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Rhett turned from where he was watching the double ovens. He lifted a brow. “They’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
My mouth was already watering, my jaw aching with the promise of doughy-cheesy-amazingness. I clambered onto the barstool beside Jude and leaned forward, inhaling deeply.
“Never thought I’d be jealous of a fucking pizza,” Kellan remarked from where he stood by the eat-in kitchen table. He finished setting out glasses of water at five of the six places. Sadly, he’d found a replacement shirt since I’d last seen him, covering up all those muscles and ink.
Jude leaned in toward me. “You know, one word from you and I’m sure they’d all strip and serve you dinner naked.”
I turned to gape at him.
Jude winked.
“Cheeky bastard,” Rhett groused, but was smiling as he turned to check the top oven.
Crew grabbed the other stool to my left and nodded his thanks as Kellan passed him a beer across the island.
Kellan looked at me. “Beer? Wine?”
“Water, juice or soda,” Crew cut in.
“What am I? Five?” I shot him an exasperated look because if any of us needed liquid courage, it was me.
“Alcohol can be dangerous when mixed with the meds they gave you at the hospital,” he told me. “You probably only have another twelve hours before your heat is back in full force. You want to kick start it early so you can have a glass of wine?”
I gulped and shook my head. “Good point.”
With a slight grimace, Crew covered my hand with his. “I’m not trying to control you, Hazel. But I meant what I said upstairs. We need to talk some things out first, while we’re all still aware of what’s going on, because when your heat hits…”
My lungs seized, unable to pull in air as every set of eyes turned to me. “Right. Uh, soda’s good.”
“Regular okay?” Kellan asked, opening the fridge and holding up a can. “We can buy something else if that’s what you prefer?—”
“Regular’s fine,” I murmured, taking the cold can and holding it in my hands for a beat. Part of me wanted to press it to my flaming cheeks. Talking about my heat with anyone, but especially four gorgeously hot men, was like talking about periods in middle school.
Thinking back on it, my periods stopping when I was seventeen should’ve been my first clue something was up. I just figured it was the stress of losing my parents and being kidnapped by my crazy uncle. I had no idea it meant my body was changing. That my entire designation was changing.
And if I had to find a silver lining, I guessed going into heat a few times a year was preferable to the monthly periods betas had.
“What are you thinking, pretty girl?” Jude asked, studying me.
Now I knew my cheeks were on fire as I ducked my head. “Uh, nothing.”
“First rule of pack life,” Crew announced, squeezing my fingers, “is we don’t lie to each other.”
I sucked in a deep breath and met his gaze. “Okay, I was thinking that the plus-side to being an omega is no monthly beta periods.”
Crew, to his credit, barely flinched, but Kellan burst into a roar of laughter.
“You had to lay down the law, bro.” Shaking his head, Kellan was still chuckling as he turned away to rummage in the refrigerator.
I arched a brow, almost challenging Crew. “You wanted to know.”
To my surprise, Crew leaned in. “I want to know everything in that pretty head of yours, omega.”
It was sweet that he thought so, but I knew he didn’t really want to know the horrors that played on a loop in my brain. The humiliation I’d endured. The pain. The threats…
I swallowed roughly around the rocks that suddenly clogged my throat. “Is there any word on Logan?”
Crew winced. “Only that he’s been taken in by Omega Services. We’ve tried reaching out, but they’re stonewalling us.”
