Page 110 of Night Call

Val huffed out a laugh. “I’m not! The local vicar gave one to Earnie when we got married. Said a sharp blow with a cold spoon was the best way to quell any unwanted marital desires.”

Blake barked out a laugh and shook his head. “You’re a mad old bat, you know that, Val?”

Val grinned and carried on eating. It wasn’t until she was settled in front of the television that Blake was able to get out onto the patio to hang the shopping bag over the garden fence. He’d thought about posting everything through the letter box one by one, but figured Pember wouldn’t appreciate waking up to chocolate bars and energy drinks all over his living room floor.

Slipping out his phone, he sent Pember a text. He still hadn’t had a reply to the first.

‘There are a few things on the fence for you, no rush to collect.’

Hitting send, he sighed and gazed up at Pember’s back bedroom window. There was a dim, flickering light—a candle perhaps—but no movement. Eventually he sniffed and headed back inside.

Lying in bed in the middle of the night was fucking torture. Staring up at the blank ceiling, Blake could feel his chest beginning to grow tight again. He’d already shifted and walked the perimeter five times, and even then his wolf was still restless. It wanted to be with Pember’s omega wolf. To be curled around him in the middle of the woods. Blake threw an arm behind his head and stroked the dogs as they flanked his legs.

He’d had a similar feeling when he and Rebecca first mated over a decade ago. A predatory restlessness that might’ve actually sent him insane if allowed to linger. However, with Rebecca it’d faded rapidly, eventually dwindling into nothing despite her having his bite, and the prospect of carrying his child.

But he and Pember weren’t even mated, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was because he was an omega. Alphas were genetically programmed to reproduce and protect the pack. But they were not a pack, and Pember had made it clear he was not looking for a mate. Shit, Blake didn’t even know ifhewanted to tread that particular path again.

He sighed and was just about to turn over when his phone pinged.

‘Sorry for not replying sooner. Things were pretty intense earlier. Thank you for the supplies. The hedgehog’s cute. It reminds me of you.’

Blake’s heart literally jumped as he read the text. The message was followed by a photograph of the hedgehog cooling pad nestled next to a pillow and Val’s blanket. There was a glass of water on the floor next to the mattress, and a—the mattress.Blake swallowed. He realised he was looking at a snapshot of Pember’s nest.

Sitting up, he leant back against the headboard, his brain tripping over itself as he tried to think of a reply.

‘Because I’m cute?’he typed back, finding it difficult not to leap up from the bed and run to Pember’s door.

‘More like prickly on the outside, soft on the inside. But also cute.’

Running a hand over his mouth, Blake sucked in a breath. ‘No problem. Do you need anything else?’

‘I don’t think so. But, one question… Why two tubes of joint cream?’

Blake sucked his teeth and cursed his dad for making him look like a complete fucking prat. ‘Sorry, they’re mine. I’ll get them in a few days.’

Three dots flickered across the screen. ‘Oh, I assumed they were for Val. Do you have achy joints?’

Val… Yes, blaming Val would have been the obvious choice.

‘Yes,’he lied.

‘Old man.’

Blake snorted. ‘Still got that cheeky mouth, I see.’

‘You like my cheeky mouth :-P’

He did.

‘Get some rest,’he replied.

‘No denial? Okay, sure. How’s the investigation? Any updates?’

‘Rest.’

‘Can I call you?’

Blake’s belly swooped. ‘To talk about the investigation? No.’

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