The world stops spinning.
Every cell in my body goes cold, then hot, then cold again as I recognize the card in her hand. Simple white cardstock, embossed with a name I’ve spent ten years trying to forget.
Judah Daniels. Daniels Fishing Co.
Horror crashes through me in waves. Phoenix has no idea what she’s done. No idea what she’s suggesting. No idea that the “very nice alpha” she’s planning to spend her heat with is thesame man who bonded with me at seventeen and then watched me walk away without a word.
I have no way to explain to her how catastrophic this situation is without revealing my secret.
“Phoenix.” My voice comes out strangled. “You can’t stay with him.”
“Why not? He said he has plenty of room, and he seems nice. Like, genuinely nice, not Hollywood nice where the person really just wants something from you.” She tilts her head, studying me. “So what’s the problem?”
The problem is that Judah is my alpha. Was my alpha. Is my alpha, damn it. Because a bond is permanent. The alpha I abandoned for the exact reason that he didn’t try to stop me.
“The problem,” I say carefully, “is that you can’t just invite yourself to stay with a stranger during your heat. It’s inappropriate. It’s dangerous.”
“He’s mated,” she repeats, like that solves everything. “And he offered. I didn’t ask.”
“He offered because he was being polite, not because he actually wants an omega in heat under his roof,” I explain patiently. Normally, I can find a way to reason with Phoenix even when she is at her most chaotic but I feel this situation spiraling out of control. “Besides, you don’t know anything about him.”
“I know he saved me from a creepy biker. I know he was a gentleman about it. And I know he has a claiming bite, which means he’s not going to try anything.” She narrows her eyes. “What’s really going on, Mason? You’ve been acting weird since we landed in this town.”
I can feel the walls closing in. The secret I’ve kept for ten years—the one I’ve built my entire life around avoiding—is about to come crashing down around me.
“Nothing’s going on. I just think it’s a bad idea to stay with a stranger instead of at a proper hotel.”
“This isn’t a proper hotel. It’s a bed and breakfast with one available room for the three of us.” She gestures around at the cramped space. “Besides, if I’m really going into heat, I can’t stay here with Atticus.”
The thought of Phoenix in heat anywhere near Atticus sends a spike of something ugly through my chest. It’s not jealousy. It can’t be jealousy. I have no right to be jealous.
“We’ll get you your own room,” I say, grasping at solutions. “We’ll rent a car and drive to Portland. There must be proper hotels there.”
“In four hours, I’m going to be in full heat, Mason. We don’t have time for a road trip.” She leans forward, her expression softening. “I know you’re worried about me. You always worry about me. But I’ve thought this through.”
That’s what terrifies me. Phoenix’s version of thinking things through usually involves charging headfirst into the most chaotic option available and dealing with the consequences later.
“How many pills did you take?” I ask again, trying a different angle.
She winces. “All of them?”
“All of them.” I close my eyes briefly. “Phoenix, those are meant to be taken one at a time, with at least twelve hours between doses. They’re not meant to induce a full heat, just to enhance the natural cycle.”
“Well, they’re definitely working. I’m already feeling warm.” She fans herself with the business card. “And my skin is getting that tingly feeling.”
I study her more carefully. Her pupils are slightly dilated, and there is a flush spreading down her neck that wasn’t there before. Her scent has changed too—subtly, but noticeably tosomeone who’s spent as much time around her as I have. The usual notes of vanilla and citrus are deepening, growing richer, headier.
She’s not lying about the symptoms. The pills are working faster than I expected.
“This is insane,” I mutter, more to myself than to her. “You can’t just force yourself into heat to avoid a plane ride.”
“Too late.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Already done.”
I need to think. I need to come up with a plan that doesn’t involve Phoenix showing up at Judah’s door in pre-heat. I need to fix this before it spirals completely out of control.
“We’ll call Dr. Winters,” I say, reaching for my phone. “She can prescribe something to counteract the inducers.”
“It’s almost midnight in LA. She won’t answer.”
