Page 5 of Stella

“Those utter bastards.” At least when my pack had dumped me, they hadn’t taken up with another omega right away.

My sisters and cousins looked at me with identical expressions of concern.

“I’m fine,” I shrugged. “I just know her pain.”

“You’re better off without them,” Raina said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

I knew that. If they didn’t want me, I sure in the hell didn’t want them. But being rejected hurt. I was supposed to be this irresistible omega.

We were raised to think we would have our pick of any man we came across. That men would cut off a finger or toe to be able to be with us.

It wasn’t true, of course, but it didn’t mean you didn’t have to deal with some residual psychological trauma when your pack dumped you.

I didn’t know Meredith Bancroft, but no one deserved that sort of public humiliation.

“Stella!” Sunshine hissed. “The universe has blessed you.”

“What?”

She jerked her head toward the counter.

Mr. Tall, Blond, and Viking was back. My mood instantly lifted. I didn’t know where to look first.

Today he was wearing a tight-fitting t-shirt that strained around his biceps. The combination of his broad shoulders and square jawline made him look like a solid wall of muscle. His hair, so pale it was almost white, touched his shoulders.

All in all, he looked like he would be perfectly at home on a Viking longship.

He could plunder me any day.

Warmth curled inside me. I really did not need to get aroused in public, but it was hard not to with such a gorgeous hunk of man in front of me. I wanted to climb him like a tree.

I tried to catch his scent, to see if he was alpha, beta, or omega but the aroma of the coffee, sugar and spices was too strong. It was part of why we came here.

Ordinarily, the four of us sitting together in one spot drew attention, but the scent of coffee beans, hot milk, whipped cream, and cinnamon and sugar was enough to cover most of our pheromones.

I held my breath as he sat down in an oversized armchair. While he waited for his coffee order, he pulled a thick book out of his laptop bag.

Tall, sexy, and reading in public? I almost had an orgasm right there.

“Go flirt with him,” Sunshine jerking her head across the room, with no subtlety at all.

My core clenched at the thought of rubbing up against him. In my current state, it would be less flirting, and more like dragging him off into a corner so I could have my wicked way with him.

I shook my head. “Maybe next month.”

After my heat, when I could think clearly.

Sunshine raised her eyebrows. “And you make fun of me.”

“My perfume is going to smoke out the coffee shop as it is.”

“You’re going into heat early,” Raina said, no question in her voice.

“Yep.”

“An even better reason to go flirt.” Sunshine gestured at the hunky man with her phone. “Tell him how tight his ass is and ask him to help you through your heat.”

The thought turned me molten. I squeezed my hands into fists, trying to stifle the sudden wave of pure need.

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