“What’s wrong with him?” Perrin’s panicked voice briefly cuts through my pain.
I curl inward, my knees drawing up toward my chest. The cramping won't stop, it keeps rolling through me in waves that steal every thought I have.
Then Elowen's face comes into view.
She's leaning over me, one hand planted next to my face and the other pressing carefully against my shoulder.
Her face has gone pale, and the look in her dark eyes stops my heart for a full second. She's scared. Like really scared.
“Adam,” she whispers my name.
"What—” My voice cracks. "What’s—what’s happening to me?"
Adam’s Heat
Elowen
"Look at me, Adam,"I say, cupping his cheek. "Please. Just look at me, beta."
He's trying.
I canseehim trying.
His head jerks then finally meets my gaze. His eyes are blown so wide, the brown is nearly swallowed up by black pupils, and what's looking back fills me with pure terror.
“Elle,” he grits out through his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut tight.
“What the fuck is happening?” Cliff demands to know, but all I can do is shake my head.
Adam lets out another awful bellowing noise, and his scent completely shifts.
It happens between one breath and the next.
The familiar sun-warmed cotton that I've grown used to begins to change. It brightens at first, like someone turning up a light in a dark room, and then it sweetens.
Slowly.
Then all at once.
Blooming into something so rich and sweet as it swirls around me. I blink, struggling to understand what I’m smelling.
Omega pheromones?
I go completely still.
Next to me, I hear Cliff's breathing change.
He makes a sound low in his chest, warm and possessive, the specific sound he makes when my scent catches him off guard. My spine straightens automatically in response as I turn and look at him.
Cliff’s dark eyes are focused entirely on me, his nostrils flaring, and the expression on his face is unmistakable.He thinks it's me.
He thinks I'm the source of the pheromones, and the way he's looking at me makes my body flush from the inside out despite everything happening around us.
“Are you…” he trails off, clearly confused. And I don’t blame him. Now isn’t exactly the time for anyone to be turned on.
“No.” I shake my head once.
The confusion in Cliff’s expression shifts, growing sharper as his nostrils flare again, trying to locate the source. His eyes move to Adam on the bed, then back to me, then to Adam again, and I watch the moment it starts making sense to him.
