Page 24 of The Omega Lesson

She freezes.“What?”

“I thought it was mostly me back in the car,” I admit, “but it smells and tastes… distinctive.”

Not that I can smell it now, since the room is suddenly flooded in alpha pheromones. Ben is being very careful not to look at Noah now, but it’s like a wave of need is crashing over us, and my own dick goes into overdrive. Lexi must sense it because she leans harder into Mattie. “But that could be you, Jack. All mixed up with your meds and stuff…”

I grip her fingers, guilt now twisting my stomach. “It’s definitely you. I had Ben kiss me when he arrived, just to make sure. And you taste… different to how I taste.”

She turns those shocked eyes Ben’s way. “You tasted myslick?”

“Fuck me!” Noah explodes, yanking on his hawk as he swipes a bottle of vodka off the coffee table. “I can’t do this conversation without a stiff drink.”

“You can always excuse yourself,” Ben rumbles, his green eyes flashing. “No one says you have to stay.”

But Noah shoots him the finger as he takes a swig of vodka. “Eat me, Cliffhanger. Cos there’s no way you’re gonna have an orgy in my house and not invite me.”

“Oh, God,” Lexi mutters, dropping her head into her hands. “A fuckingheat?I can’t do this! And I definitely can’t do thishere. I should go home…”

A protest burns up my throat, but it’s Mattie who peels her hands away from her face. She blinks up at him, and he kisses her lips, so softly it’s almost reverent. “Babe, I know this is all weird as hell right now, but you can’t go home. Your house is right on the edge of campus. The other students will smell you, and your place doesn’t really have the best security…”

“Campus? Students? What the fuck?” Noah’s eyes narrow to slits as he looks Lexi up and down. “Please tell me you’re still in school.”

Mattie sends him a death glare. “She’s a teacher, numbnuts.Myteacher. And you’re not helping with the whole getting-comfortable-with-alphas-she-doesn’t-know part of the plan. If you want to stay, you need to take it down a notch, okay?”

Noah just nods and flops on the ground, the vodka bottle rolling under the couch. Of course, Travis chooses that moment to return, his eyes tracking the runaway bottle while Noah beams up at Lexi. “Yup. I’m totally on board now. Tell us what you need, sweet Lexi, and we’ll deliver.”

There’s a long moment – with us holding our collective breath – until she gives an awkward shrug. “Well, I’m an alpha who’s never even seen a heat. So, I don’t know what I need, do I?”

Mattie pulls her tight to his side and drops his voice. “What about your brother’s pack? Are there any alphas there who you’d feel comfortable with?”

Lexi’s gaze jumps straight to Travis, who is leaning against the fireplace, but Noah starts waving his hands in the air, mayday-style. “Hold up a second. Are you seriously trying to sell her on other alphas? Because what the fuck are we? Chopped liver?” He gestures to the three of them, then rolls to look at Travis. “Help us out here, Travelator. You’ve done this before, right? Omegas in heat?”

Travis gets to work trying to buff the marble mantlepiece with his thumb. “Anton has some good guys in his pack. It’s not the worst idea.”

Noah cocks his head. “Anton? As in Anton Novak?” He swivels back to Lexi, something mischievous sparking in his eyes. “So that makes you… Alexa?” Travis is now scowling at the back of his head, but Noah just leans on his hands and crosses his ankles with a smirk. “Howinteresting…”

But Lexi is shaking her head. “No one calls me Alexa. Well, not since Travis and Anton played tennis together. And then I was just the bad smell they couldn’t get rid of. And that’s a direct quote.”

“Not from me,” Travis says quietly, back to rubbing the marble. “But either way, I’ll be sitting it out.” Lexi frowns at him, but he’s wearing his usual mask, his focus completely on the stain he’s trying to shift. “If you decide to stay here, I’ll offer my services as the heat facilitator. Because Noah’s right. I’ve done it before. But if you decide on a more formal environment, I can get you a suite at a private tending facility. We’ll pay all your costs and talk to the school about a leave of absence.”

But Lexi’s eyes have narrowed with either anger or hurt. “You really don’t want to tend me? You’d actually prefer a strange alpha was paid to fuck me?”

Travis’ mask doesn’t so much as twitch, but the Cliff boys are both looking at him with matching expressions of outrage. I know that for Ben, at least, the rejection goes deeper than opting out of a heat. This is like Travis turning his back on our pack. Butthat’san issue we can’t deal with tonight.

“It’s not like that, sweetheart. Travis is right. We’ll need a facilitator, and he’s the best person for the job.” It’s utter bullshit, since I know how deep his troubled waters run, but fuck it. Lexi looks like she’s on the verge of walking out and taking her chances with whichever alpha she stumbles upon first. “But we don’t have to try to sort everything tonight. It’s late. Why don’t we go upstairs and get a few hours’ sleep?”

She nods, and Mattie and Ben both shoot me appreciative glances. But before we can move, Noah leaps to his feet in a wave of sour cherries and hangover sweat. “Fuck that! You’re not gonna sneak off and leave me with Travelator.” He waves a hand at an unmoving Travis. “A short, boring ride that ends too soon and doesn’t get you anywhere good.”

“Jesus, Noah…”

“No! I get a say too, right? I mean, you’re not just talking about a heat, are you?” He stares at me as he shreds his nail polish all over the floorboards, his lip ring caught between his teeth. “Next time, we’ll choose together. Your words, Jackson. You made us all swear.” He jerks the bottom of his polo up and taps his chest, right over the lucky tattoo. I don’t know if he’s trying to remind me, or rub it in. But it makes me sad to think the fucking thing hasn’t faded at all. “We agreed there’d be no Lyall-Cliff pack until we wereAll. In.”

Weariness crashes down on me. “Yeah, I know, Noah. I haven’t forgotten what we talked about. But that was a long time ago…”

“Come with us,” Lexi says softly, holding out a hand to him.

I look at her in surprise, but it’s nothing compared to my brothers’ expressions. Noah looks stunned, but Travis looks… relieved. In the same way you breathe easier when you finally take that last step off a bridge.

“What?” Noah is staring at her outstretched hand. “No jokes?”

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