The scent hits me like a bolt of lightning, putting my senses on high alert.
Suddenly, I have the explanation for her quick dash into the other room.
That reason makes my heart swell.
My Omega mate’s perfume has come in.
She recognizes me for what I am to her.
One of her true mates.
Holy fucking shit. Archer’s been right this whole time.
She really is meant for us. There’s no way in hell she would have perfumed for a Beta if I wasn’t one of her true mates.
I’m not sure how long I stand there in front of the bathroom door, but I don’t manage to snap out of my trance until the sound of running water cuts off. That breaks the spell and makes me think about calling my Alpha.
Archer should know about this. I shouldn’t do anything without talking to him.
I hesitate, not sure there’s time to do it before Zelena comes back into the room and hears me having an awkward call with the Alpha who runs her security team. It’s too risky.
I’ll call him later, when she’s gone to bed. She’s not exactly a night owl. The performance she gives every night is high octane and requires a decent night’s sleep afterward. I’m lucky if I get three hours with her, and I know it. Tonight, that’s probably a good thing.
Ignoring the instinct to get closer to Zey to see if she’ll perfume again for me is the hardest thing I might ever have to do, but there’s no getting around it.
I’ll have to be careful. Clearly, she’s freaking out about perfuming for the first time.
Who could blame her when it means her parents could drag her back home at any moment?
I return to the couch and take off my suit jacket. It feels warmer in the room, which is probably a me thing. I tug off my tie and stuff it into the inside pocket of my jacket before I drop it on the armchair that neither of us ever use.
Unbuttoning my shirt sleeves, I try to calm down.
It’s not easy. I didn’t expect this, and I didn’t expect to be worried about the consequences.
Taking a deep breath, I roll up my sleeves.
There’s nothing to worry about.
Zelena’s dealing with the problem in her own way.
She’s too level-headed not to have a plan.
Archer expected something like this. He thought she might try to hide it if she started to get close to her first heat. He was right about that, and it shows he has all of this under control.
She can try to hide it, and we’ll do whatever we can to help her.
If that doesn’t pan out ... well, she has us, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
Archer has plans to keep her safe from her asshole parents and their psychotic ideas about her heats.
He hasn’t shared all the details of those plans, and I know that’s because they’re less than legal.
I don’t care what we have to do to keep her safe, but if he keeps the details concealed from me, we can’t both be put in prison for what we have to do to save our mate.
It pisses me off that an Omega has to have a legal guardian until she’s mated.
Zelena’s an adult. She should be free to make her own decisions.