Page 66 of Dangerous Heat

For once, I shut that voice off.

Then, I did what I wanted to do.

My canines lengthened. It wasn’t like vampire canines, which were always pointed to some extent. This was a piece of Alpha biology that was only intended to be used one or two times in a lifetime. I placed my teeth gently against his skin, waiting for him to panic and tell me he’d been joking. All he did was tilt his head to the side to give me better access.

When my teeth sank into his neck, a bond clicked into place. I felt him, more than the physical of our bodies touching. A string attached us, both feeling each other’s emotions, keenly aware of the other. I pulled back and licked the mark clean from the droplets of blood, watching it heal but leave a mark behind. A purr rumbled from my chest, a sound typically reserved for being in the presence of a bonded Omega.

His teeth sank into me a second later, creating a matching mark and settling any remaining doubts I may have had. He loved me. He was done hiding things from me.

And he was mine, forever.

ChapterTwenty-Two

FREYA

To calm the storm raging in my mind, I went to visit Mabel.

May was glowing with joy, floating on a cloud of bliss. Emmett left us alone, opting to wander the building and see what he discovered, and May gushed about how Ama treated her. They might as well have been fated, with how fast they’d clicked with each other. Although fated mates didn’t actually exist. She was talking about bringing Ama home to meet Elodie and Clara, for fuck’s sake, and permanently moving in here even when she was allowed to leave.

“This isn’t what I had in mind, but it feels right,” May finished, beaming.

“I’m so happy for you,” I said.

My tone may have been a little drier than I’d intended. Mabel raised an eyebrow at me. “I know you’re a bitch about everything, but I’m going to say it anyway. There’s no need to be a bitch about it, Freya.”

“Oh, come on, I’m not a bitch.”

“Do you hear yourself speak? Ever? You are constantly, always a bitch. It’s fine, we love you.”

May reached across the couch and patted me on the shoulder. I rolled my eyes. Fine, I was a bit of a bitch. Ninety per cent of the time. There was still the ten per cent window where I was genuinely nice.

“I think you’re too kind. Amabella could be conning you. Nolan could be planning to betray us all.”

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “I get your concern, but there’s no way Nolan betrays you. He has a crush on you.”

“A crush? What is this, the seventh grade?”

“What else am I supposed to call it? Infatuation?” she asked. “He’s not in love with you yet.”

“He’s notgoingto be in love with me.”

He’d said himself that he didn’t sleep with Alphas or Omegas. There had to be a reason for that, and I doubted it was anything easy to overcome.

“If you say so, Freya. I still don’t believe Nolan is going to betray us, though.”

Sighing, I collapsed back on the couch, no longer sitting up straight and instead letting my body fall into the pillows. “I don’t think he will either,” I admitted. “I’m used to believing the worst of people, but it’s hard to see any bad in him. He’s almost as cute as Caspian, and that’s a feat.”

Mabel laughed, pulling out a cell phone. It wasn’t hers, but apparently Ama had gotten one for her. She couldn’t live without the internet, unlike me. I hadn’t thought about my phone, which was still at Club Chaos where I’d left it behind. “Are you going to have him in your pack?” May asked casually, swiping through whatever app she was using.

“What?” I asked sharply. “My pack?”

“Yeah. I know packs aren’t common anymore, and plenty of Omegas only take one mate. You can’t seriously tell me you plan on only taking one? Shan and Cas are both obsessed with you, and I’ll continue to believe Nolan is falling for you until I’m proven wrong.”

“I don’t want a pack.”

She was so nonchalant about it, like she hadn’t just dropped a bomb I hadn’t thought about. If there hadn’t been so much else going on, I would have considered it. I wouldn’t only end up with a mate at the end of this — something I didn’t want in the first place — I’d have a pack, too. A built-in family for the rest of my life.

Why did it make my heart clench to think about?

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