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A little pang of hurt zapped through me at the admission.

It took a moment to organize the right words for a response. “I... didn’t realize it upset you that much.”

She shook her head, as though in frustration. “I realize now that I was jealous, more than anything. I’d built it up in my head that the world would end if anyone found out I was an omega. And there you were, justbeingone. Beinghappy. It upset me because it flew in the face of the story I’d concocted for myself.”

I let that sink in.

“And then I just casually outed you,” I realized. “Knowing what I know now, I’m surprised you didn’t punch me in the nose.”

“Or the dick?” she added wryly.

“Or the dick,” I concurred. “And... now? I mean, now that you’ve had a taste of how the omega side lives?”

“It terrifies me how much I want it,” she admitted.

I wasn’t sure if I should say the next part out loud. “After what I’ve seen of this pack, I’m pretty confident you could have it easily enough.” I swallowed hard. “Wecould have it.”

“Yeah,” she whispered. Then she seemed to shake herself out of whatever headspace she’d been stuck in. “Except for the small matter that I’m a member of the same crime family Gabriel ishunting, and he hasn’t made any noises about wanting omegas in his pack. And the part where my uncle is apparently hunting us in turn.”

“Right,” I agreed. “Except for that.”

I flopped down on the bed, lying on my back next to her. After a moment, she uncurled from her hunched position and lay down with her head on my shoulder.

“I d-didn’t ever intend for you to be dragged into this mess,” she said quietly. “But I’m really glad you’re here, Elijah.”

I curled my arm around her slender frame, an unaccustomed tightness rising in my throat. I coughed to clear it. “You know, I’ve been thinking. About a lot of stuff, but mostly about those other girls on the yacht.”

“Me too,” she said miserably.

“I think we should go public.” I stroked my thumb over her shoulder. “Tell the world what happened to us. Try to blow the whole thing wide open.”

Emma went very still in my arms. “Wouldn’t that also b-blow up Gabriel’s legal case, though?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But right now, it seems like he’s getting stonewalled. We could talk to him about it, anyway.”

I wasn’t sure what it said about the situation that discussing a sex trafficking case with Gabriel sounded way less fraught than trying to talk to him about the scent match, or how he felt about a pair of omegas joining his pack.

“You’re right,” Emma said, “we probably should.” She gave a delicate sniff. “But maybeafterthat shower I mentioned earlier.”

“Aww, c’mon,” I wheedled, only half-teasing. “Don’t you think the conversation would be a lot more stimulating if we showed up in his office smelling like sex and with Onyx’s pheromones smeared all over us?”

She smacked me half-heartedly on the bicep. “No. I donot.”

I manufactured a dramatic sigh. “Dove, you know I adore you. But you still haveso muchto learn about being an omega.”

She grumbled something unintelligible under her breath, though I was pretty sure I caught the wordsinsufferable git. Then she poked me until I gave up and vacated the bed in favor of getting that shower. Maybe if I made it cold enough, it would get rid of the insistent ache throbbing between my legs—preferably before I caught myself wondering where Curran’s stash of sex toys left over from Emma’s heat had ended up.

“Fine,” I told her. “I’m going. What about you? This place has, like, a dozen bathrooms.”

But Emma was already snoring softly, having somehow evicted me from my own borrowed bed. With a snort of resigned amusement, I went to find clean clothes and my toiletry bag from the pile of luggage in the corner.

The second-floor guest bathroom was thankfully one of the rooms that had already been renovated, and it was as spectacular as everything else in the place. I wussed out on the cold shower in favor of a warm shower coupled with surreptitiously jerking myself off. Spilling over my own hand with several fingers jammed inside my passage wasn’t exactly the knot I craved, but it was better than nothing.

That—combined with washing away the lingering traces of spruce and bayberry clinging to my body—made me at least feel confident that I wouldn’t end up trying to climb the next alpha to cross my path like a tree. I ran through the familiar ritual of my skin care routine, examined my haunted face in the mirror for a few moments, and dressed in a simple T-shirt and track pants before padding out into the hall barefoot.

At which point, I nearly ran headlong into Gabriel.

He put out a hand to steady me. “Erm,” he said, blinking at me owlishly.