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Nox just let it play out, arms folded, watching. I don’t imagine he would have moved even had Seven and I come to blows.

As for Seven, he is every inch the leader of all the herds. Not only that, but he is also the seventh coming of a fucking god. I’d say he has delusions of grandeur, only it is not so much a delusion. Okay, he is not an actual god, but some kind of conduit for his ancestor’s memories.

Only it would seem Seven’s memories do not include four-way sharing, and which this clearly is, for he appears perplexed by my outburst.

Nox, more astute, thumbs in the direction of the door. “Marigold looked like she wanted to snack on me and take you as the main course,” he says bluntly.

“I have shared pleasure with the doe on occasion,” Seven replies, sounding defensive. “So has half the palace. She is very popular.”

“Fawn won’t like that,” I say. “Get rid of her.”

I don’t know why I’m taking the exception on her part. I’ve been thrown into the deep end as far as this relationship is concerned.

“You make a valid point. I will see she does not serve us again,” Seven says. “Dare I venture to assume that you are more accepting?”

“No, I am not fucking accepting,” I say. “But I am working on it.” I feel like I can’t get enough air into my lungs most of the time. My wolf is on constant high alert listening to whatever the fuck is going on in the other room while the omega bathes her. And what the fuck does that even involve? Hopefully nothing more than passing her the soap and the cloth with which to wash.

I clench my hand lest my claws spring and try not to think about her sitting in a kingly tub all meek and covered in suds, peeking at the bastard with her big, brown eyes.

“What are the parameters here?” I demand. “I can see you are setting out your stall again with your herd omega as a selling point. You want her as your queen, but what is the brooding menace’s part in all this?”

Nox, aka brooding menace, just stares at me implacably.

“Nox is with Eiden,” Seven says in his reasonable tone. “They have been together since Eiden first joined our herd. They enjoy intimacy together with or without a doe. I am more often with a doe and… watch.” He shrugs. “I am also with Eiden, sometimes, when he gets unruly and needs another dick. I am not with Nox. Not in that way, although I love him well, and there has been the occasional… crossing of swords when Eiden is having a false season and gets particularly unruly.”

Unruly? No, I don’t like the sound of that. Fawn is a brat already. Throwing an unruly male omega into the mix sounds like the mother of all bad ideas. Gods, my head hurts trying to unpick the quagmire Seven has just unleashed. “False season?”

“If he scents a doe in season, it sets him off.” Nox offers his first words to the conversation. “They know to keep away from him during that time, but occasionally he catches the scent, and it all goes downhill from there.”

“Eiden has long wished for me to take a queen,” Seven says. “His passing into adulthood was not an easy one. He craves a more permanent female companion he can love.”

I growl. “Fawn is not a fucking toy to keep your herd omega happy.”

Nox’s brows crawl into his hairline.

Seven waves an imperious hand like I’m not imagining shifting and ripping his regal head from his regal shoulders. “No need for dramatics,Wolf.”

The fuck?! He is asking for a beating.

“I’m not so shallow as to claim a queen as a toy and whether Eiden loves her or not,” he adds indignantly.

“Well, alright then…” I’m confused. “Why haven’t you tried to fuck her, then?”

Nox chuckles, low, dark, and with a distinct air of scoffing.

I look between them, not liking the way it somehow implies I am stupid.

“She is utterly adorable,” Seven says, raking fingers through his hair in an oddly nervous gesture. “Captivating and dangerously beguiling. I was halfway in love with her before she had even poured the pot of tea in her quaint human cottage. It is a test not to toss her to the ground and mount her every time she sends a shy look my way, all curious and sweet while her body throws off her lust scent. You do know she stares at me while you’re rutting her—when she comes.” He brings his pacing to an abrupt stop. “And besides, all this is very academic when she has scent-matched with Eiden.”

“Aca-what?”

“Scent match,” Nox repeats with a note of challenge, “is when a male and female omega are drawn to one another in ways mysterious and compelling. Their scents combine producing a form of aphrodisiac.” He shrugs. “The will of the Goddess… fated mates… it goes by many names. The bottom line, Eiden could not keep his hands off her even if he tried.”

A high squeal sets the hairs on the back of my neck rising—pleasure.

Fawn.

Nox smirks, stretches out, and puts his hands behind his head as he leans back into the seat as if to say—I told you so.