Page 85 of Claimed By Blood

It doesn’t. I turn back to face him, my question written across my face.

“It makes it easier to keep an eye on you,” he says dismissively. “I quite like the idea of knowing when you’re lying to me.”

I roll my eyes and turn back. “Typical.”

The mattress jiggles as he gets comfortable, and I expect that to be it.

“Finn told me the same thing,” he whispers. “I didn’t believe him.”

Yet he has no choice but to believe me because of the bond.

“And can you see how you not trusting him to tell you the truth might be a bit of a problem? Given that he puts all of his trust in you when you go into that state?” I try my best to keep my words light and prompting, rather than accusatory, but I don’t fully succeed.

“I owe him an apology,” Gideon says, like it’s a curse. “I assumed because he was an omega he was just trying to placate me… I should’ve known he wasn’t like that.”

I hum an affirmative.

“Are you…” The alpha hesitates again, and I resist the urge to snort. “Are you still sure about this arrangement?”

I check on Finn one more time just to make certain he’s still calm and happy before I nod into the pillow and let out an embarrassingly loud yawn.

“Yup.” I pause, checking the bond to make sure he’s mellowed enough to withstand a little teasing before I add, “I’ll sacrifice myself on the altar of good sex until you and Finn make it back to a place where you’re both comfortable again.”

A flash of irritation tumbles down the bond between us.

“I was just teasing,” I say, before his grumpiness can return in full force. “You know I want a true thrall bond with you. Even if you and Finn sort things out, and our relationship becomes strictly platonic, you’re still pack.”

More quiet grumbles down our bond. I frown, sleepily. I thought Gideon would’ve been glad for the out I presented him.

“I expect it will take a while.” I sigh. “You have plenty of grovelling to do, after all.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

GIDEON

Bang.Bang. Bang.

I wrench myself free of the arms banded around my chest and drop to a crouch, facing the door with a snarl. Every instinct in me rears, ready to protect the omega in my bed.

“Gideon? Eve?”

The tension leaves me as I realise it’s just Frost, then reappears as I realise Evelyn is onmyside of the bed, looking adorably sleep mussed. My mind works backwards in steps, remembering the way we’d beencuddling.

I thought of her as an omega.

I was half-asleep at the time, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s not a lycan. That shouldn’t have happened. Neither should my fucking knot.

But the instinct is there, bristling beneath my skin. Insisting this is one of my most vulnerable and precious pack members. Memories of the night before, where she calmly and methodically shattered every single preconception I had about myself and called into question everything I’ve ever believed about myself, about alphas and omegas, about fucking…

Without pausing to think too deeply into the ramifications of my actions, I reach inside myself to the nascent thrall bond that—in a fit of madness—I laid wide open in my search for the truth. I have no doubt that this is what's fooling my instincts into thinking Evelyn is an omega.

What have I done?

Ignoring the fist still banging on the door, I try my best to shove that bond back into the box at the back of my mind.

It doesn’t work.

No amount of resistance or wall building seems to have any effect. The bond is just there, impervious to it all. Evelyn is inside of me now. Cain’s vampire daughter has a line straight to my emotional core. A direct road map to my every vulnerability.

---