AllFreeNovel
Share Us
No. I could feel the hairline fracture zip through my chest.
I forced myself to smile as I looked past Rian to the woman in oversized sweats that trailed him. Madison looked smaller, more fragile today than she had before her heat, or during it, when she’d been radiant and glowing with desire and–and fever.
A fever that had sent her, the time before, to the hospital. A fever that necessitated a respectful pack to coax her through safely. That pack being us, and that respect extending to now, when she was delicate and exhausted and, presumably–
“Hungry?” I asked out loud, gesturing to the stack of waffles I had been making. I was gratified when she smiled back.
“Starving.”
“Great. We have whole grain waffles, syrup, butter–”
“Coffee,” interrupted Rian, heading for the pot.
“Yes, coffee,sliced banana, berries, strawberries–”
“No,” Madison said abruptly. Lucas flinched beside her. “I mean, thanks, but just butter is good. And coffee, please.” She nodded as Rian passed her a mug over the kitchen island. “Thanks.”
Lucas fixed her a plate, piling it two waffles deep, lathering on butter until I thought Madison might protest, but she said nothing, and ate and drank quietly when he pushed the plate and a knife and fork in front of her, taking small bites, but at regular intervals, so that the two giant waffles disappeared slowly but steadily between her pale lips. We all did the same–getting our late-night breakfasts ready, sitting at the kitchen island. I piled banana slices on top of mine, trying not to think of their similarity to my exhausted dick as I did so.
“You’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d like,” Lucas said, after a long moment in which the four of us ate silently. “Or, if you want to go, I can drive you back to your place, or a friend’s. It might be better for you not to stay alone. Your hormones will still be in flux, so soon after–”
“Jesus, Lucas,” Rian snapped. “Let her eat her waffle in peace before you start talking about her hormones. We’re all exhausted enough without your science bullsh–”
“Rian,” I barked, and he fell silent. Wewereall tired. We hadn’t sniped at each other like this in years.
“No, Lucas is right,” she said, putting down her fork. I was surprised to see her waffles were gone, her plate empty. “I should go. Get out of your hair.”
I didn’t think that’s what Lucas had said, but I didn’t fight her. If she was uncomfortable here, if she didn’t want to stay… what right did I have to keep her? None. None at all. I thought of the contract, filed in the desk in my home office. One heat.Purely sexual.
“You want Rian to drive you, baby?” I asked, the name falling from my lips unthinkingly. I corrected myself. “Madison?”
“Lucas,” she said, hesitating, “do you mind?”
“Not at all,” he hurried to say, almost knocking over his chair in his haste to stand, his waffle forgotten.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
Madison
The car rideback was quiet and uncomfortable. I was still wearing Rian’s clothes (keep them, I can always buy more, he’d said with a wink) and my own clothes were folded neatly, stacked in my lap. Someone had laundered them. Rian? I couldn’t imagine Gray doing laundry. Or maybe they hired it out. On top was my purse–my phone was dead. Presumably someone had taken care of that, too–calling me out from work, alerting the medical center. I didn’t know. I’d deal with it later, I guessed.
The sky was Gray and cloudy, and the air even inside the car smelled like rain–then I remembered it was Lucas, his stormcloud scent heavy and oppressive, just like the real things that hung low in the sky outside. There was none of the electric tickle and spark of lightning though, not like when we had met at the club. Not like before.
What had I done?
The nurses at the hospital–all betas–had been distantly polite, cool and professional when they brought me water and small portions of food and medicine and an array of silicone gadgets too embarrassing to remember, and I’d still woken up after my unexpected heat miserable and groggy andabsolutely mortifiedthat they’d seen me like that. I had wanted to avoid the pain, the terrible loneliness of the hospital, but I was beginning to think that I would rather be alone every time than face the embarassment ofthisagain. Why had I thought that spending a heat with a pack would be better?
It had been,my subconscious told me. Ithadbeen better–the flashes of memory I did have…
Gray pinning me down on the bed, his eyes shining–
Rian kissing my face as I whimpered, the stretch of a knot an exquisite sort of pleasure–
Lucas curled around me as we slept, held fast to each other, my body exhausted but my chest light–
I didn’t remember pain, only aching longing and deep satisfaction. It had been so,sogood.
And that made this part–the waking up, the afterwards part–even worse. These men had seen me at my most vulnerable, this side of me that was so new even I didn’t understand it. Didn’twantto understand it. Didn’t want to evenlookat it, if I were being honest with myself. Some omegas got sedated for their heats, didn’t they? The most dangerous cases? Maybe I could look into that?
