As I shopped, leaning heavily on the cart to take the pressure off my knee, the mental image became clearer: Bridget doing science or whatever at a fancy university, I guess with Nathan; Gabriel finally starting his own security company or charity or whatever kind of organization he wanted; and me hosting a podcast with plenty of time to take the kids to tennis practice. It could be perfect.
And then I lost my mind.
A rush of lust so intense it nearly bowled me over in the frozen aisle. I bit back my growl as blood rushed toveryinconvenient places. The bond was surging with desire, hot enough to make my chest burn. I fled without even buying anything.
I found Gabriel sitting in the hallway. “What the fuck is going on?” I asked as I limped towards him empty-handed.
Gabriel stood, looking sheepish. His contrition in the bond, along with a layer of amusement, didn’t help. “What do you mean, amore? Did something happen?”
I pressed him roughly against the door. “You had me hard as a fucking rock in Whole Foods. Whatwasthat?”
I knew better than to assume it was what I secretly hoped for, that I’d find my bonded partner fucking the beautiful woman who’d taken over my mind, but I’d still pictured it the entire way home.
But then it registered. Hedidsmell like Bridget, like he’d somehow bathed in her scent. I couldn’t stop myself fromgrowling and pressing my hips tighter against him. I was already getting hard again.
“It is a development,” Gabriel whispered as I kissed his neck, taking deep lungfuls of their mingled scents.
“What kind of development?” I asked, scraping my teeth against our bondmark. His cock stirred against my hip.
“Amore. Please, let me—” he broke off with a groan. “We are in the hallway, amore.”
I relented, but still kept him trapped against the door. “What happened?”
Gabriel’s expression darkened along with a twist of worry in the bond. “She is having a heat spike.”
“A heat spike?” I repeated, willing my brain to focus.
“Sí. I remember from Matteo. He would have these spikes before his true heat. I think the other night, when she came to our room, it was perhaps another,” he whispered.
“But she can’t… Didn’t she say she doesn’t have heats?” I tried to remember the conversation we’d had. That’s what she’d said. Right? Panic flooded me. I was barely holding myself back as it was. “If she goes into heat—”
“We will discuss it,” Gabriel said. “I trust you. And she does, too.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against Gabriel’s. I was being unfair, flooding the bond with the storm of feeling that rushed through me, but he could handle it.
I wanted to train. I wanted a training session that would make everything else disappear, that would force me to channel my unruly emotions into physical exertion. My knee throbbed, as if to remind me how impossible that was now.
That was how I’d controlled myself in the past, how I’d kept the lid on. Without training, without winning at all costs, I was losing the battle.
“So the bond. That was your reaction to her perfume?” I asked hoarsely.
Gabriel hesitated. I felt his guilt. “And we kissed.”
I groaned at the mental image, and in regret that Gabriel was giving her even more mixed signals. “Where is she?”
Gabriel hesitated again. “She is with Nathan. She… wanted him.”
Rage. Blind, impotent, jealous rage boiled up immediately. I felt my lips pull back into a snarl as my nostrils flared.
Any ground we’d made in not killing each other dissolved in an instant. I wanted to rip his throat out for daring to touch my Omega. He didn’t deserve to touch her, didn’t deserve to even look at her. He was rude, harsh. Too reserved to truly care about Bridget as I did. I should have killed him when I had the chance.
It would be easy. I could cave his head in with the adrenaline pulsing through my veins.
Gabriel clutched my forearms. “Amore? Come back to me.”
Fuck. If I killed Nathan, I’d be leaving Gabriel all alone while I rotted in jail. Would that be fair? I took a deep breath. I couldn’t do that to the man I loved.
And then I remembered how Bridget had looked when Nathan arrived, bleeding and exhausted, at the apartment. How terrified she’d been that something had happened to him. I couldn’t kill him. She’d hate me for it.
