“Obviously I handled it.” He paused. “And before you get any ideas about being mad at me for not following orders to keep her away, your Omega here has just enough compelling power that I could not say no. I want that on the record.” He held up a finger. “And I tried. Multiple times. I wantthaton the record, too.”
Rex went very still.
He looked down at Zoe, who had suddenly developed an intense interest in the trees far away.
“Zoe.”
“Yes, Rex?”
“Did you compel my Beta?”
“That’s a very weird way to phrase what happened.”
“Owen?”
“She told me she was going to you,” Owen said, his fists still on his hips. “And that was more or less the end of my free will.”
Rex looked back down at Zoe, who finally peeked up at him. The faintest suggestion of a smile was pulling at the corner of her mouth despite her very best efforts. “I didn’t know I was doing it. I only knew I had to get to you. And I always will, just so you know.”
“I know.”
He held her gaze for a long moment, then pulled her back in, tucked her against his chest, and just breathed.
“I gotta go, Callie is getting antsy. She knows what was happening becauseI didn’t cut her off, but I still want to go to her. Apologize to your mate,” Owen said, pointing a finger at Rex, “and think about what you’ve done.”
“I’m sorry,” Rex said into her hair.
"Good.” She settled against him. “You’re bleeding, just so you know.”
“I’m aware.”
“Can we also,” she said, muffled against his chest, “talk about the fact that there is a very significant number of naked people in this field right now, and nobody seems bothered by it except me?”
Behind them, Owen laughed, and Rex pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Let’s go home.”
“But the plant run?”
He sighed. Leave it to her... “Let’s get back to the forest, then.”
Chapter 12
Late July, evening
The garlic butter in the pan was marching toward its destruction.
Zoe knew.
She knew Rex knew; he’d already told her something was starting to smell weird all the way from the bathroom.
But she only needed to check her laptop one more time, to make sure she got no email. Notifications on her phone were notoriously wobbly—okay, they really weren’t, but what if they were today? Checking would just take a moment.
She clicked. Held her breath.
No email.
Alright.
Alright.
