River looks between us. “Daddy?” He sounds bemused rather than like it’s something he already associates Ambrose with, so there goes the theory that they use it in the bedroom. Not that I was still thinking about that.
Ambrose groans. “Dammit, Jackson. I couldn’t help it. My alpha took over, and it just came out.” He gives River an apologetic frown. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to know about the… details. But I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Shit, me and my big mouth. It’s not cool of me to tease him about what happened during the heat. Especially if it’s a sore subject with River.
I worry we’ve upset River, but he shakes his head and laughs. “It’s fine. Unless…” His grin spreads and he waggles his eyebrows. “Didyoucall him Daddy?”
“What? No! Gross. I mean, technically I did, but it was to tease him. Not because he was acting like my…” I clear my throat, trying not to show why the thought of calling Ambrose “Daddy” has me so flustered. “No.”
Ambrose shakes his head. “Definitely not. We didn’t do anything together. Other than when we both were, uh, helping the omega at the same time.”
River makes a noncommittal sound. I think that’s the end of that conversation, but after a moment of silence, he reaches out and squeezes Ambrose’s arm. “You know you don’t have to call her ‘the omega’. It won’t bother me if you use her name. I said I wanted you to help with her heat, and I meant that.”
Ambrose looks back at him with a soft frown. “I know, love. It’s just… I’m worried if I think about her by name, it’ll make it harder if she doesn’t want…” There’s a surprising amount of pain in Ambrose’s voice as he trails off.
“I’m missing something.” Yeah, Camille was incredible, and the sex was next level. I can’t stop thinking about her, and I’m sitting here drinking black coffee even though I hate the stuff. But what is there for her to want? Heats happen and then the omega moves on.
Unless he’s thinking about when she has her next heat…
“You didn’t tell him?” River asks, brow furrowing.
“Tell me what?” There’s an annoying spike of sadness and dejection at the thought that they’re keeping something from me. I know they don’t tell me everything, nor should they, but we’re pack. Packmates shouldn’t keep secrets from each other.
It must show on my face, because Ambrose winces and gives me an apologetic look. “I haven’t had the chance to yet. It’s not like there was time to chat during the heat, and you crashed in your room before I got home yesterday. I was going to bring it up this morning.”
“Bringwhatup?” He’s right that we haven’t had any opportunities to talk, but no one has actually told me what the hell is going on and I’m starting to freak out.
“She’s my scent match.” Ambrose runs a hand through his messy hair and sighs. “When I met her at the clinic, there was this overwhelming connection between us. That’s why I was so, uh, worked up after we met. And during the heat.”
“Holy shit, dude.” My eyes go wide as the new information reframes the entire heat.
Camille wanted Ambrose there because her omega knew he was her scent match. Ambrose went because it would’ve been torture for him to know she was suffering and he wasn’t doing anything to help.
My eyes flash over to River. He’s smiling again, but there’s the telltale hint of tension in his eyes that I’ve learned over years of knowing him that means he’s struggling.
He wants to be happy for Ambrose, but he isn’t.
I don’t blame him. This could change everything. Ambrose isn’t even my boyfriend and I’m starting to panic, thinking about letting another omega into our lives. This pack means everything to me.
Beneath the panic, though, there’s a little bit of excitement. No, a lot of excitement.
Camille was amazing. I’d be lying if the idea of seeing her more didn’t make me ridiculously happy. Heats end, and I’m supposed to move on. It’s never been a problem before, but I don’t want to move on this time. I don’t know if I can.
How are we going to see her again? The heat clinic has a strict privacy policy for its clients and there’s no way in hell they’ll give us Camille’s contact info. I could try to steal it from Daisy’s office or hack into the system, but what if we call her and she wants nothing to do with us?
“Fuck, what are we going to do?” I’m not sure if I’m asking what this means for our pack or how we can find Cami again. My thoughts and emotions are more scrambled than the cold eggs left on my plate.
“I thought you’d be happy about adding someone to the pack,” River says evenly, his dark eyes assessing me.
“Why would I be happy?” I scoff. “When we tried before, it was a disaster! I can’t deal with that again. I can’t lose…this.” I want to say I can’t lose you, but that would be way too mushy of a thing to admit.
Ambrose sighs. “I agree. I don’t want to ruin anything. You matter to me more than anything.” He gives me a pointed look. “That includes you, Jackson. Even though you drive me crazy.”
Well, shit, I guess maybe it would’ve been okay to be mushy. It’s really nice to hear Ambrose admit that freely.
“Us staying together isn’t up for discussion. It’s a given.” River points to the bite mark on his neck, then the one on hiswrist. “This means forever.” His voice is firm, but it almost sounds like he’s saying it to convince himself too.
I flex my bicep, showing off the two sets of faded bite scars. “Hell yeah it does.”
