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I sucked in a breath, ready to brush off his concerns, but I paused when his eyes narrowed the tiniest amount. He was ready and willing to call me on any bullshit.
“It’s a lot happening really fast,” I whispered as the door to the nest opened. I didn’t turn when I heard footsteps coming up. I was too focused on the concern and worry in Kellan’s eyes. “I just… it’s a lot. I’m not sure if what I’m feeling is me or these crazy omega hormones.”
He nodded slowly, not dismissing my fears outright, which was more of a relief than I’d thought it would be. “It is happening fast, but that’s not all that uncommon with scent matches and mates.”
“Which I might be willing to accept if I knew the first thing about being an omega,” I pointed out. “But right now? I’m winging it.”
“Then we’ll talk about it,” Crew spoke up from behind me.
I turned, exhaling a breath when I spotted him.
He folded his arms over his chest, stretching the cotton wrapped around his biceps to the absolute limits. “Rhett and Jude are working on dinner, but I definitely think we need to have some conversations before your heat fully returns.”
“I’d like that,” I said, glad that they were willing to hear me out.
Crew crossed the room to stand in front of me and take my hands. Kellan stayed behind me, sandwiching me between them.
Their scents wrapped around me, and I closed my eyes for a beat, letting my imagination run away, picturing myself between them with decidedly less clothing. A throb settled between my legs, and I swallowed a needy sound.
“Shit,” Kellan muttered with a rough laugh. He stepped back, letting me go. “I’m going to see if they need help with dinner.”
I watched Kellan leave with a pout, only turning to look at Crew when he chuckled. “What?”
“You have no idea the power you have over us, little omega,” he said, shaking his head.
For some women, power was a thing to be coveted and craved. For me? It was like being doused with ice water.
I didn’t want power. I just wanted to live my life.
“I said something wrong,” Crew realized, not touching me.
“It’s not you. It’s me,” I replied, unable to keep the bitterness from my tone. “I just don’t know how to do this, Crew. I don’t know how to be a good omega.”
I cringed, remembering the ways Donovan would threaten to make me into his good little omega. The ways he would break me.
With a frustrated sound, Crew reached for me and hauled me against his chest. “We don’t need you to be a good little omega, Hazel. We just need you to be you.”
“What if that isn’t enough?” What if I’m not enough?
Crew pulled back, his large hands framing my face, refusing to let me look away. “You’ve always been enough just being you, and fuck anyone who made you think differently. Omega or not, you are enough, Hazel.”
The ferocity of his words penetrated some of the ice around my heart, cracking it just enough to let something that felt a lot like hope slip through.
34
Hazel
Since awakening as an omega, my life had become ruled by scent. My nose was what let me know what I was walking into, and drove my actions, so when I came downstairs with Crew, the smell that greeted me almost sent me to my damn knees.
“Whoa.” Crew reached out a steadying hand, his eyes wide. “Hazel?—”
I didn’t wait for his explanation as I sprinted down the hallway, sliding on an area rug and almost wiping out as I reached the kitchen.
“Shit!” Jude jumped off the barstool and caught me before my chin hit the edge of the countertop and split it open.
“Hazel.” Crew barked my name, coming into the room just as fast—but with a lot more grace—as he chased me down. “What the hell?”
“Pizza,” I growled, my gaze darting around to lay eyes on my favorite food. An indulgence that had been denied me for years.
