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Even in the next room, we kept our voices down. “Do we tell her?”
“I want to,” Cade said. “But I don’t think she’s there yet. She needs to let go of the idea that we’re doing this for money.”
I shook my head. “How will she let go of it if we don’ttell herwe’re not doing it for money?”
“If you’re Isolde,” Joel said. “Your confidence and everything you thought you knew has been shattered. You’ve basically been living in exile. Then you come back and take a risk with a pack like us, and you realize it’s so much worse than you thought it was. And just when you decide to do something for yourself? A pack sweeps in and claims you as theirs with no fucking proof.” He shook his head. “She’s vulnerable, and we can’t take advantage of that. If we force her hand in any way, she’ll always have doubts. It needs to come from her. Even if it kills me.”
“I hate that you’re right.” Hawk scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fucking hate it. But you are. As soon as we can, I want to tell her. Just in a way that doesn’t make her think we’re using her or we’re just paying lip service to a client.”
“We’re done, right?” The words tumbled out of me. “I don’t think I could stomach taking more clients now that she exists.”
Joel smirked. “Yeah. We’re done. We’ll figure out the money later.”
“Would be nice to actually show my face online,” Hawk said. He had an insane following for him and his music, but he’d always been faceless. Someone could potentially recognize his tattoos, but people were less observant than they claimed to be, and without a face to a name, it was easy for him to fly under the radar.
I pointed at him. “If you commit to it, we’re all going to hold you to it. Going after music for real.”
A faint smile. “I can do that.”
Joel looked between the four of us. “We’ve got a few days before the next wedding thing. Let’s take the time and show her who we are now that we’re not limited. Lay everything we can on the table. After that?”
There was only one answer to that question. After that, we would do everything in our power to make this Omega ours.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
________
ISOLDE
Iloved the feeling of a purr. The way it resonated through my chest and relaxed me. It made me feel so completely safe, and I missed that feeling.
How long had it been? Longer than I’d let myself admit.
Here in this shadowy, half-awake place, I could give in to the horror of realizing I’d clung to something mediocreat bestfor so long, and I had been too naïve to see how badly I was treated. Because…
I didn’t know. Was I afraid of being alone? Was I so convinced we were happy I just lived in the clouds? Even if I wanted to know, in the end it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I wasn’t in that place anymore, and that there was an Alpha lying behind me, purring.
Turning over, I reached for whoever it was, wrapping my arms around their neck before even opening my eyes. A rough, rich purr and the delicate scent of cardamom mixed with what was left of what they’d done to me. Traces of my scent on him.
That was so fucking hot.
“I swear I can hear you thinking,” Joel said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m good.” My body felt heavy and sated. I could probably go back to sleep if I wanted to, but I didn’t. The day stretched in front of us, along with a conversation I very much wanted to have. “Your purr is going to send me back to sleep.”
He chuckled. “Does that mean I should stop?”
“No.” My eyes flew open to find him grinning. “Don’t. Please.”
“Good morning.” He kissed my forehead, still purring like he was an engine. “Sleep okay?”
“Like the dead, honestly.”
One hand slid down my side under the blankets until he could curl it around my thigh and pull my leg over his body. “It was my job to tell you there’s breakfast on the veranda and we want to eat with you. But now that you’re awake, and naked, I don’t want to let you out of this bed.”
I pressed my forehead into his chest. Joel cradled me closer, holding me against him, and I savored the feeling of beingheld. Sometimes this was all I wanted. Just to touch and be touched and feel like I wasn’t so alone. “I like this.”
“Fuck breakfast,” he said. “Let’s stay here.”
