Lucas winces like he’s turned on and terrified. Honestly, relatable.
“Ifit happens,” Ava says calmly, her chin held high, “and I go into heat on this ship, and you want to be involved, I’ll accept help. Yours,” she nods at Declan, “and yours,” at Knox, who looks so relieved he drops the water bottle with a soft plunk on the floor. “Lucas and Emily, too.”
Me? The wayeveryoneturns to look at me makes me feel like I’ve been cast as the surprise understudy in a very sexy, very high-stakes drama.
“Me?” I blink. “What’s my job in the heat-apocalypse plan?”
“I think Declan used the term sex-pocalypse,” Knox corrects, then shuts his mouth as if realizing he might have poked the blonde bear at my side.
“You’re my girl,” Ava says, as ifmy girlis clear enough, which it totally isn’t. My thoughts spiral like a spinning top. As if she knows, Ava’s posture softens a little. Her gaze meets mine. “You’re the one I trust to tell them when to back the hell off.”
Lucas looks proud. Declan looks mildly offended, even though he was the one pushing for the boundary conversation to begin with. Knox grins like the cat that got the mouse.
Ava crosses her arms. “This is not an invitation for anyone to alpha at me. You are there to help me through this,ifit happens. You’ll do nothing unless I ask. No hormone-wrangling, no unwanted bonding energy, andfor the love of God,no sweet nothings and pillow talk.”
Declan opens his mouth.
“Especially you.”
He shuts it.
“You’re only the prime alpha of this pack when we’re playing pretend,” she snaps.
Declan is absolutely pack alpha, but no one dares correct her.
“And what if we don’t want to participate?” Declan asks.
Ava’s mouth drops open. Knox shoots him an outraged look, and Lucas looks as stunned as I feel.
Ava recovers first. “I’d never force you to do something you aren’t comfortable with. All being in one room will make it difficult, though.”
“It’ll make it impossible,” Declan corrects.
“Well, we can…” Ava looks around like she’s searching for help. “I’ll call the staff and see if there’s an empty room somewhere. If not, maybe there’s a staff room you can bunk in, I’m sure they’ll understand. Or I could go?—”
“You’re not going anywhere, Ava.” Knox rises to his feet, shoulders back, voice low and fierce. He squares off with Declan. “You’d really force her out of her room and leave her in pain when you have what could help?”
Ava and I both move at once, stepping between them before things can escalate. She presses a steady hand to Knox’s chest. I do the same to Declan.
He exhales sharply the moment I touch him, some of the tension bleeding out of his frame.
“It’s not that I don’t want to help,” he mutters, scrubbing a hand over the stubble that’s grown in since last night. “I just don’t want an omega.” He wraps an arm around me, pulling me gently to his chest. “No bites. And…” He tips my chin up, eyes searching mine before flicking back to Ava. “Will it bother you if I’m with Emily, too? Some omegas get territorial.”
“Not if it won’t bother you,” Ava says, calm but clear.
I twist in Declan’s arms to look at her. Her cheeks are flushed, her teeth worrying her bottom lip like she’s already second-guessing herself.
Carefully, I ease out of Declan’s embrace and take a step toward her. She doesn’t back away.
My heart’s racing, but my voice is steady. “You want me like that?”
“I thought our kiss last night made that pretty clear,” she snarks, walls still half-up.
“I thought it was just because you were needy, and I was there. I mean, in a heat, with alphas around, wouldn’t you rather have them?”
It feels like the room itself is holding its breath. Will Declan be upset if I want a relationship with Ava? He’s told me again and again he doesn’t want an omega. But was that the truth? Or just something he said to keep me from running?
Ava steps forward, so close we’re breathing the same air. “They’re here right now, and I want them. Of course I do. They’re my—but you’re—Em, I’ve always wanted you, but you felt untouchable, so I locked it away. Buried it down.” She pauses, gaze bouncing around my face. “Until these past few weeks. I think I’m falling?—”
