Page 55 of Whatever It Takes

It’s a stark realization… We’ve gotten to know Briar on suppressants, and an omega not on them will always have a more severe reaction to other omegas.

Not to mention, she stopped taking them abruptly. I did research while she and Keir were busy fucking the drive away. Her first heat is likely to be more severe due to stopping them in the middle of a pack. She could also face other side effects, but I know which ones to keep an eye out for.

“I will ask them to get laundry detergent and anything else they can find to help clear away lingering scents,” I assure her, stealing away the sheets and blankets she’s got ahold of. “There should be a black bag somewhere with my comforter and pillowcases. Why don’t you put that down on the mattress? Then we can grab the blanket you used in the car to cover up with.”

Her head tilts, and her adorable little nose wrinkles. “We?”

“Yes, my love,wecan snuggle for a bit.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Briar

Being around Easton is not the easy experience it is to be around Keir or Calder. Alphas tend to have an intense energy that warns you they’re natural predators. Easton takes that vibe to the extreme.

I’m just finishing putting the second blanket over the bed when the back of my head starts to sizzle. It makes no sense, but my instincts scream to run or hide. Or run and then hide. I don’t know what they want me to do, because I’m frazzled as hell.

I spin around at the sound of someone moving closer.

It has to be Easton.

No one else is here, and I think he planned it that way.

He holds out a coat-sized box.

“For me?” I hear myself say and grimace.

“My first courting gift. And, yes, for you. There’s no one else I wish to impress.”

My stomach does a weird somersault.

Easton is ridiculously handsome—like the better-judgment-melting kind of hot.

“Well, unless you consider taking Jameson’s life a gift.” Easton chuckles darkly. “If so this makes for my second courting gift.” He moves toward me, gesturing to the bed I just made.

I back away until my knees hit the edge of the mattress.

Easton takes a seat, and I join him. He drops the box in my lap, turning until our knees bump. “I would have had it wrapped if there was time, but things have been hectic.”

His electric smell hits my nostrils, and it takes everything in me not to climb into his lap.

Alpha and omega dynamics are complicated. My instincts are obsessed with him, and they’re busy trying to convince me that Easton and I are highly compatible.

And biologically speaking, I one hundred percent believe that’s true. I’m just not sure we’re a good emotional match. And that makes me feel guilty, because I have no idea why it’s so much easier for me to trust Calder and Keir.

If Easton was truly as awful as I’ve made him out to be in my mind, would those two willingly be around him?

Oh, yeah.

There’s that whole contract Easton forced Keir to sign that could be why the stoic alpha sticks around.

“Are you going to open my courting gift?” Easton asks with an expectant look.

What am I supposed to say?

No?

Everything in mewantsto see what his version of a courting gift looks like. I mean, the packaged version. I already know what the dead body variety looks like.

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