Hmm. Options. Options.
Bonnie stiffens just slightly, and I know she’s noticed them looking at her. I wonder if she’s scared or feels threatened. Does it make her mad? Does it arouse her? That last thought makes me want to join Vale with flying lessons.
It takes me a minute to pick up pine cones in a path that will lead me to collide with her, but I pretend to be startled.
“Oh, Bonnie, I didn’t know you were there.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Okay, yes, I did. But to be fair, I just want to bathe in the sunlight of your aura.”
She groans and leans down to grab another branch. “Have you and Dakota transplanted bodies?”
“Not at all,” I whisper and lean in, inhaling her scent and feeling my alpha rise too fast, too sharply. “I’ve got another bite I think you’d be interested in checking.”
Her face flames, but her scent turns rich, hot, like fresh out of the oven cookies. My mouth waters, and I groan. Now I’m hard, achingly hard. Just the memory of her fingers on me.
“No!” she snaps, slapping me hard against my chest. “I am not inspecting your cock again.”
Just her saying that word has me wanting to drop to my knees and beg her to say it again.
She’s going to send us all into ruts. How would we contain our rage if we went into a rut? We would have a one-track mind, similar to a heat, but it happens to alphas. I will want to mate with my omega to the exclusion of all else. Further, I will become extremely dangerous to everything that moves, other than my pack and my omega.
And I don’t know what would happen if she said no to me in a rut. I’d probably destroy a massive chunk of her beloved forest. I’d scare her. I’m not exactly sane anymore.
I smother the rise of feeling, shoving it back done and leaning away from her a bit to clear my head.
“Are you all right, Rory?” she says softly.
No, nowhere near okay.
“I’m fantastic,” I purr and lean back in, unable to stay away.
Her eyes catch mine, and we just stare at each other. Her cheeks get pink, and she struggles until she drops her gaze.
“I appreciate you being so helpful out here, for…” she pauses, glancing around to make sure we’re alone, “protecting me.”
I’d be chuffed if it was her being embarrassed or shy, but this is pure frustration and irritation, and it gets me hotter than any cute, coy look could. But she’s just managed to shove the feral urge to slide into a rut back. I’m not dancing on the knife's edge anymore.
“Stop doing that!”
“Doing what?” I murmur huskily.
“Staring at me like…” She bites her lip and glares past me.
“Like I want to fuck you for hours and hours, or like I want to leave my mark all over your skin, or like I want to be inside you in every way that’s possible?”
Her eyes get really wide, her nostrils flare, and she takes an unconscious step towards me before she comes to herself and bolts past me.
I turn, watching her catch up to Kevin.
I would cheerfully just end him right now if I thought I could get away with it.
“DON’T MOVE!” Bonnie shouts.
I glance at Cyn, who is watching her with his mouth open in surprise.
She carefully moves over to Kevin and leans down, picking up a stick as long as her forearm.
