Page 126 of Altius
“What about right now, on a gloomy winter afternoon?” I asked, trying not to get my hopes up.
“That depends.” He paused, glancing in the rearview mirror, but his thumb never stopped stroking my leg. “I don’t want to negatively impact Kelsey. Given the collective strength of our pheromones, there’s no way Wyatt or I could move in if Beaufeather’s is still there. She can’t sell merchandise that smells like sex.”
“You never know. Might boost sales.”
Cal very nobly resisted rolling his eyes. “We’re an imposition. I know she likes cooking for a crowd, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she wants to live with us. I’ve already freaked her out once, when she walked in on me in the kitchen,wearing nothing but my boxers, getting a glass of water in the middle of the night. And I know how much you depend on her.”
“True,” I said. His thoughts mirrored my own. “Butif—and it’s a big if—certain contingencies were met…”
“I’d move in tomorrow.Ifthat was the case.”
“And your condo?”
“Your dad can sell it. Never liked the place anyway.” Cal winked into the rearview mirror as he changed lanes. “Too many blue walls.”
***
I was curled up in my library nest on Sunday night, ignoring the dull throb in the right side of my head as I reviewed the gymnastics team’s PheroPass data.
Tenny was snuggled against my hip, while Kip was sprawled out along the ledge, tickling my elbow with his tail.
A dense form barreled through the door and flopped onto the pillows beside me.
Kip scaled the cat tree to safety, but Tenny didn’t so much as flinch, just gave a few lazy half-blinks at Wyatt and went back to sleep.
My newest boyfriend wrapped an arm around my waist and beamed up at me. “Hi, baby. Hope you didn’t miss me too much.”
“How could I miss you,” I teased, tabbing to a respiration rate dashboard, “when I have fresh data to sink my teeth into?”
“Just like Owen planned,” Wyatt grumbled, rubbing his cheek against my side. “Keep you too distracted to take pity on me. The poor man who couldn’t stop thinking about you all weekend. My scent got so bad, I had to take a double dose of my scent blockers to make it through the meet.”
My heart lurched. Since my levels had improved, I’d assumed it would be the same for Wyatt. But what if that wasn’t the case?
I set the tablet aside. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. There were too many people.” He shifted higher, nuzzling my torso. “A bunch of girls from when you used to compete are coaching now, too. They kept trying to get my number or convince me to grab drinks. Made my alpha all twitchy.”
His eyes drifted shut.
“Just need to bring something with your scent next time. I guess I still don’t believe this is real.”
The relief I felt knowing that his waning syndrome hadn’t worsened outweighed the vicious snarl from my omega, thinking about other women approaching our scent match.
I trailed my fingers through his hair, watching as his breathing evened out and his shoulders relaxed. This could be his first proper sleep in days.
“The feeling’s mutual,” I whispered, draping a blanket over him, then returned to my data review.
Thirty
Morgan
The color palette of Dr. Sethi’s office was as grating as ever, the fluorescent lighting turning the floral patterns into corneal abrasions.
“This is highly unusual.” She tapped her nails against the Redwing consulting agreement on her desk. “If I weren’t familiar with the progress of your research project, I’d be half-tempted to think our fellowship wasn’t enough of a challenge for you.”
“I wasn’t expecting this, Dr. Sethi. You know I take my work seriously. That’s why I wanted to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss it.”
“Yes. I’m aware of your positive attributes, Morgan. Your…resilience. But the fellowship program has already made allowances for you. Exceptions. Which we haven’t afforded to others.” She pursed her lips. “I’m prepared to accept diminished performance because of your medical history. But I’m not inclined to enable you to spread yourself so thin that you suffer a relapse, or whatever your preferred term may be.”
