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“Oh, you are damn fine,” Maia added. They both dissolved into fits of laughter, and Lexie gave me a high five. It had only been a day or two since I’d seen them, but I’d missed these women. They both stepped back as Damon and Sam reached us.
Damon stepped around Maia and put a hand out towards me, but a vicious roar vibrated the air around us and he stumbled backwards.
A darkly floral, jungle scent, spiced with ginger, overwhelmed my senses, as all hell broke loose around me.
seventeen
Icouldn’tstoptheroar from ripping free when the alpha dripping with dominance reached for Ava. The bark that came out with it had been purely instinctive and had pushed him back several steps until he planted his feet. The air pressure cranked to unbearable levels as it filled with growls and competing barks.
“Wolf,” Ava’s normally soft voice was sharp and slightly desperate. She jumped in front of me, and those green eyes, wide and anxious, had me stilling.
I breathed heavily and a low growl thrummed through my chest, but she reached up and brushed the hair out of my eyes so I could see her more clearly.
“It’s okay. I’m here. These are my friends. Damon and his pack rescued Cary and me from the Palace, and they shared their home with us.”
I grabbed her and pulled her into me, needing her close, as I buried my face in her hair and took a deep lungful of her scent. I kept my eyes on the alphas in front of me, though. There were now five alphas, and a beta with glasses and a gun, standing in front of me. I got that Ava thought of them as friends, and I would be eternally grateful they rescued her. Yet their scents were currently spiking aggressively, and I couldn’t calm down until they did. It didn’t help that Ava’s scent had now also spiked with her distress, becoming tart and acidic.
“You need to pull Ava back, Cary,” the big, long-haired blonde one in the middle, holding the two female omegas behind him, growled.
“Uh, no. That would not work out well for you, Leif. She’s the only thing keeping him from throwing you all into the closest trees.” Cary’s voice was calm, lighthearted, but I could feel his tension.
“He could try,” Leif taunted. My lip curled into a snarl in response, and I let slip a silent bark. I had the satisfaction of seeing his eyes widen as it hit him.
I felt a hand on my back and Cary’s vanilla ice cream scent wafted over me, as it mixed with Ava’s cherries. It toned down the tartness that singed my nose and kept my beast on edge.
“Deep breath, sugar,” Cary said to Ava, as his other arm came around her. “You need to get your scent under control so Wolf can calm down.”
I felt Ava nod her head, and she took in several deep breaths. As she calmed down, the wildness faded, and I felt my awareness come back. I noticed River, Ryder, and Nick standing close beside us in defensive positions. My pack had backed me up and the knowledge was like fresh air clearing out my head.
The only calm looking alpha opposite me, with long dark hair, took a step forward, holding his hands up where I could see them. “I’m Pala, one of Lexie’s mates, and a friend of River and Ryder. We’re all okay here. Can you lower your gun please, Max?”
He was a powerful alpha, but like me, he was more at one with his alpha nature. Just in a calmer way. He wasn’t leaking dominance the way most of the others were right now.
Max looked at the original alpha I’d pushed back for confirmation, but he was too busy shooting me a dark glare to notice. His posture was rigid. I could feel his dominance trying to pound me and I didn’t appreciate it being directed towards my omegas. I felt my hackles rise again.
“Easy,” River said to me in a gentler voice than I’d heard him use, before he turned to Pala. “Wolf slipped into a near feral state while captive. Now he’s newly found his mates and they’re unclaimed. He’s on edge and won’t be able to calm down while he sees you as a threat.”
“I get it,” Pala said. “They only found out their omega, Maia, is pregnant this morning. Now she’s out here in the open. They’re feeling just as jumpy as you are right now. So let’s just take a deep breath.”
Maia peeked out from amongst her pack and put her hand on the dark and glary one’s arm. She looked at Ava and me with concern. “Damon, I’m okay.”
Damon grabbed his omega and pulled her into his arms, much the same way I was holding Ava.
Their omega was pregnant?I would never willingly cause a pregnant omega distress. I relaxed back into myself and nodded, letting my wildness fade as I pulled my dominance back in as well. It was easier to do with Ava in my arms.
“You can let me go now, too, big guy,” the pink-haired omega said. She gently extracted herself from Leif and walked over to the other blonde alpha, with shorter hair, still throwing his dominance around. She reached up, cupped his face, and stroked it lightly. “Hey, Sam. Come back to me, okay? We’re all good.”
He shuddered under her touch as she slid her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Pala stepped back and surrounded them both in his embrace. It was intriguing to watch Sam close his eyes and breathe deeply, letting go of his dominance, too.
I looked over at the other group and noticed they were in a similar, bigger huddle. The red head alpha, Damon, Leif, and Max were breathing each other in and relaxing. They still seemed alert, though. The redhead was scanning the surrounding trees while the others were focused on me, keeping an eye on their surroundings and watching their backs more than what was going on in front of him.
I could feel eyes on me, and curiosity washed through me. I twisted slightly to see River and Ryder both eyeing the groups in front of us, and me.
“Do you guys always hug like this?” Ryder asked as he looked back over at them all.
“Yep,” Maia answered with a smile. “We’re going to talk them into one big group hug with both packs sometime soon. It’s going to feel amazing.”
Leif chuckled as he looked down at her, adoration clear on his face. “We can work up to that.”
