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Not when I already feel like I could burn down the room just bythinkingtoo hard about him.
Because I know what’ll happen. I know if he walks in, I’ll lose the last thread of control I’ve got left. I’ll beg. I’ll crawl. I’ll bond without even realizing I’ve done it.
And I’m not letting that be how this ends.
Not when I want him too much. Not when I’m still bleeding from the way he walked out.
So I stay here. With Theo and Ash and Kai, who are all stilltrying- still holding me together while I fall apart.
And that? That means something.
Even if I’m still seconds from losing my goddamn mind.
Chapter Thirty
Rhea
Isway where I sit, holding on to my sanity with both hands and an upholstered cushion.
Which, for the record, is not an ideal coping strategy when your heat is flaring back up like some demonic hormonal lava lamp. My knees press together, my fists twist in the couch like I’m trying to wring emotional support out of expensive linen, and still - slick. More of it. Because of course.
Every inch of me feels overcooked. My brain’s melted down to one singular command on loop:
Alpha. Alpha. Alpha. Now.
Like an unhinged inner voice is DJing my sex drive and it only knows one track.
A wave hits hard - tight behind my ribs, down low in my spine - and I gasp, loud.Embarrassinglyloud. Sexy-exorcism levels of loud.
My hips jerk, and I immediately want to die.
I clutch the edge of the couch like it can save me from myself.
Submit, my instincts scream.Let them take you.
Somewhere nearby, I hear Kai’s voice - smug and totally unhelpful.
“She’s gonna burn through the fucking upholstery if we don’t touch her soon.”
“Oh,helpful,” Theo snaps, sounding like a man one inhale away from a prayer circle. “Maybe if you didn’t reek of six unresolved fantasies and that smug grin -”
“Ohplease,” Kai drawls. “You’re just mad she looks at me like that and lets you hold her hand after.”
There’s a silence so thick it practically makes a sound.
Then Theo, deceptively calm:
“Don’t start something you’re not ready to finish.”
AndKai- Kai lets out the kind of low, dangerous laugh that absolutely does not help the situation.
My slick immediately agrees.
I whimper again - this time into the couch.
“Rhea,” Theo crouches in front of me, all glowing reverence and overdeveloped forearms. “Look at me. Tell me what you need.”
What I need?
