Page 36 of Shattered Omega: Part Three

Her chest heaved, but her look of outrage was offset by how blown her pupils were—and her scent, which was still heavy in the space.

The problem was, this show was far too hot for a Monday morning, and I wasn’t the only one who agreed. We were just exiting the apartment when Shatter halted. “Oh, just um… give me a second. I forgot my water bottle.”

“Since when do you have a water bottle?” I asked.

“Omega Studies said I should stay hydrated,” she muttered. “Just uh… don’t come in—” she added, shoving Umbra back as he made to step back in with her.

“There’s a couple of bottles in the cupboard over the sink,” he told her. She nodded, then vanished, leaving the door a crack open.

We all waited in the hallway in silence, hearing the tap turn on. I took the time to adjust myself, trying to think of anything to rid me off this hard-on.

The water only ran for a few moments before it shut off. Then there was the undeniable crunch and scraping sound of someone scooping ice from the ice bin in the fridge followed by the clatter that I guessed was the ice tumbling into a plastic bottle.

There was a pause, then the clatter of ice sounded again. Then again. Another pause, and then one more time. I raised an eyebrow, catching Umbra’s eye. That, I thought, was a lot of ice considering we were heading quickly for winter.

I glanced at Dusk, who was doing a shit job at keeping his expression neutral. The edge of his lips quirked mischievously as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall, not meeting our eyes.

As much as I took Shatter’s side on the marriage thing, I couldn’t help but admire Dusk. He worked well as pack lead. He waited, watched, and learned the best way. With me, he was patient. A rigid, cruel upbringing had left me sensitive to strict rules, but with Umbra, who he knew better than he knew even himself, he could be brutal. With Shatter, he’d found a perfect balance between rules and freedom.

He’d taken pack lead because he believed he’d had to, but he deserved it. I knew Umbra had tried to take it back, and Shatter had intervened, but I think that was testament to how fast she’d come to understand this pack.

We finally heard the sound of the fridge closing and plastic on plastic as she screwed the top on the bottle.

Another brief pause, an indiscernible and furious mutter from Shatter, then the fridge opened again. At another sound of the scoop of ice, I caught Umbra grinning. I was battling my own at this point.

“The Arkology program won’t allow another absence,” I warned Dusk, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.

He glanced at me briefly. “I know.”

“If she goes into heat…”

“I will, uh…” Dusk cleared his throat. “Take it easy.”

Shatter finally appeared in the doorway, stuffing a water bottle (crammed to the brim with ice) into her bag.

“Okay. I’m um… I’m good now,” she said quickly, slipping past us, hand hovering over the fresh bite and drying blood on her neck that Dusk had commanded her not to mess with.

I noticed she kept as much distance from him as possible, but I had a strong feeling Shatter was going to be mad at Dusk for as long as she could possibly manage.

TWELVE

SHATTER

“Who gets Shatter?” Umbra asked as we settled into the booths in class. People were settling into seats on the benches below, bringing with them the usual scent of caffeine for the first class of the day.

“Gets me?” I asked, glancing up from where I was lining up my notebook and pens.

“I want cuddles, Little Reaper. You’ve got me addicted.”

“It’s class.”

“How about a coin toss?” Umbra asked, ignoring me completely and glancing at Ransom.

Wait—coin toss? That got my attention.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dusk smirk—though it was all his fault that Umbra and Ransom were both so wound up they couldn’t focus on classes. They really needed to. They were falling so far behind.

“Sure,” Ransom replied, straightening.

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