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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

BUT IT WAS both of them.

Vincent was the one who came to the car. He tapped the window and told me to scoot over into the passenger seat.

I was in heat and out of my head. I’d been presenting in the car for about twenty minutes before they’d shown up, grunting as I pressed my face into the passenger’s side seat, rubbing my ass against the driver’s side window. I was really afraid that someone was going to come over here and see me like this and call the police or something.

Luckily, I’d managed to get out of the presenting stance and sit back down like a normal person.

Anyway, an alpha telling me what to do? Yes, please. I obeyed him right away, letting out a series of relieved whines.

He opened the door and slid in. “Damian’s there.” He pointed to the other car. “We needed to have two drivers to get your car, and he knew if he scented you, you two would just be fucking out here.”

“Oh,” I moaned. “That’s true.”

“So, you get me,” he said, grinning at me. “And I’m totally going to resist you.”

“We can just get me back to somewhere I can shift,” I said.

He nodded at me. “Okay.” He held out his hand. “Keys?”

Were they not in the ignition? I let out a whine when I saw they weren’t. Where had I put them? I moaned, “I don’t know, I don’t know where they are.”

“Okay, okay,” said Vincent, very calm. “Where do you usually put them?”

“Maybe in my pocket,” I moaned.

“Can you check?”

I threw back my head and began to frantically rub my cheek into whatever handy surface I could find.

“Omega,” said Vincent, his voice commanding.

I whimpered, and I looked at him and perfumed, the scent of me explosive in the car.

Vincent let out a strangled noise, pounced on me, and put his hands in my pockets. Finding the keys, he pulled them out and stuck them in the ignition. Then he rolled down the windows.

I panted. “Sorry.”

“You’re fine,” he said. “You’re absolutely fine.” His voice was gentle and reassuring. “You do not worry about anything at all, omega. You’re in heat. And we are going to take care of you.”

He pulled the car forward, and Damian swung his car around too. Vincent drove my car out of the parking lot and Damian followed.

We pulled onto the road and Vincent plugged his phone in and immediately “Fireflies” by Owl City began playing.

I let out a little noise that was like a groan. “I love this song.”

“I know,” he said, glancing across the car at me, a little smile playing on his lips.

“I haven’t heard it in forever,” I said, slumping into the seat.

“Yeah,” he said. “Well, sometimes I listen to this playlist, just songs we used to listen to when we were kids on the river in those summers back then.”

I shut my eyes. “Perfect.”

“Good,” he said. “You relax, Leo. I’ve got you.”

I did relax. Not entirely. I was still in heat, of course, but Vincent’s presence was oozing over there across the car. His presence was very alpha, but it didn’t make me feel the way Damian made me feel. I didn’t feel worked up, urged into a frenzy. I felt grounded, anchored, as if latching on to Vincent would keep me safe and secure, and I realized Damian didn’t make me feel safe. Once, long ago, he had, but I couldn’t remember when that was. Now, I felt as if Damian was danger, but danger I could not protect myself from, because he overrode all my instincts.