Page 36 of This Fate That Guides Us
“Ready for a food-venture?!” Bea cheers when I emerge from my nest a short while later. She’s wearing a colorful patterned boho dress, her hair down and curls wild. The bright smile on her face adds to her carefree look.
I grin back at her, ignoring the small trickle of anxiety still in my system by focusing on the thought of filling my stomach with yummy food. “I’m always ready for food,” I joke.
Outside of the bus, we find Lex and Ridley waiting with the car they rented for the day. Lex is dressed head to toe in militarized black menswear, fitting his role as bodyguard perfectly. I choke back a laugh when I watch Bea’s eyes flutter with desire as she watches his corded biceps strain against the material of his sleeves as he opens the rear door for us.
Inside the car, I fight back a sneeze at the powerful wave of Bea’s scent smacking me in the face. Ridley is in the driver’s seat wearing a simple tee and jeans combo. Knowing my bestie, it’s the backward baseball cap lighting a fire in her horny omega heart.
Lex grunts when he slides into the passenger seat, throwing a blazing glance at Bea before flipping on the car’s air conditioning. Thankfully, once the air starts moving around the interior, her scent fades.
“Your first date with Pack Graves! You’re finally putting yourself out there! I would weep with joy if it wouldn’t ruin my mascara!”
I roll my eyes at Bea’s dramatics. “We’re just hanging out.”
“Yeah, okay. Deny it all you want, Oms. Anyone with eyes can see how infatuated you all are with each other.”
“I do feel a pull,” I admit. “My instincts are determined they’re mine.”
“Do you think they might be–”
“No,” I cut her off. I know she was going to ask if I think they might be my Fate matched mates, but I refuse to even acknowledge the possibility. “They can’t be my mates, Fate matched or chosen, and they can’t be my pack.”
“Why not?” Ridley asks.
I startle a little, not realizing the alpha is paying attention to our conversation. “I know I have a Fated connection to a pack out there in the world, but I can’t pursue them. My father…Bonding with me is a death sentence as long as my birth family still freely walks this earth.”
My chest aches admitting my fear out loud. The cavernous hole in my heart crumbles a touch more. A wound that can only be healed by the one thing I cannot allow myself to have; a pack.
“Girl–” Bea starts, her voice filled with annoyance, but a look from Lex silences her.
“I know we don’t know each other very well,” he begins. I blink at the alpha where he leans to look back at me. Bea’s breath catches beside me so I know she’s watching him too. His prominent brows and stormy gray eyes are blissfully emotionless. “I’ve been working for the DAU since I left the military service nine years ago. I’ve seen a lot in my life, both while enlisted and as a civilian, so I’m not going to say your fear isn’t solid. It is. Even more so with your father and his allies.
“What I will tell you is the threat will always be there. Even in safe states like New York, you will never live your life risk-free. You could walk through Times Square tomorrow and be killed by a feral alpha or be kidnapped by anti-designation cultists. Your father could be arrested tomorrow and someone even worse could rise up in his place. There are no guarantees in life, Omen.”
“You think I should ignore the risks?” I hiss, not enjoying his dose of reality.
“I think you should let them decide for themselves if a relationship with you is worth the risk. Shouldn’t they be allowed to make decisions about their own lives?” He raises a perfectly sculpted, thick brow as if daring me to disagree.
“I’m terrified something will happen to them because of me,” I admit. He nods, his eyes finally revealing a hint of understanding as they quickly flick to Bea before looking back to me.
“Don’t let fear rule your life, Omega. You’ll regret it one day if you do.” I get the feeling he isn’t only talking about me anymore.
“We aren’t suggesting you go over to Pack Graves hotel tonight and tell them your entire life story,” Ridley chimes in. “We only want you to be open to building something with them. You can wait to do an identity reveal until you are more certain about your feelings for them.”
“Okay.” I blow out a breath and stare out the window. “I’ll try not to push them away out of fear.”
“The world’s spiciest gummy?” I read aloud from the flame-covered black box Titan tosses me as soon as I walk into their hotel room. Scanning the content information on the side, my eyes nearly bug out of my head when I read the heat rating for the tiny piece of candy. “Is the point to murder me? Because there are easier methods…”
The giant alpha laughs. The sound low and deep, vibrating through me with an intensity that has slick soaking my inner thighs. I haven’t even been here for ten minutes and I already think I need to change my underwear. Being around this pack isn’t good for my dwindling wardrobe.
“No. Just for fun. Look.” He slides a bag of small black candies onto the table where he sits. I pick up the bag to read the front. “They’re basically citric and malic acids with a touch of lemon flavoring. Supposedly the sourest candy ever made. I haven't actually tried them yet.”
“So you want to what? See who can last longer?” I question. While I’m not excited to turn my mouth into an incinerator, I love the idea of outlasting this huge alpha in a food-related competition. It reminds me of the time Bea’s dad, Phoenix,challenged me to a cheesecake-eating contest. I lost, but it was so much fun to try.
“Sure.” Titan grins, his dark eyes sparkling with mischief. To see him so unguarded and excited when he’s usually closed off and bland sends a whirlwind of butterflies to flight in my stomach.
“Careful, gorgeous,” Nexus jumps in. His arm wraps around my shoulder pulling me against his side. He’s so open with his affection. I try to fight it, but the instinctual feeling of safety his embrace provides has my body melting against him. “Tee has what the internet refers to as ‘grave mouth’ so he isn’t really affected by extremely sour tastes.”
“What about you?” I blink coyly up at the alpha beside me, barely holding back giggles as he looks stricken at my question.
