Page 36 of Pack Choice

Together.

Lord, I need to detox my brain. It’s not doing me any favors, especially when the pulse between my legs starts beating with more urgency. Almost unbearably. There’s no way I can sit in the back of that car, or in that office, bathed in alpha scents and possibly make it out alive.

I need to take the edge off things.

Letting the cold water cascade down my body, I open my legs and let my fingers wander between them. I’m all swollen, way more turned on than I have any right to be. Those damn stupid dreams. Putting ideas in my head that should most definitely not be there. Ideas of River Caspian lifting me onto the bonnet of his racing car and spreading me wide, taking me hard and knotting me firmly, before passing me on to the others, Ford feeding me his cock as Colten takes me from behind. The images move against my closed eyelids and my finger moves against my clit.

It’s not the same as an alpha’s touch. There’s not the power or the unpredictability. But, coupled with the porn show in my mind, it’s enough to have me moaning and my legs shaking, the pressure building in my core and edging me closer and closer to the–

“Miss Stormgate?” There’s a rap of knuckles on the bathroom door.

I squeal, jerking my hand from out between my legs and nearly slipping and tumbling on the wet tiles.

“Just wanted to give you warning that we’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes.” It’s Ford.

“Thank you,” I squeak, my voice sounding flushed, my heart racing.

I grip the wall and catch my breath as his footsteps die away.

The pulse continues unrelentingly. You’d think being caught out like that would kill any horniness brewing in my body stone cold. Yet, the idea he may have heard … The idea that maybe he knows what I was doing in here, has that pulse turning violent.

I half wish he’d beaten down the door and joined me in the shower.

Half.

He is off limits. My bodyguard. A lone wolf. Not suitable twice over.

Jeez! One extra suppressant tablet obviously wasn’t enough. I switch off the shower, wrap a towel around my body and go take another.

* * *

Ford waitsfor me at the bottom of the staircase with another flask of coffee, a toasted bagel and not a hint that he knows what I was doing in the shower on his face. Am I relieved or disappointed about that? I don’t know. Mostly, I’m just confused. Lone wolves are trouble. They are selfish. They are socially dangerous. They are not what I need. I need a pack.

“Are you ready to go?” he asks,

“Nearly,” I tell him. There’s just something I need to collect from the kitchen.

I return a minute later with my arms full of Tupperware. He frowns.

“Is that your lunch?”

“No!” I giggle. “Cupcakes.”

“Cupcakes?”

“Yep, cupcakes, stage one in the win-over-my-co-workers mission.”

“You really think that will work?”

I scoff. “You obviously know nothing about people. Food is the best way to win people over.”

His gaze drops to his hands where he’s still clutching my coffee and bagel. Perhaps he understands more about people than I realize. And omegas. The bagel is smothered in strawberry jelly and the smell is making my stomach rumble.

In the car, I notice he doesn’t make a move to open the windows today. I would happily sit munching my breakfast and bathing in his scent. However, I don’t think it will do anything to ease the ache between my legs, so I hit the button and lower my window right down, letting fresh air blast me right in the face.

“Did you sleep well?” he asks after several moments of silence.

“Ish,” I say, squirming on my seat as more of last night’s dreams hurtle through my mind. “How about you?”