Page 2 of The Heat of Us

I knew the statistics. An alpha and an omega to two sets of beta parents?

But god, did I believe. And wish. And want.

My leg was bouncing with anticipation as I spied the familiar entrance of the driveway to the house we always booked. The Han’s red SUV was already parked on the gravel. I flung myself out of the car before Dad could even pull the handbrake up.

“Zelly!”

Adrian’s voice was even deeper than before, echoing from where he was racing towards me from the sand dunes. I was running to him. And laughing. Because what could our parents do anymore? We’d graduated high school and were waiting for our university placements to come through.

None if it mattered though, because my future was him.

Adrian caught me up in his arms, my legs going airborne as he swung me around. My nose went straight into the thick muscle of his neck and inhaled.

A summer rain. Bodies hot and sticky. Kissing, touching, exploring. Wet and slippery skin, and a high desperate moan. We found refuge in the shade of the lemon-scented gums, dotted along the coastline. Grounding earthiness and a spiral of sweetness sending me higher.

I gasped, pulling his body tighter and closer. Why wasn’t it enough? His scent was everywhere but I still wanted more.

“God, your scent. Y-you’re, you’re—”

Adrian growled as he buried his nose deeper. I whimpered as his firmly pressed nose turned into heated, open-mouthed kisses. The desperate scrape of teeth.

My newly awakened scent exploded as my omega rose up to greet my fated alpha.

I would not have fucking believed you if you told me that one day, I would be sobbing as a needle carrying bond dissolving drugs sank into my neck.

1

HAZEL

Eight years later.

I stared at my reflection, adjusting my long pastel pink wig before giving it a tug to make sure it was secure.

Ryder seemed like the type to indulge in a little hair-pulling. And I wasn’t about to come across as unprofessional on my very first collaboration.

It was the little things.

Well, not in his case. There wasn’t very much about him that was little.

My phone lit up with Ryder’s text, summoned to me by the patron god of horniness.

Ryder

I’m downstairs

I wandered over to the phone affixed to the wall and punched the button to dial reception. It was picked up in half a ring.

“Why is there a depraved looking alpha asking to be let up to your floor?” Aleks hissed.

I could picture him perfectly. Tucking himself into the corner of his concierge desk for some pretend semblance of privacy while he shot lightning bolts through his eyes at Ryder.

“Because I invited him.”

His voice dropped to a low warning whisper. “Hazel.”

“Aleks.”

I could hear his little brain computing how to deal with this. “I’m going to scan his driver’s licence and say that’s regular protocol.”

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