Page 5 of Vegas Baby!

“If you think I’m going to let her go anywhere alone with you, you are sadly mistaken. She might not know me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to protect her.”

Ava watched the two of us argue, lapsing into silence before her fingers slightly brushed my arm, electrifying my nerves and drawing all of my attention toward her. “Are we really scent matches?”

“Pretty sure. If we stop by the pharmacy I can get some wipes, try to get rid of the neutralizing wash I used.”

She looked plaintively at Luke. “Where’s the nearest pharmacy?”

“Basically across the street,” he replied, following his words with a hefty sigh. “Let’s go, then.”

Luke transferred the takeout bags to one hand and took Ava’s hand with the other, prompting me to take her other hand. It was ridiculous. It wasn’t like he could sprint off into the night dragging her after him, but holding on to her made me feel better.

The three of us slinked through the pharmacy to the scent care section. They had a lot of neutralizing options, but not much to neutralize the neutralizers. Instead, I picked up some foam soap and baby wipes, scrubbing the shit out of my wrist until the skin was pink and my natural scent released—cranberries with a hint of rum.

Luke watched with narrowed eyes as I offered my wrist to Ava and she took a cautionary sniff, her spine straightening and her pupils dilating. “Oh.”

Relief almost took me out at the knees. She knew. That alone upped my chances with her and gave me an advantage over Luke. Scent matches didn’t really have any authority, not until a bond happened, but now that Ava knew, she would want to be around me as much as I wanted to be around her.

“Scent match or not, I’m not letting her go to your hotel,” Luke spat.

“But you wantmeto let her go toyourapartment?”

“She knows me.”

I ignored him and turned to her. “How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

“Almost seven years, I think? He moved away when I was sixteen.”

Luke looked guilty as hell about that. I had no idea what their past situation was, but it had no bearing on her present or future. He huffed a sigh. “You can come too, I guess. I have to get this food home and I’m not letting her go anywhere alone with you.”

Deep breaths.

He was trying to protect her as much as I was, and I could respect that even if I didn’t like it very much.

“I’ll come with you if Ava wants to go.” I focused back on her, taking her hand in mine again. “Tell me what you want to do.”

“I want somewhere to rest for a while. I wouldn’t mind catching up with Luke, but I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable.”

“Don’t worry about either of us. You’re the only one I’m worried about right now.”

Ava offered me a soft, tentative smile. I wasn’t going to push her for anything, even if my mouth did run away with me sometimes. She wasn’t even an hour out of having her whole life turned upside down, and I had to be patient, supportive.

I grumbled to myself the entire drive back to Luke’s apartment. The only upside was that I got to sit in the backseat with Ava where she leaned against me, subtly breathing me in. Every breath would anchor us together a bit more, and now that her scent wasn’t so sharply distressed, a sweet nuttiness saturated the air inside the car. Luke’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel the whole drive.

The building he parked at seemed well-maintained. It didn’t look like anything fancy, which was a far cry from the penthouse apartment I had in Tribeca.

“I have two roommates,” Luke explained as we rode the elevator up to the third floor. “Micah is probably just waking up, and Jesse should be home from work soon if he’s not already.”

Ava hesitated getting off the elevator after hearing others would be there.

“They’re both pack, Aves. I promise they’re great guys.”

She clung to my hand as we navigated the hall and slipped into a mostly tidy unit. It looked lived in, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but was also very different from the places I was used to frequenting. I didn’t want to be here, andI didn’t want Ava to be here either. I wanted to abandon the conference and squirrel her away in my New York apartment, where I could get to know her and take care of her.

Having someone else get in the way was not part of the plan.

Why the hell couldn’t Micah get a craving for something near where we lived? I hated navigating the Strip even if it was for incredible food. I could’ve ordered delivery, but I figured if I hated it this much, it would be cruel to put someone else through it so I could avoid it.

The sweetest scent floated over me, though it was heavily tinged with distress. I scanned the crowd as I rounded thefountains and stopped dead in my tracks, seeing what appeared to be a pregnant omega with an alpha on his knees in front of her. She was clearly crying.

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