Page 7 of Raging Heat

On instinct, I reach out to them, but a low rumble from the other side of the room stops me.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”A tall and burly older male Alpha steps through the door to the garden, his deep forest pheromones almost suppressing the other scents in the room.

When I look back at the two Omegas, the young woman has a knife in her hand and she’s looking at me with suspicion, ready to cut me up if I make one wrong move.

“Omegas are very protective when they’ve just found a scent match.”The Alpha stops in front of the desk, glancing at the two Omegas and then looking at me.“I’m Caleb.The short one with the knife is Vera.And you are?”

“Jorge.I’m a friend.”

Vera laughs, the sound bright and sweet as she looks at me dubiously.“Friend, right… Friends don’t send out ‘bend over and let me fuck you’ pheromones when they see each other.”

“We’re friends, with many benefits, but still friends.”I smile at the fire in her gaze and her snark.

She’s very cute, I see why Mathew likes her.And, she smells heavenly, though the Alpha doesn’t smell too bad either.

She cocks her head to the side, taking me in fully as her honey pheromones become stronger.“You’re dressed just as fancy as Mathew, are you in the same line of work?”

“The same line of work?”I meet Mathew’s gaze, not sure how much she knows about what he does for a living.

“Well, he’s in ‘transport’.Are you too?”She puts the knife down and takes a step in my direction, interest in her gaze.

“‘Transport’?”I chuckle.“That’s definitely one way to describe it.No, I’m in ‘finances’.But we work with a lot of the same people.”

“Hmmm.”She reaches out and tugs at a button on my dress shirt, not caring one bit that her shirt has fallen open again or that my pheromones are clearly responding to hers.“Did you really come here just to fuck Mathew?”

“Vera!”Mathew and the Alpha, Caleb, call out at the same time and she grins, winking at me.

“I’m just asking… I wouldn’t mind watching, or joining in…”

Caleb sighs deeply and reaches out to the cute but wicked Omega.“Let’s get you some proper clothes, so these two can chat in private for a few minutes.”

“Fiiiiine.”She pretend-pouts, then she gives Mathew a quick kiss before she follows Caleb out of the office.“Don’t start without me!”

She’s a handful, clearly, but as she turned around to leave, I noticed something else…

I twist to Mathew.“She’s marked!They’re a bonded pair!What thehellare you getting yourself into?”

“It has nothing to do with you.”The blissful look disappears from his face and he turns away from me, sitting back down at his desk.His voice is sharp and his body tense.

“Like hell it does.”I cross the distance over to him, but he spins around and pushes me against the wall, a knife to my throat.

I don’t fail to notice that this one is different from the one Vera was holding earlier and that the one she put on the desk is now gone.She must have swiped it on her way out.

“No.It doesn’t.”His gaze is intense, angry and upset at the same time.“It hasnothingto do with you.From here on out, all we ever are are two people in the same business, nothing more.”His voice nearly breaks on the last few words and his pheromones flare in distress.

The first rumbles of a growl break from my throat, but when that seems to intensify his distress I quickly shut it down.

No.Not good.

He must know what his words do to me, how much he’s clearly hurting himself by saying them.

I reach up, touching his cheek, wishing I could kiss him but he would slit my throat if I attempted that right now.“Not this again.”

“There is no ‘again’.They are mine.I’m theirs.You and me might be scent matched but we never bonded, so you’re free to find your own mates.I won’t be needing your ‘help’ anymore.”His words say one thing while his voice and pheromones tell a totally different story.

The scent of his distressed pheromones is making me sick, making it hard for me to think clearly.

I know I shouldn’t be saying this, the last time I told him this they had to dig a bullet out of my thigh, but it’s my only hope.“I’ve been yours from the moment we met.”

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