I bark out a laugh but turn to look at Noah. “He’s joking.”
“He’s not,” Lincoln calls over his shoulder as he turns the grill to low before coming to sit at the table to eat.
“Back to what is important.”
Gabe snickers, making sure I see that flirty smirk of his. “I’d say who sleeps next to you is important.”
“You would.” I wink back at him.
“I’m adding increased sexual drive to my findings,” Noah adds stoically.
I challenge him right away, barely before he’s finished speaking. “All omegas have increased drives, it’s the reason Regalo wanted to make them. Baby making machines.”
“But not all are as confident as you are, or as accepting of that facet of their biology. Most are not as open as you are either.”
“Or you’re seeing a different part of a normal omega’s behaviour because most of the omegas you have met already have a pack, so surely their behaviour would be different to that of a single omega?”
“Perhaps. I’m still adding it as a valid reason for my assessment.”
“Jesus, Noah, cut to the chase, you’re making my Len sound like a thing, and not the sweet piece of ass she is, which goes against everything the Alliance stands for.” Gabe winks at me, but there’s no need, I know exactly what he’s saying.
“Sweet piece of ass?” I stage whisper back at him.
And Gabriel does something horrific but really fucking sexy in the same breath. He flicks his tongue out and licks his top lip. Watching Gabe do it is not a turn off in the slightest. He waits a few moments and then leans in close, dragging a deep breath of my scent in, because I react like a firecracker, leaking and blushing pretty much like he knew I would.
“You’re a natural born omega,” Noah interrupts the R-rated show going on in my mind involving Gabriel and his pointed tongue, and my pussy, followed up by an encore involving Gabe’s knot.
“I am,” I say breathlessly, caught up on the end of the fantasy in my head.
“Which means you’re an Evie.”
And then I’m breathless for an entirely different reason. “Do me a solid and never, ever, ever, use that term again. It doesn’t take a world-renowned plastic surgeon to figure out why. And before you get all reticent and apologetic, Noah, you didn’t know, but I’m telling you now. You can call me a natural born omega, we can talk about Dr. Regalo or the Regalo labs until I’ve told you everything I remember, but please, no one around this table use the term Prime, Evie or Eve again. The last two especially. It would be great if we could change out all the words in the dictionary that start with Ev, but that’s probably asking a bit much.”
“Done.” It’s Valak again that speaks on behalf of everyone and no one minds at all.
Gabe does his magic and deals with my confession differently. “Len, you little shit, you’re going to have us going fucking feral alpha on your ass now.”
“You weren’t before?” I gasp, clutching my chest dramatically and pulling a sad face.
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, good point. I mean, it was on the cards. But you seriously get how life just changed for the four of us.” And then he stops mucking around and gets serious. Which is warranted and touching. His voice drops low, and he leans over to brush the hair from my face. “You living out there in the real world is what we fucking want. You doing it by yourself without round the clock care is not going to happen. It can’t, Len, you’re too precious, and so fucking tiny.”
I click my fingers. And Ares rises up and thunders a growl of warning, his hackles standing on end, his head pulled into his body. He stalks towards the table with intimidation in every step. My dog’s attention swings to each of them, snarling threateningly at them before coming to stand next to me.
“Cute trick. What happens if someone kills your dog, Len? What then?”
Before he can ask another question or crack the shits, I lay my hand on his. I flick a whistle off to Ares who drops straight to the floor into a wait position. “Gabe, you’re overreacting. Nothing has changed between you and me since we first met. I’m still the same person I was then. Please, for the sake of really good orgasms, don’t start freaking out now because you’ve actually heard me confirm what you already suspected.”
“But, Len, you’re living in danger. Part of me is struggling not to go all out and build another Great Wall of China around Lincoln’s house.”
I ignore the last part of what he said, focusing on the important stuff. “Am I in danger? I’ve actually been living on the other side of the country and have done pretty well for the past six years.”
“Wait? You don’t live in Darlington? I have to move?” he asks quickly, his head swinging around to look at everyone. His different personas are so easy for me to keep up with, I’ve got a few of my own.
I shake my head. “The only reason I was in that carpark was because I had to see Broken Cube perform, as their manager. I’ve been reviewing their shows via the audience webcam, but Spencer, the lead singer, and Fez, have been up to something. I know it. There’s nothing else in this town for me. I’m usually a hermit, honestly.”
“What about Bailey? She lives there. You don’t catch up?”
I grimace at that one, and Lincoln doesn’t miss it. “I called her a while ago, weeks actually, after one of your shows, or maybe it was one of the interviews Valak did. Anyway, I might have told her a little white lie. But I didn’t want her to worry.”
