“And then?” Jude asked again.
For a quick second, there was a flash of hope in Zayden’s black eyes, but they swallowed it up like a devastating void. He sighed and began to pinch the bridge of his nose.
What was it that he always said? Everyone was picking away at his mind with sledgehammers?
“She needs to be tested,” Kai snapped, and Jude could relate to the feeling of a sledgehammer because what the hell was he talking about?
Felix was brushing back his dirty blond hair, trying to comb the hairspray out of it. “Great,” he chuckled, the sound humorless. “That’s one way to introduce ourselves to our mate.”
“Aha! You admit she’s our mate!”
“Come on, Jude.” Felix waved his hairbrush around matter-of-factly. “No omega could smell like that to us without being our mate. Not just smell, either. We can all feel it.”
“Ifeellike the last time we had an omega, we got screwed, and this could be the same situation.” Kai stomped over to Zayden, each step a roar of childish thunder. “Text Maddox. Tell him we need that crazy fan to be tested.”
I know we’re against violence, but—
I’m going to kill him.
A low, irritated growl rumbled deep inside Jude’s throat. “Don’t talk about her like that. She’s not just some crazy fan.”
“You’re right. She’s a plague, and her scent makes me sick.”
“What is your problem? You’re the one who wanted a mate more than the rest of us, and now that she’s here, afated mate, you’re going to be a dick about it?” Kai’s nostrils flared, and the jerk tried sizing Jude up as if they didn’t have an obvious size difference. He wanted to go toe-to-toe withhim? The only guy in this room gave a damn about him? “If you want to run away from her with your tail tucked between your legs, that’s on you. But don’t you dare talk badly about her in front of me. I don’t care how long we’ve been friends. I’ll knock your teeth out so you’ll never be able to go solo.”
“You really want to threaten me like that?” Kai growled, his scent burning the air.
“Enough!” Zayden snapped, chucking both his shoes at each of them. “Check yourselves, now. Both your scents are burning so strongly that it’s making my eyes water.”
“If we could smell her, she could smell us,” Felix added, nodding towards the wall they shared with her. “She’s vulnerable right now and probably just as confused and emotional. The last thing she needs from us is an overload of our toxic scents.”
Guilt punched Jude in the stomach hard enough that he fell back into a chair. If he ever found out he caused their little omega any distress, he’d die.
Felix cleared his throat and grabbed his glasses from a nearby stand. Once they were cushioned on his nose, Jude knew he meant business. It was like a shift from Superman to Clark Kent, only for Felix, from popular rock star to Mr. Know-It-All.
“Someone needs to go to her. An omega’s instincts can be put in emotional chaos upon meeting a potential match, much less a fated one. And in a situation like this? She needs one ofus. Someone who can keep their urges in check.” Felix’s cheeks flushed a slight red as he cleared his throat for the second time. “Not me.”
“Oh, come on!” Jude hung his head over the chair. “Not me, either. And not that ass wipe!”
“Real mature,” Kai growled.
The room fell silent as they all turned to Zayden, whoreallylooked like he was in the middle of recovering from the world’s worst hangover.
Poor champ. I almost feel bad for him.
Almost being the keyword.
Zayden finally stopped pinching the bridge of his nose as his eyes widened and realization struck.
“No.”
“You’re the lead alpha,” Felix reminded him. “You’re biologically wired to better control your instincts than the rest of us.”
“But I can’t—”
“You have to, Zayden. I’m not lying when I say she needs this.”
Felix’s push back was clear as day. The longer Sonnet went without being near one of them, the more complications she could have, like a longer heat spike, emotional distress, and a negative response to them later.
