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Chapter 35
I jolt awake on the couch in the common room, snapped out of my sleep as usual by raised voices coming from down the hallway. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I take stock of my surroundings. The others must have returned from sweeping the grounds while I was resting to recover from the head injury our little psycho gave me.
Speaking of which…
My nostrils flare as a rich, heady scent hits me. Vanilla and honeysuckle laced with the unmistakable musk of omega arousal. My cock twitches in my fatigues, hunger licking along my nerves like tendrils of flame. I know that intoxicating bouquet all too well, although I’ve never encountered a flavor quite this alluring before.
Ivy’s in heat.
Plague emerges from the hallway, his usual cold composure somewhat disheveled. He smells of her, of slick feminine musk and fevered pheromones. White-hot rage surges through me at the realization.
I’m on my feet in an instant, grabbing Plague by the front of his shirt and slamming him back against the wall with a snarl. ‘You fucking touched her?’
He meets my fury with unruffled calm. ‘She was in agony. I merely took the edge off at her request.’
‘Yeah, I’m sure that’s all you did,’ I sneer, giving him a vicious shake. ‘You sneaky little shi—’
‘That’s enough!’
The bark of alpha command cuts me off as Thane appears, Whiskey hulking beside him with bloodied fists clenched. Thane hauls me off Plague with brutal force, only to slam Plague back against the opposite wall.
‘Give me one good reason I shouldn’t gut you right now,’ he snarls, forearm braced against the medic’s throat as Plague struggles against his unbreakable grip.
Plague gives a sniff of disdain. ‘Because I don’t need you to believe me,’ he says evenly. ‘You can ask Ivy yourself.’
Thane’s jaw ticks, fingers tightening fractionally against his windpipe. For a moment it looks like he’s going to snap, to give in to that fury and put him down like a rabid dog.
But then, slowly, he releases Plague with a grunt of disgust and steps back.
‘Don’t think this is over,’ he warns Plague with a look that could cut glass. ‘You pull another stunt like that without clearing it with the rest of us first, and you’re out. No second chances.’
Whiskey scoffs, his mouth twisting in a sneer. ‘So, what, he gets special perks now since he’s the doc?’
‘He doesn’t,’ Thane growls, rounding on the other alpha. ‘But we’ve got bigger problems right now than squabbling between each other.’
Whiskey jabs a finger at Plague. ‘Like he said, Ivy’s heat is still going strong. And with the convoy due to arrive any day now to complete this arms deal, her scent is going to lead every low-life merc and gun-runner within a hundred clicks straight to our doorstep. Those fuckwads in the woods had an easy enough time finding her when the scent suppressor was working.’
The weight of his words settles over the room like a pall. Because as infuriatingly opportunistic as the medic might be, Thane’s not wrong. An unclaimed, fertile omega in the throes of her cycle is essentially a beacon to every unattached alpha for miles around.
And we’re currently in the stomping grounds of the absolute dregs of society—black market opportunists and human traffickers just waiting to get their hands on such a rare, invaluable prize.
‘So what do we do?’ Whiskey asks, frustration etching lines around his lips. ‘We can’t just leave her like this.’
‘No, we can’t,’ Thane agrees with a curt nod.
My brows shoot up, the first tendril of unease slithering through me at the look in those dark eyes of his.
‘We’re going to let Ivy decide which of us gets to… service her needs,’ Thane says. ‘Let her choose her partner of her own free will.’
His dark gaze sweeps over each of us in turn, seeming to bore straight through to the simmering well of feral instincts lurking beneath our veneers of civility.
‘The last thing we need right now is a bloodbath between horny alphas,’ Thane says firmly. ‘Ivy will choose, and we’re all going to accept it, no arguments. And anyone who so much as thinks about forcing themselves on her can answer to me personally.’
The threat doesn’t need to be voiced—the promise of violence is clear in every line of his body, in the glittering darkness of those merciless eyes.
No one wants to lose his balls to Thane. But for once, we’re all on the same page regardless of his threats. No one is going to force Ivy to do anything she doesn’t want to do.
‘As it should be,’ Plague chimes in.
Thane shoots him a withering stare. ‘Anyone but you. You get to sit this one out, doc. Since you already sampled the merchandise, so to speak.’
Plague holds that smoldering glare for a long moment, that muscle twitching in his chiseled jaw. Then, slowly, he gives a curt nod of acquiescence. ‘Fine. But you get to be the one to explain it to her.’
‘With pleasure,’ the big alpha says, already turning on his heel and heading for the hallway Plague emerged from.
Whiskey blinks, a bemused look flickering across those rugged features. ‘You sure about this, Thane?’ Whiskey calls after him. ‘I mean… we’re alphas, not some soft-pawed house pets. You really think courting is gonna work out here? Especially with an omega as wild as a mustang?’
The look Thane pins him with is dark, unreadable. ‘We don’t have a choice,’ he rumbles after a weighted pause. ‘Not if we want to keep her safe.’
With that, he turns and disappears down the hall, each step sending a dull thud reverberating through the floor. Whiskey and I watch him go in silence, the weight of his words seeming to linger in the air between us like a physical force.
At last, Whiskey breaks the quiet with a low, rumbling chuckle. ‘Well, this oughtta be interesting.’
I snort, rolling my eyes as I sink back onto the battered couch. ‘May the best man win.’NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.
In this group, that’s going to be a challenge, considering there’s not a single one of us who’s anything resembling best.
Or even good.