“Would you like me to get you a tincture?” Zayd asks.
“No. It’s not my stomach,” I say and struggle to swallow the fear building in my throat.
“What is it, baby?” Sutton asks again.
“Is there someplace we can sit down and talk?” I ask.
“This way,” Zayd says and leads us through the narrow passage between the cockpit and the rest of the ship.
Even though the ship was built to carry four Throkyn alphas, I feel like the walls are caving in on us.
When we reach the galley, I realize that it’s just my anxiety suffocating me.
We all sit around the table, me at the end and them on either side. I feel so silly, like a child, sitting at the alpha-sized table while they look completely normal.
“Tell us what is on your mind, omega,” Zayd says so sweetly, with so much care and concern laced in every word that I almost forget what I wanted to talk about.
“I know this is scary, baby, but we’ll figure it out. Zayd and I aren’t going to let anything bad happen to you.” When Sutton slides his hand across the table to hold Zayd’s hand before his other hand finds mine, my reason floods back in.
“We need to figure out how this works,” I blurt out.
“That’s what I’m saying, baby,” Sutton says.
“No. I mean, the bond. Will it even work? If so, how does it work? How are we supposed to figure it out?” My anxiety is so high that I can barely catch my breath.
Zayd joins his hand with mine now, linking the three of us together. “Well, let us look at what we do know. We know that there is a bond between you and Sutton. That is the only explanation for why your heat behaved the way it did when he was incapacitated. We know that Sutton has venomous fangs, and we can surmise that he used them to bond with you, but because his venom heals, you never saw the evidence of it. From our recent experiences, we know Sutton does not have a knot.”
Sutton hums, curiously.
“What?” I ask him.
His lips stretch into a thin line before he answers, “I’m not entirely sure that’s accurate.”
“What? I’ve never seen it or… felt it.” I don’t know why this is still embarrassing to talk about. After everything the three of us have done together? I would have thought that talk like this would feel like casual conversation.
“I think I’ve felt it,” Sutton says. “Like… It feels like there wants to be something there.”
“How long have you known this?” I ask, unable to hide my shock and the slight feeling of betrayal.
“Always.” Sutton shrugs. “But I just thought it was normal. That every guy felt the same. Now, I don’t know. Maybe it’s something else.”
Zayd’s face is the definition of contemplation. “If that is true, I would say our first hurdle is to figure out what you need for your knot to fully form.”
My heart sinks as I slip my hands out of theirs and into my lap. “Well… We know it’s not me.”
“Layla. Baby.” Sutton shifts out of his seat to kneel beside my chair, holding my hand in my lap in both of his. “If you’re suggesting that we have the wrong omega…”
“No,” I say. “I’m afraid you don’t need an omega at all. You can deny it all you want, but I’ve seen the way you two look at each other.”
“Whatever looks I give Zayd that make you feel like I don’t want you, I only give him because of the scent you leave on him. Without your scent, what happened in our domicile before we left would never have happened,” Sutton says confidently.
“Then, if you can knot, why haven’t you knotted me yet?” I ask.
“It is like Razyr said,” Zayd explains, “Sutton is human. His traits do not manifest in the same ways ours do.”
“Okay,” I say, still feeling like I’m on the edge of losing everything I have left if I say what I’m really thinking, but Idon’t feel like I have a choice. “Well, we know Sutton’s knot is not triggered by me, and I’m not suggesting that you cut me out completely… What I’m trying to say is, Sutton and I have a bond, and it doesn’t work. There is obviously something going on between you two. Maybe the two of you need to bond for Sutton’s designation to be fully realized or whatever. After all, look at how you’ve changed over the last month.” I wave a hand up and down, gesturing at all of Sutton. “The size and definition of your muscles. The timbre of your voice. All of these things have changed with your exposure to Zayd.”
Sutton and Zayd both go dead still. The room is so thick with silence, I don’t even hear the hum of the ship anymore.
