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Sadie thought for a moment, then nodded her head. “If you could help with transport, that would be great. It would take me a few days to get something here.”
“We’ll sort it out,” Sam said. “The omegas will all need warm clothes if you’re taking them to the mountains. I think we should get the omegas to pack what they need this afternoon, and work on getting everyone out of here in the morning. It’s too late to move a big group today. Unless you think the danger is imminent, Wolf?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s an immediate danger. The Palace techs seemed panicked when they left. I think it’s going to take them a bit to get organized. Especially if we’re together and they’re going to take us all on.”
“I think you might need to find space for a couple of alphas to come with you, Sadie,” I said, trying not to smile. “Or we may need to bring another omega with us?”
“Oh, do tell,” Lexie stage whispered.
“Um, Miles and Owen have become pretty attached to Emma. I think they may be her mates.”
“Why am I only just hearing about this now?” Sam groaned. At this rate, most of his team would be in the mountains. I didn’t think Matt, Anders, and Oliver had any plans for Sadie to go back on her own.
“If she’s claimed them, I’m okay,” Sadie said, but she was frowning. “But we don’t let unmated alphas into the secret location with the omegas.”
“I’ll talk to them,” Sam said.
“Okay. If we’re all agreed to go in the morning, I think we should keep everyone together tonight. Including all of us,” River said. “It will make it easier to organize a watch, just in case.”
We voted and everyone agreed, but I noticed Nick blushing sweetly.
“I have an idea that may provide a good distraction tonight and help keep everyone calm.”
“Let’s hear it,” River said, with an encouraging nod and a soft smile.
thirty-four
Istoodaloneinthe library a few hours later. I’d come in hunting for the chocolate I knew Maia had stashed in here when she’d used it as her refuge. Most of the omegas had been so stoic since we’d arrived, doing whatever was needed without complaint. I figured they deserved a treat to go with the movie night Nick had sweetly suggested.
He’d found a projector and had planned to rig up a white sheet as a screen and set up a movie date for us outside tonight. Yet he’d gracefully offered to set it up in the ballroom instead, to keep everyone calm and entertained while we all slept in there tonight. It would be one giant pajama party. My heart had swelled as he’d talked about his idea. He was so perceptive of people’s needs and so giving of himself.
I still pinched myself that he was my mate. If I was honest with myself, I was still a little nervous about pleasing them all, though. During my heat, I hadn’t thought about anything but the next touch, the next lips. They’d opened my eyes to an entire world of sensation I hadn’t known existed. My body felt different in a way I couldn’t define. Even now that my heat had ended, I still craved them. Every brush of their hands on my skin, or the press of their lips on mine, had me on fire. I wanted to make them feel the same, feel them coming undone underneath my own hands. But I wasn’t sure how to do that.
So I’d found myself in front of a row of shelves, feeling intensely embarrassed even though I was the only one here. This wasn’t like a public library, with metallic racks that were dusted regularly. Somebody had hand carved the shelving in here out of timber, and it looked about a hundred years old. Most of the books in here were just as old, but I didn’t care. It was dry in here, and a little musty, as the windows didn’t open, but the smell of the old paper always put a smile on my face.
I put the box on the edge of a shelf and pulled a leather-bound book out that caught my eye. I read over the gold embossed title;A sexual awakening for omegas. It was a reference book on sex and what stimulated us. I hadn’t known they had anything like it in here. I would have been browsing these shelves a lot sooner if I had. As I flicked through the pages, a drawing caught my eye of a woman going down on a guy. It reminded me of doing that to Cary while Ryder coached me.
A breath on my neck had me freezing. “I thought I’d find you in here,” Cary whispered. I’d been so distracted I hadn’t even heard him approach. “What are you reading?”
“Nothing,” I snapped the book closed, but I wasn’t fast enough. He jerked his hand out and caught it. It flopped back open to the page I’d been on. He looked at me with one raised eyebrow, and a slow smile spread across his face.
“Is this why you used to come hide out in here, Ava? To look at dirty pictures?”
“No, but I might have if I’d known they were here.”
His grin widened at that, and he spun me around and crowded me into a shelf. “You need to look at a man’s body, you come find one of your men, Ava. That’s what we’re here for.”
“It’s not all you’re here for, Cary.” He sobered at that as he traced my serious expression with his gaze. As much as I wanted to get lost in the feel of Cary pressed against me, we needed to talk more. I couldn’t stand the distance that had sprung up between us since my heat started. He was here physically, but somewhere else emotionally. And after Wolf’s explosion of dominance this morning, I knew it wasn’t something I could let slide anymore. Yet, I didn’t want to pressure him either by telling him about my revelation. I was stuck and hoped if I could get him to talk, he’d get there on his own.
“Ava, you’re too good for me,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around me. It felt so right. Yet, him holding me this way just made me even more aware of the aching hole in my chest.
“No, I’m not. I’m entirely selfish,” I whispered back.
He tilted his head. “You’re the least selfish person I know, Ava. Why would you think that?”
I took a deep breath and let out what was in my heart. “Because I want to claim you and feel as bonded to you as I do the others, but you’re holding back. You asked for time, and I get why. I’m trying to give it to you. But you always feel just out of my reach, even when you’re with me. Not having a bond with you is leaving a ragged hole in my chest, Cary.”
My instincts had pushed at me during my heat, sometimes painfully, to mate him, and we’d tried, but we couldn’t. Not without an alpha.
