Page 57

I need to get out of here into the open air.

Safe.

Dust hangs in the shafts of sunlight, which shine on Paige’s hair, as she walks to a pile of cardboard boxes that are stacked in front of a redbrick chimney.

I concentrate on counting the strands of her hair that are lit by the sun to calm my panic.

One, two, three…ten…twenty…

Paige appears lost in a spell of her own, as she rests her hand on top of the boxes.

Like this, she looks small.

Delicate.

I rarely notice Omegas. I never thought that one would be part of my life.

What if I damage her?

I open and close my hands compulsively.

Paige has been kind to me. But what would she think if she knew about my feral nature?

Hell, she said that she liked me.

Only Rhett and maybe Angel like me. I don’t reckon that even they like my uber-dominant pheromones and feral side.

Do I dare show Paige that side of me like I revealed my past?

Why the hell did I tell Paige about being abandoned? I’ve only told Rhett that story.

Everyone has always warned me that no Omega would want an Alpha like me.

An Alpha who becomes overloaded…feral.

Suddenly, I hear inside the walls the scritch-scratch of mice, and something in my chest loosens.

I listen more intently to the rustling overhead from the roosting bats, then the scraping from the roof gables of pigeons.

I calm myself with my favorite techniques of listing every animal who is with me that I can hear or see evidence of: mice, rats, pigeons, bats, squirrels, and crickets.

Finally, Paige glances around at me. “Aren’t you coming in? Hey, are you okay?”

I’m not sure if I can talk yet but I nod.

I step stiffly further into the attic, which is thick with dust. My boots are leaving footprints on the wooden floor.

Paige still kneels in the dirt in front of the boxes. “All their stuff. I’m scared to open it.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost Chief.” I realize that it’s true.

“You mean Rhett? How long have you been together?”

“Five years. We met on a search and rescue for a teenager, during a wildfire. It was the North side of Butterfly Creek, point-three miles south of the old forestry road. Chief wanted me when no one else did. He saved me.”

Paige’s gentle dark brown eyes soften with concern. “You saved the kid too?”

“Of course we did. You have heroes helping you through your heat.”