The hallway feels colder than before.
My feet thud against the floor as I head back toward Charlie’s room. My chest is tight, like something’s wrapped around my ribs and won’t let go. Every instinct in me is snarling, pacing, demanding I turn back and finish what I started. But I keep walking.
When I step through the doorway, the heat hits me first—then the scent. Pheromones. Fever, sweat, and slick. Charlie’s scent is manic again, making my cock pulse then harden. The chafed skin pulls tight across my shaft, and I wince. It stings, cutting right down to my balls.
“Yes.” Charlie moans. He’s on the bed, Myrick on top of him, hips rolling in tired, steady thrusts. Charlie’s eyes are shut. His mouth open, lost in the haze.
I palm my cock, wishing like hell I could knot him. But he’s not my mate, and I won’t be his first. Oli will be.
“Rhett?” Autry steps out of the bathroom, drying her hands on a towel. She looks so tired, hair a knotted mess and deep circles under her eyes.Thank god, she didn’t fall into her heat, too.
“Oli’s coming,” I say.
She nods, and I see it—relief. Like a weight dropped from her shoulders. But Myrick—when he looks at me over his shoulder, there’s something else in his eyes. Hope? Andexcitement.
My stomach twists.
That’s when it hits me—if I fight this, my pack will fall apart.
Oli’s not just Charlie’s mate. He’s a tether now. Alifeline. And if I want Charlie to live—if I want to keepAutry and Myrick from shattering under the grief of losing both Oli and Charlie—I have to bringhimin.
Intomypack.
My throat closes up, and I feel like swallowing glass.
I could rip us all apart trying to keep control. Break Autry’s heart. Lose Myrick. Let Charlie die. All because I can’t stand the thought of letting that bastard near us.
Or—I can accept it.
Accepthim.
And it really fucking sucks.
I step closer to the bed, then sit on the edge. I don’t collapse or slump. I plant my feet and steady myself, spine straight, jaw locked tight. Because if I let even one crack show, I don’t know what might come pouring out, and showing weakness right now won’t help anyone.
A few seconds later, the door creaks open behind me. Oli’s here. And whether I like it or not, everything’s about to change.
Crawling off the Bed
Autry
The room isquiet except for the soft, steady rhythm of breathing.
Rhett is dead asleep beneath me. One arm is wrapped around my waist and the other is draped across the bed, hand loosely curled near Charlie’s knee. Even in his sleep, he can’t let go completely of him.
Charlie is still curled around Oli next to us. The omega’s heat seems to have finally broken. His skin is pale, and he’s no longer burning up. Oli holds him close, knot still lodged in Charlie’s body and his face pressed into the omega’s neck like he’s anchoring himself there. Oli’s hands move slowly, tenderly—caressing Charlie’s jaw, brushing through his hair, kissing the curve of his shoulder with a tenderness that makes something ache deep in my chest.
It’s not just hunger or heat. It’sdevotion.
One day, I think.I’ll have that too. When Rhett marks me, when we’re fully bonded.I’ll get to be knotted like that.I’ll get to hold someone through the storm of my heat and feel them hold me back.
But not yet.
Moving very slowly so as to not disturb anyone, I slip out of bed as quietly as I can. Myrick stepped out to get water, maybe twenty minutes ago. I figured he was taking a moment for himself—none of us have had many lately—but I’m starting to worry.
My feet touch the floor, and Rhett’s eyes peek open, reaching for me. But I quickly kiss his forehead and whisper for him to go back to sleep. Thankfully, the alpha instantly drifts off.
Light pours in at the end of the hallway, telling me it’s morning. The house finally feels like it's breathing again, soft and cautious.
