I expected a song and dance act, but the small woman did as she was told. The click of the door, it changed the energy in the room somehow, made it more intimate, more insular.
“I…” I felt a need to answer Haze’s question, all of them, as some strange kind of compliance kicked in, getting my lips moving, but to say what? “I need to look after my job, my career.”
“That’s not it,” Haze said with a definite shake of his head.
“Haze—”
“It’s not. Get the girl a job at Crowe Corp,” he told Riley. “We can protect an unmated omega easier there than here. What do you do, Sage?”
I snorted at that. “I’m a personal assistant…” I paused, then continued, something I normally didn’t do. “I specialise in project management.”
“Gideon’s always going on about projects going over budget,” Haze said to Riley. “Hire the girl. Get her out of here, away from them. She can find a pack on her own, with us looking after her. We could bring those fellas—”
“No.”
The word was out of my mouth without me consciously meaning to. Haze’s eyes slid back to me, and a slow smile spread across his face at that.
“No? Why not?”
“Stop prodding Sage,” Riley said to him. “Not everyone likes getting their head messed with like you do with me on a daily basis.” Then she turned to me. “You want to stay? The longer you spend around the Lockwoods, the greater likelihood of this becoming a permanent change to your body, if it isn’t already.”
“How…?” I let out a sigh, then asked the question I needed answered. “You started telling me about it before on the phone, but…explain it again. Something happened when I met the Lockwoods?”
“Why don’t you tell us a little about how you met them?” Haze countered with a sharp look, something that intensified when I spilled the tea in as few words as possible.
“That’s important,”Candy said, her fingers moving like lightning across her tablet keyboard. “Physical contact at what, four weeks ago?” I shrugged, because it was around then. “Did you use condoms?”
“Yeah, but why does—?”
“Semen, bodily fluids, pheromones, all can prompt a response from a latent,” Candy answered. “I thought we were dealing with a lightning fast response due to the dense fucking alpha auras those boys put out, but this has been in play for about a month.” She looked at Riley. “Not as fast as you responded, but you had all of them banging down your door and then just banging you.”
“You were actually acting like a real professional there for a second,” Riley said, shooting her a filthy look. “Like for several whole minutes. It was a rare and beautiful thing.”
“I’m a rare and beautiful thing? Finally, you admit it!” Candy jumped up, pointing to Riley before Fen’s hand shot up and shoved her back down into her seat.
“Shut up, or you can go and sit in the car. Don’t think I won’t make you,” he rumbled.
Candy’s jaw locked hard, her eyes flashing, but she ignored the big alpha and turned to me.
“Long story short, your body is changing and it’s going to keep changing the longer you stick around these guys. It’ll hurt, holding out on them, so if you don’t want a penile injection from those fellas, GTFO now.” She looked at Riley. “We might have some drugs that could help you suppress the changes, but they’re completely experimental. We still aren’t sure what they’d do to you. You probably wouldn’t grow a second head.” She shrugged. “Probably.”
“What changes?” I asked in a small voice.
“Your body is altering itself in readiness for bearing four or five sons for your mate.” Haze’s eyes were on the table, his fingers tracing the lines of the faux wood laminate before they flicked to Riley. “It doesn’t care that you have hopes and dreams, a life, a job. Biology takes over, pushing all of that to the side.”
All of his sarcastic good humour was discarded as his eyes went silver, his wolf peering out at the woman he loved.
“With Riley, her hips got wider, her tits got bigger, and she got sensitive.” That smile was back again, but it was a lazy, feral thing containing an intimacy I felt embarrassed to witness. “Real sensitive. Those boys of yours, they’ll be enduring the very interesting sensations of getting hard if a stiff breeze is blowing, especially if it’s blowing your scent their way, and you?”
“We’ll protect you,” Fen said, shooting his brother a dark look. “That’s what alphas do for new omegas in a smaller town. We make sure no one takes advantage—”
“But you’ve got that, don’t you?” Haze said, dragging my attention back to those silver eyes. “I was about ready to punch Tobias Lockwood’s teeth down his throat when he told me about this situation. The only thing that saved him was that apartment they’ve given you. No one can get in or out of there.”
“I can’t stay locked up in an apartment all day, no matter how nice it is,” I snapped.
“And you don’t have to come here,” he countered.
“Haze…” Riley said, putting a hand on his arm, but he wouldn’t be dissuaded. He stared and stared, willing me to make the connections, to spill what I knew inside me.