Page 95 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

Lyric guarded her own book so closely because it held secrets she’d never shared with anyone. Not her mother, not Andi. And she wouldn’t be sharing it with anyone on the bus. It was unfair of her, because she wanted a piece of him she wasn’t ready to reciprocate.

“I have a little,” he said, and shrugged.

“If you wanna see his art, just check out my arm.” Emerson’s deep voice carried through the room as he reentered.

Lyric already had. She’d studied and kissed and traced every piece of ink on his left arm, but only now did she realize the connection. “Did you design his tattoos?”

Adra’s cheeks deepened in color, and he glanced away, the morning sun framing him like a golden halo.

“Not so much design as he saw the art and demanded I let him take it to his tattoo artist,” Adra rumbled.

Lyric glanced between the two of them.

“Can I see the original?”

Emerson sauntered over, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and leaning down to nip at her neck. “Why? You wanna do a live comparison?”

Lyric grinned. “Something like that.”

He smoothed the sting of his teeth away with a kiss. “Maybe tonight, if you make it to the bus in time.”

Lyric had never showered so fast in her life.

As the road rumbled beneath them, Lyric stared out the window above Emerson’s and Adra’s heads. She watched trees and other cars and road signs pass by, but her mind was stuck in the hotel room, in the city they’d left behind miles ago.

Lyric, who’d sworn off packs and alphas and anyone but herself… was smitten.

Stupid alphas and their dumb charm and their big dicks.

“You good?” a voice asked.

No one answered, and it was a long pause later when Lyric finally looked up to meet Nohen’s gaze, an arched brow awaiting her answer.

“Me?”

“Yes. You’re the one muttering about big dicks.”

Her cheeks burned hot, and she swallowed. “Uh… yep. I’m good.”

Dammit.

She couldn’t get them out of her mind even though they were ten feet away.

Even though she’d spent the whole weekend with them. Going on a date.

And wouldn’t mind going on another, now that she thought about it.

In fact, she pulled out her phone and checked the shared calendar for their next hotel break. Eight days.

“I can’t believe they haven’t made any progress yet,” Desi grumbled.

Lyric glanced over to investigate the disgust in her voice and found Desi buried in her phone.

“What’s wrong?”

Desi eased the frustration from her expression before she met Lyric’s gaze. “I keep seeing articles and updates about the omega trafficking ring. I don’t understand how they haven’t caught them yet.”

Lyric’s stomach twisted uncomfortably. “Did another omega go missing?”