His brows furrow deep. “You just said?—”
I raise a hand. “I know. But she’s a scent-match. So if that’s her alpha, and I’m also scent-matched with her…”
I trail off. There’s too much hope and a whole lot of complication in the sentences I’m forming.
Cole’s lips press tight. “You only just met her.”
“And scent-matches are rare,” I argue. “There’s no way she didn’t also scent it.”
Cole crosses his arms and regards me for a long moment. “If those things are fated, then fate will bring you two back together.That, I believe. Until then, try not to go stalking her through town, okay? I can’t afford your bail money.”
I laugh and clap him on the shoulder. “Good man, great advice.” I steal some leftover cookies from today off the nearby counter. “Even better baked goods.”
“Stop with those.” Cole clicks his tongue and heads over to the pasty case to package up two for me. “Take this and get out of here. Some of us have actual work to do.”
I thank my best friend profusely and head out the door. But it’s a long night where I dream of drowning omegas?—
And me drowning in Helena’s honey scent.
CHAPTER 7
Helena
The seaacross the lane pounds against the shore, far stronger than it did this morning. Already since our arrival early today, Seamuse has shown its full extent of weather. Who could’ve predicted that the beautiful sunshine of morning would turn into this storm by mid-afternoon?
My body aches for movement. A restlessness that sticks in deep and twists, coiling until I nearly start pacing the room. But I don’t.I’m not giving Zane more reasons to worry.
Exhaustion still pulls on my body from trying to fight the riptide on my own. Zane has scarcely left my side in the hours since. I’ve asked if we should just head to the hospital if he’s so concerned, but I get the feeling he’d be even more oppressively protective there.
I balance my teacup on my knee and lean my forehead against the rain-splattered glass. The salt air is everywhere here. I’ve been in Seamuse for only a handful of ours and have come to learn this intimately, and not just from nearly drowning.
Not sure this is the “relaxing vacation” I’d had in mind to sort out my life.
Right now, I’m just glad to still have said life.
Across the sitting room, Zane pretends to inspect the bookshelf, but his attention is fixed on me. Energy zips through the air between us. A tension that’s far more than bodyguard and nobility, and absolutely driven by how strong Zane’s scent has flared since the riptide incident. It makes me want to claw my way over to him and kiss him from head to toe.
Which isbeyondindecent, Helena.Not that self-scolding has ever stopped anyone before.
Zane’s done well to keep any alpha instincts under wraps the same way I’ve managed to not fall to my inner omega and climb him like a tree. But the second we stepped foot in Seamuse, it was like all of that changed. There’s no one here to keep us in line. If either of us wanted to act on the scent-match between us, this was the time.
Especially now that there’s another alpha who’s also scent-matched.Lucas.
I don’t know what to make of that. Or if Zane would want to form a full pack.
Or if Zane even wants to bond with me.
Do we have to heed scent-matches at all?
Zane shifts. His movement draws me from my thoughts. His gaze falls to my empty teacup. He’s already halfway to the kettle when he asks, “Another?”
“I’ll burst,” I say, but I hand over my empty cup, anyway.
He’s put on a crisp, pale-blue shirt that makes him look more like a naval officer than a bodyguard. He fits here in Seamuse, in a way I don’t. Less buttoned, less guarded, even with me to chaperone.
Zane refills the kettle. “You could use the hydration.”
I chuckle dryly. “I think I’ve gotten enough hydration for today.”
