Bit by bit, I felt Emmett’s thoughts brush against mine.
He was in my head, and it shockingly wasn’t horrible. I was in his too; he’d had no trouble at all opening up to me. My mate was worried, his brain working through possibilities faster than I would have thought, considering his calm demeanour.“Can you feel it?”I asked, drawing my bond with Caspian to the forefront.
It took me a moment to realize I hadn’t spoken aloud, but as I opened my mouth, Em responded to my question. “Yes.” His voice was out loud. “Caspian is far away. Your connection is too weak for you to be in the same realm.”
“Do you experience how he’s feeling, like I am?”
A wash of grief came from Emmett. Why hadn’t they marked each other? Shan and Cas had done it despite the societal judgement they would get, and Em didn’t seem the type to care about other people’s opinions like that. “He’s panicked. Nervous. Scared.”
“And hopeful,”I added.
Grabbing that thread, I brought it to the forefront. All this mind stuff was odd but also familiar — I’d worked in memory manipulation before, and it had a thread of similarity in how I had to grab onto something completely intangible.
“He’s hopeful we’ll come for him. Let’s hold that part of him close.”
Emmett let out a little sound that could have been a whimper before pulling back.
“Can you keep your mind open to me?” he asked, brushing a strand of hair back from my forehead.
Beseeching hazel eyes pleaded with me, as if I was cruel enough to say no.
“I think it would be hard to keep you out at this point,”I said.
I kept the words only in my head, like the rest. Had the mental link only been so strong when he’d been touching my mark? His lips had left my skin, our chests half a foot apart. If he didn’t show any indication of having heard me, I would speak out loud.
But he heard. His eyes widened and he trailed a finger over my lips. “You didn’t…”
“I haven’t said a word out loud since I opened my mind to you.”
“Does it go both ways?”
This time it was his lips that didn’t move, and I grinned and nodded. There was no telling how long this would last, but I loved it. There were stories of bonds between mates and packs being strong enough to move mountains and blast through mental barriers, but it wasn’t often you came across anyone who had a connection more potent than connecting feelings. Especially before it was consummated and before the Omega had marked the Alpha in turn.
“You trust me far more than I thought you did,”Emmett mused.
“And you trust me. When did that happen, huh?”
“Somewhere along the way, when I realized how much you cared about us beneath your cold, bitchy exterior.”
“Everyone is constantly calling me a bitch. One day it’s going to seriously dent my ego.”
“Who’s calling you a bitch this time?”Oswald’s voice in my head made me jump.
Emmett’s eyes widened.
Angels above, did Em hear Ozzy? Mind speak between a bonded Alpha and Omega was one thing, but the Alphas speaking to each other without a true pack bond in place…
I jumped from the bed and strode to the bedroom door, yanking it open. Belatedly, I remembered I was nude from my shower, but Emmett was right behind me and draping a bedsheet over my shoulders. “Ozzy, did you hear that?” I demanded, speaking out loud.
Oswald was sitting on the couch, watching Nolan nervously pace with his phone held to his ear. At my abrupt arrival, he turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “Uh, yes? I thought you were speaking to me. If you weren’t, you were shouting that one pretty damn loud in your head.”
“Speak to her again, in your head,” Emmett requested.
Eyebrows scrunching up in confusion, Ozzy glanced between the two of us but did as he asked. Nolan had one eye on the scene, the other focusing on where he was going so he didn’t crash into a table or counter.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I can hear you in my head,”Emmett said.
