Another pulse, and this one takes the breath straight out of me. A small gasp escapes before I even feel it arrive.Not now, universe. Please, I’m asking politely. Not tonight.
I dig my phone out of my bag with trembling fingers.
“I’m gonna text Ace,” I say.
“Keep it casual.”
My thumbs are shaking so hard I have to start twice.
Hey. Change of plans. Clio’s had a rough night and needs me. Gonna crash at hers. Sorry for making you wait out there. I’ll call you in the morning. Night xx.
I stare at the message. Thexxfeels like lying. Leaving them off feels like a flag, but I hit Send before I can rewrite it for the third time.
Three dots appear instantly. Then:You sure? I can wait it out if you change your mind.
My throat tightens.I’m sure. Thanks, though.
What’s her address? Just in case.
I pause, knowing he’ll be there all night, waiting outside, and then I’ll go and talk to him, and cry and get angry, and I’m already feeling like I’m losing control.
No need,I type.Get some sleep.
The phone rings in my hand, and his name fills the screen along with a photo of him I took the other morning, grinning atsomething across the kitchen, green-gold eyes crinkled and so handsome it hurts.
“I can’t answer it,” I whisper. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t?—”
“Send it to voicemail.”
I decline the call with a shaking thumb. Start typing.Sorry, we’re in the middle of something. Talk tomorrow.
He replies in under a second.Your heat’s close. I could feel it on you this afternoon. Are you sure you should be away from us tonight?
Tears are burning in my eyes.
I’ll be okay,I type.Night.
Miss you,he replies instantly, and my heart actually breaks.
There’s no other word for it. Something in my chest cracks straight down the middle, and I press my free hand over my mouth because the sound that’s about to come out of me is a loud, sorrowful moan. The scent-match part of me that’s been falling for the pack is demanding that we return with the force of the world’s biggest magnet. Every cell in my skin is buzzing, craving his hands on me. My lungs scream for his scent, and my mouth quivers for his.
Yet another part of me is saying,What if? What if? What if?
I turn the phone off and drop it into my bag as though it’s burning me.
“Hey. Hey. You’re breathing too fast. It’s going to be okay,” Clio says.
“It would be so much easier if I didn’t feel anything for them.” That’s when a stab goes through me so deep that it folds me in half over my knees again. A warm gush between my thighs suddenly soaks the fabric of my pants immediately, and I shift onto my hip to save the seat.
“Oh God.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“No, no, no, no, no. It’s starting, Clio. My heat’s here.”
Clio stops the car at the light and turns to stare at me.
“Right now?” Her nostrils flare as she clearly must scent the calling card Omegas put out for Alphas. “Oh,shit.” She grips the wheel with both hands. “Okay, okay, okay. I thought your scent was really strong in the store. I thought I was being weird about it, and I didn’t want to say?—”
