Page 24 of Wild Omegas
That’s because it does. If she says no, this might end right here, right now. I’d let her walk away because that’s the right thing to do. But it’d be the hardest decision of my damn life.
Josie doesn’t reply right away, and the hesitation nearly sends me reeling. Brooks and Carson pick up on the clear hesitation, too. It feels slightly out of place. Is it because we all just met? Because she doesn’t really want a pack? Or something else?
All those phone calls.
The new phone.
The fact she’s got someone trying to reach her.
My gut twists over on itself. Is it her old pack?
“The answercanbe no,” Brooks says although I wish he fucking didn’t. Even if she absolutely can say no. I don’t want her to do anything butstay.
Tears prick Josie’s eyes. One stray one falls. I brush it away with my thumb. “It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just… I got into trouble back in the city. I don’t want you all to be brought into it. But by being with me… you might. I can’t say more, so please don’t pry.”
Determination solidifies in my chest. “Josie, there’s nothing we won’t fight for you, nothing we can’t help you with.”
“Danger is no stranger to me,” Brooks adds. “Whatever it is, we can face it together.”
Carson lightly kisses her shoulder. “We’ll protect you, Josie. We’re in this together.”
She nods and closes her eyes. A few long, deep breaths pass her lips before she opens her eyes again. “I believe you all. God, I do. I just… it feels wrong to involve you by association.”
I stroke her cheek again with my thumb. “There’s nothing we can’t handle together.”
Josie’s tears stop falling. She turns her face into my palm and kisses it gently. “Then yes. I’ll be your omega.”
A sunrise bursts to life in my heart. That’s the only way to describe it. “We’ll take care of you. We promise.”
I lean in and capture her mouth with my own, our tongues dancing until I pull away to let Carson and Brooks kiss her as well. But the kisses and gentle touches return to the heated, desperate moves from earlier in the rain storm. Every brush of skin to skin becomes a glorious painting in its own right, full of passion and ownership.
She is ours. We are hers. And while we won’tclaimher yet, I’m all too aware of how our scent marks her without our bites needing to grace her skin just yet.
That can wait. The entire world can wait. Because right now in this temporary nest we’re building the foundations of a beautiful pack.
As long as Josie never disappears from my life ever again.
CHAPTER 13
Josie
A rhythmic shaking wakes me.My dreams interpret it as an earthquake. I jolt up, sweating and shaking from the nightmare as I take in the living room. Everything is exactly how we left it when sleep finally took us all.
And itisall of us. My three alphas.My new pack.
The fire burnt out overnight but ambient heat remains, especially now with the sun rising for the day.
The shaking continues—no, vibrating. It’s a phone going off.
I look around trying to spot the offending device before it wakes my alphas only to discover it’smyphone that’s going off.Shit.I scramble toward it as quickly and gracefully as I can. Luke stirs first, then Brooks and Carson, but I manage to silence the call.
“Well hello,” Brooks comments.
I wonder what he means and then realize I’m now just standing above our nest completely naked. I’d probably toss him a warm smile if I wasn’t looking at a string oftenmissed calls.
Ten missed calls. All three minutes apart.
My stomach lodges itself in my throat. An icy array of spiderwebs trail down my spine to my legs, freezing me in place.Damien. It has to be. But how in the hell did he find my brand-new phone number?
