Page 46 of Daisy (Omega Chosen #3)

Sex. Heavy and overwhelming. The thick musk of arousal and satisfaction. And underneath it all. Daisy's scent, sweet and sated.

I stop dead in my tracks, my body responding instantly, primal instincts flaring even as my brain tries to catch up.

That's not the scent of violence. That's not the scent of fear or pain or someone being hurt.

That's the scent of satisfaction and pleasure.

"What the hell?" Cassian's nostrils flare, his pupils dilating as the scent hits him too. Confusion replacing alarm, but his body going tense in a completely different way.

August goes pale. For a different reason now. Dante makes a sound like all the air just left his lungs, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

Through the bond, I'm still feeling Gunner's overwhelming guilt and self-hatred. But suddenly the scent makes everything click into place, the love and pleasure I felt mixed in with his panic finally make sense.

"Son of a bitch," I breathe. The realization hitting me like a truck. "He didn't hurt her. He claimed her. He bonded with her."

The relief is so intense my knees almost buckle. She's not hurt. She's not bleeding or broken or traumatized. Gunner bonded with her.

But underneath the relief, anger starts building. He put us all through this panic. Made us think something terrible happened. When really he just lost control around our omega and is now drowning in guilt about it.

"If he damn well hurt her..." Cassian's voice is pure menace.

I'm already moving toward the bedroom. Not because I want to comfort anyone, but because I need to see Daisy with my own eyes. I need to know if Gunner crossed a line that can't be uncrossed.

Dante growls low under his breath, his protective instincts in overdrive. Cassian's jaw is set, murder in his eyes as he strides toward the bedroom. August looks pale and worried, but he's right there with us.

We storm through the cabin, heavy footsteps echoing as we head straight for the bedroom. The bedroom door flies open under our collective momentum.

Daisy is lying on her side with a blanket pulled up to cover her chest. But I can see the fresh claiming mark on her throat. And there—where the blanket doesn't quite cover—I can see where Gunner is still locked inside her. His knot hasn't gone down yet, keeping them connected.

Her eyes go wide when she sees us, a mix of shock and embarrassment flooding her face. She pulls the blanket higher, trying to cover more of herself.

Gunner's head snaps up, eyes wild and desperate when he sees us standing there. I can feel his panic spike through the bond—raw terror that we're going to hurt Daisy or take her away from him. My chest aches with the intensity of his fear.

August pushes between us, his eyes immediately going to Daisy's throat. Then he looks at Gunner, his hazel eyes wide with shock and something like betrayal.

"What did you do?" August's voice is quiet. Deadly.

Immediately, Gunner shifts, covering her better and pulling the blanket higher. He positions his larger frame between her and us as much as he can while still being locked inside her.

"GET OUT!" Gunner roars, the sound tearing from his throat in a primal alpha bark that reverberates through the room. His voice is pure dominance, territorial and dangerous. "Get the hell away from her!"

The alpha command hits like a physical force. August takes an involuntary step back, his beta instincts responding to the territorial display. Cassian's hand shoots out to steady him, gripping his shoulder.

"We're not going anywhere," Dante growls back, rising to meet Gunner's challenge. "Not until we know she's okay."

"I'm fine," Daisy says quickly, but her voice is shaky and I can smell the spike of distress in her scent from all the alpha aggression. "Really, I'm fine. We both wanted this."

"Did you?" Cassian asks, and there's murder in his tone. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like he marked you without permission."

The air in the room grows thick with aggression. Cassian takes a step forward, his hands clenched into fists. Dante's eyes are blazing with cold fury. August looks like he's fighting between wanting to comfort Daisy and wanting to tear Gunner apart.

Through the bond, I feel Gunner's emotions warring, the fierce need to protect her battling against crushing guilt.

His arm tightens around Daisy protectively, even as his face crumbles with guilt.

His breathing is ragged, caught between the need to fight us and the overwhelming shame eating him alive.

"He didn't—" Daisy starts, but Gunner cuts her off.

"I did." His voice is still rough with aggression, but the fight is draining out of him as the guilt crashes in.

I feel his self-loathing through the bond, so intense I have to press my hand to my chest. "I lost control.

I hurt her. I—" But even as he says it, his hold on her doesn't loosen.

He can't loosen it. The bond won't let him.

"Stop it," Daisy says fiercely, her hand fisting in his hair. "You didn't hurt me. You didn't do anything wrong."

I watch as Gunner looks into her eyes for just a moment, and the love there is so raw, so desperate, it's almost painful to witness. But then the guilt crashes back over him and he looks away, unable to hold her gaze.

"Look at me," she says firmly, her hand tightening in his hair and tugging until he's forced to meet her eyes again. "Look at me, Gunner. You didn't do anything wrong."

The tender moment between them doesn't diffuse the tension in the room. If anything, it makes the rest of us more aware of what just happened, of what we walked in on.

"You should have talked to us first," August says, his hurt clear in his voice. "This affects all of us, Gunner. The pack dynamic, Daisy's choices."

"I know." Gunner's voice cracks now, the protective alpha facade finally crumbling under the weight of his guilt. I feel the sharp spike of his anguish through our connection. "I know I messed up. I know I…"

"No," Daisy interrupts, sitting up despite still being connected to him. Gunner immediately adjusts to keep her covered, his protective instincts overriding everything else even in his emotional breakdown. "No, you didn't. I wanted this. I asked you for this."

The tension in the room shifts slightly. I can feel Gunner's emotional spiral beginning to slow, his guilt being tempered by her certainty and our growing acceptance.

"Are you okay?" August asks Daisy gently. "Really okay? No pain? No regrets?"

"No regrets," she says softly but firmly. "And the only pain I feel is from you all making him think he did something wrong. When what happened was beautiful."

Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. Through the bond, I can still feel the echo of Gunner's pain—pain that we caused by bursting in here and making him feel like a monster.

"Look," Daisy says, her voice gaining authority, but then confusion crosses her face. "Wait… how did you all even know? How did you know to come back?" She looks between us, puzzled.

The others' eyes turn to me, and I can feel the weight of their stares. Daisy follows their gaze, her brow furrowing as she tries to understand.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you. I'm sorry we scared you. But this was our moment, and you've taken it from us." She looks around at all of us with quiet determination. "Please leave. We need to process this together, just the two of us."

"Alright," Dante says finally. "We'll talk about this more later. When you're both... disconnected."

Cassian just grunts, the murderous look finally fading from his eyes. August nods, seeming satisfied that Daisy is truly okay.

We start to file out, giving them space to process what just happened. But I pause at the door, looking back at them curled together.

"For what it's worth," I say, "I think you're perfect together. Even if you did give us all heart attacks getting here."

And I close the door, leaving them to figure out what comes next.