“We still haven’t found our mate,” Colt continued, and I was beginning to feel some of Ryan’s frustrations right now. I leaned over my plate, staring desperately at Colt, hoping that whatever psychic bond we might have developed, he’d feel me, know that I did not want to be outed in front of my workmates.
“And you think Riley will be able to assist?” Oh shit, a gleam rose in Windsor’s eyes. “You’ve been alphas for how long?”
“We took over from our fathers five years ago,” Fen replied proudly.
“And you have a deficit of omegas in your town?”
“No,” Blake replied.
“So you’ve been exposed to omegas in oestrus and never found one your wolves would accept?”
Windsor had the scent in his nose, and he was going to run it to ground.
“The guys just haven’t found the right person yet,” I replied. “They heard about the work we do here, and we were going to have a chat after work, discuss if there’s anything here that can be done to help them. It’s a bit of a long shot. The breeding records in Bordertown were meticulously kept. The alphas of each generation were very careful to avoid inbreeding, so there’s unlikely to be a genetic basis for their issue, but I said I’d take a look for old time’s sake, do some basic screening, just to make sure.”
When I saw Windsor’s shoulders soften, his body falling back against the chair, I let a little shuddering breath out.
“You’ll keep us posted, of course?” he asked me.
“Of course. I hadn’t even intended to run the tests until I had your approval, but I’d be happy to forward all the results to you.”
That was a no-brainer. I knew deep in my gut that I’d find nothing especially unique in their genetic makeup, because it wasn’t them that was the problem, it was me.
“I’d appreciate that,” Robert replied. “I don’t mean to keep tabs…”
I waved my hand, indicating it wasn’t an issue.
“Well, if I’m to get those samples screened and back to the pack so they can make their way home, I better get a wriggle on,” I said, picking up my plate with a polite smile.
Everyone watched me go, the silence in the room super freaking awkward, but I didn’t care. What I did care about was the fact that for the second time today, I was forced to beat a hasty retreat. I ground my teeth together as I strode away, feeling an impulse to dump the plate of delicious food in the nearest bin when I heard him.
“Riley!”
I stopped at that because he injected a degree of alpha command in his voice. Probably unintentionally, but… I turned around slowly, and there was Fen, standing before me.
It was a fucking crime that he looked so good. The sheepish smile, as if he just realised what he’d done and was sorry for it, but not that sorry. Those fucking dimples that had captivated our whole high school now given an edge with that designer stubble. And the fact that he’d grown into a man. He’d always been tall, always had the powerful build of a Vanguard, but Jesus fucking Christ, did he have to look like this?
He was wearing country boy chic with a pair of bone-coloured moleskin pants, a navy shirt, and a pair of well polished RM Williams boots, but what was overwhelming was the way he filled them. My eyes couldn’t help but slide down, catching the hollows of his collarbones, the sprinkle of hair on his chest poking up from behind his open collar, the thick muscles of his forearms, revealed by rolled up sleeves. I forced myself to tear my eyes away, because this wasn’t helping.
“Look, I’m sorry. This shit did not go to plan,” he said, scratching the back of his neck.
“When does it ever with you and your brothers?” I replied, and for a second, we both snorted in amusement. “Bet you weren’t expecting to jizz in a fucking cup when you waltzed in here.”
“Didn’t worry me.” He took a step closer then, towering over me, casting me and my bloody food into shadow, his own masculine scent competing with the savoury one. “We’re in your space. We can smell you everywhere. You work long hours here. It was good being in a place that smelled like you again.”
“And I’m going to need to put in some extra hours if I’m to get your test results back to you in a timely fashion.” I took a step back, trying to put some space between us. “You could head back to Bordertown now. It’ll take me a few hours to isolate the DNA, but once I’ve got the samples ready, we send them off to a lab to get the analysis done. No point hanging around in town.”
I said this all cool and collected, except that shit only worked with betas. A beta couldn’t scent me, couldn’t tell that a single drop of sweat was sliding down my spine with more to follow, wouldn’t catch the rapid pant of my breath, not unless I was noisy with it. A beta also couldn’t detect the traitorous response of my body to him. My skin was flushing, my pupils dilating, and my nipples felt like they were in the movie,The Great Escape, doing their damndest to burrow through my push-up bra. And then there was the increased blood flow and congestion in my vaginal region.
In layman’s terms, I was getting turned on.
He put his hand down on the bench closest to us and then leaned in, breathing me in.
“No, Riley, that’s not gonna work at all, and if you keep backing away like that, things are gonna escalate way faster than I want them to.” His tongue slid across his lips, and I followed its trajectory like it was the first moon landing or something equally momentous. “He’s been waiting for you, Little Red. Clawing at my insides when any woman comes close, worse if she’s an omega. Snarling, growling, a savage thing. Until he’s around you.”
My breath had become so shallow, I was feeling slightly dizzy from hypoxia, because I couldn’t seem to fill my lungs properly while he was near. It was like coming face-to-face with a wild animal, but for some reason, I didn’t want to run. Fen’s eyes blazed pure silver, not one hint of his customary green.
“Now I hear him howling, and that’s just about all I hear. Howling in triumph that we’re finally in the same room again, in pain that I’ve let us stay separated for so long. Tell me I can see you after work. Just me if it’s too much dealing with the rest of the pack.”