Her face blanks. “No, I-” she snaps her mouth shut, then narrows her eyes, squinting at me. “You can smell it?”
I realise I’ve said something really wrong and take a step back. “Uh, well, just your scent is stronger, and you’re more emotional and-”
She growls under her breath, which is echoed by the pup in her arms.
“More emotional?” she asks.
I glance at Mack and Elijah for help, but they look terrified.
“Upset, stressed, a little bit more teary.”
“And you’d know from all the time you spent with me in the last few years?”
“Rebel, that’s not what I meant. We’re just trying to help.”
She swipes at her face, looks back out at the ocean, and sets the agitated pup on the ground. “What is this heat going to cost me?”
It takes far too long for that sentence to make sense.
“What do you mean?” I splutter. “Why would your heat cost you anything?”
“Will you have some possessive claim to me? Will I owe you money? What happens at the end, on the other side, when you realise I’m not the one you want?”
My confusion fades, and I make a promise that if I ever meet the pack that hurt her like this, I will make them suffer.
“It’s going to cost you,” I purr, stalking towards her, holding a hand up sharply to cut off Elijah’s protest. “It will cost you dearly.”
“What?” she says and steps back away from me. “Money?”
“I don’t want money. We have enough.”
“You want to claim me?”
I shake my head. “I will not claim you until you claim me. It will always be your decision, Rebel.”
“Well, then, what?” she hisses. “What do you want from me?”
Danger barks at us, jumping up at her. His hackles raised as he looks for what is upsetting his beloved mum.
I close the space between us and hand Danger to Mack. “You are going to give us your tolerance.”
“Tolerance?”
“Yes, at the end of your heat, you’re going to tolerate our need to pamper you, to make sure you have eaten enough, are hydrated. We’re going to check on you and want to touch and kiss you, hold you. Make sure you’re warm and not hurting.”
Her eyes get wider and wider. She stumbles back another step, but I don’t let her escape me.
“Devon-”
“You’re going to listen to us purr, and you are going to let us take care of you. That is the only cost to you. We will not demand anything else.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing. Oh, and Sofia?”
She flinches slightly when I use her name. “Yes?” she says warily.
“We’re not going to come out on the other side of any day and ever think that you aren’t anything but the omega we want to court and be bonded with.”
