“It was actually an accident,” she said. Those words were the quietest of all. “He shoved me and I fell against the corner of a table. I thought he would be worried when he saw all the blood, but…”
Her words stayed unsaid.
He wasn’t.
The bastard could’ve taken out her eye or given her permanent brain damage, and he’d probably laughed. I clenched my jaw so tight my vision went spotty, turning my attention to the pool again. Coming out here may not have been the best idea, but I hadn’t expected us to talk.
Her warm hand landing on my arm brought me out of the depths of my rage. “Ambrose, can you…” She trailed off.
I looked over my shoulder. She was glassy-eyed, her hair a mess in the breeze.
“Can I what, princess?”
“I fucked everything up, I think, but can we pretend I didn’t? Can I curl up on your lap while we’re up here?”
Pushing to my feet, I abandoned the flimsy plastic chair and picked her up from the lounge. She yelped, her scent spiking and drawing the attention of some people nearby. Once again, one look from me set their attentions elsewhere. I lowered us both down to the lounge, leaning back and letting her rest against my chest.
When her purr vibrated against me and her mussed hair tickled my nose, it was all I could do to shove down my arousal. I focused on anything and everything except her, except the invasive scent of chocolate and coconut. The needy, content sounds she made as she curled and half-dozed on me.
This was common behaviour for an omega with her alpha.
That’s what I felt like.
Her alpha.
I didn’t want this fantasy to end. Going back to the real world left a bitter taste in my mouth when everything was so perfect and domestic sitting beside this pool.
In the real world we had to keep her safe from people who didn’t deserve her—Tobias, her father, Soren.
In the real world Dash might shatter into pieces and self-destruct, taking everyone in his vicinity with him. He’d done it before, when we’d been rejected by our scent match.
In the real world Leighton might never let this fly, no matter how much I loved her, no matter how much budding affection I felt for her omega.
In the real world, Mercury was an anxious, angry mess trying to keep all of us together in the way he thought was best. A way I disagreed with, despite how much I fucking loved him.
Kiara stayed on me until our skin was slick with sweat, the contact and the sun almost too much heat to handle. Our hour had been up for ages and I was sure one of the others would come looking for us soon when she finally sat up. “I have to use the bathroom.”
“Let’s go inside then, little omega.”
I lifted her off me and placed her on her feet. When we walked across the pool deck to the glass entrance doors once again, I shielded her from view.
Those pink cheeks were mine to observe. Not anyone else’s. Mine and my pack’s.
And Leighton, but she was synonymous with ‘pack’ in my head now. She would never agree to join, but I could continue to hope, dream, and maybe even beg.
THIRTY-TWO
LEIGHTON
When my omega came back from upstairs, she was an absolute mess of anxiety. She’d been relatively calm through the bond for the past couple of hours. Now that she was no longer poolside and was facing what she’d done, she was flailing.
Kiara spent so long in the bathroom I wondered if she was ever going to come out.
She wouldn’t look at me, staring at the floor as she wandered into the living room. I followed her, catching her before she could smash the buttons on the TV remote.
“Dove. We have to talk about it.”
Her back went stiff and she glanced around the room. Dash wasn’t in here, but he would be soon. After our chat, I bet he’d want to confirm how Kiara felt about things.
