Page 52 of Citius

“We could trade for it. A bit of quid pro quo.” Cal leaned back, looking pensive as he traced the underside of the steering wheel with his thumb. “I know there are things you keep close to the vest. That you already have a medical team. A good one. Not trying to replace them oroverstep my boundaries. But I’d really like to know more.”

“My lack of scent,” I said, eyes straying to the rumpled cardigan. Wishing he wasn’t so smart. That he was someone I could fool. But then he wouldn’t be Cal. “It bothers you.”

“The cause concerns me. Not its absence.” Cal shifted, angling himself toward me. “I have thoughts, suspicions—not knowing bothers me more than anything. I don’t want to push, it’s just… I see so many of my patients in you.”

It would be easy—oh, so easy—to hand myself over to Cal. He would take care of me despite everything. That wasn’t fair to him. He didn’t understand.

“You hanging around a lot of unmated omegas in their thirties, Dr. Carling?”

There was no teasing away the serious pheromone doctor persona, not tonight. “Morgan.”

“Cal.”

We looked at each other, his gaze heavy with professional foresight, mine restless and shrouded with caution. A car drove past, its headlights catching on Cal’s rugged features, the resulting shadows momentarily twisting his good-natured countenance into something unfamiliar—authoritative, almost clinical. But his sincerity never wavered.

“Okay, message received.” He retreated with grace, giving me the distance I insisted on…but was no longer sure I wanted. “Just know I’m here for you. Not as a second opinion, but as someone who cares.”

I should have taken his hand and laced our fingers together. Admitted that I’m an irreparable mess, a ticking timebomb, a useless omega, unable to react to his pheromones. Given him some form of genuine emotion. At least thanked him for caring. But I didn’t.

“Dinner was…surprising. But I enjoyed it.” I picked up my work bag and opened the door.

Cal nodded, but he didn’t offer the cardigan to me a second time. “Want me to drive you to campus in the morning?”

“No, it’s okay. Kelsey can take me,” I replied, stepping down from the truck. Ignoring my omega’s pleas to take his sweater with me. “Thanks for offering, though.”

“Anytime.” Cal gave me a full, achingly hollow smile. “I’ll text you later.”

“Night.” I closed the door and stepped back onto the sidewalk, intending to watch him leave.

Cal shot me a look, shook his head, and nodded toward the front door. Of course, he would ensure I safely entered the building before heleft.

I paused in the front vestibule, watching Cal’s truck drive away, taking his fleeting warmth along with it.

Sixteen

Morgan

Kelsey was in her studio workspace on the second floor, taking photos of new products to add to Beaufeather’s website. She wore a loose constellation-print tunic top and frayed jeans, her hair wound up in a purple scarf.

A softbox light illuminated a blue vintage glass candy dish with a ruffled edge and a pedestal base, piled high with chocolate bonbons.

Her head snapped around as I approached, zeroing in on my neck and torso, a peculiar quiver to her brows as she breathed in what was likely a thick cloud of Cal’s pheromones.

Not the first time I’d forgotten others could sniff out my secrets.

“Huh. I expected Owen to be the main topic of our after-dinner discussion, but—”

“It was an accident. And it won’t happen again.” A light flush betrayed my true feelings, but I wouldn’t change my mind. Couldn’t. Not with my career on the line.

“Jacobi’s never going to let you hear the end of it. Been telling me for weeks that your pheromone stud would make a move.”

“Hey, it’s not I kiss, you tell.” I surveyed the table full of new items along the wall, waiting for their time to shine—lotions and candles, ceramic vases, pillows, robes in silky fabrics, and an open box of the same chocolates in the candy dish. “Besides, he’ll be more interested in Owen.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Kelsey adjusted the placement of the topmost chocolate, double-checking the composition on the camera’s LCD screen.

“Those pheromones…” She shot me a sly glance. “Are more than a little intense.”

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