Page 35 of Pack’s Pledge

I shook my head. I missed Britt, too, butthat, I could tell, was just my pre-heat talking. Fuck. I hated this in-between, waiting part. I wasn’t afraid or ashamed of my heats, like a lot of men probably assumed I was. No, since I had been matched with Conall and Adrian and the annoyance of awkward small talk and get-to-know-you outings with potential future heat partners had been eliminated, I almost looked forward to my heats. They were wild, reckless, andso deeplysatisfying.

Pun intended.

But the waiting part…

I’d been flicking through a thousand television channels full of nothing, feeling cooped up in my ten thousand square foot apartment. “See a doctor if your erection lasts more that four hours,” the tv blared, and I winced.Yeah, no shit. You might be a male omega.You should have gotten that checked out at like, age eighteen.My skin felt too tight, a slight headache at the nape of my neck, but other than that, I mostly just felt irritated.

Then my phone had lit up, and it had beenher.

Miss you too, baby,I sent, wondering what Conall and Adrian had told her. That I was sick? I hadn’t intentionally not mentioned my heat, but I also hadn’t mentioned it.

I waited about two seconds before sending a second text:What are you wearing?

I smiled as I imagined her doing that cute thing she did where she rolled her eyes and blushed at the same time.

My work apron… and nothing else,I got in response, and even though mybrainknew it was a joke, my dick didn’t get the message, going rock hard. Was it embarrassing to palm myself through my sweats to joke sexting? Probably, but I couldn’t help it. I readjusted myself, trying with some success not to linger.

And then:You’re home alone, so I don’t even have to ask what you’re wearing,read my phone screen,obviously you’re fully nude, admiring yourself in the mirror.

I do that when the boys are here, too, obviously… But if you’re so desperate I’ll send you a pic,I typed back, and instantly got a series of X emojis in return.

Literally NSFW!!!

You work at a sex club!

It’s a medical facility! Sort of!

I’m not telling our grandchildren we met at a medical facility,I typed, then deleted, then typed again. Fuck. Whatever. I could blame it on heat hormones later. I hit send.

The ellipses lingered interminably as Britt typed, then, finally…

Well we’re certainly not telling them we met at a sex club, either.

I knew it was just my designation–my biology, or my hormones, or whatever the fuck–but the thought of raising children with Britt, of little Britts and Adrians and Conalls and Beaus running around this too-big penthouse, filling the rooms with joyful shouting and pattering feet, was enough to make my chest tight with want.

It sounded a hell of a lot better than the loneliness and claustrophobia that echoed through the hallways tonight.

I was up and dressed before I could talk myself out of it, slipping on my shoes, grabbing my car key from the leather catch-all on my dresser.

I felt fine: barely even a headache, and no fever.

Conall and Adrian would be there.

What was the worst that could happen?

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

Britt

I walked backout to the bar with a fluttery feeling in my belly and a smile I couldn’t quite manage to rein into something professional.

We’re not telling our grandchildren we met in a medical facility,he’d said, and I knew he was just joking around, like I’d been about my risque work outfit–and maybe it was just that Beau was,what, was inpre-heat, I thought, with a sudden heat in my own belly–but something about the words had made my heart leap unexpectedly.

I tried to focus on the customer in front of me, a pretty–no, gorgeous–omega, but I couldn’t help but smile.I have an omega at home, too. Sort of.

“What can I get for you tonight?” I asked, benevolent.

“Three alphas,” she said, and I almost directed her to the dance floor–no alphas behindthisbar, girl–before she continued, a sappy smile on her face. “Three alphas who love me more than anything in the world. Three alphas who make me smile, and make my heart flutter, and who come up with the wildest, most unnecessary schemes on, like, a regular basis.”

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