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I sucked back a sniffle.
Reaching over, I stole her from Gabe, curling myself around her, and burying my face at her throat, breathing in the delicate scent of old books and nutmeg.
“Will Hana and Tony get in trouble for hurting him?” Nicky asked.
“Also no fucking way,” answered Billie. “Alphas in rut protecting their pack are pretty much absolved from anything they do in self-defense. Even if they’d committed murder, there’s no court that would convict them whenhebroke intoourhouse during a heat.”
I had never known that level of fear and rage before. If Alphonse didn’t actually get locked away forever, then I would kill him myself the moment he was free. It was only Nicky's intervention that had stopped me from killing him to begin with. If all three of us alphas had descended upon him in a full rut, Alphonse would’ve never survived.
I was still on the fence as to whether that would’ve been better or not.
I wanted him to suffer, but I also wanted Nicky to feel safe in the knowledge that he could never hurt her again.
Nicky squeaked in my arms, and I loosened my grip. “Sorry.”
“It's okay,” she murmured, closing her eyes and snuggling deeper. “I don’t mind being squished, I just need to be able to breathe.”
“Question,” said Billie after we all settled back into silence.
“What?” I asked, lifting my head.
“Is anyone else going to comment on the bond bite situation?”
I had noticed the bite on Nicky’s throat and assumed it was a claiming bite. “What are we supposed to comment on?”
Billie pried Jasper’s thigh open, revealing a matching bite.
“Jasper!” I gasped. “When?”
Nicky was bonded. To my omega. Did she even know?
I glanced down at her, and she opened sleepy eyes. “What’re we talking about now?”
I wasn’t quite sure if her finding out would be good or bad. She hadn’t even intended to be part of the heat, and now she was walking away with a permanent bond. I knew that alphas and omegas had a compulsion to complete bondings, but I hadn’t thought that was something betas dealt with. I vaguely recalled her biting his throat, which wouldn’t have mattered since Billie and Tony had already claimed those spots. She’d have had to go out of her way to complete the bond. Maybe it was on purpose?
“Nicky,” Tony said her name softly, settling in by her head to stroke her hair. “You and Jasper bonded during the heat.”
She went rigid in my arms. “But… When? How? I don’t…”
Jasper wriggled towards her, and her body relaxed, like a sigh released, the moment his hands were on her. I still remembered the effects of a fresh bond. It got quieter over time, but early on it was vibrant, and the craving that came with it was only quenchable by the person you’d bonded with.
Our omega nuzzled the bite he’d left on her throat, and Nicky’s eyes closed slowly.
“Are you mad?” Jasper asked quietly.
Nicky shook her head, fingers lacing through his hair.
Until Jasper’s heat was over, any one of us could bond her, but now that the haze had passed we were in our right minds, and I couldn’t imagine pushing her for that. I wanted her to choose us, and I could be plenty patient about that, even though she and Jasper had obviously chosen each other during the haze.
I thought about asking what she’d like us to do, but a bond was permanent. There was nothing to be done if she didn’t want it.
Nicky sat up, her fingers tracing over the bite on her throat. We all watched her expectantly. “It feels nice,” she said quietly, “but I need to process. And sleep. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”
Jasper and I sandwiched her gently between us. His purr lulled her to sleep almost instantly.
“Jasper,” I whispered. “Do you remember bonding her?”
He shook his head. “Just snippets. I want to feel bad, but I love it. I forgot what a new bond feels like. I already knew that she was mine, what my instincts were telling me, but now she really is, and I’m just happy about that.”
