Page 86 of Claimed By Blood

Right now, that connection is fuzzy. Limited. I can sense things from her if they’re strong enough and I try hard. But it’s only basic things, like thirst, tiredness, and pain. Last night, when our emotions were high, I could tell that she wasn’t lying to me. Her honesty and loyalty were absolute. But right now, I can’t feel a single thing beyond that. No emotions.

If this bond solidifies—if the connection strengthens to the point where we can feel each other at all times—then there will be no more secrets. Nowhere to hide.

I’m not ready for that yet.

“Gideon! Get your pants on, I’m coming in.”

Without any further warning, Frost breaks the flimsy handle and shoves his way into the room.

“Ugh, Isaidput some pants on,” he groans, then looks behind me at Evelyn.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his nostrils flare. That sensitive ghoul nose picking up every lingering trace of what I did to her last night. His fists clench, and he forces his gaze away.

Thisis why I didn’t want a thrall bond between the two of us. Frost could understand and accept Silas and Finn being with her because of their relationship and their softer personalities. They’re good for Evelyn. Healthy. They’ll help her heal from her trauma in a way that dominant, forceful personalities like his and mine can’t.

Even Vane—for all his kinks—is a beta at his core. A protector.

Accepting me in her bed will be a lot harder.

Perhaps, if he’d formed his bond to her and I was the last member of the pack to jump into bed with her, he would’ve taken it better. That was what we were all expecting. I was certain, going into this, that Evelyn would bond with Finn and Silas first, then maybe Vane or Frost, and me or Draven last, if at all.

None of us expected this to happen. Least of all me.

Frost knows that. It doesn’t make it any easier for him to bear, though.

He takes a second deep breath through his mouth and grunts, “Meeting. By the car. Ten minutes. Urgent.”

Then he shoves out of the room like he can’t stand to be in our presence any longer.

Something hits me in the back and I whirl, only to find my clothes on the floor by my feet and Evie already dragging her own back on in a flurry of vampire speed.

I reach over and stop her with one leg in her jeans. “Shower first.”

She looks at me like I’ve gone insane.

Hell, my instinct thinks I am. It wants her covered in my scent—my claim—always. A declaration to other packs that she belongs to me and mine.

“You’re washing my scent off you before you go out there,” I insist.

Instead of just doing as I tell her, like I wish she would, she raises a single brow in question. Almost like she’s saying ‘make me.’

All of that beautiful submissiveness from earlier is gone, and a large part of me wants to order her onto her knees and remind her not to question her alpha.

But I agreed to this, so I can’t.

“You want to rub what we just did in Finn’s face?” I demand. “Or perhaps Frost didn’t get a good enough whiff the first time.”

I’m coming to expect that Evelyn will never do what I expect her to, so when she yanks her arm out of my grip and continues pulling on her clothes, I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am.

“You don’t know your omega very well at all,” she retorts. “Finn isecstaticabout this. I don’t understand it any more than you do, but he’s been fucking Silas all night to celebrate—or maybe that was because I set him off…” She shrugs, as if she couldn’t care less. “And Frost hasn’t earned the right to dictate who’s in my bed. We’re still a long way from him being back in the running.”

She pulls her top over her head, covering her tits, and I have to look away or face how disappointed I am that she’s no longer bare to my gaze.

I’m so busynotlooking at her that I almost miss her striding out of the door.

The instant she’s gone, I want to go after her. Damn it.Thiswas why I blocked my end of the bond. Women just have ways of getting under your skin and making you panic about them—just like omegas. Evelyn is even more distracting now.

I sigh as I start the search for my jeans and some semblance of my missing control. The shower washesherscent offme—because no matter what she says, I don’t want to broadcast the fact that I fucked another person to my omega—and as soon as I’m clean, I rush out of the door after her.

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