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“I…” My heart pumps, the heat making me hallucinate, because he couldn’t possibly be saying what I think.
“Need.” He swallows, drawing my eye to the long line of his throat with its silvery, shimmering mate bonds. “Atlas.”
I flinch.
Orion isn’t even seeing me.
He’s so heat drunk, he probably thinks he’s gripping one of his mates.
“Atlas is on the way. They’re all coming for you.” I pull his fingers off one by one, even when he clings like he’s suctioned on with tentacles.
“Need,” he echoes roughly, and my heart tears because I can never be the one for him.
“They’ll be here soon.”
I crawl away, heart beating louder and louder and louder, a rhythmic thumping sound—
Wait. No.
That’s not my heart. It’s a fucking helicopter.
The sound of the blades thumps through the nest.
My time is up.
I can’t let the alphas see me here.
I can’t let them scent me.
Panicking, my whirling gaze lands on the bottles lined prettily on the counter of the attached bathroom. I dash inside, grabbing the bottle of de-scenting cologne that looks exactly like the one Hunter bought Orion the night of the goddamned ball that feels like it happened a thousand years ago.
I spritz myself like a dying bonsai, covering every treacherous inch of my heat-soaked body. The chemicals won’t work for long the way I’m cranking out caramel like a candy shop. I clutch the bottle tight, spraying every footstep I took on my way into the nest.
I stop just short of Orion, not daring to spray him while he watches me with that needing, drugging gaze. If they scent me on him…
But there’s no way.
As soon as the alphas scent Orion’s need so desperate it clogs your throat, they’ll forget I exist.
Spritzing to cover my trail, I stumble out of the nest.
“Li—” Orion calls, but I close my ears the way I’m trying to close my heart.
I can’t hear the chopper blades anymore.
I dash down the stairs, one set, two sets, three sets, careening into the basement, spritzing to hide every step.
“Orion!” Atlas bellows, his rough, aching despair jabbing my eardrums like blades.
I stumble into the backup nest and shut the door behind me. Thundering footsteps echo, and for a heart-squeezing second, I think the alphas are on their way to me.
But the shouts fade upward as they dash desperately toward their real omega.
I huddle into myself, hugging my ribs tight.
If one of them comes, I’ll break. I’ll jump into their arms, all my plans of escape shot to hell.
If I even smell one of them, I’ll melt.
