“What’s what, love?” he asked, trying to get closer.
“Why do you…?” I turned to check that Kade was still playing happily. “Why do you keep smelling me?” I hissed. “Do I stink or something?”
“Not stink,” he said, pulling back with a smile. “When you’re horny, you give off a receptive scent. Doesn’t mean anything, everyone knows that, it just tells us when you’re into it or not. In the end, it's always your choice.”
“You what…?” My mouth hung open, and then my brain quickly catalogued all the time I’d checked the two of them out. “So you…?” He nodded. “Every time…?” Another nod. “Oh god.”
“Don’t stress about it, Flick. We were flattered you found us attractive. We knew we couldn’t do anything about it until you were feeling up to it, but…” He watched my horrified expression with amusement. “It gave us some hope as we waited, that maybe someday, you might accept us.”
I punched him on the arm, which felt a bit like pummelling a brick wall.
“Why didn’t you tell me?!” I whispered hoarsely.
“Because…” His eyes flicked to the lounge room as Kade got to his feet, then came back to me when he settled back down. “Because it means nothing. You might have smelt the same way when you met Mick or Shaun. They’d be flattered, but know it was not something they could pursue unless you gave them the go ahead. Women find us attractive all the time.”
“They do? You’ve…smelled them getting hot and bothered around you?” I said with a growl.
That earned me an even bigger smile as he pushed me back against the bench, his body wedged against mine.
“Are you jealous?”
“Protective,” I snapped. “No woman should be…” I waved a hand. “Around my mates.”
“It’s OK. I like you being…protective.” He kissed me, once, twice, each kiss becoming deeper.
“Mm…what did I miss? Mum and the dads just would not get in the goddamn car and go.”
We turned to see a smirking Aidan standing in the kitchen.
“I’ve just found out you’ve been smelling me this whole time. And you knew…” I lowered my voice. “And you knew when I was turned on!”
“Why’d you tell her that? Rookie move, Pete,” he replied with an exaggerated shake of his head. “Man, did that make getting to sleep a bloody mission. Like, Kade and any other child of ours is always welcome in our bed, but damn was I glad when he decided to start sleeping on his own. It’s gotten to the point where I get hard every time I chuck our sleep shorts in the wash.”
He chuckled when I glared at him.
“It was bloody flattering. Every time we took off our shirts…” He moved in close and ran his nose along my jaw. “This hot perfume would fill the room, teasing us with everything, promising us nothing.” He kissed me quickly and pulled away as I snapped my teeth at him. “That’s what’s gonna bring all the boys to your yard when you go into heat. It’s already started. You’ll be able to do a few shifts at the mess hall, but not much more than that or you’ll have a riot on your hands. When you shift, the scent will flood the whole town, leave the single guys aching and attendance at the sex club will be off the charts.”
“Sex club!?” I hissed.
“Good one,” Peter rumbled. “Who’s the rookie now?”
“Kade,” I called out, “I’m just going outside with the guys to get things ready for tonight. Are you good?”
“Yeah, Mum. Nana Renee got me this most amazing LEGO set. It has Han Solo and Obi Wan Kenobi—”
“That’s awesome, champ,” I said, walking into the living room. “We’ve just got to do a few things, and then you can tell us all about it.”
“OK,” he said, not even looking up from his toys.
I jerked my head to the sliding door and walked out into the back yard.
“What the hell is a sex club, and why is it in Sanctuary?” I asked as soon as the door was closed. I kept my voice pitched low to make sure no sound got through the glass door to Kade, but they could see I meant business. “Do you guys like…wife swap or something?”
“What? No!” Aidan said. “Look, Flick, I guess one thing no one’s told you is that Sanctuary has way more men than women. It’s why it's such a big deal when a woman comes to town. If you decided to have any more kids, the chances of having a daughter is much lower, though that has changed a bit lately. So when a woman goes into heat, she floods the town with pheromones that make the whole single population of the town go mad with lust, and a lot of them are guys…”
His voice trailed away as it occurred to me what he meant. My fevered imagining of being expected to toss my keys into a bowl was replaced with something else altogether. Instead, there was wall after wall of hot male flesh, all rubbing up against each other, helpless in its twitching, throbbing licentiousness.