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Grayson had enfolded me in his arms then. Holding me while I erased more of my father’s vitriol. It’s hard letting go of all these beliefs I held about myself, but I want a life with the pack, so I'm working hard to erase my lifetime's worth.
I wake up, my heart pounding, feeling strangely on edge, like the house has grown teeth. The scent of lemons soaks the air, and the pack is MIA when I go hunting through the silent house. Even the staff are gone.
It takes me well over an hour to track Dylan down, but I found him in a room at the back of the mansion.
I take a step inside and freeze. The hairs on my neck rise, and I wondered why we hadn’t gone over this in our pack meetings. Dylan turns slowly towards me, but he’s not really seeing me. His head tracks my movements. I hold my hands up and back out of the room, my heart pounding. The sexy way he growls has my whole body tingling, but he doesn’t ask me to stay, and it doesn’t feel right to push.
Grayson bursts out of a room and seizes me around my waist and swings me into a library, softly closing the door and leaning against me. He trembles, and I reach up, holding him to me, wondering what the hell is wrong with him.
“Gray?”
“He’s in heat.” He then says the words with both awe and horror. “Won’t be long now, and it will be…” He trails off and swallows hard.
I look at him carefully. “You look like you’re about to be sick.”
“What if we mess it up?” he says in a stricken voice. “It needs to be perfect.”
I can’t believe what I'm hearing. “What happened to the cocky alpha I know and love?”
“He’s in heat,” Gray stresses.
“Yes, but I’ll be here this time. Well, in order to make it perfect, we need to get organised? Do Falcon and Silas know?”
“Yes, they’re canceling everything.”
My words aren’t making a difference to the distracted alpha.
“Good. So, let’s go get towels, stock the bathroom and the fridge. Prepare for days in the nest.” I try for a calm, soothing tone while I think about what he might need.
Gray’s mouth pops open, and he sweeps his hand through his hair. “Of course. Shit, yes. All right, let’s go.”
Together, we get everything ready, and the realisation grows and crystallizes in my mind.
“This is the second heat?” I ask cautiously. “Isn’t it?”
Gray looks up and nods once. “First.”
I stop dead, my arms hanging uselessly at my side. “But didn’t you, with the bites and…” I trail off at Gray’s blank expression.
“What are you talking about?” he asks with a bite of anger.
“But you’ve been together for two months. Surely, you’ve had a heat and…” I stop and realise I haven’t seen bite marks on Dylan. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to ask. I reel, stunned, as I change information around in my brain.
Grayson frowns and stalks towards me. “Dylan wouldn’t stop taking his suppressants after you left. He didn’t feel safe enough to go into a heat. And he wouldn’t take our bonds, he wasn’t ready.”
My mouth opens and closes. I know I should say something, but I can’t get anything out. “He waited.” A tear streaks down my cheek.
“For you. Yes.” Gray swipes it away and sighs. “You two are going to kill me.”
“But we couldn’t have known it was going to work out.” I protest. How did he know? How could he have known? Maybe it was just hope.
“I think he would have found a way to figure it out, Nyx. He’s been in love with you for a very long time. You are the woman who rescued him, who protected him when he had nothing. We might be his scent matches, but you’re his love match.”
I squeeze my eyes closed on those words, feeling something shift inside me. Grayson pulls me against his chest, hugging me tight.
“This is a dream.”
Grayson laughs, but we break apart when we hear footsteps. Dylan walks into the room like something else. His pupils are huge, and when he inhales and catches our scents, they get even bigger. His hair is mussed like he’s just gotten out of bed. He doesn’t have a top on, just a pair of black sweatpants hanging low on his hips, giving a tantalizing look at the V that leads down below the waistband. And he’s hard.
