Page 74 of In Deep

“I’m not finished, wee yin,” Duncan says, pinching my gland. “Things went wrong with Pippa. She started to get a bit too comfortable being our pack omega.”

“Lazy, you mean,” Zane mutters.

“What?” I snark. “Didn’t she pick up your dirty laundry and cook your meals for you?”

“No,” Zane growls, “she stopped going to lectures and classes, stopped handing in her assignments. She figured we were going to claim her, bond her, and she’d be set up for life. Pampered and looked after in a life of luxury.”

“None of us liked it, but it pissed Seb off, especially. They fought about it. He demanded she get her act together. She point-blank refused. She said it was our duty as her alphas to provide for her. He said she was only with us for our money. Forourmoney. Mine, Duncan’s and Ollie’s. Seb doesn’t have money like the rest of us.”

Zane drops my chin and stands. “Then she tried to come between us.” He runs his hand backward, then forward through his hair, rubbing his scalp. “She wanted us to cut Seb out of the pack.” Duncan exhales by my side. “When we refused and said she needed to reconcile with him if she wanted to make things work, she started telling lies about him. Making up all sorts of accusations.”

“Like what?”

“That he was stealing our money. Using our credit cards. You know how much that would hurt an alpha’s pride?”

“But she was just trying to cover her own tracks. And that’s when we knew we had to let her go.” Duncan leans down and kisses the crown of my head. “She wasn’t the woman we thought she was.”

“And that’s when we made our pact to one another. The next time we choose a member to join our pack – omega or alpha – we all have to be in agreement. All of us. All of us have to be in agreement.”

“So if he doesn’t want me?”

“Do you want him?”

I think of his domineering presence, of the ability it has to both thrill and terrify me. “I don’t know.”

“You have to want him too if you want to be a part of our pack, Omega.” Zane drops to his knees and buries his mouth in my neck. “Give this time, Rosie. There’s no rush. Rushing in was what got us into trouble with Pippa.”

“Seb will come around.” Duncan adds. “You’re fucking irresistible, Omega.”

I don’t know if they’re right. I think they want it to be true. Seb seems to despise me. He was abundantly clear about it earlier this evening.

And maybe it’s because he senses it about me. Maybe he knows the truth. The one thing I haven’t been truthful about.

Unlike the others, maybe he can tell I’m broken.

“And if he doesn’t?” For once, they are both silent. “I can never be yours properly, can I? You’ll never be able to claim me.”

“I didn’t think that was what you wanted, Rosie,” Zane says, his face pained. “When we started this thing–”

“You hoped it would be, though, deep down you hoped I’d change my mind.”

He stares into my eyes and nods. “You know how hard it is to keep from claiming you, little Omega. Every time I fuck you, it’s all I can think of.”

Zane’s pressure on my throat grows stronger and Duncan’s grip on my neck firmer. ”I think about it too,” I whisper. “I think about you sinking your teeth into my neck. I think about you claiming me as your own.”

All these wants. All these desires. Bubbling to the surface. I can no longer repress them. No longer hide them. I am who I am. I can no longer deny it.

“There’s one way you can claim me,” I say.

“No, Rosie, that has to be a pack–”

“Have me together.” I look at Zane and then at Duncan. “Both of you.”

Duncan drops to his knees beside me. “You still want to do that, wee yin? Even if–”

“You said we should live for the moment,” I say to Zane. “That we shouldn’t let the fear of the future stop us. You know I want this.”

“And you’re ready?” Duncan asks.