I glance at Locke and note that his eyelashes are dark and unusually long. His eyes look greener in this light. He cocks a golden eyebrow and waits.
I squeeze his hand on my thigh and exhale roughly. “So, you’re our scent-matched omega.”
Locke leans back. “I am. I knew as soon as I met you all together. Well, I felt it, it took me a minute to calm down enough to figure it out.”
“How? How do you know?”
“The feeling, the pull towards all of you. Your scents drive me wild.”
I stare at him. “Are you going into heat, Locke?”
Locke’s blue-green eyes sparkle. “That’s why you’re daddy.”
Shane chokes and has to reach for the water. He skips the glass and drinks straight from the jug.
“Heat?” He croaks.
“Yeah, I wish I could control it, but alas, I’m a slave to my designation.”
Locke doesn’t look at all upset. In fact, he looks like he’s won the lottery.
Erin is frowning, appearing deep in thought. Bray looks a little unsettled, and Shane is still having kittens.
I close my eyes and let the panic roll over me and out again. When I open my eyes a moment later, I’m cool and calm and already formulating a plan.
“We’ll have to have it out at your cabin. It’s the safest place. We can figure it out, but I’ll get the cabin stocked with enough food and supplies-”
“Wait! Wait!” Shane protests.
“There is no waiting. You have one small chance with your scent match. This is about him,” I say the words with an air of command that cracks through the space and makes the two men straighten up. “It is our honour to see him through it safely.”
Erin just looks up slowly and hits me with a frown.
I meet her eyes, wondering what she’s thinking, but then our dinners are set in front of us, and the tension and whatever is going on in her mind vanishes.
I smile at Locke.
“Eat. You’re going to need your strength.”
It’s good to see the cocky smirk vanish and apprehension appear.
Chapter thirteen
Erin
I catch Locke bythe wrist and pull him into the bathroom of Finn’s main house. The thud of the music fades when I close the door. The bathroom is easily half the size of my condo and is much cleaner. I wonder if he hires someone.
No, focus. I turn to Locke and snarl at him, the frustration and confusion pressing at me with almost the same strength as that intense sexual tension.
This is the first time I've had a chance to get him alone.
“You lied to me.”
He glares at me, cold and resentful. “I lied to everyone.”
“If I’d have fucked you, it would have been hard to miss with you spilling your slick all over everything. Particularly hard to hide when it gushes out of me like I’ve suddenly done a designation switch.”
Locke leans in closer, an arrogant smile playing across his lips. “Do you think you could have held out?”