Page 22 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

I stopped breathing as Mary inhaled, then again, eyes closing. Her shoulders lowered by a fraction. The pain stayed in her face, but her jaw came unclenched under the scent of us.

She walked to Hudson next and pressed her nose against his shirt, then had the audacity to glare at us as if we had whatever it was she liked to manipulate her.

I bit the inside of my cheek, hard enough to hurt. If she was reacting like this, did it mean she had a compatible scent to us.

I took off my sweater and gave it to Mary. She took Hudson’s tie and waited as he removed his shirt, then she took them all along with the stolen hotel blanket and she placed them on the bed.

Violet and blackberry tangled in the air.

Hudson looked at me.

She was nesting, and not performing it either. Her omega had made her way to our room after finding our scent, and now she was gathering our things, like we were hers.

I kept my voice gentle. “Mary, why don’t you have something to eat while you prepare your nest?”

She stared at me. Then she laughed. It was breathless and disbelieving, and it shook at the edges. “I don’t need a nest.”

“No?”

“No. I need to fuck this pain away and go home.”

Hudson stared at the nest and smiled, while I rubbed one hand over my beard because if I touched anything else, it might be her.

“All right,” I said. “That’s clear.”

“Thank you.”

“We still need to talk first.”

“That sounds inefficient. Time is not on my side.”

“Boundaries need to be made.”

She narrowed her eyes, her chest rising and falling. Sweat glistened on her forehead. “You’re going to be honorable, aren’t you?”

“Painfully.”

She wiped the back of her hand over her brow. “I was afraid of that. Okay, get it out of the way.”

Hudson moved to the minibar and took out a bottle of water. “You’re in pre-heat, possibly the first stage of heat. You’re in pain. Before anything physical happens, we need to know what you want and what you don’t want.”

Mary’s chin lifted. “I want the pain gone.”

“That isn’t specific enough.”

“It feels bloody specific from where I’m standing.”

“Do you want us to touch you?” I asked.

Her eyes snapped to mine. “If I wanted to remain untouched I would have stayed in my room with my three battery operated friends.”

I tried to remain calm. Not for her. For me. “Do you want Hudson and me to touch you?”

“Yes,” she said, then muttered, “obviously.”

Hudson turned back from the minibar and handed her the bottle. “Both of us?”

Her throat moved. “Yes.”