“If it doesn’t mean much, I’ll keep biting you until it does,” she said, her tone sharp with annoyance.
“Fucking hell,” he muttered.
One hand went down to his crotch—I was assuming it was to readjust himself, though I couldn’t see. He used his other to haul Kiara close. Their lips smashed together and he groaned into her mouth.
All our scents were spiking now, Ambrose and Mercury’s included. I wanted to let this continue, see what would happen if Dash was allowed to do as he pleased.
Mercury had different plans. He grabbed Dash’s shoulder. Kiara’s irritation flared through the bond when her and Dash’s kiss broke, and I assumed she hadn’t hidden it from her expression. Mercury took a small step back before speaking.
“The omega is close to heat. Considering she has to go out on a public date in a few days, we shouldn’t do anything else to push her closer to it.”
He had a point. Sexual activity wasn’t guaranteed to bring on a heat faster—so far, it seemed to be helping her with the heat cramps. However, Kiara hadn’t spent much time around alphas in her life. Her body might react to having multiple alphas reaching peaks near her at the same time. It was impossible to know.
Dash hesitated, his gaze landing on Kiara’s cleavage where her tits were pressed against the back of the armchair. Then he cleared his throat. “As usual, he’s right.”
Mercury paused with his mouth open. He closed it without saying anything, looking Dash up and down like he was foreign to him.
Tense silence hung in the air as Kiara’s arousal dissipated slowly, along with the rest of ours. Mercury did end up being the one to break it, though not to say anything about the claim or the kiss.
“Dash needs to hack into some things for us. Edith is hiding something, and one of my contacts gave me an idea of what it is,” he said.
“What’s the idea?” I asked.
He shook his head. “It’s unconfirmed. You can keep working whatever angle you’re working, and I’ll manage this.”
My angle was going back through all the cases my mother had ever given me. She knew how opposed I was to working for violent criminals or corporate thieves, but I was discovering she hadn’t respected that. Under the surface, plenty of the tasks she’d set me up with had been hiding crime.
I hadn’t done my research.
Could I have turned them down, anyway?
Ethically, I should have, but I’d give up my ethics to keep my brother and his pack safe from their secrets. Maybe that was why I’d never dug too deep into it.
“I can start hacking right now,” Dash said.
He took a step back from Kiara. My omega whined, a sound she tried so hard to stifle it came out like more of a breath. He tried to move back toward her, able to feel her upset almost as well as I was. Mercury blocked him, bringing them chest to chest.
“You need to eat first. And sleep. You stayed up all night figuring out who told the police about the dark bond, and you’ll hyperfixate on this as soon as you start.”
Dash fought with himself, glancing at Kiara and biting his lip. I realized in those few seconds that if I had to, I would demand he sleep and eat. I cared about his well-being, and it wasn’t only because he was bonded to my omega.
It had a lot to do with my own affection for the damaged alpha.
“Fine,” he muttered.
“If you promise not to jerk off onto my sheets, you can sleep in the bedroom,” I said.
He managed half a grin. “No jerking off on the sheets. Got it.”
His steps didn’t have their usual bounce as he strode toward the hallway. However, he smirked at me before he vanished around the corner. “I’m just glad you didn’t ban me from humping your pillow. That’s how I prefer to get off, anyway.”
Before my eyes had finished rolling, he was gone.
In the end, he’d shielded himself with humour, and I didn’t know him well enough to be aware of whether that was a bad or good thing.
“Come on, dove,” I said, making it a command for my needy omega. “We’re going to lie on the pullout couch in my office. I’ve got some calls to make.”
She followed me, leaving Ambrose and Mercury behind for the moment.
