Page 104 of The Heat of Us

Maybe it was dumb of us to breeze through so many firsts together in one go but I couldn’t sense a single ounce of regret from either of us.

I kissed my bondmark on his neck before snuggling down tighter into Adrian’s arms.

I know we should’ve waited for marriage but we wanted our forever to start now.

“You’re an omega.”

That earned him a look. “Aaand you’re an alpha,” I replied, not sure where he was going with this.

“No, I mean, you’re an omega.” Adrian emphasised my designation meaningfully. “You’ll probably need a pack.”

I shook my head. Why were we talking about this? “You’re all I need, Adrian.”

“I think it would be cool.”

What?

“Is this a test?” I asked him suspiciously.

Adrian laughed, kissing my forehead. “I’m serious. Having others who can look out for you. Giving you things that I can’t give you.” His eyes grew tender, looking at me like I was his entire world. “Knowing you are loved, always. I like the idea of that.”

I broke. I let myself cry for what I’d lost in a way that I never had before.

I let myself be comforted through it.

And I stopped believing the pain was the price of my atonement.

37

HAZEL

I’d told them everything and they were still here.

I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“My nest still doesn’t smell right,” I said in the morning, not meeting any of their eyes. “Can you guys stay another few days?”

They didn’t question or push. Left kisses on my head and cuddled me every night. My heart skipped when I spotted their toothbrushes on my bathroom sink. Little piles of spare clothes appeared on whatever free surface they could find.

You would’ve thought the three of them had lived as a pack for years. I watched them make coffee and breakfast in my kitchen one morning. They never bumped into each other and wordlessly handed each other what they needed.

Was that normal?

They were definitely being careful with me though. Remy offered to help me edit some older footage and manage my uploads for a while to give me a break. No one initiated anything sexual. I understood and appreciated that.

At first anyway. Then I started to get real antsy that all I was getting from Aleks was snuggles. He was out of the apartment most of the time between his classes, hospital shifts and visits to his grandma. But when he was home, I found myself staring at him a lot. Admiring his long lashes, that ridiculous bone structure and the subtle grace of his lithe form.

I thought about what he looked like naked. A lot.

It was no wonder that one morning, Ben left for work and Remy made a big show of telling us he was going to hang out with his sister before waltzing out the door with an extremely unsubtle wink.

Aleks and I were left alone and suddenly reduced to shy teenagers.

He hovered by Fabio, my parlour palm. “Want to show me how you look after your plants?”

I brightened. “Really? You want to learn all their names too?” I placed my chin on my hands and gave him my biggest eyelash flutters.

“Yes,” he said, seemingly immune. “I want to stop freaking out when you say things like ‘Dennis looks so happy in the window, doesn’t he?’”

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