He paused then, right in the middle of the lab space, getting closer and closer, but stopping himself from touching me.
“You want to know more about me? Put me under that microscope of yours and try and work out how I tick?” His smile was as bright as it was immediate. “I’m all yours, baby. An open book. And on that note, we’ve got company for this lunch date.”
“What?!” I glanced around, then lowered my voice. “I cannot deal with all of you at the same time again. I just fucking can’t.”
“I know.” It was then he stopped being shit-eating Haze and became an alpha, his voice rich, warm, deep, and resonating all the way through me with its calm confidence. “We worked that out after last night. Slowly, surely, we need to court you just like we would an omega.”
“Except I’m not a fucking omega,” I said, stalking out of the lab, waving to Janet as we passed, but he caught up to me when we got to the lifts. He settled back against the rear wall once I stabbed at the button for the ground floor, his shoulder just brushing mine.
“I think you’ll find all of us are absolutely focussed on discovering exactly what you are, Riley.” When I didn’t reply, he just sighed. “Colt’s with us. Him and Blake… Let’s just say being apart from you hurt them the most. They knew, right from the start, that you were ours, and they never wavered from that stance. Fen wanted to try things the way the dads wanted, because of course he did, and Ryan is all about keeping the peace. But every time we were brought to witness an omega’s heat, something died inside them.”
He glanced at me as the lift opened, then ushered me outside to where Colt was leaning against the side of a flashy-looking town car, scowling at the world until we stepped out. Colt took a step forward then, his face transforming as soon as he saw us.
“And what about you, Haze?” I asked as we stepped closer, the look of blind need on Colt’s face setting my teeth on edge. I hated that Colt was hurting but I didn’t know what the hell I could do to fix things, because I knew what he needed and I wasn’t it.
“Me? People tend to overlook me, thinking I’m just the fucking clown, the dickhead of the pack.”
I’d told him not to hold my hand, but as the bitter words came, I found myself reaching for him. Haze grinned then, slow and sly.
“When people underestimate you, it’s easy to bide your time, go in for what you need, because they never see you coming.”
He used my hand to drag me closer, into the side of his body, making his size and his height all the more apparent. He pressed his nose into the side of my neck, then whispered into my ear.
“I knew it was you for us, babe, it just took those other fucking idiots time, too much time for them to fucking realise it. But now? I’ve got everyone right where I fucking want them, and no one’s getting free until this is done. You, me, Colt, us. It’s always been the six of us. Your dad knew it, I know it, and now so does everyone else. You’re mine.”
Chapter 13
“Candy said you like Thai food, and this place has the best reviews on Yelp,” Haze explained when we arrived at our destination, the austere black and red façade of the Jasmine. It was a fancy arse restaurant, which had me looking down at my work clothes in alarm. “Don’t worry.” He tucked my arm in his and drew us in. “We booked a private banquet room, where I am going to try very, very hard not to imagine recreating what we did last night over Pad Thai.” He reached down, conspicuously rearranging his dick.
“You told her?” Colt said, looking from me to his brother warily. “We said—”
“I know what everyone said,” Haze snapped, stopping where we stood in the carpark. “But Riley, she brought me in,” Haze replied. “Out of anyone she could’ve imagined, it was me, and you know why. She knew dream me would give her what she needed, and I intend to. If she asks, I’ll answer. If she needs something, I’ll give it to her. If she fucking wants her drains cleaned or her toenails buffed…”
My eyebrow jerked up at that, but he met my gaze head-on, because this was the Haze that people rarely saw. Behind the bullshit and the dick jokes was a man with an iron will and unquestionable integrity, and I had to admit that I was glad to see that hadn’t changed.
“Whatever you want, Riley, I’ll get for you.” Then his attention shifted to his brother. “And that’s the rules for today. It’s Get Riley What She Needs Day. You on board with that?”
“I’ve always been on board with it,” Colt replied bitterly. “I just needed you fucks to get a clue.”
But when he glanced at me, his eyes weren’t any softer. They sparked now with a terrible intensity—one I couldn’t seem to look away from.
“Just make sure that whatever you ask for is what you want.” Colt took a step towards me, then another, some of his wolf’s grace in his movements. “Last night, when you ran?” He stopped so that our bodies were no more than a hand’s width apart. “It took every fucking fibre of my being to stop myself from shifting. My wolf’s feral. The others refuse to allow me to go to fur, because every time I do, I started running—running towards you.”
He leaned in closer, his voice a low buzz in my ear.
“I’ll give you whatever you want, love, if it means you run towards me, not away.”
I jerked my eyes up, stepping back, seeing the pain that my action caused him but forcing myself to do it, because otherwise, I never would.
“I just want answers, Colt. I want to sit down like we used to, share a meal and a drink, and talk. I want to know what the fuck is going on, because you guys seem to know so much more about this than me. Like, how long has this been going on for? Have you always…?”
I felt a sudden spike of shame, remembering how I used to get myself off after Colt and I had all those late-night study sessions. We spent so many hours sitting side by side in my room, low fi tunes on the stereo creating an intimate space, one filled with his scent. I wasn’t as sensitive to it as an omega was, but I’d picked it up plenty, breathing in his woody aroma, feeling the press of his shoulder into mine, staring into those hazel eyes until every thought of science was gone and there was only him.
Just like I did now.
He smiled then, the first real Colt smile since we’d reconnected, and I knew I was completely and utterly fucked. Regardless of beta this and alpha that, Colt and me, we were friends first. I walked towards him, a faltering step, then a much more certain one, my face screwed up in a frown as I threw my arms around him and just felt Colt.
“Oh fuck, Riley girl…” he rasped out, hugging me right back. “I’ve needed this so damn much.”