Her heart pounded as hard as his now. “Jayden, you’re starting to scare me again, and I don’t think either of us wants me to be scared. What is it about omegas that you don’t want me to know? Is being an omega why I freaked out so badly the other morning?”
He nodded. “Omegas are a lot like alphas. They’re big, strong, and fast. They can take as much damage as an alpha and heal just as quickly. But they generally have aggression issues and tend to lose control when exposed to strong emotions, like anger or fear. It can take a real effort on their part to bond with other werewolves.”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. He wished he knew what she was thinking, but unfortunately, werewolves couldn’t read minds.
Brooks took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m not saying that it’s going to be like that for you. Like I said, there’s an omega in the Pack who doesn’t have any of those issues because he figured out how to overcome them. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to introduce you to him, so he can teach you how to stay in control. Would you be okay with something like that?”
He spoke the words so softly, he wasn’t sure Selena could even hear him over the thundering of his heart. Hers was still beating nearly as hard. He wasn’t sure what that meant.
All at once, Selena climbed onto his lap. Brooks shifted on the couch, making it easier for her to straddle his thighs. She tugged his head down, resting her forehead against his.
“Jayden, I know you’re freaking out right now, but there’s nothing you just told me about omegas that I didn’t already know about myself,” she said softly. “I’m fine meeting your teammate and talking to him. But when it comes to learning how to be in control, I’d rather learn that from you. Because at the end of the day, you’re the man I care about, the man I trust.”
Brooks opened his mouth to tell Selena there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her, but she kissed him. Not a crazy kiss from an omega. A warm, inviting kiss from the woman he loved.
* * *
Jayden’s tongue slowly played with hers, his hands resting lazily on her hips as they made out on the couch. Selena could tell he was trying to keep things chill. Like that was possible with a guy as hot as he was. As her fingertips tingled and electricity zipped through her body, she had the urge to nip, bite, and claw.
To rip both their clothes off.
To take and be taken.
She knew now that was the omega inside her. There was a certain amount of power—and relief—knowing where that intense desire came from. Maybe now, she could control the wolf inside her a little better.
Moreover, Jayden had poured his heart out to her, revealing his darkest fear that the omega would take over and leave him with the creature who’d nearly clawed him to shreds, thrown him across the room, then run away like a wild animal. Leave him with a werewolf that had no interest in bonding with anyone—even him. It had been humbling to be gifted with that much honesty, and Selena promised herself the gesture wouldn’t be wasted. If that promise meant going slowly and carefully when they made love, she was fine with that.
So, when Jayden pulled back to gaze at her, she forced herself not to complain, even if there was a part inside that wanted to growl and snatch his mouth back down on hers.
“I’m okay,” she said softly, lifting her hands. “See…no claws.”
His sensuous mouth curved. “I wasn’t stopping because I was worried about your claws coming out. I wanted to ask if you still wanted to go to the wedding tomorrow. I understand if you don’t, but there’ll be a lot of other werewolves there I’d like you to meet, including the omega I mentioned—Carter.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth, hesitating. “Do they all know about me? That I’m an omega, and that I attacked you? Your teammates, I mean.”
He nodded. “We’re a pack. It’s almost impossible to keep secrets from each other, so we usually don’t try. So yes, they know what happened, and yes, they’ll likely rib the both of us about the whole thing, but they don’t care that you’re an omega, and they certainly won’t treat you differently because of it. Everyone in the Pack has had to deal with tough issues at some point in their lives, either as a result of the trauma they went through to become a werewolf or because of the problems they faced when they found their mates. In one way or another, they’ve all been where you are, so you won’t catch them throwing rocks. In fact, you’re going to find more than a few of them willing to help you out with what you’re going through.”
She considered his words for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding. “Okay, I’ll go. But you’re going to stick close, right? Because getting nervous probably isn’t good for me, and something tells me this is going to be a completely new experience.”
He slipped a finger under her chin, tipping her face up and kissing her so gently, it almost brought tears to her eyes. “I won’t leave your side for a second,” he murmured against her lips. “Promise.”
That was good enough for her. Of course, with everything going on, she hadn’t given even a second thought to what she’d wear tomorrow. On a teacher’s salary, it wasn’t like she had a closet full of fancy dresses and shoes to choose from. She only had a few to work with, and without knowing the bride’s color scheme, it was going to be tricky.
But then Jayden slipped his hand in her hair and captured her mouth in another kiss, his tongue easing inside to play. Her body immediately responded, and she forgot about dresses, shoes, and how she was ever going to get her hair done in time for a wedding the next day. Instead, she focused on how good it felt to kiss him. She could gladly do this for the rest of the night…what was left of it. And from the hard-on in Jayden’s jeans, he was thinking the exact same thing.
Caressing his bearded jaw, she opened her eyes ever so slightly and saw him looking at her with a smolder that took her breath away. But the thing that captured her attention even more than the passion in his eyes was the glow there. The gold was impossible to miss. Until she realized she had missed it before—lots of times—when she’d assumed it was nothing more than the reflection of a nearby light. How could she have possibly thought something so remarkable was simply a funny bounce of the light?
Selena pulled back, gazing at him in awe and fascination. “Your eyes are gold. Do all werewolf’s eyes glow like that? Do mine?”
He chuckled. “Werewolf eyes only glow when they’re really riled up, like with anger, fear, or arousal. When it happens, male werewolves’ eyes turn gold, while female werewolves’ turn green.”
She tried to imagine what she looked like with eyes that were a different color but couldn’t. “Do I look strange with green eyes?”
“Actually, yours don’t turn green.”
“They don’t?”
He shook his head. “When we were dancing at that club a couple nights ago, I noticed something that almost looked like a blue-white lightning dancing around in the depth of your eyes, but I thought it was the strobe lights. It wasn’t until you freaked out the other morning that I saw your real color. When you’re on the edge, your eyes turn vivid blue.”
