Page 48 of Black Moon

“Is it...hard?” For a second, I thought he was talking about being in Grovetown, which didn’t make any damn sense. “Like, uncomfortable?”

I blinked. Oh. No one had really asked me what my heat was like except my doctor. My father’d always said that was “omega business,” and Chase and Cait groaned and ran for the other room when anything like that came up.

But Rowan Grove didn’t look like he was making fun of me at all. He looked at me frankly, his gray eyes wide and earnest.

If I was going to impose on the Grove family for the next few days to try and get a little satisfaction, the least I could do was answer him honestly.

“No. It’s not uncomfortable, or even hard. I mean...maybe the first few times, if you don’t know what’s going on? It’s hard to prepare. But now, I generally know when it’s coming. It’s sort of like, well, it’s hard to think clearly. Everything’s kind of too hot? I know it can be dangerous to omegas with the Condition—if your body overheats and you can’t cool off, but it’s always been okay for me.”

In large part, that was because “okay” was my only option. None of the Dohertys wanted me to make a big deal out of it, and if I started panting and whining and writhing anywhere they could see, there’d be hell to pay. It just wasn’t becoming, Dad’d say. You never sawMotherbehaving that way.

Rowan was still staring at me, hands pressed into the counter like this meant more to him than just curiosity. But he wasn’t looking at me like he wanted to fuck me or anything. Since he was a beta, I didn’t think my heat would spark that urge for him the same way it would for an alpha. This was something else—and I wasn’t sure it was any of my business.

“Sometimes, it’s really nice,” I admitted, sure my cheeks had gone red already. I took a second to drink some water and shrugged, using the excuse to look away from Rowan’s intense stare. “Like if you’re with someone you love, or you really trust—like there’s nothing in the world you need more than them, being close. And then, when you’re together, it’s just...It’s hard to explain.”

Or, rather, I didn’t want him thinking too hard about me coming over and over again, mindless and spent, on his brother’s dick.

When I looked up again, Rowan had turned away toward the sink. “No, I think I get it,” he said, filling a glass for himself. “Must be nice, to need someone like that. Have them need you back.”

Frowning, I tilted my head to the side and tried to catch his eye, but he’d ducked to avoid my gaze.

“It can be like that for anybody,” I said gently.

“Sure.”

Then, the front door opened, and I could smell Linden on the breeze that wafted in from that direction. Every sense I had focused on him as soon as he was close enough, and I turned when he came into the kitchen, drawn like a bee to nectar.

It was only Rowan standing there, shoulders hunched, that kept me from pressing against him already, but my Dad’s voice played in my head.Not in front of everyone, Colt!

“Sorry,” I said with an awkward smile. We hadn’t set ground rules, and I wasn’t sure Linden, well—he’d agreed to help me. He’d offered me a room here, because he was too nice and too generous. That didn’t mean he wanted me anywhere near his family, especially smelling like I did. “I got a little sidetracked.”

“It’s no problem.” He frowned at me, and then at Rowan, who was still looking awkward with his shoulders down and his socked feet shuffling across the floor.

Suddenly, he spun toward his brother with a broad grin. “Bet you two are going to wear yourselves out. I’ll make extra pie.”

“I can take care of food,” Linden said tersely.

“Actually”—I shrugged—“pie sounds pretty fucking awesome to me.”

Rowan waved a hand at me, and when he turned his chin up at his brother, he was practically glowing. “See? Pie.”

25

Linden

Rowan was not interested in Colt.

Rowan, in fact, was the very closest thing to an omega that the Grove family had ever produced.

And me? I’d spent my whole life in excellent control of my instincts. Back in school, the human students had often assumed me to be a beta, because I wasn’t “intense enough” to be an alpha.

So why, when Rowan started offering my omeg—Colt. Why, when Rowan started offering Colt pie, did I have the urge to growl at my own baby brother? Rowan, the sweetest, softest,bestmember of the Grove family.

I shook it off and turned to Colt. “More water?”

He shook his head and handed me the empty glass, which I rinsed and set upside down in the sink, out of habit.

“Everything okay with Brook and his guest?” he asked, and I suspected the tone was supposed to be casual. It missed a bit, but I couldn’t blame him.

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