by AJ Merlin
Breaking away from the plethora of intriguing smells, I started to lope, speeding up until the grassy fields around me became a blur.
The trees of the forest were more blurs, dark ones on either side that I dodged around as my speed increased to a run.
In the city, I only rarely got to let out this kind of energy. I was much more likely to start a fight in my wolf form than run, and I missed having the ability to do so.
As a child, I’d spent a lot of my time in maned wolf shape after I’d learned to shift. It’d been a reprieve for me. A way to escape the weights of my world.
Running like this, I remembered just why I loved to run and why I loved this shape so much.
But unfortunately, nothing could last forever.
As night dragged on, my breath started coming in pants, until finally my legs ached from how much I’d run.
I hadn’t gone far, and had spent most of my time circling Beatrice’s property. It was easy to tell, as she came out here frequently to make sure everyone knew that a tiger alpha owned this particular plot of land. I knew where I was enough to find my way to the creek and collapse in the brittle grass beside it, tongue lolling and paws crossed.
And all at once, my doubts came rushing back.
What would Wilder say, if I told him that the reason I didn’t like alcohol was because my mother had taken to hitting me when she was drunk?
What would Roman say, when I told him that the reason I had a record was because a kid in school had triggered me into thinking I was back in my mother’s house and I’d accidentally shifted and almost torn his arm off?
What would Hades say, when he asked me about my own family tree and I told him that I’d never known my father and my mother was six feet under, having chosen suicide by cop instead of going with the enforcers who’d pulled her off of me?
My paws flexed against the ground, claws curling into the loose dirt as water ran over the rocks in the stream only a few feet away.
Perhaps Beatrice was right, and if it was meant to be with these three they would understand where I’d come from. They’d understand why my family wasn’t related to me by blood, and why I didn’t put much stock in being actually related or not.
But I wouldn’t tell them. Not now.
Not until I knew how to talk about it without breaking down.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I drummed my fingers against the table with a frown, eyes narrowed against the offensive morning light.
Noah passed by, then backed up a step. “I thought you were leaving?”
“Yeah, I am.” I rubbed my temples, unsure of what exactly was wrong with me this morning. “I’m on my way. Is Hayley coming over?”
He nodded once, watching my face for a reaction.
“There’s ice cream in the fridge if you guys want it.”
“Woooow. You must be in a really good mood if you’re willing to share your ice cream with outsiders, you hoarder.”
I snorted and got to my feet, the almost-headache fading. “Take advantage of my apparent sickness,” I told him gravely, adopting a sagely pose with my hands clasped together in front of me and bowing. “For only now at my weakest will I relinquish the artisanal brew.”
“Brew?”
“Cream sounded dirty.”
Noah snickered again, then blinked at me, catching my eyes at last. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah…I don’t know. I just feel a little weird today.”
“Weird like…” he trailed off.
Weird like heat was what he wanted to say.
“Maybe. Yeah, probably.” I shrugged one shoulder, but internally grimaced. I hadn’t wanted to deal with one so soon. And it was really soon, in my opinion. But this was just the beginning stages, I knew. I had at least a few more days until it became a situation.
“Do you think maybe I should stay home? I know I get a little bitchy during my heats. Maybe I should-“
“No. Nuh-uh. You get out of this house and go find some alpha dick for your problems!” He steered me to the door as my phone buzzed in the pocket of my hoodie. “Is that your ride?”
“Maybe?” I checked it and saw that it was, in fact, Hades.
I’m here.
“He says he-“ I broke off at a knock on the door, and we traded looks.
“How has he made it so far out of his fancy car?” Noah put a hand to his chest. “Do you think he’s wearing a hazmat suit?”
“Probably.” I opened the front door, pulling it open to reveal Hades standing on the other side.
With a bouquet of wilted roses.
I blinked at it, confused, then looked up at him.
“Uhhh…is this a…metaphor?” I asked, heart plummeting to the floor.
“Is it?” He looked at the roses, then back at me. “They were leaning against your door.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, princess. It’s not my door.”
“Princess?” Noah mouthed from behind the door, looking at me with wide eyes as he did it again.
I stomped on his foot-lightly-but still elicited a yelp from my roommate.
“That’s creepy,” I said, taking the roses from him and looking over the small bouquet. There was no card, and only a ribbon tying them together kept them in one place. “Like, really creepy.” I dumped them into the trash, then rubbed my hands on my leggings with a scowl.
“Could’ve been just a mistake,” Noah shrugged. “You know we get a lot of Alex’s mail, and she goes through guys like I go through-“ he bit off his words, probably taking into consideration our current company.
“Maybe…” I glanced at the flowers, and realized I had a lot of things I’d rather do than puzzle out some wilted flowers at our door.
Maybe Noah had an admirer.
“I could’ve come down,” I told Hades, stepping forward as if to leave.
“Ah, ah-“ he held up a hand and stepped inside the apartment, looking around. “Remember? I told you I would visit, and that your apartment had better be clean when I did.”
“Ummm.” I blinked, perplexed and utterly baffled at his words. “What?”
Hades smiled sweetly, and patted me on the head. “No offense, but you’re not off to a great start here.” He waved his hand to take in the cluttered living room, strewn blankets and all.
“It’s lived in!” I argued, arms folding over my chest.
Noah nodded his agreement.
“Well…it is a shared space…” he tapped his chin as if he were thinking it over. “I’ll give it a pass as long as your room is clean.”
Noah snorted, not even trying to hide his cackling when I turned to glare at him.
“You are not going to check my room-“
“Which one’s yours?” Hades asked, breezing right past me and down the hallway.
Uh oh.
“The one straight in front of you,” Noah directed, and I glared at him.
“No, wait-wait-“ Lunging forward, I managed to put myself in between Hades and my thankfully closed door.
He paused, one hand in the pocket of his jeans, and raised his brows curiously. “Should I take this to mean that your room isn’t clean?”
“I’m not fifteen!”
“You’re right. You should’ve learned how to clean your room a long time ago.”
I couldn’t argue with that. But I still wasn’t going to move.
“Gonna make me growl, princess?” Hades purred, standing close and pushing my hair back over my shoulder.
My insides tried their best to quiver, and I hated how much I loved that tone of voice.
“It’s uh, occupied,” I told him, widening my eyes and batting my lashes at the alpha.
I even threw in a little whine. Just to look a bit more like an omega-in-need.
“Is it?” He stepped closer, his hand sliding back along my jaw to cup my face and tilt it upward.
My breathing stuttered, heart racing like a rabbit’s as his face hovered just above mine.
�
��Wilder and Roman have both seen it,” he purred. “I feel a little left out.”
“It’s just my room.” I chased his lips for a kiss, trying to distract him.
“Exactly. It’s just your room.” He batted his lashes right back at me.
In theory, the side closer to my closet wasn’t as bad. If I opened the door just a little, he could see it and we could be done.
“Fine. See?” I found the knob behind me, opened my door about six inches wide, and then slammed it closed.
Or, tried to.
Hades caught the door and stepped forward, pushing me back with his movement as he whistled in amazement.
“Terrible,” he stated.
“Well I don’t have a maid like some people.”
“Even my parents’ maid would cry at this.”
I scowled and he found my gaze with a smile, his lips brushing mine teasingly. “We can go now,” he added, backing out of my room as I closed it behind me with a loud thud.
“Told you it was just a room,” I grumbled, following after him and wondering why the temperature in here seemed to have risen by about five degrees.
“Disaster zone,” Hades corrected, opening the front door. “But that’s okay. We can agree to disagree, I suppose.”
“Later Noah,” I called, holding his gaze as I walked by. “And don’t worry. I’ll remember that you helped him get into my room.”
Noah yelped in surprise, stuttering out an excuse as Hades barked a laugh.
“See you, Noah,” my panther alpha called, closing the front door behind us.
“Are you okay?” Hades asked, not for the first time as he pulled up to the curb outside the restaurant he’d brought me for lunch.
“No,” I sighed, running my hand over the real leather of his seats. “I have a newfound car envy. Maybe one day Noah will make enough money that I’ll graciously be allowed to ride in a car like this more often.”
Hades delicately cleared his throat. “You could just ride in mine,” he pointed out.
Shrugging, I scrubbed my unattractively sweaty palms on my jeans. “Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think about it, I guess.”
Frankly, it was getting a bit much to think of any long, complicated train of thought.
Which, in retrospect, discussing cars shouldn’t have been that complicated.
What was wrong with me? Was I really getting so spacey so quickly when my actual heat was still days away?
Sucking in a breath, I realized again that today, Hades smelled amazing. I hadn’t scented him like this since we’d first met, and I couldn’t help the low purr that built in my chest to fill the air around us.
My panther shifter had started to get out of the car, but at the sound he slammed the door closed and looked at me, eyes wide and slitted.
I blinked, surprised, as we stared at each other. Why was he so close to shifting?
“Are you…” he started to lean towards me, but pulled back. “Are you in heat?”
“Not…really?” I replied. “I mean-it’ll probably be a few more days or so. Maybe even the end of the week. But not right now.”
“Are you sure?” His words were quiet, and his eyes never moved from mine.
“No. I’ve been alive for twenty-four years, but-“
“But have you ever had an alpha when you were about to go into heat?” Hades interrupted suddenly, in a clipped tone that I hadn’t expected from him.
“Does it matter that much? Besides. We aren’t mated. We’re just seeing each other.”
“Tell your hormones that.”
“My hormones? I’m not the one about to shift in the-“
He surged across the console and my muscles clenched, surprised at the sudden action. I didn’t have time to be afraid, though, because Hades’ lips were suddenly on mine, insistent and begging for me to allow him entrance to my mouth.
I reached up, hand pressed to his jaw as I deepened our kiss.
Only, something wasn’t quite normal. I always loved kissing him. I loved kissing all of my alphas.
But I’d never felt like I was drowning in any of them before. Not like now, when my body seemed to gravitate towards Hades like I was magnetized and all of my nerves tingled as if I was on fire.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, chasing his mouth as he tried to pull away. “Come back here.” Teeth bared, I grabbed him again, pulling the chuckling alpha in for another kiss.
“Princess…” his purr caused heat to curl in my belly, and I suddenly felt flushed all over and inexplicably aroused. “I think maybe we should get lunch to go.”
“I’m not hungry,” I murmured, unwilling to pull away from him even though the console dug uncomfortably into my spleen.
I was so hot. Was the air conditioning on? Reaching out, I cranked it all the way up, and rationally understood that being with Hades had caused my body’s schedule to accelerate, jumping me into a hot, aroused state as every single cell begged for Hades.
“Neither am I, suddenly,” my alpha admitted, his fingers brushing my jaw. “But let me get you home first, before people start noticing.”
Oh. Right. We were in public.
With as much efficiency as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on me, I sat backward in my seat. Back ramrod straight, I closed my eyes and focused on mentally cooling myself off.
For all that it didn’t work too well. I still felt hot, and I could feel the pull of Hades’ body sitting right beside me.
God, I needed his hands on me now.
“How far away do you live?” I asked mildly as he pulled away from the curb, engine revving smoothly.
“Ten minutes if I go at a reasonable speed.”
“Are you going to go at a reasonable speed, Hades?”
“No. I don’t think I am.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
On another day, I would’ve appreciated Hades’ apartment building more. On a different day, when my blood wasn’t burning in my veins and every inch of my body ached for Hades’ touch, I might even appreciated the marble floors, white walls, and gold decor of the obviously high priced building.
Maybe, at another point in my life, I would get to stop and take in the shiny hardwood floors, the wall of bay windows, and maybe even the view from the balcony outside instead of fighting not to shove Hades into the nearest alcove and demanding his touch right there.
Not that he was doing much better. As we walked, the panther shifter’s touch rarely left me. A light skim of fingers at my hip, or a hand brushing my shoulder caught my attention every few steps. As if Hades, too, needed me just as much as I needed him.
When Hades swept me into his apartment and slammed the door behind me, the only thing I could focus on was him.
All of him. Every bit of my alpha, even though he was currently doing something on his phone instead of paying attention to me.
I purred in my throat when he tossed his phone to the counter and wasted no time in tugging off his jacket and t-shirt, leaving him in only his snugly fitting jeans and signature grin. It was a damn good thing he’d put it down when there were better things to be doing than playing on his phone.
“Are you waiting for an invitation, princess?” The panther alpha purred, sharply pointed canines peeking through his lips when he spoke.
I wasn’t, but…
I sucked in a loud breath and moved so I could go to the counter. There I gripped the cool, slick granite with fingers that trembled.
“I’ve never done this,” I told him slowly, and the sentiment only made him raise a brow.
“This…?”
“Like we discussed in the car. I’ve never had an alpha for my heat.” I’d only rarely had an alpha at all, and none of them had been like the ones I had now.
“I figured that much,” Hades agreed with a one-shouldered shrug.
“So I don’t know what exactly we’re doing.” Apart from, hopefully, dragging him into bed with me and not leaving for a week.
“Well…” he slowly walked towards
me, every step calculated and predatory.
I felt like prey to him, when he looked at me like that.
And God, I loved everything about it.
“It’s admittedly a bit hard for me to think straight at the moment. But honestly…” He slanted his body against mine, his hand snaking up to grip my jaw. “I believe you’re overthinking this Alek. What do you want?”
“I want you,” I answered boldly, sure of my response. “I need you.”
At my words, something sinful and possessive swam behind his impossibly green eyes. This close, I could see and scent the changes in his body.
With a purr growing in my chest I rubbed against him, glad that he was shirtless so that I could run my hands up his bare chest in appreciation.
When my nails skimmed over his collarbones, he growled suddenly-a primal sound I wasn’t expecting.
Suddenly Hades hands were around my waist and the panther shifter hoisted me off my feet, surprising a yelp out of my mouth as he bodily tossed me over one shoulder.
“Hades!” I gasped, unable to see more than his perfect ass as he walked through the apartment.
“Figured you were still waiting on that invitation,” my alpha chuckled.
He tossed me onto a wide, soft bed covered in black pillows and a fluffy, black comforter.
Not that I had time to see more, when my panther alpha pounced only moments after dropping me.
Hades’ mouth was on mine instantly, and his hands tugged at my shirt with insistence that I matched. In a few seconds my clothes were off, scattered around the room probably.
“This isn’t fair,” I huffed, jerking on the button of his jeans. “You need to be naked. Now.”
“Such a demanding omega,” Hades growled, batting my fingers away and stripping out of his jeans.
“It’s because of you,” I replied, sitting up so I could take in all of him.
God, it was a sight to behold.
Hades Ahlleron was six-and-a-half feet of muscle, arrogance, and gorgeousness. He was perfect, though my opinion might have been a little biased, and I could stare at him all day-any day, really.