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The shadow moves on, and I exhale quietly. This is fine. They’ll give up eventually. They’ll?—

A loud crack echoes from the porch. My head jerks up. What the hell are they doing? Oh my god, they reallyaretrying to break in!

“Whoa,” one of them says, laughing. “Guess we’re not welcome.”

I glance around the edge of the window, just in time to see the dry one pull his foot out of a now-splintered floorboard. Great. That’s another thing I’ll have to fix. As if I can spare the wood, the time, or the funds.

“Let’s go,” the dry one says. He sounds more annoyed now, though still oddly amused. “Clearly no one’s home.”

But the teasing one lingers, leaning against the porch rail as he calls out one last time. “Hey, if you’re in there, you’ve gotabout five seconds before my friend here drags us off. So…if you do want to talk, now’s the time.”

Five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two.

I move to the door before I can think better of it, wrenching it open just enough to glare at them.

Why? Why did I open the door? It’s not like Iwantto speak to them…is it?

I don’t know anymore. I don’t feel entirely in control of myself right now.

“What do you want?” I snap, my voice sharp as the winter air that rushes to greet me.

Three heads turn towards me, and for a moment, the air feels too thick, too charged.

I forget how to breathe.

They’re gorgeous. Absolutely stunning, in a rough, ruggedly-handsome and absolutely terrifying, towering over me kind of way.

Whoarethese men? They’re…they’re…holy shit.

Something trickles down my thighs, making my eyes widen in shock. Oh god, what the hell is that? What is happening to me?

Then I realise: It’s slick.

What. The. Fuck.

I hope they can’t smell that.

These are the first alphas I’ve been face to face with in years and…well…my stirring, sleepy omega likes what she sees.

A lot.

Their eyes rake over me – curious, assessing. The teasing redheaded one grins, and the dry, dark one’s brow quirks in mildsurprise. But it’s the blond-haired, deep-voiced one who holds my gaze, his expression unreadable.

“Well,” the grinning one says, breaking the silence, “there she is. Thought we’d imagined you for a second there.”

“Did you?” I say coolly, gripping the edge of the door and somehow managing to sound way more pulled together than I’m currently feeling. “I don’t remember inviting you to splinter my porch.”

That earns me a laugh, low and warm, as he runs a hand through his ruffled red hair, making it glint in the light. It’s beautiful. So soft looking. I want to run my fingers through it and?—

“Sorry about that. Bit of a misstep. Literally.”

The deep-voiced, dark-haired one steps forward, cutting off his mate with a pointed look. “We’re lost,” he says simply, his tone clipped. “Sat-nav brought us here. We’re supposed to be renting a house nearby.”