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I had a feeling that dampeners would only be able to do so much in this situation.

“There we are,” Curran said, stroking through Emma’s short platinum hair before gently disentangling from her and rising on creaking knees.

“Thanks,” Elijah said, still looking shell-shocked.

Onyx entered as Curran was disposing of the second needle.

“What did I miss?”

Rather than answer, Curran rummaged in the refrigerator once more. “There’s yogurt here—strawberry, blueberry, or plain. That work for you, Elijah?”

A faint hesitation, then Elijah said, “Blueberry, please.”

Curran grabbed up a plastic tub, a spoon, and a bottle of water and took it to him. When he’d handed off the food and drink, he gestured Onyx and me to the built-in sofa farthest from the omegas’ corner. We sat down, and I tried not to watch the spoon disappearing between Elijah’s lips... or the way Emma burrowed against him, nosing at his mating gland.

“Emma and I had a bit of a talk before you got here,” Curran said. “I’ve promised her that she’ll be in control of whatever happens. That means she chooses when, how, and with whom she has sex.”

Onyx gave an easy shrug. “No problem here. Just like to be useful, me.”

Curran’s gaze moved to me next, and I couldn’t help a hint of irritation at the idea that he apparently thought I needed a minder, just because I’d never spent a heat with an omega. Where the hell would I have found the time?

“None of us asked for or expected this turn of events,” I said, keeping my tone calm since I suspected snapping at him would upset Emma. “And I’m confident all of us agree that minimizing any potential trauma to our guests is job number one.”

“That we do,” Curran replied with a nod of approval.

“Can we also agree that job number two is getting this boat as far away from theTitaniaas possible before we drop anchor?” Onyx asked dryly.

With a jolt, I realized that we were still floating within a hundred yards of the yacht, with Tommy and Cade Huntwell aboard.

“God, yes,” I said, wondering if the damn dampener was working after all. Where the hell was my brain?

“Thirded,” Elijah said wholeheartedly.

“On it,” Onyx said, rising gracefully from the sofa. “There’s a cove by one of the outlying islands about two hours away if the wind holds.” A dark eyebrow arched. “I suppose you’ll have to entertain yourselves without me. After all, someone has to sail the ship.”

After Onyx departed for the helm, the rest of us waited for Emma to make the next move. She huddled with Elijah for a good hourand a half, watching us with wariness that slowly morphed into mindless need.

Her huge gray eyes held very little in the way of rationality, and even with the effects of the dampener dulling her scent, it was obvious she was thinking with her hormones rather than her brain as her heat ripened. When she finally moved, it was to crawl across the space separating us until she could stalk up the length of my seated body and nuzzle against my throat, breathing in deeply.

My cock, which apparently hadn’t received the memo about beingdampened, twitched hard. I kept my hands loosely at my sides through an act of will, trying to ignore the rapid pounding of my heart. Damn it,nothingshould smell as good as these two omegas smelled. I didn’t evenlikeabsinthe.

After a torturous few moments, Emma abandoned me in favor of giving Curran the same treatment. When she’d sniffed her fill, she slid back to the floor next to him, curling up at his feet.

His hand lowered to stroke her head like a cat’s. She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against his knee while I tried not to die of whatever ailment was currently afflicting my pathetic arse. Priapism, probably.

“That’s it, beautiful,” Curran said in a gruff rumble. His slow petting never paused. “Take your time. Get to know us a bit while your body figures out what it wants.”

A strange, low noise reached my ears, and it took a moment to place it as a rough alpha purr. My brain stuck fast on the idea of Curran...purring. Should I be doing the same thing? How did you even do it? I’d never purred in my life.

Growled? Yes.

Snarled? More often than I cared to admit.

Purred? Not so much.

Before I could follow that spiral too deep, Elijah crept out of his corner and dropped down next to me on the uncomfortable sofa, a couple of feet separating us. The dampener had also dulled the nuances of his rich rosewater scent, but it hadn’t dulled his body language. His shoulders were hunched as though against an expected attack, and when he brought up his arms to wrap around his own torso, I saw the tremor in his hands.

With Curran’s deep, rusty purr still trilling in my ears, I turned half toward our second omega guest.