Page 96 of Hot Knot Summer
Levi is already on his phone, calling in an additional team to help the technicians with final checks.
“It’s bad if she called all three of us,” I mutter grimly as we all get ready. “You know how independent she is. If she’s asking for help...”
I don’t need to finish the thought.We all know what it means for an Omega as fiercely self-reliant as Emma to reach out in distress.
We move as one unit, abandoning the last of the cleanup to the technicians, throwing our gear haphazardly into the truck. I take the driver’s seat while River and Levi pile in beside me. The engine roars to life as I floor the accelerator, sirens blaring to clear a path through town.
“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Levi demands.
“Not without breaking several laws,” I reply, though I push the speed a little higher, anyway. Some rules matter less than others in an emergency.
“I knew something was different about her scent yesterday,” River murmurs quietly. “She just calmed down so quickly last night, and I assumed it was her coming close to her heat… not that it was already here.”
“We all should have noticed,” I say, taking a corner perhaps too sharply.
River runs a hand through his already disheveled hair. “It’s us,” Levi explains. “Compatible Alphas can trigger early heats in Omegas. All three of us together... we probably accelerated her cycle without realizing it.”
The weight of responsibility settles heavily on my shoulders. We have to make this right.
We reach the station in record time, the fire station vehicle barely coming to a stop before we jump out, heading for my pickup truck.
Claire meets us at the entrance, clipboard in hand. “Everything go okay with the gas leak?” she asks, her gaze lingering on our obvious hurry.
“Fine,” I reply curtly, handing off my equipment to one of the volunteers. “We’ve got an emergency at home. We’ll be unreachable for the next day or two, but I’ll check in when I can.”
Her eyes narrow slightly. “What’s going on? All okay?”
“Yep,” I snap, not elaborating. Emma’s condition is private, not something to be discussed with station volunteers, especially one who’s made her interest in me uncomfortably clear over the past few months.
“Let’s go,” Levi states quietly on my shoulder. We all get into the truck.
We leave without further explanation. The drive to the cabin seems like an eternity, though it can’t be more than twenty minutes from town.
“Drive faster,” River urges as if that might somehow speed our journey.
“I’m already doing ninety,” I growl, tension making my voice harsher than intended. “We’ll be there in five minutes.”
“I expect she’s been with each of us, then,” Levi observes. “I noticed something different about her after your time together on the watchtower, Atlas. Then there was our encounter at the Love Tunnel ride yesterday.”
“I knew it!” River’s head snaps toward Levi. “Thought I heard you growling in the tunnel.”
A hint of color touches Levi’s cheekbones. “Saysyou, who was so vocal with her last night. My bedroom shares a wall with yours.”
River doesn’t have the grace to look embarrassed. “Guilty as charged. But Atlas, you sly bastard. When did you and Emma in the watchtower...”
“Nights ago,” I admit, keeping my eyes fixed on the winding mountain road. “Up in the watchtower after you two went back to the cabin.”
“And you didn’t think to share this information?” River demands.
“Nope,” I reply simply.
“She’s been with all of us,” Levi says, voicing what we’re all thinking. “Separately, but within days of each other, which would have influenced her hormones for her heat.”
“She’s ours,” I say. “All of ours. And we’ve left her alone during her first heat with us.”
None of us dispute it, but guilt chews me up on the inside.
We arrive at the cabin in tense silence. I park wildly in the driveway, then we’re out of the truck, moving as one toward the door.
