do with a bit less anise. I shrug. “I’m particularly sensitive to anise after… after Rad.”
“Ugh gross. Out it goes. Cardamom will have a brighter flavor anyway.”
Bitsy and Ellie catch up with us, both out of breath.
“Okay, how dare you not share your cookies!”
Alyssa rolls her eyes and hands over warm cookies wrapped up in paper towels to both of them. Bitsy punches the air and skips ahead of us.
“Oh saints, Lys. This tastes JUST like Yule! Yule in a cookie. I could kiss you.”
Darika jogs up to us from the other side of the wards and tugs Alyssa into a one-armed hug. “Please don’t, Bits. I’d hate to break up the band over a smooch, but don’t test me.”
Alyssa rolls her eyes again. “Down, alpha.”
“Oh, hey, speaking of the band,” Ellie says, looking up from her phone. “I got an email yesterday. We’re playing Night of the Fallen! It’s going to be such a blast. Are we doing group costumes? I kind of think we should do group costumes.”
