Page 75 of Stream Heat
After dinner, we lingered at the table longer than usual. Nobody seemed in a hurry to scatter to their separate corners like we normally did. The conversation had drifted from tournament logistics to random gaming stories, but underneath it all was this new current, an awareness that something fundamental had shifted between us.
Eventually, Malik started clearing plates, and the rest of us followed suit without discussion. Even that felt different. More synchronized. Like we were all operating on the same frequency for the first time.
"Den?" Reid suggested, glancing around the group. "More comfortable for talking."
I nodded, even though my stomach was doing nervous flips. We'd crossed one line tonight, but there were still bigger conversations waiting. The kind that would determine whether this fragile new thing between us would actually work.
The den was warmer than the kitchen, all soft lighting and worn furniture that invited you to sink in and stay. I ended up on the main sofa, tucked into the corner where I could see everyone. The others arranged themselves around the room with that same unconscious choreography from dinner, close enough to feel connected, far enough to not crowd.
But even with the casual positioning, tension hummed in the air. The kind that came from wanting something you weren't sure you were brave enough to ask for.
Theo was the first to crack, because of course he was.
"So about the scenting thing," he said, his usual grin flickering with something more serious underneath. "I just want you to know that I've been wanting that for a long time. Probably straight from that first disaster when your heat crashed on stream. If not before."
I barked a hollow laugh. "What did you feel? Pheromones through the ethernet?"
"The recognition," Malik said. "There’s a name for it. Pack resonance. Like your biology is three steps ahead of your brain."
I rolled my eyes. "That’s designation myth, a folk story."
Reid didn’t budge. "You really think that? Then why did we drop everything when you needed backup? Why did you call us, and not someone else, when shit hit the fan? Why are we doing all this pack behavior already?"
I had nothing. If I said what I was really thinking, I’d probably scream.
"The point is," Reid pressed, "this doesn’t have to end on anybody’s schedule, not unless you want it to."
That landed hard. They weren’t offering contract extensions, or even just pack support. They were offering something permanent. I didn’t know whether to laugh or throw up.
"And if I do this," I managed. "If I agree to try pack bonds, what happens when it falls apart? If the sponsorship tanks? If you all get sick of me?"
Theo cut in with a grin. "If we turn out to be assholes?"
I glared at him. "I already know that part."
That broke the tension. All of them actually laughed, which was so much more terrifying than silence.
Ash was first to recover. "The job and the bonds are separate, Quinn. We can keep one and drop the other, if it comes down to it."
Reid nodded, eyes never leaving me. "Neither has to end if we don’t want it to. That’s what we’re saying. It’s not up to anyone else."
I stared at them for a long, unsteady moment. Five Alphas, all staring back, all basically offering their lives on a platter. It should have been suffocating. But it wasn’t.
"I don’t know how to do this," I said. "I don’t know how to be in a pack without losing everything I’ve built myself into. Howto need people without it turning into dependence. How to be an Omega and not just some stereotype."
Malik’s voice anchored the room. "The bonds don’t erase you, Quinn. They give you more to work with. That’s the whole point."
Jace was gentler. "It’s mutual, you know. We need you as much as you need us."
I stared, surprised. "You need me? For what?"
He shrugged. "Balance. Perspective. The energy you bring to the channel, the way you keep us on edge."
"Calling us on our bullshit," Theo added. "No one does that better."
Ash nodded. "Technical skills. You push me to keep up. Competition makes us both better."
"The way you’ve handled getting back up after the health crash," Malik said. "My audience admires you, Quinn. A lot."
